Inner Light Spectrum

so it’s been almost 3 months since I’ve made an update here. The summer has come and gone. We had great weather here in Montreal.

I’ve managed to enjoy it as much as I can. Biking, jogging, walking. Enjoying the BBq, and hanging out on the back porch, family, friends, beers, etc. Some serious landscaping, and of course some busy times in the studio.

WLove album is all but finished, meeting up one last time for mix touch ups.

The Sevens The Alain Caron Sessions album I started at the beginning of June has com along nicely. I managed to write 5 or 6 original pieces of music and incorporated his material in it. A hybrid of his work and my work. And I managed to remix 3 or 4 tracks of his. Overall I’m really happy how it’s turned out. Considering the handful of nights I had to squeeze in here and there, along with all my other obligations, to get it done.

There are some cool tracks on this record. With the limited setup I have going at the moment (Cubase, Reason & some vst plugins). It’s forced me to step out of my routine, keep things simple. I didn’t layer things to much, kept the arrangements sparse, let the music breathe. My main objective, was to keep things vibey, and chill. I think I’ve achieved what I set out to do.

Have a week left to add some vocals and then mixing and deliver it.

good times…

There is something to be said for work flow. Last night was both good fun and frustrating at the same time. It’s been a while since I’ve sat down just to write some music. Easily over a year at this point. That’s enough time to develop some serious rust issues, and to top it off I’ve upgraded my main writing/producing computer. Haven’t had enough down time between projects to get all my software & libraries installed and organized etc. So it’s a little challenging at the moment to get my writing groove and work flow happening again. It’s a challenge & I like challenges. I’ve been wanting to change up the way I work when I write for a while now, just to spice things up a little bit. A new method of writing as well as a different perspective i figure will give me some new fresh ideas. Remains to be seen I guess… I even have some new ideas for the next Inner Light Spectrum album on the old pc that uses specific software, plug ins, and settings. Oh well tis the era in which we live in. I have to admit I love the flexibility of the new ways of working with the pc, ex automation, editing, processing, and probably best of all total recall of your songs and sessions etc.

Last night a few attempts were made at writing with some of Alain Caron’s materials. Becoming more familiar with the material I have at hand. Seriously it’s a gold mine of insane jazz players and performances. Sax, trumpet, piano, keyboard and last but not least bass solo’s. The challenge right now is to incorporate all that into some cool grooves and tunes, and still like them. My biggest problem right now is myself and my mind getting in the way. An hour into an idea that seemed so cool, leaves me feeling confused and annoyed. I need to simplify things as much as possible. Sometimes you have to go really far to realize where you needed to be all along.

me out…

A good friend of mine has asked me to compose a collection of acid jazz/groove/electronica songs mixed in (at least that’s how I interpret it) mixed with some Alain Caron. For a project he calls The Sevens. Due in stores fall 2011.
Besides being anxious to write some new material, the cool thing is I’ll have access to Alain Caron’s music, with some of the finest jazz musicians around. What a treat!

Spent the week end transferring tapes and files from a hard drive. I dove in head 1st last night. Spent the night listening to the tracks, trying different things out, seeing how far i can go, trying to squeeze some direction out of it all. So far it all looks & sounds promising. It’s going to be a groovy & smooth summer. stayed tuned…