Podcast action - 211015

Sponsored by "Miles Davis".

Material from D(O)UB(T) has featured on a number of recent podcasts, to wit:-

• Greetings from Somerset Episode Five
• No Pigeonholes, and again, No Pigeonholes
• Lucas' 2-hour Musical Discoveries on ISCK Rock Radio

Clicking on the links should take you to the podcasts, but not directly to the D(O)UB(T) tracks. I think you are big enough and bold enough to find the tracks yourselves.

Great big greasy shoutouts to Steve Somerset, Don Campau and Lucas Biela for playing the tracks.

More to come? Who knows?

Regards,


djp

Gomorrah EP - 171015

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

Here it is -  the final EP release to promote D(O)UB(T). Out now on Bandcamp...



Additional tracks are Is Everybody Happy Yet?, The Book Of Passwords and an instrumental demo version of Gomorrah.

Hope you enjoy it.

More news when I have it...

Regards,


djp

It's a wrap (pretty much...) - 230915

Sponsored by "Four".

I've just sent the last of my planned promo e-mails, thus wrapping up the promo campaign for the album. What happens after this depends on reactions to those e-mails and to any other spontaneous promo actions I might take going forward. Undoubtedly, there will be occasional postings on this blog as significant events occur, but as far as I can see, this will be the last you will be hearing about D(O)UB(T). Until the next thing you hear...;-).

It's been a blast doing this project, and while I feel a certain amount of sadness as it reaches its end, I am satisfied with a job well done. Some people have been known to say nice things about the album (shock horror).

I will leave you with this celebratory mugshot (literally).

Till the next time - au reservoir!

Regards,


djp

"D(O)Ub(T)" on iTunes/Promo progress - 190915

Sponsored by "Last Played 2015".

So it seems that an album called D(O)Ub(T) is up on iTunes. It's D(O)UB(T) by any other name, thanks to my good buddies in CD Baby...

...when I was uploading the album, it kept forcing the title to read as "D(O)ub(T)", I asked CD Baby to change this, which they did in fairness to them, but it ended up as D(O)Ub(T) on iTunes. It has to be said that something similar to this happened in relation to Optimism 1 - Experience 0. I presume that this is a "thing" with iTunes. Slightly annoying, but no big deal.

In other news, the Facebook/Twitter stages of the promo campaign are over. Getting some nice reviews from punters, but no action from the meeja. This is not unexpected... Currently, I'm slogging my way through a list of e-mail addresses I data-mined a few years ago. Most likely a lot of these are obsolete by now, but there's only one surefire way to find out...;-).

Finally, and I don't want to jinx this, but there is a distinct prospect of an audio interview on a podcast over the next week. Further details as they emerge.

Regards,


djp

Mare Nostrum on The Eclectic Eel/Promo progress - 090915

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

Just found out that MARE...was played last night on The Eclectic Eel. You can listen to a stream of the show here:- http://www.grahamlovatt.com/show-50-08092015.html.

Big thank you to Graham Lovatt for doing the honours!

In other news, the mailing list and Facebook stages of the promo campaign have been completed. Next stop - Twitter.

Regards,


djp

D(O)UB(T) is (o)u(t) and ab(o)u(t) - 070913

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

So D(O)UB(T) has finally been unleashed on the world. And here it is in all its "sonic glory"...

The album is initially released via Bandcamp with a number of bonus tracks, full artwork and access to a free download (via Mediafire or Dropbox) of a full album mix.

I am currently uploading the album to CD Baby to facilitate release, within the next few days, via the usual major digital retailers. The CD Baby version will not have the bonus features, so if you really want those, ya gotsta go to Bandcamp, aiiii...?

In the meantime, if you want to hear streams of the full album mix, you can go to Soundcloud...

...or to Mixcloud...

...so you can't say you haven't got a choice, can ya?

I hope you get a chance to listen to the album. If you like what you hear, be sure to tell your friends. And let me know too...;-).

More news when I have it.

Regards,

djp

Release date and preparatory work - 040915

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

I can now confirm that D(O)UB(T) will be formally released on next Monday, 7 September.

The album will be initially released via my Bandcamp page. The Bandcamp version will have some exclusive bonus tracks and will also offer the purchaser the option of a separate (i.e. not via Bandcamp) download of a full album mix, with all relevant crossfades. The full album mix will be available to stream via Mixcloud also.

After the Bandcamp upload, I will be using CD Baby to distribute the album to a variety of digital retailers, including, principally, iTunes. The CD Baby version will be the basic version of the album. I have to say that, barring one issue which was my own fault, I have always found CD Baby very decent and quick to work with. The album should be available on iTunes within a day or two of uploading to CD Baby.

Once all that has been done, my promo work will start. I'll do the easy stuff first - Facebook and Twitter. Then comes the slog of contacting websites and blogs, via a contact list which I've built-up over the last few years. Truth to tell, those contacts have been next to useless for me in terms of getting attention/reviews/whatever, but I feel I owe it to the album to try and push it is as far as I can within the limits of my resources (i.e. zero resources). To that end, I have put together a press kit of the album, featuring high-resolution MP3s, graphics and pictures and a short one-page press release. This has been uploaded to Megafire and Dropbox.

