Chaos and Creativity: Recording, ‘This Fairground Night’. Parts 1 - 6

The Story of ‘This Fairground Night’ recording/production will be regularly updated.

Jan 9th 2025 Part 1: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" Tao Te Ching.

By way of introduction, I (the Gar part of Mac & Gar) decided to keep a blog/diary of the song recording journey from inception to launch, a light-hearted poke at some of the absurdities/challenges of the process. You are invited to come along for the ride if you like, it’s not meant to be instructive, merely entertaining. So, here we go …

It’s early January, fridge cold, gritters (winter service vehicles, according to the local Council) are moving around outside shifting snow like motorised, prehistoric Formula 1 shovels. British humour, a mix of the absurd and surreal mixed with a sprinkle of stoicism and self-deprecation, results in some gritters having names: Spready Mercury, Taylor Drift, Skate Bush – Miserable Bastard seems to have just passed me, covering my amiable, ageing but reliable gig mobile, with a shower of the white stuff. I’m on my way to the studio, listening to the weather forecast on the radio and sighing; glad I brought a flask of coffee in case my chariot breaks down.

I have already sent the demo stems (pre-recorded electronically stored musical parts) of our new work, ‘This Fairground Night’ to our amiable producer, affectionately known as ‘Basher’ by his friends for reasons I am not about to explain, his real moniker being, Bishop henceforth named, Mr B. Mr B is a man of talent, creativity and immense skill. In a fair world he would be named as the third member of our fusion ‘beat combo’ although ‘Mac, Gar & Basher’ sounds more like a litter of Rottweilers than an aspiring indie/fusion outfit.

The recording studio is in the UK countryside, beautiful in the summer but possibly inaccessible on this temperature challenged winter day. Weather is a major topic in the UK, the lubricating go-to social additive to conversation that compels total strangers to exchange words. ‘Cold out…’. ‘Bit nippy this morning. ‘Looks like snow …’ ‘Ooh, look at those clouds, Armageddon is …’ By a pure miracle, I manage to arrive at the studio by dexterously dodging the snow ploughs that have been trying to harvest me. The local, ‘Miserable Bastards’ have done their job.

It's 9:30am. As I walk into the recording room, a warren of instruments including an upright piano, zither and a gaggle of sleeping guitars are strategically placed amongst the soft chairs and screens – a work room where dreams are realised, boundaries challenged, anecdotes shared and … Mr B already has the coffee brewing. Desk lights are blinking, heaters cranked to max as I start to unpack my guitar, a Taylor 314ce Grand Auditorium, the musical workhorse for today’s session. A streak of light traces across the room as dawn finally gets its pyjamas off and milk is poured into bucket sized cups.


Part 2: “Organisation is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it’s not all mixed up.” Winnie-the-Pooh – A. A. Milne

10:00 am. The day is about to begin and with it our customary conversation about the engaging music we have been listening to, or in Tom’s case, help produce. Bon Iver gets a mention as does Jacob Collier, ridiculously talented guy that he is. Then we cover local musicians, the weather (again) more coffee and finally … the new song!

Tom is a natural when it comes to motivation. ‘Great track,’ he opines with a beaming smile, ‘I think there are lots of ways to go with this …’ probing his way to clarifying what sound we are after, a critical consideration otherwise time is wasted diddling about, navel gazing, the classic idiom – ‘headless chicken’, routine. Tom’s a people person. His interpersonal skills match his technical/creative skills – all are important to get the best out of a song. No one likes to work with a grizzly producer.

Luckily, I already have an idea; this happens sometimes! The blessed thing has been running around inside my head for weeks. Of course, imagination and reality often share little likeness when trying to explain to a 3rd party what goes on inside your head. How to articulate that syncopated abstract electronica I feel might be ideal before the first verse when it bears little resemblance to anything? I try. 'Er, imagine sounds produced by a musical box played at half speed with some of the notes missing.' It’s a bit like trying to describe darkness. What would Bon Iver do? What would Jacob do? Well, maybe not Jacob – he is in a different orbit altogether being the master of polyrhythms and microtones, that he is. So, what are we going to do? The answer of course will be revealed when we finally arrive at a solution, we don't have one yet!

