ambient

I've got a parcel being delivered by DPD later. I had a text first thing this morning telling me to expect the delivery between 13.36 and 14.36, the driver's name is Raj. I've had quite a few things delivered by them, they're usually pretty good.

I played a solo set at a wonderful event in Amsterdam two weekends ago. It was organised by a fantastic label that has been releasing my stuff for a few years now, they release some amazing music, please check them out: http://championversion.com These two tracks were recorded direct into Logic Pro, one is quite long the other not so long but is slightly more experimental featuring manipulated recordings taken from a transistor radio, I love the sounds that you can find in-between the stations. The longer piece is a live improvised interpretation of a track that was released on cassette on my own label, there are a just two copies still available from my Bandcamp page in my signature. https://soundcloud.com/user-987830578/de-ruimte-amsterdam-sunday-21st-october-2018 https://soundcloud.com/user-987830578/piece-2-de-ruimte-amsterdam-sunday-21st-october-2018

A very good for the price small recorder is the Zoom H2n. It does a great job for this kind of thing, you can also use it as a USB microphone for Logic Pro or GarageBand etc. I used it the other week for field recording in Amsterdam, I was pleasantly surprised how good it was. I did some really lovely and unobtrusive recording in Stedelijk Museum, it picked up the natural reverb in the halls and staircases really well. I wouldn't use it for quiet recording, but for what you want it's ideal.

Euro 6 only applies to new cars produced after 1st September 2015. Older cars would have had to satisfy whatever regulation was around at the time.

I spent 3 years undergraduate in Kilburn and a year post graduate at Goldsmiths. It’s new cars that the Euro emissions apply to, the congestion charge is affecting cars that pollute and are already on the roads.

Voice memo, Rode do a small stereo mic array that attaches to iPhones.

London's air pollution is exactly that; London's. Move 30 miles away from the centre and it isn't as bad. Where I'm sat now in Sutton Coldfield isn't as bad as 8 miles up the road in Birmingham city centre where they're also introducing a charging scheme. It's an effort to improve that, London breached the pollution limit one month into the new year.

I did a gig in Amsterdam the weekend before last. I arrived on the Sunday morning and enjoyed a pleasant walk to my hotel which was out in the museum quarter. Pleasant because I wasn't coughing and choking on exhaust fumes, and being deafened by the sound of engines. I even commented about this on Facebook and posted photos of the roads; hundreds of cyclists, quite a few little mopeds, some cars but absolutely nowhere near as many as in UK cities. Hundreds of people walking too. This was the city centre, I did notice more cars in the outskirts when I travelled to my gig in the evening, but still nowhere near as many as in the UK. They have a fantastic public transport system, trams, buses and a metro. They also cycle a lot, the pavements are wide and uncluttered and not full of holes or lose slabs, they have a 2 metre wide proper cycle path for bikes and mopeds to use, then the actual road that isn't full of holes and is shared by buses, trams and cars. People there tended to me to look a lot fitter and not so fat too, so that's a bonus, the overweight people I saw tended to be speaking English. I did 6 or 7 hours of field recording around the city, I'm just now doing some work with them, there are cars there in the recordings; they were done in a city, most of the engines that I picked up were on boats and mopeds or motorbikes. There isn't however the all pervasive background low drone that you would normally expect with recording in a city or urban environment. There were also many electric car charging points around the city. It can be done, we can improve our cities, it just takes will power and obviously money, the money raised by the congestion charge is used to fund TFL, since they introduced the charge some £1.2 billion of revenue has been re-invested in transport schemes.

Buses do contribute to the pollution problem, though they are committed to improving and will have replaced the diesel only buses by 2020, cutting emissions by 95%. How many passengers does a bus carry compared to one guy in his car? Tube trains run every couple of minutes at peak times anyway, and I believe they are increasing the capacity by introducing new trains. All of which costs huge amounts of money and is a gradual thing, but they are doing it. They can't obviously increase the length of the trains, this is governed by the length of the platforms. He's got incentives in place for cab drivers to switch to electric or greener fuels. Birmingham when it introduces its charging scheme is doing the same to encourage the cab drivers to switch. Where will the lorries wait during the time that they can't enter? You're talking of hundreds if not thousands of vehicles. I believe part of the problem with lorries is the proliferation of mini-supermarkets; Tesco Express, Sainsbury's Local etc. All of which have to be supplied meaning lorries are delivering stock to these places in little towns and villages, travelling along roads that weren't designed for lorries to use, and obviously into and around central London. There's a Tesco Express opposite the Houses of Parliament for example. The charging scheme is one of many schemes to improve the air quality. London reached the air pollution limit after one month this year, you have to do something.

I live in Birmingham, my university is about 8 miles away, I have to allow an hour and a half to get there by train because the service is unreliable. Yet they’re spending how many billion on HS2? Money that would be much better spent improving what’s already there.

The idea I guess is that it encourages people not to travel into the congestion charge zone in cars that pollute the most, so the crap isn't going into the air. If there are three of you in a band, do you have to use three cars to get to the gig? Car share and if you have to pay, then split the charges.

He’s doing it for a reason, don’t blame him for what he’s doing. Something has to be done. Can you think of anything better?

I’m personally of the opinion that we're too reliant on cars. What London is doing is ultimately good, Birmingham are introducing charging in the near future too. I’d rather not breath air that’s polluted by car and lorry exhaust fumes. If you play in a band and absolutely need to drive to a gig to carry your equipment then car share, organise amongst yourselves so you’re travelling in the minimum number of vehicles. I’m no doubt going to get a lot of dislikes for this, but we simply can’t carry on as we are, gridlocked roads and pollution, it’s unsustainable.

That explains it, I’ve only ever played at venues. They’ve tended to be fully equipped, even down to drum kits.

Every place I’ve played has had a PA. I assumed, obviously wrongly that most did in London.

Just use the tube, that’s what I do. I used a Mark Bass combo on a trolley. I’ve even carried a double bass on the tube.

I owned a bass for about 5 years that had suffered a head break. It was only by chance that I found out. I was doing a gig somewhere and someone came up and starting talking to me. He commented on the instrument and said he had owned one exactly the same. It was his, the repair was invisible.

I hope you mean vegetarian lasagne, though it might explain the stories I've read about it. I've been in 6 Wetherspoons, each is etched indelibly on my mind. The worst for cleanliness was probably in Carlisle, the food on the floor looked to have been there for several days, if it was freshly fallen on the floor then I feel sorry for whoever had been trying to eat it. The last one was Bristol next to Temple Meads, it was late after a gig and I wanted coffee prior to my train home. Again the tables were dirty, this was despite there being more bar staff than customers. I remember phoning my mom to let her know I'd made the train, it being the last one. Even though I was talking quietly my voice was echoing around the place, the few people who were there were just staring blankly into space. I just drank the black liquid as fast as I could and disappeared into the night.

It does seem odd that he’s doing this. I’ve never come across it. If the gig requires the drummer needs PA support then the whole kit is mic’d and goes through the PA. That’s only on big gigs though in my experience. Just stand by his amp and turn him down next time.

There is that. I’ve also yet to go into one and think, yes I’ll sit awhile and enjoy my coffee. It’s usually my god what’s this stuff they’re passing off as coffee, why don’t they employ enough staff so they can clean the chips and other food debris from the table, and what on earth have they done to this building? The latter because they seem to have perfected turning a nice and architecturally interesting building into something totally bland and characterless.

Wetherspoons?