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This is where I'll announce the most recent additions to my web site and what I've been up to. If you've visited here before and want to know what's changed, take a look here first.

For general Music and Music Tech news follow this link.

2021
August to November	Well it has gone a bit quiet. Not a lot going on other than online lessons and it is pretty quiet again. At least I've finally had a couple of gigs in pubs and a sound gig for a band at a wedding.
August	Finished mastering the album for my client and now waiting for him to get the artwork finished before the project gets released.
April onwards	I continue to provide online/phone support and tuition to various people during this period. I have had more new clients this last year with a wider variation of issues and requirements which keeps me going. It's been a very tricky time for everyone and it's only really the last month or so where I have returned to a more normal level of hours worked.
February onwards	I have embarked on a project with a client to help him improve the mixes on an album and then master them for him. More news soon.
March to April	I have mixed and mastered an EP "A Time to Say Goodbye" for Bob Stone, the songs are available to listen to here. .
2020
October 2020 till the end of 2021???...	COVID 19 update. Due to the current situation I am not expecting I will be doing any home visits for tuition or set up until next year. I continue to provide on-line support and remote mixing and mastering. Please contact me for details because I can help with mixing and tuition and installation or set up problems.
August to October	One of my online clients over the last few months is someone who wanted to understand Studio One but also wanted to completely redo his complicated studio set up. It has been tricky but even with the fact that I have not been able to go and see his set up, I have been given enough information that we have been able to amend the set up and get it to work. We are about to finalise this in the next couple of weeks. So even jobs like this can be done remotely.
October	And then there were 4... books of poetry that I have been involved in publishing. This is a book of uplifting haiku, one for every day of the year. The poet is Charley Elbow again and you can see the book ReBalancing here.
October	I am now offering tuition in the use of Harrison MixBus. If you are interested in mixing this is a great place to start.
October	The other good thing about the technology is that I can help someone on the other side of the world as easily as if they are a mile away. I have recently been helping a podcaster in Australia and a music student in San Francisco amongst my many clients.
October	Well I wish I had more to say. I am still offering on-line tuition and set up support and have been doing ok with the amount of calls I have been getting - given the circumstances which now seem to be deteriorating again. I hope that this situation sorts itself out soon but in the meantime if you are struggling to understand what's going on in Cubase or whichever software you are using I am getting very good results with helping people out over the internet. It's amazing what can be done and I am grateful that the technology exists that means I can help you. Lessons can be as short as 10 minutes and I only charge for the time I spend helping you.
September	Having published 2 books last March and this February I was asked by poet Charley Elbow if I could provide some photos to go with some poetry. I was at a bit of a loose end with COVID and had the opportunity to take some photos while on my daily exercise. So I provided Charley with photos and then I published the result for us. You can find the book Making a Scene here.
April	Remote mixing for Tim Boat. 3 tracks the first of which has been released on Bandcamp already. It's called Beautiful Accident.
March 2020 till ...	Due to Lockdown I am only providing on-line support and remote mixing and mastering. Support and tuition through Chrome Remote Desktop, Mac OS Screen sharing and on-line calls. For mixing just contact me and we can discuss how to send me files. Please contact me for details because I can help with tuition and installation or set up problems.
To March	Working on Brandin's new album Metroland. More tracks one at a time building to the new album.
February	Following on from publishing a book last March I have just helped poet Charley Elbow publish a book of poetry and mixed media art. The poet is Charley Elbow and the artist is John Pelham and you can see the book Together We'll See here.
January/February	Finishing mixes and masters for the artist to go with his sculpture. Acoustic song with political comment.
2019
August to December	Working with a musician/artist who is working on a sculpture and music to go with it and a video. Teaching him how to record using Cubase and then mixing tracks for him after.
All year	I seem to be working with a few voice over artists this year. Helping them understand the basics of recording or how to make better quality recordings. Using everything from Garageband to ProTools.
