07/01/05

A happy new year to you all!

and what a long year last year was. managed to get quite a lot done, and still not update this page nearly as much as I should have. typical, eh?

anyway, firstly i'd like to announce the birth, and development of a new project, formally entrenched on the web, and selling cd's pretty rapidly. it's a collaboration between lise and myself, and is comedically known as kidney riddler. i'm not sure how to describe it, but there are some samples of the music up on the site, so go on; have a little listen! It's been an awful lot of hard work, interspersed with a lot of fun, and personally, i'm really happy with the results.

the site itself is a little bereft of material (news/pictures) at the moment, but that's mostly because the awesome Sam dean is still working on the backend scripting. it's pretty much a complete site model (that I may well steal, sorry, lisence, for this site), and something that will make the site nice and easy to keep up-to-date. thankyou php and mysql!

in other news, I still haven't managed to put up any new music on this site. entirely my fault. kidney riddler kinda tied me up between July and December (when the cd's finially turned up at my door), so tpm has had to take a little bit of a back seat. however, with the first wave of kr recording out of the way, and gigs for that on the horizon, i have more time to work here now. so that's the plan! i'll update the weblog in the next couple of days, and then get back to getting some more tunes up here.

so, here's to a hectic and productive 2005!

27/09/04

Ah, a long silent summer comes to a close!. Sorry for the lack of updates, but hopefully all shall become more clear in the next paragraph or so :).

the major reason things have been quiet is a cross between two things. firstly, i'm absolutely up to my neck in a new project, something that i've been thoroughly enjoying for about 5 or 6 months, but has been getting better and better ever since. i will, of course, post further details on this when the time is appropriate. In fact, we're nearly on the way to completing a cd, and the only thing that has been holding it up is the second factor in the silence - technical problems...

Grr, I hate computers so much of the time. whether it's been my extremely dodgy internet connection (it seems to have been going up and down continuously over the summer, just when i really wanted it - most likely a technical problem at this end of the line), or the fact that my old soundcard has basicaly given up the ghost, or that my computer has been slightly randomly playing up generally, it appears that technology has had it in the neck for me recently. so all available time has been spent on the secondary project, rather than the phonic monkeys.

however, this is not how it's going to stay! i've just ordered an absolute ton of new equipment to update my fairly new studio up to a fairly modern set-up. got some really nice new equipment over the last few months, and this should be the final change for at least 6 or 8 months. So, after a slow evening in the pub last night, I decided to sketch out the new studio. you can see that sketch here (a bit over 200kb), listing most of the gear in here now, along with the new gear; i'll probably stick up a photo of it fairly soon.

meanwhile, keep an eye on the blog. now my connection is slightly more stable, that'll be coming back up to date. music has been coming off the site at a constant rate as well, so all things are looking fairly good; the autumn is the time for a return to more phonic's music :)

23/06/04

right, a large update today!

firstly, the Art site is now up and running (and way outta my hands!) - it's http://www.fine-art.org.uk/. it would be nice if people could pop on over and have a look, and perhaps support them in their cause. the site itself is unfinished, and donation details etc are currently not there (but as I said, out of my hands :)). however, the first artists do have their work represented there, and some of it is definitely worth a look. you can even get your first view of the without you now video amongst the other work (you can find it here) alongside a video that was made using the Do clowns scare you? track. there should also be a cd available soon including some music from the phonic monkeys as well.

there are also two new sample tracks and two new full tracks available for download on the music page. one track has been requested quite a few times, and the other is entirely new (as of about three weeks ago). I very much want to change some of the older sample tracks for full tracks in the next couple of weeks as well, so keep your eyes open :). go on, get downloading and keep sending in the comments!

alongside this, i've been doing some site updates. i'm currently looking at an improved method for updating the site itself. currently, it's a right royal pain, so i'm looking for some sort of script/db-based solution. however, it's proving a little hard to match up a viable system with the server settings (without paying any more money out), and also without requiring too much of a site layout change (I don't mind basic changes to pages, but I really don't fancy ripping the entire thing apart at the moment). I have some thoughts on it all, and think I have figured out how to do it. it's just gonna require some serious reading and playing about... ah well.

finally, this has been an amazing couple of months for downloads. thanks for taking an interest people, and i hope you've enjoyed at least some of what you've heard. keep it up :).

27/04/04

whoa. time flies. and it gets used! there have been a few strange occurences with the site, almost all of which can be put down to me. however, i've also had trouble with 'ftping' files up to the server, something i'm fixing at the moment. all problems should vanish alongside this update.

on the work side, things have been very busy. the art website (mentioned last time) is going on extremely well. it's requiring more work than i anticipated, but its moving forward at a reasonable pace. i hope to have that finished and uploaded by mid next week, which means i can concentrate on music again. i'll be uploading some more sample tracks (when this ftp problem gets sorted), and am probably going to sort out a 'microsite' for the music for the exhibition. more details of this in the weblog.

and when all that is done, i'll be back on the phonics, completing the three tracks that have been started, and ploughing on into new territory. should be fun then :). i'm hoping to be back working on that by mid next week, if all goes well, so expect more new material fairly soon (so he says)!

22/03/04

another pleasantly busy month has just passed. work is going pretty smoothly, and music is starting, once again, to fly out of the sequencer. the latest phonics track is turning out to be almost un-nervingly odd (in fact, its work-title is P79-obscure, which might give a hint to that!). it's really good fun to be back doing some extremely detailed audio cutting in fact! now i just need to get back to finishing up some of those other ideas :).

in 'other' news, it looks like it'll be the first public long-play of phonic's music in a few months time. there's even a story of the 'little people' versus the 'big people' attached to it, so if you want to know more now, there's a little background info in the weblog. i'll put some proper detailed information on the site in the next few weeks, but go and have a little read. you might be able to support it too!

