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His Master’s Voice

November 19, 2020 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

My last update on the topic of the new music shortly to appear from Anam Danu (my now two year collaboration with The Chanteuse) hit the streets (ie – appeared on this blog) about a month ago now. We had – at the time – just sent out copies of all of the tracks in our burgeoning collection to a small number of trusted individuals with the request that they give us their unvarnished opinions thereof.

This they duly did – and lessons were learned!

As a result – and after a certain amount of horse-trading – we ended up with a mutually acceptable running order. Final mixes followed rapidly, exported as 24 bit WAV files (that is in decently high quality versions) and the package completed with a guide MP3 file of the whole album with timed inter-track gaps, fades and suchlike. Accompanied by the necessary documentation – band name, album title, track names and numbers, track times and ISRC numbers for each track – everything was transferred to our chosen mastering company (CPS Mastering of Vancouver) and left in the care of the estimable Brock McFarlane.

Now – for those who have no idea what audio mastering entails, Wikipedia has this helpful explanation:

“Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via methods such as pressing, duplication or replication).

One of the key reasons for getting your mastering done professionally is that – being effected in a suitable acoustically-neutral mastering environment –  the end result can be guaranteed to play successfully on pretty much all systems and in all spaces.

Yesterday we received from CPS the first mastered draft of the whole collection. We must now spend much time listening to it on different devices and in different environments to figure out if anything needs tweaking or whether we are good to go.

Then we just need to wait for album artwork (that’s another story!) and the whole can be dispatched to our chosen digital distributor to be sent to the various streaming/digital music providers – and CDs burned as required.

I will – of course – keep you informed of (inevitably slow) progress…

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So… Rugby!

November 13, 2020 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Now – where was I?

Other more pressing matters have been occupying my attention over the past weeks (not necessarily in a good way) and it has been a while since I last posted a comment on the current happenings in the world of rugby.

Some might argue that focusing attention on a sport in these stressful times is the equivalent of sticking one’s fingers in one’s ears and loudly proclaiming “La la la la…!” – to which I reply – “Too right! That’s the whole idea“.

Now then…

Much has happened since my last rugby update. In my 4th October post – ‘Fourth Quarter‘ – the subject of Bath Rugby’s progress (or lack thereof) in the hastily reconvened Premiership was left on a cliff-hanger: they would make it through to the playoffs if the COVID affected game between Sale and Worcester Warriors failed to take place on the following Wednesday. As it turned out that game did not take place and Bath squeaked through to the semi-finals. Unfortunately there they met the eventual champions (of everything this year!) Exeter Chiefs, who proved considerably too much for them. Still – at the start of the season a semi-final slot would have been scarcely thinkable, so this still counts as a good result.

The Six Nations championship had been abandoned back in March with little more than one round left to play. That final round was eventual played on 31st October, with England away in Italy, Ireland away in France and Wales at home to the Scots. All that need be said was that the English did enough against Italy to hit the top of the table and the French win over Ireland in Paris proved close enough that neither side could overtake them.

The key game (for me, anyway) was the doughty performance of the Scots in dreadful conditions in Wales. It wasn’t pretty but the Scots came away with a 14 – 10 win; their first in Wales for eighteen years. This left them fourth in the championship with three wins out of five – and the best defensive record of the tournament! That definitely counts as a win in my book.

By some quirk of TV scheduling we also got to watch the four Bledisloe Cup games between the Aussies and the All Blacks. The latter took the series (again!) but didn’t have things all their own way. What was refreshing was to see rugby played again in front of a crowd. In New Zealand and Australia the pandemic is significantly more under-control than it is in the northern hemisphere.

And now…?

The Autumn Nations Cup! A (possibly) one-off replacement for the usual Autumn internationals – to be competed for by the six nations plus Georgia and Fiji. The tournament is to be played in two pools and would originally have featured Japan before COVID ruled that out and brought Georgia into the mix.

Anyway – it is starting as I write… so further reporting as things progress.

 

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Dis-united

November 11, 2020 in Life as we know it | Permalink

I most heartily wish not to be writing this post!

There are many other positive and interesting topics that I have scribbled on imaginary Post-It notes stuck to my fictional whiteboard… but I can’t concentrate on any of them at the moment because my head is full of anxiety and nervous tension concerning the happenings south of the border. When I look out of my window across the Haro Strait I can see the US of A – and right now that is making me cranky.

I am angry that enough US citizens voted for Trump that there is even the slightest scintilla of doubt that he has lost the election. That is their right and – however misguided I (and many, many others around the world) might believe them to be – I actually have no argument with them and what they have done.

