Category: music

More sneak preview clips.

video still / Screen shot
Here are some more sneak previews of the songs I’ve been recording for my debut album. There are clips of three songs in this track, and a bit of a piano thingie at the end that is actually a part of one of the songs.

Sneak previews 2 by misterebby

  1. Codail Sámh
  2. Galway Rain
  3. Is This What They Call Romance?

The Irish language title is a bilingual track, but it’s mostly english lyrics, and a little bit of Irish. I’m rather fond of vocal layers, as you’ll hear in two of these clips.

If you want to help me get the album finished, and get it out there for other people to listen to instead of it just playing around in my head, then consider pledging some money to my :fund:it campaign, which I’m using to crowdfund the rest of the recording.

Studio days: week 3 & Fundit Crowdfunding project.

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The last two days of May were spent back up in Charthouse studios again, this time working on just three songs over the two days, as we were going to be hitting two of the more complex songs from a recording point of view. As it stands at the moment, I’ve worked on 10 songs in the studio. Two of them will need retracking, as they’re stuff I did on the very first day, and I’d not really gotten the hang of the studio just yet. The other 8 are at various stages – some just need a little bit of extra work and that’s all, and others are pretty good reference tracks that’ll need vocal retracking, and the rest fall somewhere in between. But I’m happy with the progress I’ve made so far.

I think I was overly prepared in many ways, as I have a fear of wasting time in the studio when I’m working on a tight budget, and I want to be as well rehearsed and prepared as possible going in each day. I plan out what songs I’m going to work on what days, and anything I’m unsure of musically gets plotted out on manuscript paper or using MuseScore so that I don’t get flustered or blocked in any way when I’m actually in the studio.

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It was nice to hear things coming together that I’ve only done rough demos of, or hearing new vocal arrangements working out better than I imagined they would. I’ve been listening to the reference tracks here at home these last few days, and picking out what I want to do with each song, and looking at what I’m not happy with about each track so far, and trying to put together a plan for how to finish off the recording as efficiently as I can. I might dilly dally when I’m writing the music, but when it comes to the studio days, I try and be prepared and organised so that I don’t waste money or anyone’s time in the studio. I’m really liking working in the studio though – I’ve taken to it a lot easier than I thought I would, click tracks and all!

But, in between studio days, I’ve been meeting with a friend of mine who is a print artist, and we’ve been chatting and working out ideas for the visual side of the album which has been exciting, and I’ve been working on the crowdfunding project on :fund:it.

In short, the last bit of cash I’d put aside for the recording days was what funded those last day in the studio, so to help fund the rest of the studio time, mixing and mastering, and the initial batch of cds, I’m running a crowdfunding project through :Fund:it – Ireland’s version of Kickstarter and their ilk. Anyone from around the world can pledge money towards a project, and you’ll see a little slew of rewards available to you if you pledge money to help me finish off this album: :fund:it – mister ebby – wires.

Wires : Fundit promo video from mister ebby on Vimeo.

Mark Willis very kindly came over and shot the promo video I’m using on the :fund:it project, and Yvonne Ryan took a few shots that day for me to use too. Check out their work!

Mr Ebby by Yvonne Ryan

Studio Days: week 2

I was back in the studio a fortnight ago for a few days more, and really settled into the place. I’m quite happy with the work that has come about so far. Heading back in for another bit again from tomorrow and after that I should have made a good start on pretty much every song I wanted to cover for this record.

Here’s a sneaky preview of some of the work that’s been going on in the studio – though bear in mind that these are just clips of tracks in progress, and pretty much just piano and my vocals right now.

Some of the songs are coming together a little differently in the studio to how I’ve been performing them live, which is an interesting to see develop to be honest. I guess there’s just a very different energy when you’re connecting with people live, and when you’re really just playing to yourself in the studio.

Studio Days: day one

I’d been looking for somewhere to do some proper professional recording for the last while. I had a small list of things that I wanted from the studio:

  1. I needed an actual real piano – with keys, strings, pedals and all.
  2. I wanted an engineer who had recorded a piano before and who was someone I’d get on well with enough to work with.
  3. The studio space itself needed to be somewhere I’d be comfortable in.