To December	Plenty more gigs with 3 of my bands up to the end of the year. All good fun.
To December	Working on Brandin's new album Metroland. Nearly finished or so I thought!
June	Helping a Reggae producer with mix issues. Taking him through where he was encountering some problematic phase issues.
May	Helping a Grammy award winner set up his recording set up following him moving back to this country.
May	Cleaning up a 40 year old recording that had been transferred onto CD already but needed quite a bit of attention.
May to August	Helping a couple of churches set up their PA and showing them how to use it. One local and one up in East London.
April	To say I'm devastated would be an understatement. After seeing him play up at the Forum less than 2 weeks ago Paul Raymond passed away at home in Germany. He was an amazing musician and had become a good friend over the last few years. He had just finished the UK leg of the last ever UFO tour. I loved working with him on his last few albums and we had a fun time while we shaped them into something brilliant. I will miss him, as will many others!
March	I have just helping a local poet publish a book of poetry for Children. The poet is Charley Elbow and you can see the book Small Feats and Tall Tales here.
January to date	Interesting clients on the teaching and set up front: from renowned percussionists to actors wanting to record their own voice-overs to songwriters trying to update their recording systems and having update issues and every stop in between.
February	High Definition released. It's available at Paul Raymond Project
January to date	The bands are all go, I have got gigs booked with In Transit, 5 Sided Dice, Bar Trek, The Mayberries, Gentleman Rogues and Harry Spadge.
February	"Salt City" has been released on Amazon to stream, download or you can buy a DVD if you wish. Please see Facebook for more information.
January	Finishing off High Definition for Paul Raymond, the album is being released on February 15th and is going to be available on his website. I have co-produced the album with Paul and mixed and mastered the whole thing, it sounds great, Paul's arrangements are fantastic.
2018
December	Recording another classical concert for composer Keith Burstein at the 1901 Arts Centre in London. Piano, clarinet, mezzo soprano and cello.
August	Recorded the opening night of the Prometheus Revolution by Keith Burstein at the Arcola Theatre in Dalston during the Grimeborne festival. Click on the Mixing/Mastering/Record button above to see more details and a review of the recording from Keith.
June to August	Gigs virtually every weekend from Mid June through to the 18th August, with Bar Trek, In Transit, The Mayberries and 5 Sided Dice. This was an amazing run of 10 weeks only broken by one weekend when we had a very sick drummer who had to cancel.
July	Salt City was released at the end of July. The full soundtrack mixed by Brandin and me and mastered by me. Please see Facebook for more information.
January to date	The bands are all go, I have got gigs booked with In Transit, 5 Sided Dice, The Mayberries, Gentleman Rogues and Harry Spadge (dep guitar). All it needs is Mark to be not working so hard and we'd do some Bar Trek gigs too!
January to date	Plenty of teaching and studio set up work with some new and existing clients, both on-line and home visits.
January to February	Finishing off the last of the mixes and masters for the film "Salt City".
February	A couple of trips to BBC Radio Kent to do the live sound for a radio session for Beldon Haigh. You can find a video of one of the songs recorded on the day on YouTube.
2017
All year	Doing a lot more on-line support and teaching this year than in the past. This enables me to help people who live in places where it would be too expensive and time consuming to travel to.
December	Recording a classical concert for composer Keith Burstein at an Arts Centre in London next to Waterloo station. Piano, violin and cello.
September	Helping a Podcaster understand the techniques for getting his news podcast together and getting it on Soundcloud and iTunes.
May to December	Finally getting the Bar Trek album completed and released on CD and all the usual digital platforms in December. It's called Beautiful World. See my bands page for details. Did a couple of gigs down in Shoreham to support it's release.
All year	Continuing to do video creation and editing on an irregular basis for the Nautical Institute.
August	Some repeat work from last year, running live sound for a local Arts Festival.
May	Helping Dave Hardington with a remix/remaster of one track from his Sea Dreamers album that he had amended.
May to Date	Working with a talented young singer/piano player, with industry backing. Teaching her Logic and Production so that she can turn her songs into hits.
May to July	Editing and mixing with Max Shire on some film music that he has written.
February to December	Mixing and mastering tracks for Brandin to go into a new film "Salt City". He is working on the soundtrack while making the film. These are being drip fed to me over time as they come ready. The film is due for release late summer 2018.
January to April	Completing Paul Raymond's latest album which may come out early next year.