That is not the case when it comes to the other guilty parties.

Let’s not beat about the bush. Trump is a bad person. He is also a particularly dangerous person and certainly not – in a million years – fit to govern what was only recently one of the world’s great super-powers. (Oh – the bitter irony of MAGA – when Trump and his wrecking crew are so ruthlessly dedicated to destroying everything that ever made it great – starting with democracy!). Trump is mendacious – he is a narcissist – he is a fantasist – he is immoral, amoral, totally unscrupulous and no-where near as bright as he thinks he is. Yes – he is also probably ill – at least mentally.

But it is not even he who makes me so angry – since I presume that he does not even have the mental faculty to properly grasp the inevitable outcomes of his actions.

No – the ones that have me worked up into such a righteous fury are the un-speakables in the Republican Party. Many of these people are educated and – notionally at least – intelligent. They know what they are doing. They also know that the election is lost and that we are entering uncharted waters. They should be acting in a responsible manner and doing their damnedest to protect American democracy.

They are not. They are taking a wild risk on the inevitable destruction opening up certain financial and political opportunities for those who are in the right place at the right time – much in the way that the loathsome tories are doing with Brexit in the UK. (Johnson watches anxiously across the pond at his role model, scared that events in the US will reveal – like the writing on the wall – his own eventual and gruesome fate).

Enough! I imagine that much of the rest of the world would join me in wishing most heartily that this were all over and that those responsible were banished – Napoleon-like – to some god-forsaken rock in the south Atlantic.

 

Next time – Rugby!

 

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Finally…

November 7, 2020 in Life as we know it | Permalink

…and breathe!

 

 

 

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Sir Thomas Sean Connery

November 1, 2020 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Sean Connery

1930 – 2020

RIP


Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/skeeze-272447/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=394756">skeeze</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=394756">Pixabay</a>There is very little that can be said in addition to all that has been and will be printed on the subject of the sad passing of Sir Sean Connery. To those of us who grew up in the 1960’s he was an icon – a legend – a larger than life character who somehow managed to encapsulate the dreams and ambitions of that age… almost certainly without any intention of so doing.

There will be many lists of favourite or best performances: my two top Connery films – “The Man Who Would be King” (an incomparable pairing with Michael Caine) and – unsurprisingly – “Goldfinger”.

In later life even a minor cameo in some otherwise mediocre picture would almost inevitably imbue the project with an added sheen, a sparkle that it might not otherwise have deserved at all. And should you think this mere hyperbole – well, you may be right – but there was a world in which Sean Connery was alive… and now there is not.

A sad day…

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We dreamed it

October 27, 2020 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

“I painted it because I dreamed it
because we all dreamed it”

Marie Burdett, The Little Boy and the Painter

I promised some before and after images of the exterior decoration of our lovely house.

Ta-dah!…

Here are some before and after shots (double-click to enlarge):

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidThe stucco colour is still light – we want the house to stay cool in summer – but the colours are much warmer. The woodwork at the front was previously stained but is now a fetching shade of ‘Stonehenge Greige’ (don’t ask – but it’s all the rage!).

More ‘after’ shots:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

 

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Out for review

October 22, 2020 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

“My congratulations to you, sir. Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.”

Samuel Johnson

In my post to this journal of July 17th – ‘Closer than you think‘ – I described how the Chanteuse and I had contrived – in spite of all difficulties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic lock-down – to start remotely recording her vocals onto a set of ten tracks that I had prepared – and which we hoped to turn into a new Anam Danu album in due course.

My last update on the matter came at the end of a post of August 25th entitled ‘Busy, busy, busy‘ – the which was primarily (unsurprisingly) concerned with just how busy we were… it being ‘that time of year’!

Well – these things do indeed take time – but I feel that an update is due.

We have finished recording the vocals and the tracks are essentially complete. That does not mean that they are ready to be sent out into the world. I have been doing much in the way of post-processing and making initial and intermediate mixes. The next stage is to finalise the mixes, to decide on the sequencing and to send the tracks off to a professional Mastering Engineer to get them ‘mastered’ ready for submission to whichever online distribution company we choose to go with. Much more on that stage of the process later.

There is – however – one more thing to be done before we send our tracks for mastering… and that is to get feedback on them from some trusted and interested parties. That is where we are at right now – and I can tell you that it is a nerve-racking process. Having spent many months in very close proximity to these creations as they have evolved we must now stand back from them and ask others to give us – in their own time – their opinions on our endeavours.

Not much makes me nervous. This – however – does!

