Comedy Pizza and Dry Cleaning

Posted on July 27, 2010 by mon

Comedy Central lads

Lately I have been involved with a comedy event in various Pizza Express restaurants, [a] because I like comedy and [b] I like Pizza and [c] I like Pizza!

The sponsor of these events are Elias dry cleaners, a specialist dry cleaning company in London who take care of the likes of Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton (to name but a few) not to mention Royalty too!!

The aim of the competition is to find the next famous stand up comedian! The winner gets a grand, and an audience with Comedy Central TV (who are judging) It’s all good fun. See the link for when and where clean up your act is next showing!

Below are some video comps of the firsts two heats.

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Mastering Cassini’s Division

Posted on July 17, 2010 by mon

Ahhh! The finish line is in sight, my favourite feeling at the end of a great project.

I am in Islington, London with my good friend Savas, playing “Ringside View” at a serious volume on big boy monitors and mastering the Cassini’s Division masterpiece!

From Monday (when I deliver the album to the label) Cassini’s proper recordings (meaning produced) will be “Out there”!! This is a “Warts and all” recording, as you know me by now, I love REAL sounds, so when  you can hear the buzzy amp noise and the snoring sound of Ludo catching his 40 winks at the back of the studio floor, I keep it all in :) This is NOT music from a box!

Ladies and Gentlemen…I PROUDLY present “Ringside View” by the one and only CASSIN’IS DIVISION

Love it people, enjoy it…listen to it! Hey boys…JAI DADA

btw, here is us drunk in my guest house in Kolkata near the end of the recording (Raul should really do this in the middle of the Cassini’s set…don’t u think?)

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Classic pop music

Posted on July 12, 2010 by mon

Thinking big!

Dear diary, well now I am working with Robin Gibb and just loving it!!

Most of the people I have worked with will bear witness that I have always pointed to the BeeGees as the ultimate example of genius pop song creation. It is only more proof to me that the secret is real and the Universe has delivered me into a situation where I would be working with one of them!

Obviously I am so happy and indeed honoured to be involved.

The song is great (of course) created by Robin, Mike Read and RJ (Robins son) for the one and only Peter Andre!

Just got home from a really nice day with Robin and the family in sunny Thame.

So it’s on to vocals this week, then the mix down and upward from here.

Richard with Robin

Happy…Simon

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Cecilia at Air Studios

Posted on July 2, 2010 by mon

Yesterday we recorded the first single for Cecelia De Lisle at Air Studios in London.

The song “Addicted” was originally penned by myself and CeCe! Should be finished next week and out there in the very near future.

Watch this space! :)

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On the home straight!

Posted on June 2, 2010 by mon

Lunch Habit

The recording in Calcutta with Cassini’s Division is almost at an end, and as usual there is a new sense of urgency to get everything finished, more importantly because we are a 12 hour flight away from each other and not just up the road!
The recording has been very fruitful and I believe the Cassini’s existing fans will be pleasantly surprised.

I kept the recording as live as possible, and implemented the techniques I have come to be known for such as creative use of mics and spaces combined with amps (though not a full selection) as opposed to music from a box of chips and resistors. Snobby! I know! But surely real is better, in anything you care to mention.

Ideally, it would have been great to have a Vox Ac30, a Marshall 4×12 etc at hand, but you work with what you have got! What we did have is a great studio space and a nice selection of all the usual mics, and, most importantly, creative ideas and the will to use them!

I will be mixing in London before unleashing this monster on the world! So for now, here are some nice pictures.

Si xx

Edit, edit ...edit

Rumble guitar

The studio floor

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Thailand, the real view!

Posted on June 1, 2010 by mon

I caught something on youtube yesterday posted by my good friend in Bangkok!  The video is a spoof about the way some media relays the news to the rest of the world about the troubles in Thailand.

During the whole conflict between the PAD (yellow shirts) and the red shirts (Taksins gang) it has always bothered me how he international media always seems to get it wrong and sensationalise the whole thing into distortion.

The Thai political structure is the main problem with Thai politics, NOT individuals as such.
The current government is in place because the last few elected prime ministers were just puppets, and in fact, relations of the corrupt guy who was kicked out in the first place.