January onwards	Working with Mark and Steve on a new album for their band. Can't say anymore at the moment.
January onwards	Plenty of teaching and some very interesting studio set ups.
January to March	Working with a recording artist to help prepare him in setting up equipment for his new studio in Kent.
All year	Gigs with In Transit, Harry Spadge, Bar Trek, Spicy Old Cow and the Mayberries. As well as doing a couple of solo slots around the local area. From May onwards working with a new band "5 Sided Dice". Playing rock music we did our first gig at a wedding in August.
2016
September onwards	Working on mixes for Paul Raymond's new album which is due to be finished in early 2017.
January onwards	Video editing for the Nautical Institute. Taking audio, slides and video from Presentations and Interviews and producing finished videos for their Members site.
July/August	Had our first and second gigs with In Transit, good gigs over in Burgess Hill. In Transit's Facebook page for more information.
June	Finished Mixing and Mastering the album for Bob Stone. Due for launch on July 17th.
May	Live work at Trading Boundaries for Son Yambu an excellent Cuban band in the tradition of the Buena Vista Social Club. Son Yambu's site.
February on	Loads of teaching. Also playing bass and guitar with Tim and new band In Transit. Open Mics and gigs and some recording.
March and on	Continuing to work with Mark and Steve of Vice Versa in helping them to produce their new album. Following the very successful release of their 4 album Vinyl retrospective - Electrogenesis 1978-80. VVAntholgy on Twitter.
January on	Into the studio with Bob Stone. Recording gets underway at Eversfield Studio.
January and on.	Working sporadically with Paul Raymond on a new album.
2015
All year	Loads of teaching. Also playing bass and guitar with Tim. Open Mics and gigs and some recording.
December	Cutting Crew at Trading Boundaries. On the Desk for the 3 Wise Men and a Virgin iteration of Cutting Crew. Doing old songs, songs from the new album and a whole load of party covers.
November	Getting ready to record with Bob Stone. He has written 90% of his album. We are aiming to get into the studio to finish recording all the bits he can't get done at home.
October on	Starting some video editing for the Nautical Institute.
October	Mastering new EP for Tim Boat.
September	Mastering Sea Dreamers album. Out soon.
June on	Helping Dave H with the mixing process for the new Sea Dreamers album. Which will be out later this year.
May/June	Setting up a studio set up for an American Songwriter down on the south coast.
March	Sound engineer for Kiran Ahluwalia at the Nehru Centre in Central London. For her album launch at the Indian High Commission for ARC Music.
March and on	Working with Mark and Steve of Vice Versa in helping them to produce their new album. Following the very successful release of their 4 album Vinyl retrospective - Electrogenesis 1978-80. VVAntholgy on Twitter.
February on	Working with a songwriter to produce some tracks for his act.
January	Rewind 50 was given a full release in January of 2015 and is available on iTunes and Amazon (amongst others). Here is the link to buy it on Amazon.
2014
Various	Started building Guitars. A couple of Cigar Box Guitars, one at a Chickenbone John "Build a CBG Session" and one at home with a box I found in a Cigar shop and also a P Bass and just about to start on a Thunderbird bass.
November	Mixing and Mastering 12 songs for Paul Raymond for his album "Rewind 50", celebrating his 50 years as a professional musician, from Chicken Shack to UFO. We mixed this in record fast time. Paul raised the necessary funds from a pledge campaign rather than the usual record label route and the pledgers have all received their albums. Mixed in Cubase 7 and mastered in Logic Pro using T-Racks Custom Shop plugins. It sounds fantastic and is going to be available to the general public very shortly. It's had great reviews already.
August	Out of my comfort zone to Stage Manage one of the stages at "Making Waves on Broadway" a 2 stage festival in Haywards Heath. Some great bands including "Bryony Brookes", "U2 Tribe" and "Chicory Tip". Great fun and a very long day.
August/September	Mixing a track for Yodaclub called Wasted, it has subsequently got airplay on BBC Introducing.
July and September	Live sound for upcoming Irish band the "Young Folk". The Young Folk have released an album this summer and have been promoting it in the UK and Ireland.
July	Recording, Mixing and Mastering guided meditations with atmospheric backing track for a Reiki healer for sale online and to their meditation clients.
Various	Live sound for local band Eternal Optimists.
April	Some recording for "Nia Coleman" a young classically trained singer with an awesome voice.
April and June	Some recording for the studio owner at Woodside Studios.
All year	Working with a Brighton based singer/songwriter on some of his songs with a view to recording (already started) and taking them out live. We've done a couple of gigs this year at a songwriters showcase and a few open mic sessions.
January/March	Mixing some more new songs for Paul Raymond for his next album.
January/April	Mixing some more songs for Brandin and his band.
