Editing Editing & More Editing!

I love being in the studio with an engineer writing and recording, adding quirky sounds and environmental landscape to the music. I love putting all the films together ... but this week I have started the process of serious editing!

I work from the premise that having too much and then cutting down is better than feeling that you don't have enough material but it is a long drawn out task mixing and editing.

It's not as straight forward as it may seem. When you paint a canvass you don't just plonk the paint on and hope for the best. You mark out perspective, look for subtle reference, as well as fore front images and creating music is very similar to this. If all the instruments were in exactly the same place they would occupy the same frequency and you may not hear them in their full right.

Having the time to edit my own work in this way is an absolute gift! I never usually have enough time to spend on my own songs, composition and film because I am too busy holding the space for others to create, which is a very beautiful thing in itself, but I have to tell you, having this Individual Mainline Grant gives me the time to experiment and listen back to my work, which is an absolute blessing.

Instead of 'making do' I can re-do because I have the time to do that!

Thank you to The Arts Council of Wales for my Individual Mainline Grant and giving me the space to be as refelctive and caring about my own work as I am that of others.

                

Only down side is that I get so engrossed in the studio that I lose literally hours at a time, forgetting to eat, sleep and all other bodily functions! lol!

Many thanks to Sound Engineer Jeff Beer for his fabulous technical skills and unfaltering patience.

African drums & Street Dance at Arthur's Stone

The universe threw up a new opportunity for my Dance and Drumming Film Shoot

at Arthur's Stone, Gowerton.

Martin Kurina from DCC Street Dance stepped in due to a cancellation. Bless him! He looked so dapper in his 1940's Fisherman outfit.

Martin represents the main character Dafydd in the shoot for my Fusion Inspire filmscape.

In the production at this point, Dafydd has caught the Steam Train and found himself at Arthur's Stone in Gowerton. He has just left the children of the ribbons at The Wind Farm as part of his quest to find the key to his memories and has been told  to find himself ...

stuck between a rock and a hard place

 

Arthur's Stone has so many myths and legends
attached to it and I have written a song to encapsulate all them. One of these tales is that women over the centuries have brought cake to the stone and circled it, on their knees, 3 times. By so doing their lovers will marry them. 

ENTER: TARAN!!

Taran are led by Patricia Mc Kenna from Swansea and are an awesome percussion band. The band represent the women coming back to the rocks and demanding their cake back as they are unhappy with the marriages that the rock landed them in!

I am taking an old folk story and adding to it, the politic of today.

It really was quite magical to film Martin street dancing through improvisation to the beats of Taran. On a rainy day the Sun Goddess blessed us with 2 hours of sunshine.

 Just enough time to get the filming wrapped up!

 Before Taran climbed back into their

Rhythm Machine until next time!

Many thanks to everyone for an absolutely stunning experience ...

You can catch Taran performing at Celtic Womenfest 2012 at The National Botanic Garden of Wales on Sunday 26th August at @ 6.00pm

Another 12 hour stint in the studio!

Another glorious day in the studio!

I was so engrossed in it that I didn't realise Maisy the puppy was trying to play the Djembe!

A 12 hour stint and we're still at it!

Jeff has laid down some bass for me today on the first 3 tunes which combine as a concept piece to open the production; includes the rhythm interpretation by Rachel Hargrave based on the sign language of my lyrics that I filmed with Maggie Hampton earlier this year.

I have also recorded the sea around the coast and have included it here .. so in the first section which is a pirate speak fisherman's song taken from the inspiration of Pembroke's Black Beard, I have mixed in the sea from that coastline ... then when the 2nd part moves to Cardigan Bay I have the Llangrannog sea recordings ...

That's Dai Collage in the back ground getting ready for Welsh translation duties! He's not far off ready to receive the welsh language recordings which I'll be starting once I have the translations back from Ceri Wyn Jones.