New toys

I've been to the toyshop and am awaiting delivery of a Fucusrite Sapphire 56, a nicely specced rack mount PC with the latest version of Cubase and a Mackie pro control Universal.

The reason for doing this was that I was working happily on my latest tune when the computer very gently switched itself off...First Cubase disappeared, then the desktop cleared, then the machine switched itself off forever. Repeated attempts to bring it back to life have been in vain, so I decided that it was time to have big update. It's always a good idea to do this from time to time to keep things fresh and out of sonic ruts.

So, I was interested in the Sapphire because of the liquid channels (although I am very happy with my Universal Audio hardware channels and I'm looking for more Hardware options), but also because it can happily cope with 5.1 work and hook up with ADAT channels...I've got some old gear with some lovely sounds on which I'd like to hook up eventually, so this may come in useful.

The PC is a rack mount with lots of RAM and plenty of FireWire ports and has Windows 7 as the OS. I'll be using the 32bit version of Cubase until all my favourite plug-ins are compatible..Then I'll move to 64bit and up the RAM.

I did think of moving to Mac/Euphonix, but I have to be ready to do some pretty complex work ASAP, so I decided to stick with PC. Oh yes...I'm going for the Mackie, because it seems to do all I need and it can be expanded with the sidecars...So, it seems a good bet.

Can't wait to have a play!!!

Spotify

You can now hear lots of my commercial releases on Spotify by clicking below...

Garry on Spotify

Up Close With Giant Eels...

...with some music by me!!!

Cannes vacation

IMG00088-20100912-1256
Originally uploaded by garry.judd

As promised, a holiday snap from Cannes.

Video: Samurai Bow...Music by me!!!

Video: Samurai Bow...Music by me!!!

Central Steam - Music by me.

Click to enlarge.

Music on TV by me!!!

Here are a few shows playing on UK TV this week which I wrote the music for...

Highland Emergency is back on FIVE and FIVE HD on Wednesdays at 7.30pm.

Two hours of The Hottest Place On Earth on BBC HD at 9 and 10pm on Thursday.

Knut And Friends is on Eden at 11am, 5pm, 7pm and 10pm and an hour later in each case on Eden +1 on Thursday 30th October.

My Cypriot KItchen seems to be taking over Discovery Realtime this weekend (2nd and 3rd) October!!!

New house, Flughafen Tempelhof and Cannes

Finally moved into the new house...

...it was built around 1580 and is in a little hamlet in Hertfordshire. The studio is now fully working and I've produced some music here already...Some for the finishing stages of Central Steam and also revamping a current affairs programme for ITV...More news on that soon.

Here is a pic from my visit to POPKOMM at Flughafen Tempelhof. I've wanted to visit this building for years having seen it in the film Funeral in Berlin...

I went directly from Berlin to Cannes for a short weekend...Pic coming soon!!!!



My Cypriot Kitchen

I've been busy with the bouzouki again!!!

My Cypriot Kitchen
Sat, 11th, 8pm
Disc.RealTime

My Cypriot Kitchen
Sat, 11th, 8:30pm
Disc.RealTime

My Cypriot Kitchen
Sat, 11th, 9pm
Disc.RT+1

My Cypriot Kitchen
Sat, 11th, 9:30pm
Disc.RT+1

My Cypriot Kitchen
Sun, 12th, 12am
Disc.RealTime

My Cypriot Kitchen
Sun, 12th, 12:30am
Disc.RealTime

My Cypriot Kitchen
Sun, 12th, 1am
Disc.RT+1

My Cypriot Kitchen
Sun, 12th, 1:30
Disc.RT+1

Dublin

IMG00025
Originally uploaded by garry.judd

I'm writing this from the fair city of Dublin which I've really got to like since I started publishing and promoting my music here a few years ago. In fact, I've had some of my music on Fair City (which is Ireland's most popular soap based in a Dublin suburb) as well as many other Irish TV shows.

Weather is lovely (unlike last time, when the rain hit the ground with such force, it went back in the air for about three feet before falling down again).

Returning home soon to a quick job that came in today and then to move home next week. Because I like to have my studio at home (for when long hours are required!!!) this means moving all my gear too...Should be 'exciting'!!!

My music on TV this week!!!

Now showing...

