Q – I am enjoying reading about your process of recording a new record. It must differ greatly from how you would have recorded five or ten years ago. In your perspective, what has changed for the better, and what is worse? When working on an album some years ago, did you walk into a studio with a notebook or cassette demos? In your current work, is there any distinction between demo and final recording?
A – Possible very long answer here. Changed? certainly. Better? Well, I probably wouldn’t be able to make the records I’m making these days on the limited budget that I have it it weren’t for the technological advances of the last few years. Is it more fun? No and yes. I’m working a lot harder, and I feel quite lost and alone at times, but I seem to be able to get what I’m looking for, even if it takes an awful long time.. and I’m still very luckt to have a great pool of musicians and producers who help in many different ways, albeit via phone or email most of the time..
Your point about he distinction between demo and final recording is very pertinent. Even if I am miles off with the original concept of the demo, it can still evolve into a master – something which would have been unthinkable 8 or 10 years ago. Which is not to say that sometimes we don’t have to scrap the whole thing and start again, as I did on ‘How wrong can you be?’ which was meant to be on MIAFL and now only the chorus, rearranged, remains.