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MP3 Rich Gordon - Torn: the Annals of 2008

Eclectic vocal and instrumental progressive rock with plenty of thrilling fretboard work. Listen to it loud.

11 MP3 Songs in this album (63:03) !
Related styles: ROCK: Instrumental Rock, ROCK: Progressive Rock

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Details:
Torn: The Annals of 2008

It is always difficult, when trying to write credits for a record, to remember all of the fine details that need to be addressed. Noting, and giving due credit to, the many people who helped me along the road, recalling the many anecdotes and all of the interesting aspects of the project is no mean feat. This is doubly difficult when the record that has been created has made such a long journey and crossed many hurdles in the process. This record has been my most ambitious project and has spanned many years in its creation. It involved a total overhaul of: my recording equipment, what I thought I knew about recording and composing, my physical capabilities both instrumentally and vocally and coordinating the project with many people. Overcoming the various personal difficulties that were thrown my way during this journey and ending up with this record - something I consider to be my greatest creation yet - at the end of it leads me to consider this record as nothing short of my finest hour. It is my hope that the final record that I present to you, the listener, is as satisfying, thought-provoking and as powerful as I strove to achieve.

Of course beyond the personal achievement that this record represents, there are many people without whom this record could never have taken shape, and to whom I am eternally indebted. Those who helped me financially – my wonderful family, and a delightfully supportive colleague by the name of Graham – made the record a possibility by aiding me (and handing it to me, respectively) to get the equipment I needed to produce the record. Those who stood by me along the way and helped me find the strength and time to do it in – my wonderful girlfriend Abigail who graced me with her patience nightly during the final record sessions in Calum’s cellar, my family, my friends and those who supported me during my personal struggles. And last but by certainly no means least, the two musicians who appeared on the record and brought it to life – Calum Gordon and Liam Upton. Were it not for Calum (and I am not downplaying Liam’s contribution however his was not as sizeable as Calum’s) and his immense skill, this record would never have made the transition from “demo record” to professional sound. Nevertheless I am still also indebted to Liam for his contribution on the two songs he performed, and which also happen to be two of my favourites on the record. I also offer my gratitude to Allan and Elizabeth Gordon, who allowed me to record the drums for this record in the cellar directly below their kitchen. Patience, it seems, has no rival.

The story behind this record is as epic as the music itself. Now, standing at the other end of the project, having completed the recording quite some time ago and faced even more problems post-production I realise that the completion of this record was nothing short of a miracle. In every capacity of production; the composition, arrangement, performing, recording, and even the minor detail of choosing a name for the record (which came from my indecision both in my life and the record’s production), I faced challenges, some minor, most were major…

It all starts back in 2001 when I first began writing music. What started out as an amateur guitar player trying to take his first steps in composition ended up a few years later (with some prompting from friends I might add) as a small EP that was hastily put together in December 2004 and labelled “The Annals of 2004”. This first creation was poorly recorded and demonstrated the lack of time put into it, and once the novelty of being a “recording artist” had passed, I deeply regretted releasing it. Like most things that one regrets, it was hastily swept beneath the carpet in the hope that it would go away and I would be able to respectfully move on. This would have been an excellent plan were it not for the fact that I actually liked the music I had written for the record, and so I couldn’t entirely forget about it.

However, I momentarily moved on and created the concept record “Heroism: The Annals of 2006”. After the apparent success of this newer project, where I had practiced my skills as “sound engineer/producer” and expanded upon my knowledge thus far gained, I decided to move onto another project that would take me one step further. I resolved to abandon the 4-track recording device I had struggled to make records on prior to this and make a record that sounded and felt larger and of a better quality. This would involve upgrading the meagre collection of recording equipment thus far amassed. I would also be able to break the boundaries of multi-track limitations and harness that really well textured sound I had tried to achieve and failed at doing until then. Although I think the ultimate ambition for this new record would have to be the fact that it would include something my music hadn''t before at all – a live drum performance!

So it was during this moment that I was submerged in creativity that the sub-carpet EP reared its ugly head again. I was at first tempted to re-record it and re-release it under the name of “Reloaded: The Annals of 2004”, but eventually the idea crossed my mind to combine it with new similar compositions and make it into a full-length album. I originally would have included all the songs from the EP but along the road of development I began to get a better idea about where the album was going, and so the decision was made to drop the song “N.A.M” from the new record as it didn’t really fit with the feel of the rest of the songs. That and the fact that I am pretty anal about numbers, and when I decided I wanted to have eleven tracks on the record I wasn’t able to get past it…

So from that point forward the path was set toward making “Torn”. I began writing immediately in the summer of 2006, and progress was great, inspiration flowed like water in a Scottish summer. However, over the coming months, I suffered many setbacks, academically, socially, mentally, professionally and financially that all culminated in a complete shutdown of the project in early 2007 so that I could get myself back together and my head straight. This was an extremely difficult period for me because it greatly put in doubt many of the things I had planned to do and was doing.