Once upon a time some bands had the recording budget to almost camp out in recording studios, some did, indulging in blue sky experimentation some of which led to groundbreaking albums. Not so for many indie artists who either fund their own work (us) or get just enough finance from Record Companies to do the job, quickly. Speed is all.

On the screen in front of me there are 8 tracks, my home studio stuff, acoustic guitar, a main vocal; the rest are first-take harmonies. All vocals will shift when Mac comes in to do his parts and make creative changes as he will interpret the song differently from my original vocal melody. This means all the harmonies will need to be redone – mostly my responsibility, but a job I love as I try to ring falsetto and bass parts out of my rather surprised vocal chords, who, if they had an independent voice (which paradoxically they do although not one which can self-determine their actions), would be declaring ‘you cannot be serious.’ Just as well really, sullen pair of organs that they are!’Mac's singing in the key of F# - I top out in E.

Part 3: “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” — Herman Melville
14th Jan: 9:30am

Mm, not sure about this Mr Melville. It is hard to be truly original, I buy this but … as much as we rely on our past/present influences, there is always room to create discernible differences I think, and anyway the way music is now made constantly evolves thanks to advances in technology. Who knows, in the future we might be able to transmit thought directly onto a music production processor – bit sad I think, no coffee time with mates, dodgy equipment to coax back to life, guitars going out of tune – all of this will seem a bit analogue in another 20 years! For the present, being original is still a high order goal and a tactile experience with instruments very much the raison d'être of making music to achieve originality.

Mr B loads the ‘work in progress.' I settle back into my seat. Time to let my ears and eyes start feeding information back to my brain, a short journey perhaps but hopefully one packed with a few musical ideas. Creativity, I understand (From Google search) is a complex activity that requires different parts of our brain to all play nicely together. The prefrontal cortex, temporal lobes, parietal lobes, amygdala, and limbic system thus, allegedly, create momentary firework displays in our heads as they do their bit in this unseen cerebral division of labour. The result: an idea.

The green, blue and white lines of my stems unfold across the screen monitor in playful randomness, quick adjustments are made to stem positions, volumes and placing of the tracks. Mr B presses the play button, the studio desk speakers spring to life. The clarity and depth of sound is quite startling after only hearing my own mixes on modest equipment. Work starts as we hear the final bar. Again, I attempt to explain to Mr B what is happening in my imaginary introduction – abstract – playful – somewhat random, a sound still not fully formed or tangible in my imagination. We experiment with a smorgasbord of possibilities, both of us picking out random sounds that we might be able to knit into the abstraction I am looking for.

Two hours later we surface having rejected 95% of the possibilities and then … by stretching a ‘tinkling’ sample to fit my 4/4 guitar pattern and key, thus distorting the notes, we have something. The ‘stretch’ is to make it fit into the time signature of the guitar parts, a 4/4 played in triplets. Some experimentation later we arrive at a somewhat disjointed, playful 16 bars which we gleefully add notes to and take notes from, we form the introduction. The fairground. The original acoustic fingerpicked parts sit beneath this. Tom mirrors the melodic theme we have created with a Fender bass part. We play the section back. Both of us start to laugh, rocking in our chairs as we listen to the work unfold. ‘It’s perfect” I enthuse ‘but nothing at all like the sound I imagined.”

Next, I pick up a Gretch G5230T Electromatic and add the electric guitar parts, a splash of distortion added for the power chords during the chorus. Percussion parts are added but these are programmed initially to give us a solid structure to work to. Later real drums will replace them. Final task for today will be to add a bass part to the song. Mr B is an accomplished bass player, I take him through the chords, make suggestions and he then interprets and plays his lines back to me. The bass part goes down but later it will be revisited when we have more of a final mix. It’s coffee time again, time for discussion.

