That was MIDEM that was...

Just spent a week in Cannes for MIDEM and had a wonderful time. We were lucky enough to be given the top floor Sophia Loren Suite in the Carlton InterContinental...Amazing!!!



Met lots of sub-publishers and friends from around the world and also had some time to explore parts of the town that I'd never been to before...



...This is a close up picture of the church clock that overlooks the town from a hill, and here is the town from the hill...



...Lots more places to explore next year!!!

I also met a lot of people in London on their way to or from MIDEM so I took them to Paramount to look at the view of London from the top of Centre Point. Saw a fantastic sleet storm work its way from north to south over East London...Looked amazing!!!

MIDEM 2010

I'll be at MIDEM in Cannes next week to meet sub-publishers and friends to catch up with news and to promote the music. Then a few weeks at home before going over to Dublin...Funnily enough, I'm just listening to the Angelus on RTÉ 1 during the Marian Finucane Show.

I'm also in the early stages of moving house which will also mean moving my studio. I prefer to write music at home because of the strange hours it sometime entails to meet tight deadlines,or to get things to people in different time zones. It's a lovely 400 year old thatched cottage on the village green, so I'm thinking of calling the new studio The Village Green Preservation Society in homage to the Kinks, but that might be a bit long!!! I won't say anything more about it for the time being because with the English system of buying a house, you're never sure about moving definitely until contracts have been exchanged...So fingers crossed!!!

The office will remain in Hertford...I have my Sibelius set up there as well as Cubase for edits and emergencies. I've just upgraded to Sibelius 6 which has made it a much simpler program to use. I started a piece for Violin and 'Cello which I'm hoping may be played in Dublin sometime in the future and was inspired enough by Sibelius 6 to start an orchestral overture which will be called Bluebird and is inspired by Malcolm and Donald Campbell's record breaking cars and boats. Apparently, Donald Campbell was a very distant relation of mine.

End of year roundup list!!!

In the style of an end of year roundup type of thing, here is a list of my favourite things in 2009...

Hotel...

1=) Carlton InterContinental, Cannes.
1=) Merrion Hotel, Dublin.
3) Shutters On The Beach, Santa Monica.

Martini...

1) The Curtain Club, Berlin.
2) Claridges, London.
3) Bar des Celebrités, Cannes.

Dinner...

1) Le Festival, Cannes.
2) Patrick Guilbaud, Dublin.
3) The Cellar Restaurant, Dublin.

Nightcap...

1) No. 23, Dublin.
2) Féstival, Cannes.
3) The Westgate Hotel, San Diego

Experience...

1) Grand Canyon.
2) Las Vegas.
3) Santa Monica.

And here's another show which I wrote the music for...

Samurai Bow
Mon, 4th, 12am
Nat Geo HD

Signs Of Life - BBC online drama

Click here to view

That was the year that was 1 - Travel

Well,I've come to the end of a brilliant year for travel so I thought I'd do a quick summing up before it starts again in the new year.

January kicked off with the yearly trip to MIDEM in Cannes...



...this is the wallpaper on my Blackberry. It's always a treat to get some early sun, although I remember one year we saw snow falling on la Croisette!!!

Then Gibraltar...



...where I was suprised to find that The Rock itself faces the other way to how I expected it. Lovely weather!!!

Then over to the USA in April, starting in Santa Monica...



...flight to Las Vegas for NAB...



...The Grand Canyon...



Then San Diego...



Train to Oceanside...



Train to Los Angeles staying in Beverley Hills...



...and then home. All in all a fantastic experence and good for biz too!!!


Back to Cannes for a short summer break...



Interspersed with several trips to Dublin...



...Belfast...



...and short breaks in Wales and the Cotswolds.

Phew!!!

Other TV shows with my music!!!

Sorry, bit of a list this, but here are some more shows with my music on over the next week or so...

The Hottest Place On Earth
Saturday 5th December on BBC HD

Highland Emergency
Wed, 2nd December, 7:30pm FIVE etc...

So You Think You're Royal?
Mon, 30th, 12:30pm Sky3
Tue, 1st, 12:30pm Sky3
Wed, 2nd, 12:30pm Sky3
Thu, 3rd, 4:20am Sky1
Thu, 3rd, 4:20am Sky1 HD
Thu, 3rd, 12:30pm Sky3
Fri, 4th, 4:15am Sky1
Fri, 4th, 4:15am Sky1 HD
Fri, 4th, 12:30pm Sky3
Sat, 5th, 4:15am Sky1
Sat, 5th, 4:15am Sky1 HD etc...

Airline USA
Tue, 1st, 10am ITV2
Tue, 1st, 11am ITV2+1
Tue, 1st, 1pm ITV2
Tue, 1st, 2pm ITV2+1
Fri, 4th, 10am ITV2
Fri, 4th, 11am ITV2+1
Fri, 4th, 1pm ITV2
Fri, 4th, 2pm ITV2+1
Wed, 2nd, 10am ITV2
Wed, 2nd, 11am ITV2+1
Thu, 3rd, 10am ITV2
Thu, 3rd, 11am ITV2+1 etc...