Where in the world can a candidate say publicly that he will pay everybody to vote for him? and actually get elected as opposed to laughed out of politics? Where else in the world will people stand to be elected so they can change the laws to protect their former leader from criminal prosecution? At the moment, that is how it is in Thailand. Is THAT democracy?

Let’s hope it all gets resolved for the better! Soon! Although sadly, I don’t see much changing for a few years at least!

Photobucket

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Recording Today

Posted on May 26, 2010 by mon

For those of you who don’t know what I am doing in Kolkata (Calcutta) India, here is a brief update.

A couple of years ago I was music production manager for a TV show called SUTASI, and on my journey at that time I came across Cassinis’ Division. My boss, Colleen Zulian had seen them while checking out some hot tips in India with the legendary Simon Napier Bell. Colleen sent me to Kolkata immediately to do a 4 day recording with the band to record some rough studio versions of their new material.

Fast forward to the present day when I received  a phone call from the band telling me they had signed a deal with HMV (Saregama) the biggest label in India and wished for me to return and continue what we started.

Below is the bands performance on Sutasi, and this is the track we will be recording today. We are at the halfway point now and the album is sounding really good. The band are playing a massive MTV show on my last day here and have asked me to join them, so more news later.

Si xx

Please visit the boys website for more info, this band are gonna be HUGE!!

Cassinis’ Division

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It’s a long way home!

Posted on May 25, 2010 by mon

India day 7 and finally getting into the swing of things!

All the illness has all but gone and I am back in the captains seat, steering this enormous ship known as Cassinis’ Division.

We put 2 songs down today and as we approach each new song, I am filled with excitement as to the huge potential of this band. Each song tells a very unique story, yet this is not a bunch of hippies making a concept album, these are a group of well educated, very well read, cool guys. They are polite and a pleasure to work with!

I can’t wait to play a part in unleashing this to the rest of the world.

Checkout my journey home each night (see video) and I will start putting some of this excellent music up, very soon!

Si xx

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India day 4

Posted on May 20, 2010 by mon

It’s your globetrotting super rock producer here checking in once again! With a serious case of the trotts (no joke!!). I did the stupedist thing, I should know better having lived in a hot country for more than 10 years, that it is a bad idea to lay in bed with the AC on and a huge ceiling fan blowing on your body! So I got ill, VERY ill (berk) but today I am feeling better so I am updating you reader!

The recording with Cassinis’ Division is going really well we are averaging a song a day recording it really old school style, with the band set up live, focusing on the drums and bass takes mainley, and doing guide vocals and guitars.

The studio is in the HMV complex when the old pressing plant is still located. This place was opened in 1921 and was the second record pressing plant for EMI in the world, and all the equipment is still here. There is a huge soundcraft desk in the control room that is no longer working so is utilised as a table these days. We are using an O2R and Nuendo 4 on Mac, so the job is sounding fine.

More news later, off to sit on the loo…AGAIN :(

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Welcome to Kolkata Sir!

Posted on May 18, 2010 by mon

So I have arrived back in Kolkata (Calcutta) but the last time I was here it must have been winter. Right now it is almost 40 degrees in the shade and 98 percent humidity. I got off the plane and thought I was standing too close to the jet engines, but it only got hotter as I moved further away!

The flight was ok with Air India, although I had to wait in Delhi for about three hours, and strangely enough, I was not allowed to carry any Indian money with me, so it became complicated trying to buy a Tuna sub, but I managed it in the end, much to the contentment of a grumbling tummy!

The band met me at the airport and we headed off to the apartment the record company, Saregama (HMV) are renting for my stay. As always the journey was interesting with cars honking  each other and honking for the sake of it, and the kamikaze pedestrians I remember so well.

So here I am at 6 am Indian time and its around 2 am back in London, my brain is somewhere in between, but the bottle of whiskey I kaned with the band is easing in the jet lag nicely! I am at war with my old friends the mosquitos! It’s been a year and a half since we last did battle so I am now going out to buy some essentials, shorts, coffie and all the mossy pariphinalia I can find! Simon, hot, no…. fucking  hot!

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