The 'Nick Able Music' Blog

Wednesday, 20 January 2010

'Continuum' Official Press Release details and imagery

Photography by Daniel Barella

Continuum

"Blending mythological and scientific imagery, the project explores mutation, transformation and difference, notions of beauty and the struggle for perfection. Peering through the looking glass into another world somewhere between the familiar and the unknown."

By Paul Grimmer

with an original 5.1 Soundscape by Nick Able and Benjamin Freeth

Continuum will be presented at After Dark: Designer Bodies, part of Newcastle Sciencefest at Centre For Life.

After Dark: Designer BodiesDate/Time: Thursday, March 18, 2010 from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Venue: Planetarium, Centre For Life, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Free tickets available now from:http://newcastlesciencefest-efbnen.eventbrite.com/

'Continuum'- almost done with the arrangement, sounding great!

Recording additional guitars with my 7 string Schecter. Using a bow to create layers of drones.

Working on the final arrangement with the brief close to hand.

Indian and World Music for Events and Weddings

I am now taking bookings for small and medium sized events. weddings, corporate functions, private functions etc. New website and myspace will be up soon with video and audio examples. Any booking or enquiry please contact me at nickable01@hotmail.com

Out of action!!!

My Apple 30" HD Cinema Display is OUT OF ACTION!! A real bad thing for me right now, right in the middle of several projects. The stand is damaged due to wear and tear. Cant be replaced or repaired. The only option is to use it with a VESTA wall mount, but the way my studio is set up thats not possible. So its getting sold and a new one is coming in. Just waiting a few days as i have a feeling Steve Jobs is going to announce a new design at the Keynote next week. Last time i updated my MacBook Pro, a week later the new ones came out!! Grrrr

Sound Design for 'Continuum'

Working on the laptop with Spectrasonics Atmospheres- an incredible virtual instrument plug in. Getting more sounds for 'Continuum' and using them as a base to design new sounds to use in the piece.

Wednesday, 13 January 2010

European Animal- to start work on my upcoming website any day!

Check out the website of European Animal, who will be working on designing my upcoming website, and working on the branding for my company 'Nick Able Music'.

This website is well overdue had has had a few setbacks in getting started. Look forward to starting on it and getting it out there!!

http://www.europeananimal.co.uk/

Monday, 11 January 2010

Another new toy for the studio

Sunday, 10 January 2010

Starting to arrange the first drafts for 'Continuum' in Logic Pro

Starting to populate the arrangement with all kinds of wierd and wonderful sounds! I spent a day or so working in Ableton Live, doing Sound Design for this project. Taking pre-recorded material obtained from the Newburn Surgery, and other sounds from the Logic library. I played with them, using all the editing tools available until they started to change into what i was wanting to hear. From there they were imported into Logic and used in this first section, doing yet more editing to get them just right. Some of the sounds i worked with were Heartbeats, Pulse's, Debris Falling, Frying Bacon, Pouring Milk onto Cereal, Gurgling Water, all of these were treated with heavy Sound Design to change them into 'internal body' sounds. Ben and myself had 3 sessions following this and we included some sounds he worked on with Reaktor and MAX/MSP's Lloop.

First drafts for the piece. Going off the first brief given by Paul Grimmer, i sat with Logic and started to gather sounds to map out the first section of the piece.

Please check out more about this project...

http://paulgrimmer.blogspot.com/

http://dm.ncl.ac.uk/benfreeth/blog/

Friday, 1 January 2010

The snow is here for Christmas!! Woo Hoo!!

The gigantic trampoline and swing are out of action, but.....who needs them when its snowing and you have a SLEDGE!!!?

Working in my studio

This is 1/3 of my studio, looking onto the main workstation and desk where i spent most of my time writing, composing and researching for my work. The equipment at the main desk changes from project to project. Right now im working alot with 5.1 surround sound so you can see some of the surround monitoring. All the instruments i use are on the other side of the room and dotted around the house.

Another great guitar joins me in the studio!

Godin Multiac Jazz. This was loaned to me by a great friend to use for the 'Continuum' project. Such a fantastic guitar!!! I am proud to be endorsed by Godin Guitars!

http://www.godinguitars.com/endorsees.htm

The Multiac Jazz alongside my own LGXT (SA). I wanted to use a Godin that had the Roland 16 pin to MIDI output with a fixed bridge (mine is a floating trem) so i could do alot of altered tunings and record the regular guitar with the MIDI and the acoustic piezo.