January/October	Recording the vocals for Mark and my EP, we have 6 songs written, just tweaking some lyrics and the arrangements as well as doing some recording.
2013
December	Live Mixing for a benefit gig last night to raise money for Typhoon victims. Loads of great music and money raised. — Steve Ward (@swsoundsteve) December 1, 2013
November	You can now follow me on Twitter by clicking on one of the links on any of my pages. They are at the top of the page or in the left bar below all the page link buttons. Additionally, on my Advice and Tips page I have added a Tweets section that will carry any Tips tweets as I can get them on the site.
The Autumn	A couple of recording and mixing projects coming up with a couple of existing clients.
August	A little bit of mixing for Paul Raymond on his side project.
May to September	Three projects for a Ghanian producer based in South London. For three different artists, programming and recording 8 to 10 songs per project. Currently in the mixing stages of 2 of them with the third likely to go on into the Autumn with some re-writes going on.
March to August	Busy with teaching, a few new clients and some regulars too. Cubase and Logic are still the most popular DAWs with my clients.
February	Paul Raymond Project - Mixing FOH for Paul at the gig to launch his new album at the Borderline on 1st February. This also included doing the sound for his support band Pig Iron.
	"Hi Steve, Its Rob Wolverson here, guitarist with P.Raymond Project. Thanks a lot for doing what you do last night, had some great feedback from the audience and that's the first time a live engineer has done my guitar sound justice, look forward to working with you in the future. "
	"Hi Guys, A big thank you for your sterling work on friday night. From my point of view it is vital to have good technical support so I don't have to worry about anything going wrong and you both handled everything like the true professionals you are. Steve, I've the been told the FOH sound was great, which is the most important thing." - Paul Raymond
February	Teaching is taking off again after a bit of a break over Christmas. Clients including Mark White (ABC) and Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood).
February	Synthesizers - A client is putting together a Eurorack Synthesizer system which I am going to be helping with.
February	Paul Raymond Project - some more mixes in the pipeline for his next album.
2012
December	Recorded Cutting Crew and the Tar Babies at Trading Boundaries for their 2nd Christmas gig, another good night.
October/ November	Reconnecting with a couple of old clients who are getting writing again
September	Mixing some tracks for Paul Raymond (UFO) for a solo project. We mixed 5 tracks and they sound awesome. He has an album deal for this project so hoping these will be released in 2013.
August	Starting to do some work for Mark White (ABC) setting up home system and getting him back into recording after a break from the music industry.
June/July	Recorded Steve Hackett Acoustic set at Trading Boundaries on June 30th. I mixed this and Steve loves it, now I'd like to get it released but that's up to Steve. Keep looking here for more news, or maybe you should ask him to release it....
May	It has been confirmed that I will be recording Steve Hackett at Trading Boundaries on June 30th.
April	Recorded Max Shire at Woodside Studios and will be mixing and mastering the 4 songs over the coming weeks.
March	Got to together with Nick from Cutting Crew to finalize the mixes of the 5 songs that we hope may be released soon.
February	UFO album "Seven Deadly" released. If you click on this link you will get to the All Music website showing the credits for the "Seven Deadly" album. I get credit as Engineer on this album (having recorded some of Paul's guitar parts).
January	Hopefully got some more exciting projects to record at Trading Boundaries this year.
January	Talked to Nick about the Cutting Crew mixes and hope to be getting together soon to finalise them.
January	Recording John Wetton of Asia at Trading Boundaries. Steve Hackett will be making a guest appearance. AE Productions will be videoing the show as well.
2011
December	Recorded Cutting Crew at Trading Boundaries when they were playing there along with local band The Tar Babies. I have done some initial mixes for Nick Van Eede and we are now waiting to see what happens next.
November	Recorded Focus at Trading Boundaries where they were playing as part of their 2011 tour. Hoping this becomes their new live album.
October	Introduced to a new local studio near East Grinstead and had two days of recording for a local band and am now mixing and mastering these tracks.
July onto September	Helping Paul Raymond with Cubase with his home system as he writes songs for the new UFO album. We then moved onto recording his guitar parts for the album and sending them off to Germany for the producer of the album
April to June	Plenty of teaching throughout.
February to March	Got some tracks from a client to master this month. Also some more tracks from Brandin to finish his album and some tracks from a soundtrack album to master.
