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Change happens slowly.
Check out this video release from local Coventry Collective COE.
The band comprise 5 chaps with varying tastes in music including freestyle rap, indie, classical, jazz and rock.
Human Race (KooKoo) is a reflection on modern life and the current fast-paced speed we seem to have to live. We are a very mixed up society.
Christmas time is here again - awesome. Big thanks to all the folks who chose to get their recordings and video projects produced with me at BB Studio. It’s really appreciated and I’ve enjoyed making them all come alive.
Many people ask why the business is called Born in a Barn - the truth is that it’s really got nothing to do with any little babies or mangers. When I set the studio up in 2004 it was cold - real cold - and I figured the phrase ‘were you born in a barn?’ was very appropriate but underpinning this was the notion that many musical artists’ careers would be born in a barn using my studio set up - and they really have.
However this year, my own bands and music has been born too.
High Command was an adventure in going back to live drumming with a band and we recorded a superb 4 track EP, played 3 gigs and made a tongue-in-cheek video. Now the band is on Winter Break (not my term!) cos Greg the guitarist is in Thailand avoiding the chill in resplendent self-indulgence!!
Cup of English (aka COE) is a new venture which started as a studio production group, for 4 individuals with similar tastes and interests. This has grown now to a 5 member band and we intend to start live rehearsals in January. The band make trance/hypnotic indie-based music (loosely) with a good few twists as you might expect from something I get involved with. To date we have 6 tracks on the Lemon Soul EP, which is growing fast into an album. This is an underground group and it’s been a wonderful refreshing project to immerse myself in. Can’t wait to get it out there - but you gotta wait!!
I myself had a great year outside of the studio with the highlight being running my 1st marathon, in Dublin. I trained for this in 8 countries and ran just a little over 1000km, plus raised over €1,200.00 charity cash for the ISPCC or ChildLine Ireland.
Enjoy yourselves this Christmas to the max, but take a bit of time to reflect on the year you have had and other people you know who may be less fortunate.
The music industry goes crazy this time of year with all the gigs and shows. Be careful enjoying yourselves.
Who knows what is coming next year with Brexit?
One thing’s for sure - there will be plenty of stuff to write songs about!!
But lastly ….. here are some big baubles!
This year we have been asked to help out at a few local events and take some video footage of various performances plus take pictures. Video is increasingly popular with everyone now and some people are happy to shoot footage themselves on their phones of course, but the results are never as good. Making videos is something BB Studio is very experienced in now, but photography is another field of expertise.
In light of this we have partnered up with a fantastic local photographer who has been shooting people for a number of years and specialises in head shots and portfolio work. Jay Deeley has his own brand called Pop-up Pix which is fairly self descriptive - he will come to your work place and shoot various portfolio pictures for use on social media, newsletters and so on.
Effortless Promotion has been created to combine our 2 services and provide an all-in-one session where you can talk to camera about your products or services or show us around your premises, which you may be renting to others (homes etc) or to the public so they feel more connected with you as a business, as well as have a photoshoot to gain great pictures.
http://www.borninabarnstudio.com/promotion-at-bb/
So if you have products or services you want to shout about then get in touch and a session can be set up to provide you with all the promotional media you may need to get you going.
How old would you say the average person is who releases a track?
I work with people of all ages and I think the youngest person to record was a young lad reciting prayers, only last year. The oldest person I have ever worked with to date was 92 and still singing.
Featured here in this article is Dave Jagger - Dave is an astonishing man - he turned 70 recently and is still actively recording an album with a local band at BB Studio. He has played several gigs over the last couple of years, since being spotted, and actually works with 2 different bands from time to time. Dave is due to release his first ever single this year and more details will be divulged very soon.
Don't ever think you are are too 'anything' for music - if Dave can, we all can.
This will be short because if you read my last blog you will know I don't like blogging - but I understand it's important so here we go!
Any artist that comes to the studio I will encourage to make a simple video to go with their song since video is so important nowadays.
Matilda really doesn't need any encouragement to make a video though and has made lots with me and other studios now. The one linked too here though is very cool and took very few takes to perfect both in the singing and the filming. All we decided the song needed was some simple shots of Matilda singing the song in the studio with plain background and moody lighting - sounds simple but achieving this requires a heap of stuff - lots of lights for a start. Towards the end of filming we threw in the idea of just showing Matilda walking onto set and make a few adjustments to the gear. Some of these moments are added to the song so the viewer gets to see Matilda in a different way. It's not a new technique or anything but really works well with the sentiment of the song. Check it out:
My cover of P!nk's 'What About Us' - great song, amazing artist and I loved covering it! Many thanks Roger @ Born in a Barn for this fab video too! M x
The creation of scene at the studio - it doesn't need to be over complicated. Matilda is a very good artist to work with who knows how to perform to camera well.