For the discerning you might notice a small slide guitar part in the lead into the 2nd chorus. This idea happened during the coffee break. I saw a slide guitar parked up on a table and asked Mr B if he knew someone who could play it. He just smiled. We worked out suitable places for it to be added, plugged it in and a new, discreet part was created 'on the fly.'

Fast forward 3 hrs, late afternoon, we call a halt to proceeding – the ‘kitchen sink and all mix’ is well under way – raw and edgy but dripping with potential. A week will elapse before we get to work on this track again, a time to listen and to start to make decisions. By 6pm I have a copy of our day’s work. I send it over to Mac so he can give his opinions. He will soon add vocals; we need to reach agreement about the direction the work is taking. He is also creating the artwork we will use when we release the track.


Part 4: “You can’t wait for inspiration; you have to go after it with a club.” —Jack London

Wed 22nd Jan 9:30am

Another early start this time with violin player, Jamie, in tow. Mac's unable to make it so we have the whole session to record new violin parts plus work on the production. Jamie's a pleasure to work with, talented and so laid back he is almost horizontal. He layers a lot of material, creates on the fly or to arranged parts and generally gets things done quickly - his day job is working as a peripatetic violin teacher.

By 11:30 am we have enough parts to consider - once finished Jamie must make a swift exit to get to his first school for the day. I have worked with Jamie for many years so it's big hug time before he heads for the door with his violin case clutched tight. In his dark winter coat, he looks more like a doctor off to see a patient! We now have 5 violin parts added to the mix. We need to find homes for some of them. Listen and you will hear his contribution, we are not quite sure what that will eventually turn out to be, depends upon Mac’s vocals.

There are two different atmospheres we are trying to create. The first is the ambience of the fairground, the childlike quality it has and the memories it evokes. The second (the chorus) is the thrill of the ride, that moment when the music gets turned up as you spin, twist or turn. The chorus still needs a little something else to achieve this transition - not sure what, a guitar part, I think. Mr B and I break into the stack of electric guitars and try and create a part that works. Twenty minutes later, I lose that contest as Mr B intricately whacks out the beginning of a new part, a sort of retro jangly sound, with open strings ringing out.

Now here's the thing, the chorus that emerges has lost any resemblance it had to last week's chorus - it's morphing into something quite different; we seem driven to chase it there but... we no longer know where we are going and are guided by the pleasure, and it is pleasure, of not having a clue about the final destination. Time always stops when this happens, it becomes irrelevant, hours happen, they do not have beginning or endings - they no longer measure anything that we want to know about. And the result? Out of this we identify chords that we don't fully understand, juxtapositions that are full of potential but not fully realised. The studio clock beckons us back to reality - children to pick up from school, meals to prepare, domesticity to tame.

Part 5:“The only thing predictable about life is its unpredictability” Ratatouille. ‘Doesn't expecting the unexpected make the unexpected expected?’ Bob Dylan

Thursday 30th Jan to Feb 14th

For the time being work in the studio has ground to a bit of a halt – day-jobs and illness preventing further recording and production work. Instead, I have decided to work on the final ‘tag’ a part that I have already written but not fully realised. Currently it has a two-part harmony running through the whole of its 50+ seconds. I want to hear what it sounds like with a fuller, choir type part. I am trying to create an emotional ending because the words suggest this, I need a few extra parts, a different voice to swell out the sound, I have just the person in mind.

My partner in musical crime, Mac, has a long-standing commitment to the group I started out with as a bass player, a well-known and loved local band, Grace. Recently some of the children of current band members are being encouraged to get involved to help keep the lineup fresh and evolving. Thus, teenage performers are being given a chance to perform and develop stage craft. This has been very successful; the young musicians have brought something new, have huge enthusiasm and boundless energy. The gambol paid off. Maybe one day the musical baton might be passed on for a new generation to continue the musical legacy.

