Update - A Snapshot of Various Highlights

A picture tells a thousand words:

I mentioned live streaming as one of our many activities over the last couple of years... this is a still from one of a number of live streamed lessons that we presented to the world.

One of the limitations of the streaming was the fact that we had to use our older cameras to interface with the Tricaster broadcast system.

We are developing a new system that is software based which will allow us to integrate new Blackmagic cameras designed for this type of work. More on this soon.

Tricaster Shots

 But we did do some interesting broadcasts, in addition to the regular bass & guitar lessons, we also brought in some industry friends:

Greg Haver - Producer

 Greg Haver, producer of the manic Street Preachers, Kimbra, Catatonia, Melanie C (and many others) in an interview with Richie.

Ian Matthews - Drummer

 Ian Matthews, drummer with rock band Kasabian, who gave a wonderful drum workshop.

John Pearce - Violinist

John Pearce, great musician, great violin performer who radiates quality and endless versatility.

Another live streamed session, this time a trio performance with Cliff, Richie & John playing Django (Modern Jazz Quartet composition).

 A recording & filming session in All Saints Church (lovely acoustics)

Richie in make up

Richie trying out a custom hand made bass

Ryan recording an acoustic set

Example of M/S microphone set up... used to record the ambience

 Meet Matt Nisbet

The instrument in his hands is a Theorbo, a member of the lute family with a number of resonant strings. We are working with Matt to develop classical guitar lessons.

A new recording interface

In our perpetual quest for quality the issue of A/D (analogue to digital) conversion is a significant part of the recording chain. 

Generally we now use the Apogee Ensemble when we need multiple audio inputs but we are hoping to upgrade this unit (more mic inputs). The quality is first class and the mic pres are also excellent. A very nice unit at a reasonable price.

There is also a piece of Apogee software that comes with all of their interfaces, Maestro, that includes a neat feature called Soft Limit. More on this later.