New Home DIY
Mon, 30th, 5pm Discovery Shed
Mon, 30th, 5:30pm2 Discovery Shed
Tue, 1st, 12pm Discovery Shed
Tue, 1st, 12:30pm Discovery Shed
Tue, 1st, 5pm Discovery Shed
Tue, 1st, 5:30pm Discovery Shed
Wed, 2nd, 4:40am Discovery Shed
Wed, 2nd, 5:05am Discovery Shed
Wed, 2nd, 12pm2 Discovery Shed
Wed, 2nd, 12:30pm Discovery Shed
Wed, 2nd, 5pm Discovery Shed
Wed, 2nd, 5:30pm Discovery Shed
Thu, 3rd, 4:40am Discovery Shed
Thu, 3rd, 5:05am Discovery Shed
Thu, 3rd, 12pm Discovery Shed
Thu, 3rd, 12:30pm Discovery Shed
Thu, 3rd, 5pm Discovery Shed
Thu, 3rd, 5:30pm Discovery Shed
Fri, 4th, 4:40am Discovery Shed
Fri, 4th, 5:05am Discovery Shed
Fri, 4th, 12pm Discovery Shed
Fri, 4th, 12:30pm Discovery Shed
Fri, 4th, 5pm Discovery Shed
Fri, 4th, 5:30pm Discovery Shed
Sat, 5th, 4:40am Discovery Shed
Sat, 5th, 5:05am Discovery Shed etc...

Knut And Friends on Eden

Knut and Friends
A look at the progress of a baby polar bear at Berlin Zoo. Knut is hand-reared from a guinea pig-sized baby into a 28-kilo fighter. But how will it cope with becoming a celebrity?
On at 4.00pm on Monday 21st December on Eden
On at 5.00pm on Monday 21st December on Eden +1
On at 8.00pm on Monday 21st December on Eden
On at 9.00pm on Monday 21st December on Eden +1

Hell On Earth Eden Dates

Hell On Earth on Eden dates as promised...

Hell On Earth, 1
Experts venture into Ethiopia's Danakil desert to find out how the indigenous people survive in the hottest place on earth. Kate Humble looks at how tough life is for an Afar woman.
On at 11.00am on Wednesday 16th December on Eden
On at 12.00pm on Wednesday 16th December on Eden +1
On at 7.00pm on Wednesday 16th December on Eden
On at 8.00pm on Wednesday 16th December on Eden +1
On at 12.00am on Thursday 17th December on Eden
On at 1.00am on Thursday 17th December on Eden +1

Hell On Earth, 2
A team of explorers brave the scorching temperatures of the Danakil desert in Ethiopia. Here, Steve Leonard learns about the relationship between the Afar people and their animals.
On at 11.00am on Thursday 17th December on Eden
On at 12.00pm on Thursday 17th December on Eden +1
On at 7.00pm on Thursday 17th December on Eden
On at 8.00pm on Thursday 17th December on Eden +1
On at 12.00am on Friday 18th December on Eden
On at 1.00am on Friday 18th December on Eden +1

Hell On Earth, 3
A team of experts explore Ethiopia's Danakil desert and investigate its incredible geology. Dr Mukul Agarwal looks at the health issues faced in this most hostile of environments.
On at 11.00am on Friday 18th December on Eden
On at 12.00pm on Friday 18th December on Eden +1
On at 7.00pm on Friday 18th December on Eden
On at 8.00pm on Friday 18th December on Eden +1
On at 12.00am on Saturday 19th December on Eden
On at 1.00am on Saturday 19th December on Eden +1

More repeats on Eden in January 2010!!!

Hell On Earth

Hell On Earth has been showing on Eden...



...I'll come back with dates and times soon.

Will be finishing the Giant Octopus wildlife film 5.1 mix at the end of next week...Am in London today, but will be spotting the final music on the Blackberry...Amazing what you can do with twchnology these days!!!

Producing

Spent a couple of happy days in deepest, darkest Norfolk with Dr. Eric James at his facility, Philosophers Barn. Eric recorded our virtuoso album at The Old Granary in Suffolk and we're now producing and editing it to make the finished product.



It's very intensive work...There are various takes to go through and unlike working with a sequencer, where all takes are lined up at the same point, you have to track where you are on the on screen waveform with the sheet music. It takes a while to get into the swing of it with each new piece, but we're getting there. One more visit should complete all the the work.



It's a great facility and I can highly recommend them for recording, editing and mastering...Here's their website...

URM Audio website

Philosophers Barn website

Travels

I've done a fair few miles around the UK recently. First to Wales for a family birthday via Thornbury Castle near Bristol. Very nice hotel...Henry VII and Anne Boleyn stayed there once, but I went through all the drawers and I coudn't find anything they'd left behind. Rather like Henry VIII too, I coudn't
get the modem working, so I had to tether the computer to the Blackberry to get online.

No chance of that where we stayed in Wales which was incredibly remote...Amazing countryside. We went through Brecon.



Our journey home took us right past the Elgar Birthplace Museum near Worcester which was very inspiring. We thought that the old boy himself had put in an appearance when a lady let out a shrill scream, but she'd actually only got her stilletto heel stuck between the floorboards!!!

Here he is conducting one of his top tunes...



Elgar Birthplace Museum website

Dublin

Just back from a very rainy trip to Dublin to promote my music. As I'm spending more timeover there, I decided to join the Odessa Club which is a nice little spot in Dame Street...Looking forward to going back soon!!!

Lots of composing at the moment and also editing our virtuoso disk next week in deepest Norfolk!!!