Progress!

Well this year has been a real roller coaster! But there has been progress. All songs for the album have been completed with the exception of the drums and a few small overdubs.

All being well these will be finished over the next few weeks and then the final mixing can begin.

More updates soon.

Rock on!

I Finally Have Twitter

Yes I have finally taken the plunge into Twitter. At this stage I still don't "get it", all it seems to be is status updates.

From my limited exposure to Twitter it seems to me that people do one of three things with it.

They either just post a status update, post a link to an article or page they have found on the web or do what I am doing. That is, realise that Twitter can't do much, so anything interesting to be said or shared is automatically linked to an external publishing site.

This last use seems to make Twitter pointless, but for whatever reason people seem to like Twitter, so I have jumped on the bandwagon. So from now on each of my blog posts will now also be posted as a Twitter update with a link back here.

So if you're too lazy to use RSS then you can follow me on Twitter: @markhamlet

Rock on!

MacBook Pro in for Repair... Again

Yes my awesomely reliable Macbook Pro has been in the apple service centre for the last two weeks again (check my earlier post "Apple or PC" for the ongoing saga).

I spoke to them today and they advised me that the screen assembly needs replacing. They said it would cost $1100 to repair, until I pointed out that the screen assembly was replaced less than 12 months ago. So now it will be done under warranty and will take at least two more weeks.

That brings the total value of all the repairs to this computer over the last 3 years to over $5000. Add that to the original $3000 price tag and it becomes one expensive notebook! Not to mention the down time every 6 months.

Be warned, if you buy an Apple computer get the 3 year warranty, because you will need it. Also buy a second computer for the six months that you won't have the Apple due to the amount of time it takes Apple to repair it.

Rock On! (just not with a Mac)

Blogging From iPhone

This is just a post testing a new application allowing me to blog directly from my iPhone.

We will see how well it works

Apple or PC?

I decided to write this post because I just got my Macbook Pro back from repair AGAIN and because people always ask me why I use a PC instead of a Mac in the studio.

Firstly here is the background to my experience with Apple products: my Macbook Pro is 2.5 years old. The first one I bought never worked so I took it back after trying everything over a period of two days and recieved a replacement. The second one (the one I have now) packed it in within two weeks.

I did some investigating and concluded it was dodgy RAM. When I took it back to Apple they didn't believe me. Three weeks later, and after their testing, I get it back with new RAM installed.

Since then the computer has been in for repair with Apple every six months on average. Considering each time it takes Apple between three to four weeks to fix it, that is a lot of downtime.

The only parts that are still the original ones I bought as part of the second computer 2.5 years ago now are the hard drive and the bottom outer casing. I kid you not, 95% of this computer has been replaced.

So why do I use a PC? Reliability. When the studio computer played up it was only the motherboard, nothing else and the downtime was minimal. I have 6 PC's constantly running in my house and the only thing I have ever replaced due to malfunction has been a charger pack for a Dell laptop.

If the two Macbooks are anything to go by I would never feel confident in having Apple products as part of my studio setup.

Of course having said that I have an iPhone and must admit it is brilliant. Too bad Apple can't do the same for their computers.

'08 Cra$h in the Studio

I had '08 Cra$h in the studio on Saturday. We spent the time puting together their new single "More Than You Should Know".

It was an interesting day as the band had used their own 8 track recorder to do the initial recording at their rehersal venue and had brought it to me to add a few extra touches. The song has a very live and raw feel to it.

Creating Guitars

Everything has been moving along really well in the studio lately so we shot this video explaining how to create the guitar parts within the songs. Enjoy...