February	Followed this up later in the week with a recording of Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash at Trading Boundaries. Roger Dean and Steve Hackett in attendance along with others. recording MTWA for another promo video for the same management company as Focus. They also manage Steve Hackett as well as many other artists. The great thing was Steve Hackett came over to talk to a couple of the cameramen and said how good the mix of Focus was, that it was better than the live album. Andrew thankfully was on hand to introduce me to Steve which was great. I left feeling very happy. Spent some time mixing and mastering 3 tracks from the evening for the video.
February	Good start to the month, visited Alvin Stardust to help him with some technical questions with his new recording system. Very knowledgable and a good guitarist.
2010
December	Got to do the live sound for the Tar Babies at Trading Boundaries for one of their Christmas gigs. Big crowd and a good evening.
November	Mixed and Mastered 3 tracks for a band in the south east for a local producer. The main singer/ writer being a BBC introducing winner.
October/November	Returned home from holiday to receive an emergency call to fix some live tracks from the 70's band Focus who had performed at a local venue. They had major problems with the recording which I got sent to me. Mixed and mastered two tracks for a promo video. These were Hocus Pocus and Focus 3. (more on this later).
July to September	Mixing and Mastering tracks for Taline Temizian. For another album to be out there on iTunes later in the year.
May to July	Bit more Music Tech teaching, start work on mixing Brandin's new tracks for an album and also for producer Kay Asare.
2009
September	I got involved in Managing a Project for a Charity delivering Music Technology, IT, Creative Writing and Web Design. I taught the IT and Music Technology course also. Amongst other things this kept me very busy until April of 2010.
July	Spent a couple of days working at the BBC in Sheperd's Bush. Teaching 2 of their BBC Worldwide technicians how to use Pro Tools 8 with their new PT003. This was my first job for Audio Support.
April	Recording and mixing 3 tracks for a local band called Sketch.
March	Working on some videos for my band, as a side project just simple rehearsal stuff to give people a view of what we do. I have to say it is really good getting to do some work in Final Cut. There is so much you can do in FC Express.
March	One good thing about this year so far....Kristelle Graff's EP "The Girl from Nowhere" has just been loaded into Tunecore.com and will be available on iTunes UK/Europe, US and Australia/NZ in about 4 to 6 weeks time. She has had some CDs printed, I shall be getting a couple from her next week when I go to see her. You can listen to these tracks on MySpace. Follow the link on my links page.
January	Mixed songs for a Mauritian band. Sounds great but work getting in their way. Which has slowed down them getting new tracks finished.
2008
November	Went out on a location shoot with a cameraman to record sound for the day. Very interesting day with a radio mic and 416 on a boom trying to stay within 3 metres of the cameraman. I am used to location recording but this was interesting to work with a new company.
September	Discovered that Max Shire put his first album on CDBaby so you can buy his tracks there. Also some recordings of Carmen that I was involved in about 4 years ago are now on iTunes as well. I think I should go hunting iTunes for all the albums I have ever mixed and see how many are on there....
September	There are now 6 tunes on iTunes for Silvertown Girl. Apparently we are changing aggregator in the next couple of weeks so the initial three tracks will be down for a while but back again soon.
August	It's all over now. Did the last Derek Acorah dates for Rainbow in Scotland. Three packed houses. I have always enjoyed my trips to Scotland.
July	Max Shire has had loads of great reviews. He even had "Love Lost Again" reviewed in Sound on Sound in July 2008. "There are lots of positive qualities to Max's album, crisp recording, enthusiastic performances...".
July	Got a call asking me if I would engineer at an outside event in Sussex. Approx. 800 people attended the Proms in the Park. Sorted out the kit list for the PA and all the gear with a local PA company and then did the sound on the day. Very lucky with the weather. Really busy day, non-stop for 13 hours, setting up, sound checking and then mixing. Good day.
May	Had a trip to France to help an ex-pat songwriter with some mixing and make sure his set up was working as well as it could. Also to help a local inexperienced sound engineer with the set up for live gigs using an 01V.
April	Spent some more time at the Trinity, 3 gigs to do the sound, a couple as technician and one to do the lights.... Yes, operate the lights, a new experience for me, but once you get used to the desk it's quite straightforward to do the basics.
February to April	Working with Martin and Brenda on some more songs, 7 recorded now and mixing the last 4 in May, getting them ready to go on sale on iTunes.
January	Finished 3 songs with Martin and Brenda, now see where they go... iTunes here we come...