27/02/04

what are you doing to my server! ha, this is what we like to call mixed blessings ;) we pay a fairly good amount for a fairly large amount of bandwidth, but i set up an automatic bandwidth warning just in case. it was triggered this morning! looks like we're gonna have to find some extra cash from somewhere to upgrade the account to a 'bigger' one. in the meantime, i'm gonna have to find some alternate hosting for some mp3 files (i have a few ideas), so if files go up and down over the next few days, then please forgive me. initially, the current most popular file (47) will be moved over to btyahoo webspace (plug: they're very good actually!).

of course, siding with yahoo has meant that bt don't have to supply the webspace - rather, it is part of geocities. as a paying subscriber, i have no idea of the bandwidth limits over there, but it will do as a stop gap. obviosuly, i have no way of continually watching that site, so if something goes wrong, or you have any suggestions, please do contact me!

24/02/04

you know, you look away for a few days, and suddenly your server has been almost completely overrun with downloads! this is almost entirely thanks to HitmanHQ (thanks michael) and Hitman-2.de, and their respective interest in the hitman themed track, '47' which, by the way, you can still download in its entirety on the music page! it's always nice to see something take off, and this really did go riotous for a few days! still, if anyone does have any comments on the music, do feel free to get in contact! and thankyou to all those who have downloaded the track - hope you enjoyed.

there will be some new tracks up soon. i've had a pretty dire week for music (scrapped two tracks already), but i have a short one entirely finished, and an old one that i'm gonna finish (hopefully) fairly soon.

more on both of these subjects in the weblog.

oh, one other little note - could people make sure that (if they can) they set their news readers to check the rdf file around once per day. that file has been flying of the server!

10/02/04

ah, another update! it's been a busy few weeks, but i've got a couple of new tracks on the run, and things seem to be going really quite smoothly! but there's always a need for new content, so to start with, there are the stills from the video project i've been helping with. you'll find them on the picture diary page. have a browse, and if you want, tell me what you think!

other than that, there's been a little bit of tidying up on the site (including moving old news to the archive page, and a few other bits and bobs), i'm still finishing off my 'studio' (there just isn't enough space for everything here!), and i have a massive backup schedule to keep up with (better get on with that - never trust a computer!). so, shall catch y'all soon, and do keep mailing!

ps - quicktime has managed to completely take over my computer, so its producing strange problems with some of the music links. if anyone has any problems downloading or listening to tracks, please do contact me!

10/01/04

a (somewhat belated) happy new year to y'all! i know, another late update, but it's been an extremely hard few weeks here! certainly, for the last 2 weeks, the studio has been awash with papers, coffee mugs and swearing people, but it's been worth it. there is now, almost, a video for one of my tracks (it still needs a bit of work, but it's pretty good IMO). i'll be sticking up some stills and polaroids in the next week or so. meanwhile, i can get back to writing tracks again :) check the blog update for more details, and a summary of the first year!

12/11/03

ok. some updates. the blog has been updated with most of the detail (see the link on the left), and there is a new sample track on the music page; without you now. go on, have a look at my hectic life, internet death, and new music :)

21/09/2003

i've heard of keeping myself busy, but this is silly :).

anyway, i'm keeping a bunch of extra tracks back to upload, but not until next wednesday. why? broadband lands... at last! so i can upload the 30MB or so in a few minutes, rather than the usual 4 hours (and often, much much more, due to strange and unexplained crashes, server resets, cut uploads etc).

but there is a present for y'all! a new full track, 47, has been uploaded to the music page. it's a little bit of an odd one for me, but it's seven minutes of music for you to have a listen to (if you so wish!). meanwhile, more in a week or so (haven't i said that before?)...

06/08/2003

ah. busy busy busy! currently, music is going extremely well, and i hope to get the site updated fairly soon to prove it! but when you're a bit rushed off your feet, it can be tricky! as for details, i've got four new tracks pretty much completed, had a fairly simple transition from cubase to cubase sx (something that was really worrying me at first), improved my mastering 'skills', and managed to lumber myself with a ton of music to learn for a mate's wedding in three weeks time. and then there's the extremely swift 'completion' of a lofee track in the last two days.

oh the fun!

but it does mean that material is ready to appear. i just need to find a day when i don't have anything else to do! i guess that's life, hey? still, maybe tomorrow morning will prove a little more quiet :)

07/07/2003

hehe. long gaps are all the rage at the moment. i guess that's the way of things. mind you, have still been pretty busy, and have got a fair few things under my belt in the last month.

there is an additional section to the website. under images, there is now a picture diary. basically, if i get any good nights out, or have random weeks of photo's, i'll upload them there (yes, i got my hands on a picture phone, and everyone and their monkey seems to have a digital camera now). i still have to upload some new tracks, and that will hopefully be done either today, or maybe tomorrow.

right - enough for now. more to follow soon. take care y'all!

02/06/2003

Phew. That was a long gap. Nearly a month! Well, I'm still alive here! I've had a horrendously busy month (especially the last 2 weeks), mainly with work. Since it's coming up to exam time, there's a lot of tutoring to be done! That, coupled with a complete inability to write any music has lead to what I'll call a slight hiatus.

But, that all changed at the end of last week. I've started work on two new tracks, got a third written, but not recorded, another partially written for Lofee, and a couple more ideas in the pipeline. You wait for a month, then five come along at once! I've also got a few more sample tracks to stick up on the website (I just need to choose carefully!), so there shall definitely be some updates coming up. Check the weblog for intimate detail!