OK…

So - I’m late this week…

But I have a good excuse, teacher….honest! And it also proves that these ‘One Minutes’ are totally fresh and totally up to date…as fresh as this morning’s milk....

I had a heavy day yesterday [Sunday] three meetings and very high profile charity work to do, as Trustee of the Grand Order Of Water Rats. If ever you get a chance to support our work please do.. We had much celebrating to do .

John Ratcliff [a Companion Rat] was awarded the ‘C.B.E.’ in the recent honours list. John is a wonderful guy, you will see his name on the rear of almost every truck in Europe [Ratcliff Hoist] he makes those hoists that sit on the back of nearly every truck…and, of course makes the hoists for every ‘Variety Club’ Sunshine Coach to enable wheelchair confined kids to blast off to school or to a little holiday break in their white Sunshine Coach...again, if you can help The Variety Club please do so. They are proud that 96% of all monies collected goes straight to where it should go, to help young underpriveledged kids.

Another Rat celebrated the fact that he has been elected ‘Chief Barker’ for this year. Yep, my pal, Tony Frame, will be seen throughout the UK and the World, representing that wonderful organisation...you can’t miss him, he has a ‘Father Christmas’ beard to die for. He showed me the initial publicity for the ‘Golden Heart’ appeal for this year. Hit four national papers yesterday...he was saying [just as I say] it’s not the money you throw at advertising and PR, it’s actually the work you put into it. And his results proved that.

They have ‘Safeway’on board selling the Gold Hearts and 'Marks and Spencer'. So if you see a Gold Heart for sale anywhere [to "wear on your sleeve"] then please pay over the few coins and know that you will be genuinely helping kids who cannot help themselves.

The last celebration last night was for my old pal Jim Marshall...yes, Jim who designed the original Marshall Amplifier. He still owns the Company himself...so he is worth a few bob...he goes into his office at the Company Headquarters in Milton Keynes every morning at 6am and opens the mail...himself personally. We had a bite to eat last night and he told me that he has been awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music by ‘Five Towns College’ of music, in New York. Bob Zildjian, Jim's pal of 50 years, presented him with a special autographed cymbal and, in all, Jim picked up 8 awards....not bad for a ‘drummer’. He proudly showed me his ‘doctorate’ scroll.

Yes, that’s how Jim started all those years ago, a vocalist first, then a drummer. He was the first drummer to actually run a drum school...taught many of the legends of the Sixties...where would Jimi Hendrix have been without Jim?  His drummer, Mitch Mitcell, was taught by Jim. Micky Waller, Little Richard’s legendary drummer, Micky Underwood who was with Richie Blackmore. Even ‘Chas and Dave’s’ drummer.  All taught by Jim.

Q: What do you call a drummer in a three-piece suit?
A: "The Defendant."

I apologise to drummers ...just had to say that!

And if ever you see Jim anywhere, at a music fair or one of the hundreds of Charity bashes he attends...just walk up and say you know Dec...he will make you most welcome.

Marshall are the finest amps and modules in the world and their reputation is so deserved...if you get up at 5am every morning to look after your business, then you deserve every bit of success you get...do YOU do that?

They are releasing nine new amps this year...so check ‘em out. >From small practice amps to giggable amps...it’s what Jim is calling ‘affordable excellence’...if you can’t afford a ‘stack’, then these amps will give you the excellent Marshall sound you have always wanted.

Get involved. It is surprising how rewarding it is. It never ceases to amaze me how the rewards come in. But don’t think that it is all to do with giving money...it is rarely that. Because most charities exist to support highly paid executives within the charities [prove me wrong!].

I am contantly advising guys on the phone about low priced, good, studio equipment. I always give the advice freely to Members of ‘The Serious Writers Guild’.

But I cannot understand the logic of a guy Emailing me to say he thought that £75 for a Cubase Software program was a ‘bit steep’....hmmmmmm!

£75 to make £1,000,000...seems a bit odd that, to me.

He really wanted a bootleg program that he could download for free off the Net...he didn’t say that, but I bet that’s what he meant.

A proper program will be reliable, will not give up the ghost on the last take of that important session, will have proper back-up from the manufacturer and you, kind of, get a warm satisfaction that you own it, you haven’t stolen it...because that’s what ‘bootleg’ is all about...’stealing’. You know my views on music downloads, well, my views on program bootlegs are just the same...you are stealing ‘intellectual property’...it belongs to someone else - and you are stealing it...simple as that. After all, you create your music to sell and make money....do you really want to ‘steal’ someone else’s work, that they are trying to sell?

Guys I advise, on affordable studio gear, always like the Roland U110...it is good in the rack. Ancient, but so ‘usable’. Seems to creep in somewhere on every track I produce.

Try and find a Korg 05R/W half rack unit.....a mighty tool - and about the same price. They are an excellent combination. Also find an Akai S2000 sampler...most guys get rid because they are so user unfriendly, as the U110 is...mighty powerful bit of kit, though.

The half rack Yamaha EMT10 is considered a joke among amateurs [so old, so limited] but it has a genuine Steinway grand piano in there...they are stereo, but get two, if you can, and use them in tandem...the biggest, most real, piano sound you will ever hear! Cost? Around £20 each! A well kept 'pro' secret.

The Nemesys Gigasampler has a great piano sound but how much? I go for the EMT10.

As regards compressors/limiters try to keep to Industry Standard...Drawmers alway look good in a rack...DBX 160X ,Urei, the LA Audio 4C, which is a four in one unit - is very 'nasty' sounding and extremely useful...I use one in preference to the Drawmer. Tube compressors are gorgeous, but sadly, are only appreciated by those who can recognise the quality they give...would a nine year old?

Be careful of 'nice' sounding compressors...ones where you don't know whether they are on or not [Focusrite falls into this category].

In 'today' music you need to be extremely obvious with effects, compression...'nasty' is the order of the day. There are no prizes for 'nice'. Always remember - the piano sound that Coldplay has, or the piano sound in 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters'. Check out the compression on the piano sound of Robbie tracks.

As regards guitars and guitar sounds, I’m afraid the gear only goes a tiny way to giving you that ‘sound’. It’s the player and the way he sets his personal gear up. Brian May is constantly looking at new ways of doing things and new sounds...at the end of the day, Brian can make any guitar sound like Brian May...always remember that! It would be hard for Stevie Wonder to NOT sound like Stevie Wonder.

Great guitar players know the importance of massive compression and NEW strings. Two things about guitar playing that totally escapes amateurs.  Of course, the start point is a great amp...Marshall?

I had a support act on one of our concerts, the other day, who proudly told me that his Yamaha acoustic guitar cost £400+ and the pick up cost £100...I asked:

"How much did the new strings cost?" "Or was it so long ago you forget?"

I got the inevitable reply: "but I like that 'worn in' sound"

He obviously couldn't have been at the sound desk at the back of the auditorium [where I was] to see the sound engineer battle, in vain, to get any sort of decent sound out of the dull guitar!

Lastly, get knowledgable about ‘filter sweeping’....this year will see an increase in filter sweep techniques...such that a track without a mighty amount will just sound ‘old hat’.

regards

DEC

PS: TIP OF THE WEEK - Brian Eno (my favorite theorist) says the best thing you can do, in the studio, is to bring people to the point where they start searching.  [that's got you thinking?]

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