So, how do you make an album . . ?

Yeah, good question.

First you have to write songs. I wrote my first song when I was about 15. And it was a big surprise. Up until then I had firmly believed that it was IMPOSSIBLE to write a song - I know there was a lot of evidence around me which should have proved to me that people could indeed write songs, but I considered it simply IMPOSSIBLE!

So, suddenly, somehow, I had written a song. And this simple fact that it was actually possible to write songs, disproving as it did that my previously held belief that songwriting was IMPOSSIBLE, was a great help to me for future songwriting.

For this album, I plan to go through old material and choose around 10 songs which have been knocking on the door for years to be finished. Some of them are featured on my solo album in a basic version, some you can hear on my YouTube page and some will be new to you.

I would like to go through the process of creating the recording here with sound tracks, photos and videos - still have to work out how to do all that 😉 - and I thought maybe the best way is to take one song as an example. The one I am working on right now is 'Low Ground' which I wrote so, SO long ago, and it also turned out to be my first ever experience in a recording studio (in Liverpool) back in the 70s (the NINETEEN 70s). It was truly a mind-blowing, life-changing feeling to emerge from a studio with a proper recorded song...wow!!

Ok, so 'Low Ground' - what's next? Record it!

I use Audacity, in the NewTones Studio, which is an open-source recording software. It's free and it's really good! The main thing you need to do is spend hours and hours using it to get to know what you can do. I'd say I have a fair idea now how to use it.

Normally the first thing you want is a click track. For Low Ground I actually had an idea for a basic drum track.

And here is is, the very basic drum track (15 seconds of it). I'll be working on that for a while. In the meantime, I will also have to work out what comes when, intro, verse, chorus, solo, outro, etc . . . that's it for now!