January	Spent 7 days working at the Trinity Theatre in Tunbridge Wells as a Sound Technician. Got a call just before Christmas asking for help on their Medieval Baebes gig. Then they asked me to help out with their Christmas show. Good experience of seeing theatre life from the venue's perspective.
2007
December	Another great review for Max at Room 13. They just keep coming in. How long before somebody picks this up and puts it out?
December	The tour is over for another year. Very hard work, a lot of miles but some good new venues and made some new friends.
November	The album that I have been working on with Max Shire is now circulating and getting good reviews from Independent sources. See Max's MySpace page for details.
November	Started work on a 5 day project involving taking Soundbeam to some adults with profound learning disabilities in Kent.
September 6	Tomorrow, Friday 7th at 7.15 on BBC Southern Counties Radio a song that was wholly recorded and produced at my studio should be played. Sue Cope came in a few weeks ago and we rearranged "Thinking of You" that was originally recorded here nearly 3 years ago. We're not sure which version is going to be played. If you miss it you should be able to play it again (for a week) from the SCR website.
August	Starting a project this week with a client in Tonbridge, Martin. He's written some songs and found a singer, Brenda, now we start recording. He's had a couple of false starts but he is now ready to go.
July	Now have a copy of the masters from Max, he has a MySpace account with 4 of the tracks on. Follow the link above to have a listen.
April	Busy, busy, busy... Mixing 14 tracks for a songwriter in South London, some really memorable hooks and some heartfelt lyrics. Should be finished in early May.
March	Still mad out there. Just had a really good night at the Hastings World Music Night at St Mary's in the Castle on Hastings sea front. Apparently had up to 600 people in. I was there to Stage Manage the whole event, a new experience and great fun as well as getting the whole thing to work like clock work. The bands were great and made everything very easy to manage. The headliners were Gabbidon and Celloman. The support acts included Sambalanco and Meli Melo. My favourite of the night was Celloman and his band. It's also great to meet such nice people. Had a nice long chat to Ivan and his percussionist Joelle (I hope I spelt that right...).
February	It's completely mad, no time to stop and think. Alongside the Derek stuff and fitting in lessons, I'm mixing an album's worth of material for a songwriter in South London and doing some work for Sound Architect down in Hastings again, some IT as well as music.
2006
December	DA tour ends and the year comes to a close. It's been pretty busy, but I'm always on the look out for that really interesting project..
November	Delivered the 500 copies of the Stoke Brunswick CD to the school prior to a big Christmas concert.
September	Finished mixing and editing the choral album for Stoke Brunswick School. Nearly ready to go to the printers now all we need is a cover..
August	I just re-mixed 4 tracks for Rainbow Productions which are going onto a dance/fitness album which is just to be released in the US. This is under the name of Alien Dance Machine with me as joint arranger.
June/July	A couple of recording sessions of a local school choir. Which will be for a CD for later in the year. Sessions went really well, all the kit worked very nicely. Especially the UltraLite.
March	LMU studios complete. Spent a day last week configuring 2 of the Yamaha DM2000s for 5.1 Surround. Running out into the Genelec speaker system. It's looking and sounding really cool.
January	The Derek Acorah tour starts again. Including a stop at the largest theatre in Europe. The Edinburgh Playhouse.
2005 back to 2002	Highlights
November 2005	Spent a day recording a steel band up at the Jubal studios
June 5th 2005	I was on TV today apparently. Meridian news showed there footage of the Sound Architect film premiere from last week and I have even managed to be on screen for a couple of seconds... Ah fame... I didn't see it. Oh well. If anybody taped it please tell me...
June 2005	Finished mixing the Dr Ekei album for Noel at Jubal. All being well it's being mastered next week.
April 2005	Wow! What a week this was... I have spent a couple of hours this week in the company of Dames Judi Dench and Vera Lynn recording some poetry and an introduction to a charity CD. Also spent all day on Wednesday with Anna Krantz helping her mix a demo track that her publisher wants to send to a couple of very big names in the States. The publisher likes the mix now so all we have to do is wait...
December 31st 2004	A very busy year is over. I have recorded, mixed, taught all sorts of students of all sorts of ages in all sorts of places. I have been around the country in some great theatres and been in front of some very large audiences. It has been a fantastic year, and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself.
February 9th 2004	Today was my first day as sound engineer on a national tour. I am covering for another engineer on some of the dates on this sold out tour.