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Autumn daze

October 21, 2020 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidI wrote a piece within these pages back at the start of the year (well – February!) on the general subject of my level of fitness – and what it took to keep things that way. I made reference to having just restarted attendance at the fitness class of which I have been a regular pretty much since we came to Canada.

Of course, not long after I committed those musings to the digital equivalent of print, the COVID-19 pandemic broke and everything was turned upside down. The fitness class moved onto Zoom and was executed in the safety of our own living rooms. When restrictions eased a little as the summer unfolded we reverted to meeting ‘in person’ at the Shoal Centre in Sidney (a community ‘hub’ for ‘seniors’) where we undertook carefully socially-distanced classes wearing masks and with extravagant but necessary health precautions.

These classes have continued since then, but on each day when the weather permits – ie when it is not raining or snowing! – we have taken to exercising in the park across the road from the centre. This is not only much safer but it is also considerably more pleasant.

I took most of these pictures between exercises during yesterday’s class.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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Eddies…

October 18, 2020 in Moving to Canada | Permalink

“I have detected,” he said, “disturbances in the wash.”
“The wash?” said Arthur.
“The space-time wash,” said Ford.
Arthur nodded, and then cleared his throat.
“Are we talking about,” he asked cautiously, “some sort of Vogon laundromat, or what are we talking about?”
“Eddies,” said Ford, “in the space-time continuum.”
“Ah,” nodded Arthur, “is he? Is he?” He pushed his hands into the pocket of his dressing gown and looked knowledgeably into the distance.
“What?” said Ford.
“Er, who,” said Arthur, “is Eddy, then, exactly?”
Ford looked angrily at him.
“Will you listen?” he snapped.
“I have been listening,” said Arthur, “but I’m not sure it’s helped.”

Douglas Adams – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I received the other day an email from ‘Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’ (funny! – I don’t recall that title previously including the ‘refugees’ bit!) concerning my application to renew my Permanent Resident card. This missive included the paragraph:

“This confirms that your application for your Permanent Resident card has been received by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) on 2020/07/08.”

Making allowance for the fact that here in Canada dates can appear in a variety of odd formats – though not in the correct one (to an Englishman at least) – I calculate that this means that my application was received by the IRCC on July 8th this year – the which would be about right.

I am – perhaps understandably – a little mystified as to why they should send me an email to advise me of this fact on October 14th.

The email also advises me that I can check the progress of my application by visiting the appropriate part of the IRCC website and entering my Unique Client Identifier (UCI). Perhaps – I muse – they have just started processing my application – which might account for their sudden correspondence.

I follow the guidelines.The IRCC website claims never to have heard of me!

I wade through the notes trying to establish why I might appear to be missing from the system. The site helpfully informs me that this is probably because my application has not yet made it to the processing stage – and until is has I officially don’t exist.

Sooooo… Three months after I submit my application IRCC randomly sends me an acknowledgement, even though they have not – and apparently have no intention of – actually looking at it anytime soon.

No – I don’t get it either. What is it about bureaucracies?

 

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Out(r)age…

October 14, 2020 in Life in BC | Permalink

Yesterday saw one of the first big wind storms of the year here at the southern end of Vancouver Island. As so often happens at this time of the year many trees lost branches as a result (in the case of deciduous trees because they have not yet shed their leaves) and our electricity provider –  BC Hydro – were kept fully employed with investigating and repairing damaged power lines (regular readers will know that here in BC most power supplies are carried on poles rather than buried underground as they are in the south east of the UK).

Somewhat annoyingly we lost power here for about three and a half hours during the afternoon, at a point at which I was hoping to prepare for my class today. As the light faded in the early evening I cooked dinner on the gas barbecue outside and we had just started to dine by candle light when the power was eventually restored.

The reason that this was particularly annoying was because BC Hydro had already been in touch with us a week or so back to inform us of a scheduled outage today (for ‘system upgrades’) at a time that clashed with the start of my class. The relevance is – of course – that because I now teach exclusively from my studio at home, the loss of power prevents me completely from so doing. I had arranged with my students for a later start for the class but when I awoke this morning it did occur to me that BC Hydro might have rescheduled the outage as a result of their engineers having worked such long shifts yesterday. I called them to check. After a lengthy rumination by the call-centre chappie (who clearly had no real idea what was going on) I was told categorically that the outage would indeed take place.

Somehow inevitably – it did not do so!

I even went out on my bicycle at one point looking for a BC Hydro crew, but none was to be found.

In the end I started my class late and they had to put up with my grumbling about how – wherever one lives in the world – it is impossible to find efficient service industries that do what they say they are going to do – when they say they are going to do it.

I am fully prepared now for the power to go out suddenly and without warning in the middle of my next class…

 

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