Slowly, and thankfully, however, fortune again began to smile and I was back up and running by March 2007, and shortly afterwards completed the creative process of writing new material and re-writing old material. By June 2007 I had the money to upgrade my recording equipment and was ready to get cracking, and on July 7th, 2007, Calum and I set about recording the drum tracks for the record. This period is one of the most memorable and exciting periods of my life, not least for the time spent with Calum and watching him at work, bringing my music to life, but for the general atmosphere of the period. A few months, many late night cups of coffee and one too many fish suppers later, 9 of the 11 songs had skeletons recorded for them. Unfortunately because of time constraints I had to settle for having Calum on only those 9 songs, and used a keyboard as a drum machine for the other two. My only disappointment with the recording of the drums was that given the restraints of my recording equipment, I wasn’t able to keep all the drum microphones as separate tracks in the mix. I had to do a “pre-mix” on them into a stereo track. This turned out ok in the end but not as great as either of us had hoped for, as it is difficult to mix drums without other instruments to relate them to.

The next stage was the most exciting - fleshing out the skeleton of the songs. This process was a slow but steady one. Unlike the writing stage of the record, I had a much better idea about how each song should sound. The feel of the drums largely modified the overall sound of each song from how it had been before – I now had less “empty space” to fill in with melody instruments because the live drums were far more fulfilling than the keyboard drums I used in the demos. This meant that there was no longer something ambiguously lacking in the arrangement, and I was able to focus fully on the fleshing-out part. I had also, by this time, heard my songs a thousand times over, and was more than ready with ideas of how to go about recording them; how to improve on the first versions and what to change. During this period I was graced with Liam’s input into two of the songs, which immediately brought so much life to the drum tracks.

By February 2008 I had finished recording the record, and it was not long after that when I completed the mixing process. I spent a great deal of time on the mixing, largely due to the fact that this was the first time I had properly mixed an album in the conventional way – previously because of limited space I mixed as I went in order to “bounce” tracks together to make space. This time I had all my tracks spread out across the screen and was able to dissect each individual channel and mix it. This was difficult in some songs, where I had 48 tracks to mix. I did many different mixes, each with a slight tweak on the previous. I listened to these mixes on various different systems to get a feel for how they sounded, and after a couple of weeks I finally stamped my seal of approval on the album. Soon after, the record was in the capable hands of David MacFarlane who very brilliantly mastered the album and brought a great deal of scope and clarity to the sound of the record, clearing away a lot of the unnecessary noise.

However, trouble was once again not far away, and my new, beautiful record, fully completed, mastered, and ready to roll was to sit dormant however for the next while. The money I needed to publish the record on CD evaded me like one evades the plague (successfully, that is). After working far too many hours over the summer of 2008 and getting nowhere fast (running myself into the ground during the process), I eventually decided (however grudgingly) that the best course of action was to abandon the idea of an initial CD release and pursue the path of releasing it through I-Tunes which was originally going to be phase two of the release process. The release of this record on CD is the next stage of the plan.

But it isn’t all bad. I have done the hardest part – completing the project, and in the face of so much adversity. Most would have given up at the first hurdle, and it is more than just an achievement in sound that I have had – it is an achievement of perseverance and overcoming many crippling problems. At times I wanted to give up and throw it out the window, and at times I probably injured myself more often than I should have out of frustration, but I suppose that just comes with the territory…

My advice for the ultimate listening experience of this record is to wear a good pair of headphones or sit adequately placed between two speakers. Start at the start and don’t stop until you reach the end. This strange-sounding record of mine all makes so much more sense when you hear it within the context of the whole album. It’s not a concept album like its older sibling, but the flow of the record has been designed to feel like a continuing story. If you like it, there’s another on its way, and hopefully will come together much easier than this did.

As a final thought, however, I can’t help but feel that this record wouldn’t have the same edge it does without all of those many hurdles I jumped to get to where I am now. It’s a strange old world huh?

Until a little later,

Rich.

October 2008.

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