Recent Music Industry Media Coverage

Apple

As of 12th November there is a new type of processor being launched, the M1 which is a move away from Intel to the Arm-based processor. Claiming much faster processing than ever before. MacBook Air and Pro and the Mac Mini all have the new chips in them. At the same time MacOS Big Sur is also launched but don't upgrade because you will cause yourself a whole load of problems as the software and hardware market catches up. This is a major shift and you need to check compatibility because the OS is completely different.

Cubase 11 launched

With some new features as ever, it's another thing to learn if you'd like. I suggest checking what it is going to add for you before you pay for the upgrade.

Harrison MixBus

Harrison MixBus has now reached version 6. Watch out for deals as they do put it out for a ridiculously low price sometimes.

OS X

Now up to Catalina, as with all OS upgrades approach with extreme caution and do not upgrade without having a clone of your old system so you can go back if you have to. I still do not recommend going past Mojave without a good reason even though Big Sur is on its way.

Sonar and Cakewalk by Bandlab

Gibson bought Sonar sometime ago and now are in financial difficulties so have abandoned it. Thankfully it has been taken over by Bandlab and rebranded. What was effectively the Platinum version is now available free as Cakewalk by Bandlab. If you are an existing user you can carry on as before getting support from Bandlab. If you are a new user you can get Cakewalk for free but without the 3rd Party content.

Digital Performer 10

Now there is Digital Performer 10. More new effects and some great new features, only £150 to upgrade from previous versions. Windows and Intel Mac only.

Pro Tools 2020

There's a new version of PT fully 64 bit and with some new stuff waiting for you. Also it has different subscription possibilites. Buy it outright or pay a subscription. Also PT Free as well with limited functionality but an ideal way to get into it. You need to be connected to the internet though.

Cubase 10.5

The latest and best version yet. Packed full of fantastic features, you can get Pro, Artist or Elements/AI for various prices or upgrade deals.

Studio One v5

The latest version yet. Still a great product with some nice features. Different versions and different prices and upgrade deals.

Windows 10

Just see what I wrote about Windows 8 and repeat!! Update! Now it's not all so bad, however be wary with some of the installed software on one American manufacturer's machines it slows everything down!!

T-Racks

There's a new update and some great new modules. The Custom Shop version has moved onto Version 5. T-Racks main page

Logic Pro X

We're now up to 10.5, if you had bought Logic Pro X at any point this is still a free upgrade but beware you must be on at least Mojave to install this latest version. It looks like Garageband to a certain extent to make the switch over from Garageband less painful, but it still has the power under the hood and claims everything is still there for seasoned Logic users. Main downside is that Apple say you have to have Mountain Lion, which for some of you means you have to upgrade your hardware as well (Mountain Lion cannot be installed on some Intel Macs if they are considered too old). Also no upgrade path, but it's only GBP139.99 which is what you had to pay to upgrade to 9 from 8 so no worries there.

Pro Tools 11

Another upgrade for Pro Tools, watch out for compatibility with older hardware but a fantastic new upgrade. It requires Mountain Lion on a Mac and will only work with the latest Macs. Restricted compatibility on Windows too. You can try the trial version for 30 days, but you need an iLok.

Windows 8

Whatever you've heard about Windows from the advertising, I have not heard a single compliment from a user or expert. And compatibility will be an issue for a while as well.

Digital Performer 8

Now there is Digital Performer 8, for the first time this will be available for Windows as well. There are new effects and some great new features, only £150 to upgrade from previous versions. Intel Mac only.

Reason Rack Extensions announced.

This opens up Reason to manufacturers of VST style instruments and effects. Hopefully it will not affect the rock solid stability of Reason. This will be good news for those of you who love Reason but have always wanted to have the use of other instruments and effects.

Avid Sell M-Audio

Avid have just announced the sale of M-Audio to InMusic who own Alesis, Akai and NuMark amongst others. Apparently so they can concentrate on the professional end of the market. I'm not sure where this leaves users of ProTools M-Powered but I am sure we will soon find out. M-Audio get swallowed up then spat out - interesting.

Another new audio interface from MOTU.

The Audio Express is a Firewire/USB 6 in/ 6 out interface in a similar box to the Ultralite. Don't forget they also have the 8 Pre if you need more inputs. Also the updated Ultralite, 828 and 896 Mk IIIs for added DSP processing.

Steinberg acquired by Yamaha

Yamaha have bought Steinberg from Pinnacle systems. More changes afoot regarding MLAN and hardware and software compatibility for Yamaha and Steinberg products, such as the 01X and Cubase.