There is a strange moment that comes after you finish a song. You have written it, recorded it, built the arrangement, listened to it far too many times, questioned every decision, sent the stems away, had it mixed, produced and... Read more

There is a dangerous phrase in home recording. “I’ll just make one small change.” No one ever makes one small change. One small change becomes a slightly different vocal level. That becomes a new harmony. The new harmony needs rebalancing.... Read more

There is a point in every home-recording musician’s life when you realise you are no longer just trying to write a song. You are trying to operate a piece of software that appears to have been designed by people who... Read more

This is one of the questions that sits quietly in the corner of every home studio. You may not ask it out loud at first. You may try to ignore it. You may convince yourself that the vocal is probably... Read more

There was a time when getting your music “out there” meant something very physical. You had to make a CD. Or a tape, if we are going back far enough and trying not to think about how old that makes... Read more

There is a strange kind of faith involved in continuing to make music when very little evidence suggests that you should. Not religious faith, necessarily. Not even confidence. Confidence would suggest that you know where it is all going, that... Read more

Last Saturday night I had the immense pleasure of hosting the 5th Songwriter Evening in my local village hall. Songwriter Evening was set up to be a place devoted to listening to songwriters in a lovely building in front of... Read more

There was a time when the phrase “home studio” sounded far grander than the reality. In my case, it meant a room in the house, a computer, Cubase, a microphone, a keyboard, a pair of headphones, some speakers and enough... Read more

No, I'm not leaving home, this is all the equipment I take to run a Songwriter Evening at the village hall 400 yards from where I live. I never realised when I decided to start Songwriter Evening that I would... Read more

Paul McCartney hardly needs any promotion from me, but that hasn't stopped this album being promoted literally everywhere. There's been wall to wall coverage of it, McCartney has popped up on podcasts, YouTube and TV shows around the world so... Read more