When I was doing a live video shoot in Charlie Byrne’s for a forthcoming Galway based music website, one of the camerafolk was the bass player for Ambience Affair. We got chatting about recording and the difficulty of finding a studio with a piano that was in my budget range. She recommended Charthouse Studios to me, and said that the band had used it for recording and recommended one of the engineers.

studio days: day one

After a few emails back and forth, I was off to Dublin for an afternoon to play on the piano and see what I thought of the place. Left to my own devices for an hour of piano time while Ian was upstairs doing bits of work, a nice long chat about the studio and what I wanted to do, and another hour or so of piano time while he finished up some work and gave me a lift back to town. Sold. The piano is a lovely little Yamaha upright that has a gorgeous sound – much nicer than I was expecting.

studio days: day one

So, yesterday I had a day in the studio to see what I thought of actually recording there, and recorded three little tracks that weren’t going to be too much hassle. It was probably one of the more enjoyable studio experiences I’ve had. But that could also be because I was playing my own music, and in charge of what was happening. I also didn’t have to do any of the engineering, recording or editing work that I’d have to do in my little home studio set up that I use to demo songs. I could just focus on the songs, the piano, and not worry about anything else.

studio days: day one

Now, the question is, what next? More studio days seems to be the logical step, and I have plans forming in my head of what songs I want to do, how I want to do them, and who else I want to draft in to flesh out some of the arrangements.

studio days: day one

I’m toying with the idea of using Fundit.ie to crowd-fund the recording project – I’d previously looked into sites like Kickstarter, but Fundit is specifically for projects based in Ireland.

Question is, if I set up the project, would people Fundit?

Testify! May 2nd @ The Roisín Dubh

Tonight, upstairs in the Roisín Dubh.

Come Testify! and be saved this May Bank Holiday Monday!

Another cracking line up we do indeed have with my good self hosting and drinking on the night.

Guests: Stephen Murray , Mags Treanor , Mister Ebby, Donal Mc Connon, with The Pamphlet Project

Here’s some info about the other performers tonight:

Stephen Murray was born in Ireland in 1974 and moved to London in 1975. His formative years were spent living with his mother and sister in Erin Pizzey’s historic shelter for battered wives in West London. As a teenager, whilst living in a children’s home, he was twice a runner-up in the W.H. Smith Young Writer of the Year Awards. In 2005 he was crowned Cúirt Grand Slam Champion. He has performed his work as guest reader at many of the World’s most famous poetry venues. He currently lives and writes in Galway where he works as director of Inspireland, teaching poetry and creative writing to young people across the country. House of Bees is his debut collection.

Mags Treanor is a writer and performer who has had loads of creative stuff published while also doing some feature articles and business writing for respectable magazines and journals. She is the co-founder of the ‘Loose Lips’ Story Slam with Tommy Tiernan. In her spare time she works as a business consultant brings up her three kids and tries to hit a shuttlecock now and then.

Donal McConnon has busked his way across the Iberian Penninsula for two whole summers running in a bid to see if his songs would sustain him all along the road from the southernmost tip of Gibraltar back to his family home in Drogheda, Co. Louth. He writes about open streets, shut-up rooms, springfever, autumnalsludge and kissing Arthur.

The Pamphlet Project is launching the second of its collaborative pamphlets on Monday the 2nd of May at Testify in the Roisin Dubh. Each month a poet and artist will work together to design a pamphlet which will be distributed free in selected bars and cafes around Galway.

May’s pamphlet is sponsored by Mc Donaghs Seafood House on Quay Street, and was designed by Lisa Allen and Sarah Newell.

Lisa Allen is from Navan. She developed her love of poetry from observing the locals doing circuits of the town’s cultural hub-the Shopping Centre. She studied Philosophy and English at University College, Dublin. Lisa has performed her work at various events in Galway, including “Over the Edge”, Clifden Arts Week and “Testify”. She was shortlisted for the 2009 “Over the Edge New Writer of the Year”, and had some of her work published in “The Best Poems of 2009”. Lisa is currently working towards her first collection.

Sarah Newell, aged 31, was bred in Navan and has recently moved to Galway. Sarah graduated in Architecture where she developed her interest in typophilia. Sarah was shortlisted for the ‘Cycles’ show in 2008, which was organised by Synth Eastwood, an art, music & technology group based in Ireland/UK. Following this, she curated a photographic exhibition “Brutal, Bold and Brilliant”, in 2010, which aimed to encourage fresh conversations about Brutalist architecture, with particular reference to buildings in Belfast and Dublin. She currently enjoys looking at fonts.
The Pamphlet Project is always looking for artists and poets who’d like to get involved. For more details about the e-mail pamphletproject@gmail.com, or go to the facebook page at www.facebook.com/thepamphletproject.

The event was mentioned by the Galway Advertiser too, which was nice to see.

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