After 40 years, lets face it, it’s about time
“An album of songs that started out as guitar tunes/song parts back in the early eighties, then largely forgotten about for several decades. They were never released, performed, sung or even finished at the time. Now they’ve finally been put together as the full songs that I’ve been hearing (in my head) and released for the first time “
Adrian Clarke
A lock-down story, finding odd half recordings of tunes that I’d nearly forgotten about and trying to remember others. Then using digital audio software, the Ableton Live DAW and many VSTs to create all the music (except the guitars, I did actually play them all by myself). Recorded from 2020 to 2023 at home.
The Vocalists :-
Sara Louise
Internationally renowned vocalist who has taken her electrifying vocal performances across the globe An incredible dynamic voice and captivating performances, Sara has taken to the stage in Australia, Europe, North America and Asia
Joe Garvey
Singer/ Songwriter who's played all over the UK and in Europe including corporate parties for companies like Morgan Motors and HSBC. Joe has had original music played on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6, Made In Chelsea and more
Sara's voice has such a beautiful tone, range and power that she upgrades everything she touches. It's was amazing to have Sara sing on the album.
Joe's enthusiasm and preparation is fantastic, taking the songs and adding so much. Joe breathed so much life into the music it was a wonderful to watch.
The Instruments :-
Guitars etc.
All songs on the album were played on a PRS 513, through a Rivera 100 Duo 12 Combo (plus a Marshall speaker), with a Line6 M13 providing floor effects here and there. All of the songs were written on the Fender Strat (it had a black pick guard back then)
VSTs
All other instrument sounds are midi VST plugins through the Ableton Live DAW.
I’m gonna try and list them all out here but I’ll probably miss some.
VSTs in no particular order
Digital Audio Workstation:-
Abelton Live: about the best piece of software I’ve ever used
Ableton stock plugins: WaveTable; Grand Piano; Electric(piano); Sonic Couture-Hang Drum; Simpler; Hybrid Reverb
Instrument Plugins:-
Heavyocity: Mosaic Voices; Mosaic Keys; Mosaic Bass; Mosaic Pluck
The Mosaic engine has so many parameters in it and so visual and easy to use, it's a joy to create sounds with. Voices appears on pretty much every song and the others on about half of them
eInstruments: Session Horns
Great quality horn section, used in most songs
Steven Slate Drums: SSD5.5
Fantastic sound and so many Kit/Drum options. The grooves section is a great place to start from to get the right rhythm for songs
Ample Bass:
All the bass sounds you'll need, great presets and options. Used on every song
Native Instruments: Hybrid Keys; 25; Ethereal Earth
well put together and easy to use. '25' gives some great lead synths while the others really fill in the background
Arturia: Analog Lab 5
Good strong sounds from lead synths to electric pianos.
Spitfire Audio: Solo Cello; Solo Violin; Symphony Orchestra
The most wonderful orchestral sample library. Used for all strings and woodwind sounds, and some percussion too
Lost in 70s: Hanon Organ
The classic B3 sound. Used on pretty much all of the songs
Submority: Aera samples
Big cinematic sounds, used on Trancaera obviously
Effect and Processing:-
Izotope: Neutron (incl Visual Mixer); Ozone; Nectar; Vocal Synth; Relay; Insight
Used everywhere. All the features and functionality I needed, well laid out and easy to use. I want to give a special mention to the lesser known Visual Mixer, it's so much easier to place instruments in the visual space than it is to look at a line of Faders and Pans, I used it on every song. tbh I think there's scope here to redefine how vol, pans and automation are managed entirely. Ozone too takes you through the stages of Mastering in a very straight forward way. In general the AI generated presets provide a good starting point for the processing
WavesFactory: EchoCat
My favourite guitar echo (the Line6 - M13 model) when playing live, the delays are so soft and warm. I used it all over the Album
Cable Guys: Shaper Box
Fantastic sound shaper, I barely touched the surface. I used it on all of the songs to make the background sounds swich about.
Sound Theory: Gullfoss
Adds clarity and softens all of the instruments when Mastering
Eventide: Split Eq
The ability to EQ the Transients separately from the sustain part is so useful. I used it on about half of the guitar lines
Solid State Logic: Flex Verb; Drum Strip
I used FlexVerb on most of the songs, easy to control and mellow in tone. The reverb always sounds like part of the instrument rather than something separate
Valhalla: Supermassive Reverb
Used of 'forever' delay/reverbs when required