Robbie Coltrane: B-Road Britain
Sun, 25th, 8pm, ITV3
Sun, 25th, 9pm, ITV3+1

The Hottest Place on Earth
Fri, 23rd, 12am, BBC HD

Samurai Bow
Wed, 21st, 10am, Nat Geo HD
Wed, 21st, 4pm, Nat Geo HD

The Water Boatman with Alan Herd
Mon, 19th, 7pm
Mon, 19th, 7:30pm
Tue, 20th, 7pm
Tue, 20th, 7:30pm
Wed, 21st, 7pm
Wed, 21st, 7:30pm
Thu, 22nd, 7pm
Thu, 22nd, 7:30pm
Fri, 23rd, 7pm
Fri, 23rd, 7:30pm
Sun, 25th, 5pm
Sun, 25th, 5:30pm
Discovery Shed

My Greek Kitchen
Mon, 19th, 4:30pm, Disc.RealTime
Mon, 19th, 5:30pm, Disc.RT+1
Tue, 20th, 9am, Travel & Living
Tue, 20th, 11:30am, Disc.RealTime
Tue, 20th, 12:30pm, Disc.RT+1
Wed, 21st, 9am, Travel & Living
Wed, 21st, 4:30pm, Disc.RealTime
Wed, 21st, 5:30pm, Disc.RT+1
Thu, 22nd, 11:30am, Disc.RealTime
Thu, 22nd, 12:30pm, Disc.RT+1
Thu, 22nd, 4:30pm, Disc.RealTime
Thu, 22nd, 5:30pm, Disc.RT+1
Fri, 23rd, 11:30am, Disc.RealTime
Fri, 23rd, 12:30pm, Disc.RT+1
Sat, 24th, 9am, Disc.RealTime
Sat, 24th, 9:30am, Disc.RealTime
Sat, 24th, 10am, Disc.RT+1
Sat, 24th, 10:30am, Disc.RT+1
Sat, 24th, 12pm, Disc.RealTime
Sat, 24th, 1pm, Disc.RealTime
Sat, 24th, 1pm, Disc.RT+1
Sat, 24th, 2pm, Disc.RT+1
Sun, 25th, 9am, Disc.RealTime
Sun, 25th, 9:30am, Disc.RealTime
Sun, 25th, 10am, Disc.RT+1
Sun, 25th, 10:30am, Disc.RT+1
Sun, 25th, 12pmTravel & Living
Sun, 25th, 12:30pm Travel & Living
Tue, 20th, 9:30am, Travel & Living
Sat, 24th, 12:30pm, Disc.RealTime
Sat, 24th, 1:30pm, Disc.RT+1
Tue, 20th, 4:30pm, Disc.RealTime
Tue, 20th, 5:30pm, Disc.RT+1
Wed, 21st, 9:30am, Travel & Living
Wed, 21st, 11:30am, Disc.RealTime
Wed, 21st, 12:30pm, Disc.RT+1
Thu, 22nd, 9am, Travel & Living
Thu, 22nd, 9:30am, Travel & Living
Fri, 23rd, 9am, Travel & Living
Fri, 23rd, 9:30am, Travel & Living
Fri, 23rd, 4:30pm, Disc.RealTime
Fri, 23rd, 5:30pm, Disc.RT+1

Gaia - Earth Spirit

Available as an .mp3 download from Amazon.

Busy, busy!!!

Starting work on a new film...More news soon!!!

Escape To The Legion on the History Channel

SHowing on the History Channel, Bear Grylls' first major TV series with music by me. Luckily, I didn't have to do any yomping through the desert!!!

Escape To The Legion
Sun, 27th, 10pm
History HD

Escape To The Legion
Sun, 27th, 10pm
History

Escape To The Legion
Sun, 27th, 11pm
History +1 hour



Channel 4 website

Melodica

Recording with one of these today. My friend bought me one for musical evenings on my recent visit to Lundy...The idea being that we'd be able to carry on playing when the power went off in the evenings.

It's a really nice little instrument...Very expressive and it sounds quite like a harmonica. The long tube allows it to be set on a table and played like a piano, although the more notes you hold down, the more puff it takes!!!

I'm recording with the U87 via my Universal Audio 6176.

My music on TV

Spotted The Lost Tribe Of Palau and a whole day of The Waterboatman on Discovery this weekend.

Still working on the steam train show and the cookery programme...More news soon!!!

Still available, Signs Of Life on BBC website .

Hell On Earth on Eden

Originally shown on BBC1 as The Hottest Place On Earth...

Hell On Earth
Tue, 15th, 3pm
532 Eden

Hell On Earth
Tue, 15th, 4pm
533 Eden+1

Hell On Earth
Tue, 15th, 7pm
532 Eden

Hell On Earth
Tue, 15th, 8pm
533 Eden+1

Hell On Earth
Tue, 15th, 10pm
532 Eden

Hell On Earth
Tue, 15th, 11pm
533 Eden+1

Hell On Earth
Wed, 16th, 3pm
532Eden

Hell On Earth
Wed, 16th, 4pm
533Eden+1

Hell On Earth
Wed, 16th, 7pm
532 Eden

Hell On Earth
Wed, 16th, 8pm
533 Eden+1

Hell On Earth
Wed, 16th, 10pm
532 Eden

Hell On Earth
Wed, 16th, 11pm
533Eden+1

My music on TV!!!

Programmes currently showing...

Giant Octopus - Nat Geo Wild Video

Mission Implausible - Sky 3

Engineering Egypt - More 4

The Water Boatman - Discovery Shed

Currently working on a show for Discovery.