What's on my desk today???

A great book that i have been meaning to get for some time. Some of this book was written around the same time i was in Delhi, living and studying sitar and indian classical music from my guru, Maestro Ravi Shankar. Although the author, Peter Lavezzoli was around the Shankar residence the same time as myself, i never met him until a concert we did in Escondido, CA well after the book was released. This book conjures up many memories for me of the time i spent in India.

A nice guitar joins me in the studio.....

Ibanez Jem 7V WH. The signature guitar of Steve Vai. Joins me in the studio, not for recording...but...for a photo shoot. Watch this space for photos.

Doing some Sound Design for 'Continuum' with Ableton Live

In darkness, trying to get in the mood and create an atmosphere in the studio for creating some very dark, dissonant sounds to be used in the first section of the Soundscape.

Sound Design using the recordings obtained at the surgery. Taking the raw sounds and morphing them using different effects, cutting, reversing and other powerful editing tools to create new sounds.

Wednesday, 30 December 2009

Recording Session for 'Through the Looking Glass' now re-named to 'CONTINUUM'

Recording at Newburn Surgery in the attempt to obtain internal body sounds to use in the soundscape. We used very specialist mic's and direct recordings from the fetal ultrasound doppler machine.

Monday, 21 December 2009

The FINAL (did i say final??) wiring of my 5.1 monitoring system!!

After buying my Blue Sky 5.1 Media Desk many months ago, i only just managed to get it fully wired up and all the wiring under the floors etc etc. Id bought the system right in the middle of a major renovation and re-decoration to my studio at home. So it was temporarily set up then took back down, then up again for the 'Black Sea of Trees' project. So id bought various types of wire, some which was very expensive. In the end i had about 4 different types of wire, some which had been painstakingly fed under the floor and carpets. I finally bought some of the best wire available in a 25 meter roll, threw the other wire away and sat for almost a full day wiring this whole system up!!! Already, after buying the 5.1 set up im well on my way into my 2nd 5.1 composition project, which i was commissioned based on the success of the 1st!!

In this picture you can see my Mac Pro and the 5.1 LFE- or Sub Woofer as its commonly known. All of the wiring comes from each of the speakers, into the rear of the Sub. From the Sub the connections (XLR or Jack) go to my multichannel soundcard, MOTU Traveller. You can also see some ( yes just some ) of the wires!! It took me a good couple hours to tidy and arrange all the wiring, cables, power supplys etc etc! I must say, i truly HATE wires!!!

Working on a new piece ive been commissioned to compose

Working in Logic Pro on a new piece ive been commissioned to compose. Just sketching out a few ideas and getting a feel for what im trying to look for in the sound. This is a big project and ill be posting regular updates from now following the process from start to finish....Those of you out there who are audio engineers, yes i know the automation is a little rough...remember i did say this was a sketch ;-)

Main writing desk at my home studio

This is the main writing desk at my studio which is still under construction. One of two desks in the room. This hosts the main computer and hard drive storage and backup. Apple Mac Pro, 2TB, External LaCie drives up to 1TB, Apple 30" Cinema HD Display, MOTU interface, Roland MIDI interface, Stereo Monitoring, 5.1 Blue Sky Media Desk Monitoring, Novation SL Mk 2, a whole bunch of software and plug ins.

Saturday, 12 December 2009

'Through the Looking Glass' a new project ive been specially commissioned by Paul Grimmer to compose a 5.1 soundscape for, along with Benjamin Freeth.

'Through the Looking Glass' a unique audio visual work specifically created for the Planetarium at the Life Centre in Newcastle. To be premiered at the 2010 Science Festival. I have been commissioned (along with Benjamin Freeth) to compose a 5.1 soundscape for the visual piece. The entire concept and project has been created by the wonderful artist Paul Grimmer.

Read about it here....

http://paulgrimmer.blogspot.com/

Photos to be added soon. I got started on this project this week and will be adding posts soon.

Working with Ben Freeth we will record internal body sounds, record and morph real instruments to create a unique electroacoustic ambient 5.1 piece.

Friday, 4 December 2009

Svapnagata Festival -rehearsals and show at Sadlers Wells

Aftershow party. L-R- Pirashanna Thevarajah (Mridhangam, Percussion), Me, Anoushka Shankar (Sitar), Asa Kubiak (Aerialist), Mythili Prakash (Bharata-natyam)