From Keyboard to Kindle

Sound advice

Don’t give up
‘Cause you have friends
Don’t give up
You’re not beaten yet
Don’t give up
I know you can make it good #

(Peter Gabriel)

So I arrived back in Uppingham last night and Danny (Rocky Road Music) came round to look at the recording equipment that I had set up in our spare bedroom. It seemed I need to whack up the microphone volume (not as far as Spinal Tap’s “11”). So it is a change of plans now. What we have recorded so far needs to be re-done. I say we, but really I mean Rachel – I’ve just been splicing it all together. So it hasn’t been a waste of time, it’s been a learning process. We definitely need a ‘master copy’ that is technically good before we start any editing otherwise we risk failing the ACX audio submission process (ACX are the Amazon owned company that are the route to getting an audio book on Amazon and iTunes). I also think it’s a bit risky trying to record part of the book now, and part after we get back from Australia in case the sound quality does not match up. So plan B is to put the audio to one side and whilst in Australia I will concentrate on getting the final draft of the book ready. Rachel has used up half a pencil correcting my punctuation and mistakes on the print out. It’s funny how you don’t see them on screen, especially when you have written it yourself and know how it is supposed to sound.

Speaking of sound, before I leave the subject, I realise how little I know about it. It never featured in my Physics lessons at school so I don’t know anything about the science of it. I only learned for instance through this process that sound is calculated in minus numbers, getting louder up to ‘0’ then in plus numbers – but we don’t go there. I think I am not allowed to go above -3. So when you see record producers in front of enormous mixing desks twiddling knobs and sliding controls, not only can they hear qualities my ears are uneducated to hear, but they also know how to make it sound better!

Treading water

Things are on hold at the moment – Danny (Rocky Road) is going to come over to check over the sound settings but unfortunately it will have to wait until the weekend at least because I have to go away for a few days.

I have approached someone I know that used to live in Rutland, but is now in London, to see if she fancied illustrating the front cover. She produces some quite stunning lino cuts. I will reveal her name if she says yes.

I need some worry beads

…and a lesson how to use them.

We have started recording and now, with session 3 due this afternoon I am stressed…and I don’t usually get stressed about things.

I am not concerned about the book, as I do the first rough edit on the recordings I have been really pleased about how Rachel is bringing the story to life. Even though I wrote it and know what is coming I am enjoying listening to it. It’s a bit how every Christmas here in the UK they show ‘Love Actually’, or remember when they always broadcast ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ You still can’t help watching even though you know how it ends!

No the problem is that I am not confident that I have got the sound quality good enough. This is a whole new world to me and whilst I have looked at videos online, and read up on the process, I haven’t any experience of the world of sound. ACX are the platform you submit the recording to and they have rigorous testing before they let recordings be published on Amazon, so if it is not right at this stage it could all be rejected.

I have just put in an emergency ‘help’ call to Danny at Rocky Road music and he is going to call in later this afternoon.

How to prepare a recording studio part 2

Get some equipment. We are fortunate to have in the town a guy that provides equipment for bands – lights, speakers, etc . In my case I have hired a good quality microphone on a stand. The microphone is hanging in a little cradle which stops it picking up vibrations. There is a ‘pop screen’ in front of it – it has a mesh that filters out some sounds – in particular the popping sound of the letter ‘P’. There is a semi circular screen that fits around the mike to block out unwanted sounds. A little ‘desk’ with lots of buttons, mostly which are set to ‘0’. You can plug a microphone directly into a computer if you don’t have a ‘desk’.

Danny from Rocky Road Music: http://www.rockyroadmusic.co.uk also on Facebook: Rocky Road Music Shop

So I have downloaded a programme called Audacity to my laptop (Mac owners use ‘Garageband’) and we are good to go!

How to prepare a recording Studio

Step 1, push the bed to one side

Step 2, Go up in the loft and find black bags containing curtains from our previous house in the village – they don’t suit this house (too traditional) but too good to throw away. I even came across 3 fabrics that I screen printed when I was a student at Art College!

Step 3, fix them to poles and hang them from the walls – hopefully that should stop the sound bouncing off the walls and echoing

Step 4, cover the wooden floor with a rug (a kilim bought in Turkey – again doesn’t suit our house so it lives rolled up under the bed.)

