Absent friends.

The New Year started with a horrible shock...We found out that Andy, who helped us so much with the garden had died suddenly at home. He was a proper countryman and farmer...He taught us loads and has left his mark on the garden in the three and a half years that we've been here. It's a very sad thought that we'll never walk into the garden and find him enjoying the fresh air and his lunch at the picnic bench. The funeral was in Much Hadham yesterday and was followed by the wake at the village pub...Both venues packed with people he'd known for many years.

Working on the garden seems more daunting without Andy's help, but we'll do our best. Bulbs are pushing their way upwards and there are already a few patches of snowdrops here and there. Mike, the tree surgeon has been round to reduce and remove the dead wood from our largest oak tree which was getting a bit out of hand. He made a terrific job of it (Picture above) and he's now working on our two big apple trees. The oak tree's haircut may seem a bit extreme, but it'll soon fill out and be a lovely shape.

Work has been very busy...I've just finished music for the latest Barclays campaign. It's one of a series of TV commercials, so there's a few more to do over this year. Nice!!!

The Age Of Steam and The Book Of Knowledge (two re-mastered and reworked albums) are now available on iTunes and via www.chillvillemusic.com along with a brand new EP, I Am Forecasting Sun by The Essence (me!!!).

There are some new Artful news items over at www.artfulproductionmusic.blogspot.com too.

TX dates...

The new Barclays TV commercial is showing on ITV1.

Highland Emergency continues on Channel 5.

Airline USA is showing on Sky1, Sky HD and Sky Living It

DAW controllers and chainsaws

Just found this post in drafts...

Recently added a chainsaw to our gardening equipment. We've got lots of log material in the garden and so we needed something to cut them to size. The safety equipment cost more than the actual saw, but I wasn't about to take any more risks than necessary. It works fantastically well and takes seconds to cut through something that would have taken ages and lots of effort to cut with a bow saw.

I'm keeping my eye out for new DAW controllers and was very taken with the Avid s6. It's modular and so can be configured exactly the way that you need it. It's Eucon enabled, so it'll work with Cubase. Very tempted!!! :-)

Just completing a new album for Artful and waiting for artwork to be finalised on two albums for Chillville as well as an EP by The Essence.

TX Dates...

New Home DIY has been spotted on Quest.

Airline USA is showing daily on Sky Livingit.

Happy 2014!!!

Well, we knew that 2013 was going to be a year of change and that's the way it turned out. Sadly, we said goodbye to some old friends (and one new) and we changed the way we work which has taken longer than we expected. However, it's been exciting...

On the business side of the music, we had great meetings in Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton and Dublin and have a new sub-publisher in the UK and Ireland and we'll soon be in Malaysia and Singapore...To be followed by some more south-east Asian countries in 2014.

2013 was very busy musically with a couple of TV series and a feature as well as two commercial albums and an EP for Chillville and three albums for Artful. I also almost completed book one of Multiple Field Sketches and began book two. Finally, I arranged a piece called Remembrance for male voice choir.

We gained two new cats, Erik and Hat and began logging in earnest with the new chainsaw and equipment. I tried living with a wifi tablet and a non-smart 'phone but finally gave up and bought a Nexus 5.

So, next year's resolutions...

1. Take more time off and travel more.
2. Write and record more music than ever.
3. Have a good time all the time.

Have a great 2014!!!