This Email first mailed to all Members of 'The Serious Writers Guild' and subscribers to 'One Minute With Dec' on

06 April 05

"If you have a dream, you can, and must, make it happen"

Ellen McArthur

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• Dec proved right yet again?
• My pal's son is Richard Joy and the band 'Freefaller'.
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 Dec proved right yet again?

 

Regular 'One Minute' readers will remember that I caused a storm a while ago by advising songwriters/music makers/performers to study up on the art of 'miming'.  I particularly meant musicians and performing instrument players...drummers especially.

 

I mentioned a pal, a son of a fellow Water Rat, who specialised in miming drums.  He had [and still has] a bunch of like minded guys who he can call on to be the 'band' for visiting overseas Chart artists and also for breaking artists in the UK.  They can study a CD of the track to be performed and mime 'perfectly'.  I also mentioned that the level of miming I saw from chart bands at the BBC Number One Party, I was invited to, was nothing less than stunning.  A fellow Number One artist sitting beside me would not believe they were miming....until I pointed out that the cymbals were not moving - no matter how hard the drummers seemed to hit them!!!!!  and he was a drummer [Tony Meehan from The Shadows].

 

Richard has just been Top Ten with 'Do This, Do That'.  They are currently at Number 2 in the video charts.

 

My pal's son is Richard Joy and the band 'Freefaller'.

 

The web site is phenomenal.  check it out www.freefaller.co.uk.

 

To call Richard simply a drummer is akin to referring to Michelangelo as a bloke who paints ceilings!

Performing professionally since the age of 16, Richard has toured the world in all manner of musical productions and ensembles; these include as principal percussionist in the European touring company of the 'Rythmics', sequel to "Stomp", as a key member of an ensemble for Disney live spectaculars, and more recently accompanying Avril Lavigne at the Brits!

Crushing the music industry stereotype of drummer as the traditionally, er, intellectually challenged member of the group, Richard is a graduate of the London College of Music.  I have followed his career closely and he does it by the book....Dec's book!  The hair, the attitude, the looks, the clothes, the ability to accept any situation that is presented, particularly the 'miming' side.  And now he has proved that the whole 'method' for success, as laid out by Dec, gives huge success.

 

"There is no destination in life, there is only the journey"

"I'm trying to spend the minimum to make the maximum - and it doesn't work"

The USA is back to normal...no change at the Top...quite amazing.  And Elvis makes it again in the UK after missing the Top Three last week.

In the UK, there is a rather marvellous olde worlde look to the singles chart this week. A frantic 17 new entries in the Top 40 alone, yes, but a full 7 of those pitch up between 30 and 40, just like the good old days when new singles would slip unnoticed into the lower reaches and then steadily rise up the listings. Of course this being 2005 none of the singles in question will actually end up doing much and just exist to be ranked as relative flops but if nothing else it is nice to look and wonder. It also gives the two local radio clowns on the Top 40 show plenty of material to poke fun about until they get round to the important bits of the chart.

Conveniently enough that is where we will start with Tony Christie reigning supreme at the top of both singles and albums listings, raising plenty of Comic Relief money and also bagging himself the longest running Number One hit since Band Aid. Funny to think that 'Amarillo's vast sale in its first week meant that in one fell swoop it sold more copies in a single week that it did during its whole chart run first time around.

 "Let your guard down, and let life in."
Joe Vitale

 Subscriber's Section:

A much repeated question re recording music.  Which method?  Hard Disc Recorder?

Hi Dec,
I need some straight advice about hard disc recorders.  I hope you don't mind.  The only info I can get is from magazines and the salesmen who tell me that their product is the very best and all others are garbage.

My main use for the recorder is to produce good quality demos of my own songs to send out to publishers etc, and to record my own style of not necessarily marketable music for my own enjoyment.

I have been looking at a Yamaha aw4416 and a Roland vs 2480.What are your thoughts on these? Any other suggestions?

My main question; is 96k sampling a whole lot better than 44.1k?
What are the advantages?
Is 96k necessary for what I aim to do or will 44.1k do?
Will I get a longer and more profitable run with a 96k unit than the other?

A ***** W *****

Answer:

 A*****

 I don't see your name on the Members list????

Ok...you get this one for FREE!  Only one though.

All the hard disc recorders available will more than satisfy your requirements. However, I will guarantee that you will get more excited by what is achievable [particularly when you get involved with me]. You WILL want to get involved with midi, with a good mixing desk, with great outboard equipment.and compressors etc. Once you go down that road you will find that you can get superb studio quality at little expenditure...what you really need is the knowledge.

The current Hard Disc phenomenon started with the Roland 480 which was quickly surpassed by the Roland VS880.

That means eight channels with a capability of 8 virtual tracks on each channel and 256 'undo' chances ...in other words it remembers the last 256 takes....until you switch off or store the whole lot. They are totally midi addressable and will act as a 'time clock' to drive a complete studio of midi addressable equipment.

I used that for many albums. But I have the knowledge of how to use it. So I upgraded my project studio to a full blown home studio which makes a lot of money [no outsiders allowed!] I now use Roland 1880...great but horrendously user unfriendly. Only because it will do so much. The latest is Roland 2480 ...twenty four track with 16 virtual tracks on each and similar 256 undo's. 'One Minute With Dec-The Annual' TWO interactive audio CD's all were recorded on it...stunning  www.makehits.co.uk/annual.htm

Any of the hard disc recorders will fill your requirements. 44.1K is standard CD quality. 96K is quoted and can be used but you get into the realms of technicality here....for instance, if you don't record at 0db on a CD burner then you are not using all the 24 bits in the first place.....so I wouldn't even get involved in the argument....you will NOT hear the difference in the sampling once you go over 44.1.

    The Roland recorders have phenomenal effects boards and feature the RSS style effects [Roland Stereo Sound, Roland Spatial Sound, Roland Surround Sound].  Featured on almost every R&B/Hip Hop chart track.