I have encouraged my daughter to be involved in music and performance pretty much since she was a young child with varying degrees of success. She knows about the music industry though. When she was barely a toddler, she came out on the road with me and her mom and was present at all the festivals where I performed with my former band, Smiling Knives. In Mongolia she playfully crawled around on the grasslands whilst I rehearsed in a Yurt with my fellow ‘Knives’ in readiness to take the stage. She has been developing her singing skills for the last three years. I ask the question. ‘Would you like to sing on my new composition?’ To my surprise (delight) she agrees to sing.

Over several evenings in early February, I get her to practice her parts – harmony and melody. We attempt the recording – these last for three short separate sessions. I rough mix the parts to check I have what I need. I create the new stems which I send to Mr B. The choir part is taking shape and I'm delighted. I just need to coax my reluctant teenager to join me in the studio, with enthusiasm, she agrees.

Now I need to work with Mac to get the final arrangements, harmonies and 'who does what' agreement. Mac will work on the final designs for the covers of Facebook, You Tube, CD Baby (Distribution) and a temporary website where everything will be available. We want to try and have everything together in March, maybe even release the song then if we can. Experience tells me that things rarely work out the way planned, that applies to everything, including the song!

The next available studio space is at the end of February (27th) – this is the date slated for Mac to record his vocals, Steve to add his already charted, piano/Wurlitzer parts and … my daughter to add her vocal parts as well. It’s going to be a busy one!


Part 6: “Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” Maya Angelou, Poet and activist

25/02/2025

And, a little personal refection to bring this blog journey to an end. I think the creative process can sometimes be a lonely road to travel but for me it lifts my spirit in a way that few other activities can, that's my experience anyway. Music has been a life-long friend, comforting when I needed lifting and exhilarating when excitement needs a backdrop of auditory enhancement. Over the last 20 years, between day jobs and the serious stuff of life, I have travelled the world with a guitar for company. In China I played the bars and clubs with Xinjian, Uyghur musicians, a Chinese/Turkish ethnic group, earning a living by playing 4 gigs a night, 5 songs a set, repeated until dawn broke over the coastal city of Xiamen. It taught me something about myself. It helped me survive for sure. Loneliness was never an issue. Exhaustion was though! That, said I think we all find solace in music sometimes, an escape from ourselves – a place to drift to and become someone else for a while. Maybe this was my escape- it still is.

I learned a lot from the Uyghur guys and their flamenco inspired musical style, oddball time signatures, their determination and drive but mostly from their acceptance and friendship. True to their culture, they shared their skills and talents with me. It saddens me that the Uyghurs are now persecuted. I wonder sometimes what happened to my hard-working talented friends. In the spirit of this experience, and the Uyghur tradition of sharing, for those of you that might be interested: the song, when it eventually appears, is recorded in the key of F# although originally written in E because that is the key Mac likes to sing in. In guitarist speak that simply means I use a capo at the 2nd fret to accommodate Mac’s preferred key. The song speed is currently 90 BPM which means it is moderately fast.

My guitar is open tuned. Introductory chords are formed at the 7th fret (when a capo is fixed) with the 1st, 2nd and 6th strings left open to ring. The chord is formed on the 5th, 4th and 3rd strings only, at the 7th 9th and 9th and then 8th frets (alternating). The picking style has a shifting bass line plucked out on the guitar that alternates between the bass notes of F# - C# - D# and open B. There are a couple of key changes. So now you know.

We have received requests for a trailer, a sneak-peak/listen so there will be a 20/30 second taster available sometime in the week 3rd to 9th March after we get Mac’s new vocal takes down in two days from now (25th Feb) and Steve adds his part. This will be made available on our Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/macandgarsongs/

‘This Fairground Night’ will be available on all platforms by the end of March at the latest (most probably) and released on Ethnocloud as soon as it becomes available. For those of you who have followed this small blog journey we send our thanks – we hope you enjoy the new song and a big 'thumbs-up' to you all for your support. Gar