7 Days Of 2016 Thank-Yous

Just a copy & paste from my facebook page over the last week....

Yeah I'm starting a 7 day Facebook campaign on a Saturday, and you better be OK with it. Still plenty to be getting on with before the year is out, but thought I'd take the opportunity to thank a weeks worth of people and things that have made my year a good one, and pair it with a catchy title. So...

"Day 1 of people and things that have made my year good" Is my favourite mastering engineer John Webber of AIR Studios Mastering. In my time as a studio monkey so far, I've been lucky enough to work with a lot of great mastering engineers from top studios, but since working with John for the first time a couple of years ago he's consistently been my 1st choice engineer.

Cheers mate!

"Day 2 of people and things that have made my year good" Is Amptech Services. Amazing to have a 'go to' technician on this island who's capable of dealing with pretty much anything you throw at him. At the studio we regularly entrust Mark with our most precious gear, from old Fender amps to our very delicate Calrec console modules. Always a pleasure! Here's our Rhodes in surgery

"Day 3 of people and things that have made my year good" Is Code Drum Heads. I love these heads, and at the studio we've been on board with these guys from the beginning. They sound amazing and are as durable as any other brand. Couple that with the fact that they're a British company with great customer service and their very affordable prices, and it's a no brainer. It's really helped with drum recording sessions as we can actually afford to keep fresh heads on our kits and snares!! Congrats on the huge steps forward you've made this year James & Co, looking forward to seeing what you make of 2017!

"Day 4 of people and things that have made my year good" Is Steve Colley of Widget Productions. Occasionally, I work on a recording project with someone who massively fast-tracks my learning curve and pretty much revolutionises the way I think about record production, and this year I had the pleasure of doing that with Steve. Easily learnt more from 10 sessions than I usually would in an entire year. Not to mention those times that you turn up to a gig and realise Mr Colley is at the desk (ipad) and just makes your life brilliant, whether you're a punter or musician.

Cheers man!

"Day 5 of people and things that have made my year good" Is Newtone Strings. I'm a big fan of 'classic' gear when you only have to buy it once, like an SM7 or a Henry Hoover, but I spend a lot of time looking for alternate manufacturers of things that I buy all the time - these companies seem to have more interest in what individual customers actually want from the product, and so have some great ideas that can be game changers when you discover them. Basically, finding Newtone has made my guitars sound better this year, and that's pretty cool. Thanks and keep up the good work!

"Day 6 of people and things that have made my year good" Is Backline / Logistics / Technical - BLT Services AKA Ian Davison! Every now and then I make a cameo appearance as an actual musician, and it has become an amazing normality to turn up to a gig, anything from IOW Fest to the Quay Arts theatre, spot the DW, Mark Bass & Fender Twin on stage and mutter "Cheers Ian". I like to think that Strings Guitar Centre is still alive, it's just gone mobile! Here's a pic to show how happy your work makes band members on this island...

Starting to realise I needed a lot more than 7 days, but.....

"Day 7 of people and things that have made my year good" is Studio 5A. Selfish? Yes. Lazy? Yes. But in all fairness, without the studio my year would have been pretty un-eventful. Myself and Claydon Connor started this place over 8 years ago (seriously) and would never have thought we'd still be here going into our 9th Christmas. It's not an easy thing to sustain, so this is really a thank-you to everyone who's been involved with 5A at any point whether it's recording, mixing, using our rehearsal spaces, lent us money, still owe us money; it's all massively appreciated.

Bring on the 2 days off. Peace.