So many different patterns in one small room!

So, contemporary and minimal no more!

I wonder if the Beatles had to do this at Abbey Road?

Mr Gaffney

11 November 2019

I am going to dedicate this entry to Mr Gaffney. He was my English teacher at Changi Grammar School.

My dad was in the R.A.F and we were stationed out in Singapore from 1968-71. What prompted me to think about it Mr Gaffney is that I printed out a draft of my book today. It’s a real patchwork affair because it used up all the paper in the drawer so it is printed on a variety of different papers, different weights and different colours! The reason I have printed it out is because I am going to pop round to Rachel’s with it. She is a dab hand at punctuation, she knows how to handle a comma or two and I am sure my book will be littered with mistakes. That’s why I thought of Mr Gaffney. He was a gentle and amusing teacher. As a child educated in the 1960’s there was a more liberal approach to English grammar. I am sure it was my fault but I was always interested in writing wild psychadelic fantasy stories rather than learning when I should use a colon instead of a semi-colon. But I did enjoy and look forward to his English lessons. I even took a photo of him once during a lesson. Easily done nowadays with mobile phones but then I had a big clunky SLR camera but he didn’t seem to notice.

There is one play I have loved ever since my English lessons and it is Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood. If you haven’t heard it find the dub version by The Dubwood Allstars – Richard Burton with a dub reggae backing track by Jamaican producer King Tubby – what a combination!

Comments from the Changi Grammar School Facebook Group

Linda Anne Davies: I remember reading the problem page in my magazine which was on my knee. I was totally unaware that Mr Gaffney was stood behind me. He made me read all the problems out to the class. Never did that again!

John Haswell: Dave for the life of me I can’t remember why but our class in 1970 always thought his name was great for a band “Terry Gaffney and the city slickers”. We wrote it on the board one day before he came in. He had a great sense of humour.

Diane Hudson Harris: We all called him Super Gaff

Neil Wilson: He got me through Lang and Lit which was a great accomplishment. He taught me lots of interesting approaches to Language, and along with Ernie Wise, I writted and wrote good.

Anne McLellan: Because of Mr Gaffney I have had a lifetime love of English Literature and also achieved a B+ in the A Level (quite something for me!) – but Mr Cole also helped with that too.

Martin Cannon: I too remember Mr Gaffney and had him for English (briefly?) in 1968-69 – although I have stronger memories of Geoff Storey and Alan Cole as English teachers. What I do remember about Mr G though is his calm demeanour, kind face (but played a mean rugby game against us!) and his sense of humour. Well done Dave, in this achievement though!

My new blog

10 November 2019

I had my first meeting with my good friend Rachel Laurence to talk about her involvement with my project: getting my book ready for publishing and also for her to record an audio version of it. All in all it was a very good evening as bolstered by her enthusiasm and accompanied by her husband Steve we went over to the Exeter Arms to watch Liverpool, the ‘Mighty Reds’ and Champions of Europe beat the Premiership Champions Manchester City!

I must backtrack a little. A few years ago I wrote a book, and adventure story aimed at children and tried to get it published. I came across the problem that many writers find, most publishers were only interested in authors who were already published. I did receive some interest but they were publishers who wanted me to get involved with a joint financed venture – I was wary of going down a ‘vanity publishing’ route, so put the book to one side and got on with life.

Anyway, in March 2019 we were in Brisbane, visiting our daughter, and one day in the early hours of the morning I had the idea of asking our friend Rachel to record an audio version of the book. When we got back to the UK I promptly had to put the idea on hold because she had auditioned and been offered a season at The Theatre in the Lake in Keswick: three plays ‘The Ladykillers’, ‘The Children’, and ‘Uncle Vanya’. This would take her away from our home town of Uppingham from March until November, with obviously no time to think about my book. Incidentally, Sue and I saw two of the plays and she was just brilliant.

A week ago the season finished and she came back. On Saturday we had Steve and Rachel round – dinner and a night in watching ‘Strictly.’ Then on Sunday I went to visit her and we get to the point where the story starts.