Arc-En-Ciel ~ Garry Judd

Here's an animation someone did to my track 'Arc-En-Ciel' from AMBIENCE...

Slideshow of trip to US 2010

New commissions and repeats

Work has started on scores for a series about steam railways and a cookery/lifestyle show...Great to be back making music after my unintentionally long stay in Los Angeles!!!

A quick look through the TV schedules show that the following shows containing music by ME are on next week...

ROBBIE COLTRANE'S B-ROAD BRITAIN is showing on Sundays at 11.15pm on ITV1 and ITV HD.

HIGHLAND EMERGENCY is currently showing on Sundays at various times on Fiver and Fiver+1.

THE WATER BOATMAN is on Discovery Shed at 10 and 10.30pm on Saturdays and Wednesdays.

GIANT OCTOPUS is on NatGeoWild HD on Saturday 15th at 5pm.

MY GREEK KITCHEN is on at various times all week on Travel And Living.

Also in the offing is the move to a new house and studio...More news soon!!!

USA

Back home from the USA!!! I went for two weeks, but stayed nearly one month due to the Icelandic volcano ash cloud.

Southern California isn't a bad place to be stranded, so I made the best of the situation :-) .

However, it's lovely to be back home...Have a few commissions lined uo to begin on next week, one of which envolves dusting of the old Bouzuoki again...More details soon!!!

Downtown LA

Currently in LA getting over jet lag and organising a few meetings...

...Lovely weather as you can see!!!

Lots of meetings planned for the NAB show in Vegas next week and plenty to do in LA on my return on Tuesday for a week.

USA

All ready for my trip to the US tomorrow...Will be posting here and new pics will be showing up in the right sidebar over there>>>

I'll also be updating all my other accounts using Ping.

See you on the other side!!! :-)

Moleskine music notebooks

I've mentioned these Moleskine music notebooks a few times now...Here are details. They're very handy, as they're actually pocket sized. The others I've tried have been jut a little bit too big

The Water Boatman

UK Premiere Series, Wednesdays from 7th April 2010, 10.00pm

Presenter, Alan Herd, explores the inland waterways of Britain, following the Stourport Ring – the canal route that covers 65 miles of canals and 13 miles of the River Severn. He experiences some varied watercraft and visits some of the most fascinating parts of our heritage. Across the series, Alan will visit Birmingham, the city with more canals than Venice, known as the ‘workshop of the world’ during the Industrial Revolution. The journey continues on past the birthplace of Cadbury chocolate, onto the cathedral city of Worcester and past the Severn valley steam railway. Along the way, Alan hitches lifts with other canal enthusiasts and discovers more about life afloat. Music by Garry Judd.

My music on TV

Giant Octopus (1 hour HD wildlife film) is now showing on NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC...

Sun, 28th, 5pm
526Nat Geo

Sun, 28th, 6pm
Nat Geo+1hr

Sun, 28th, 8pm
NatGeoWild HD

Mon, 29th, 1am
Nat Geo

Mon, 29th, 2am
Nat Geo+1hr

Mon, 29th, 11am
NatGeoWild HD

Mon, 29th, 4pm
NatGeoWild HD

Wed, 31st, 12pm
Nat Geo Wild

...And Highland Emergency (Series 1)is showing daily at 9 and 9.30am and 2 and 2.30pm on FIVER.

Series 2 continues on FIVE at 8pm on Fridays.

Lundy and Bluebird

I've just completed a duo for violin and 'cello called ÉLEMÉNTS DE 'PATAPHYSIQUE. As I menteioned before, it's the first piece I've written on Sibelius, the music notation software. I found the earlier versions of this very hard to get to grip with, but I now am pretty speedy on the excellent version 6.

I also discovered the pocket sized Moleskine music notepads which I used to make notes for the duo. I used to write directly onto manuscript paper and found this a very nice way to work...I used to enjoy having a break to sharpen my pencil!!! I've found a new way of working which is to make notes by hand in the notebooks and then put these into Sibelius at a later date. So, I still get the nice tactile part of making the notes by hand, but I can work on different parts of the score whenever I like (ie. do the big finish first!!!) as well as having the luxury of printing the parts out.

So, with this in mind, I went to Lundy with a Moleskine notepad with the intention of making notes for my orchestral overture, Bluebird. A dozen of us went over...It was a visit organised by my old schoolpal Pal and his wife and family (and our two Godchildren), his sister and brother-in-law and his wife's sister, husband and two children. In-between walks and rough and tumble and a good time had by all, I took the opportunity to sit admiring views like these...



...and make some notes...



Lundy is a tiny island in the Bristol Channel between England and Wales. It has fantastic scenery and wildlife and was incredibly tranquil (we were very lucky with the weather...It can get very stormy!!! It features every day on the Radio 4 shipping forecast). Check Lundy out HERE

My next trip is to the USA in about three weeks (will be taking notepad then too!!!)...Will post more info soon.

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.