I had to make a slight change to one of the graphics re. credits.  I also had to encode one or two tracks at 320 kbps (they were only at 192 kbps).

Speaking of graphics, in case you haven't seen the album cover anywhere else on the internet, here it is...

Just in case anyone gets offended by the use of Christian imagery on an album cover (there's no accounting for people's capacity to take offence), the Bandcamp version of the album will feature as a bonus an alternative album cover. I'm getting all Barney Bubbles/Do It Yourself on yo' ass...

The link to the Bandcamp page will go up on Monday, so be patient until then...;-).

Regards,

djp

Graphix nouveaux - 140815

Sponsored by "Recently Played".

Spent the morning designing the graphics for the album. I found a public domain image from Wikipedia Commons which really fit (fitted?) the bill for a variety of reasons and I think I have come up with a really striking design for the cover. It may not be to everyone's taste, and I am thinking of offering an alternative cover image with the download for those who might require it.

And in spite of all the pictures that I took over the last few days, I ended up only using one, from the first photoshoot. I have been using it as my Facebook profile pick for a day or two. No-one has died, that I am aware of...

So that's a big hurdle surmounted. I'm looking at a release date in early September, after I come back from vacation. And I have a busy few days over the weekend, so you won't be hearing from me for a little bit. Nothing to worry about - I'm sure I'll be enjoying myself. The company will be good anyway...;-).

Regards,


djp

Photoshoot 2 - 130815

Sponsored by "Talking Heads".

Did another session this morning - out in the backyard this time - again with the Canon camcorder.

Technically, the pictures came out very well and I am pleased with them - but I still don't have my cover...

I have two options - I have found an image on Wikipedia that would do the trick, and thematically would tie in with the covers I've done for the EPs, or I could have no image at all - just text. That option is very striking and compelling, but I think it would be out of step with the design theme, so I will go for the Wikipedia image if I can make it work. Or another one...

Other photos in the shoot can be used for the "inside" (if such a thing exists these days) of the album sleeve (if such etc.) and in the press kit and they will be fine.

Design work for tomorrow then...;-).

Regards,


djp

Photoshoot 1 - 120815

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

Did a quick photoshoot with my old Canon camcorder.

Did the session in my garage, but unfortunately the light wasn't great so everything looks duller than it should.

I've tried a few photo editing apps, but I can't get things quite the way I want them. I'm not sure if I can get away with the results on artistic grounds, so it looks like another session is one the cards - this time in the open air. Might have a go at that tomorrow, weather permitting.

Ah well - all in the interest of practice...;-).

Regards,


djp

You Have My Heart Scalded EP - 040815

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

And here it is, in all its splendour...

 Four tracks:-

• YOU HAVE MY HEART SCALDED
• I CAN EXPLAIN...EVERYTHING
• FLOATY FLOATY
• YOU HAVE MY HEART SCALDED (instrumental demo).

Something for everyone (hopefully...).

Busy doing promo on it now, as I type...

Hope you enjoy it!

Regards,


djp

Me & The Fly - 130715

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

...FLY was submitted for Tom Robinson's FRESH ON THE NET Listening Post last week. It didn't achieve Fresh Faves status, but it was up against stiff competition, and I made a few contacts, so that was alright then...

I'll submit another track from the album for consideration in due course.

Regards,


djp

Me & The Fly (Shwarz remix) - 070715

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

Thanks for Shwarz from dnbhub.com for this remix. Never been remixed before. Have I "arrived"...?;-).

Enjoy!



Regards,


djp

Tracklisting/Me & The Fly - 060715

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

Not much happening around these parts these days - apart from my iTunes library crapping out for the umpteenth time. But it's not like I'm not used to that...

I've given the tracklisting a good few listens and I'm 99% (if not 100%) happy with it. At this stage, the only change I'm likely to make is in relation to crossfades between tracks - #firstworldproblem...

In other news, I have submitted ME & THE FLY for consideration on Tom Robinson's FRESH ON THE NET site. If I hear any more news on this, I'll pass it on...

Regards,


djp

Tracklisting/The New Number Two - 040715

Spent the morning on AA3 re-jigging the tracklisting in the light of the decision to drop ...NUMBER TWO.

The transitions sound pretty good to me, and the total running time is down to 70.34, which can't be bad.

My ears are fairly shattered now, so I'll give 'em a rest for a day or two. I'll just check the transitions then, one last time, just to be sure.

Enjoy your weekend!

Regards,


djp

Tracklisting/A Plague On Both My Houses/Watching The News With The Sound Off/The New Number Two - 030715

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

Another frustrating, and ultimately disappointing, day today...

Remixed/remastered ...PLAGUE and WATCHING... in CE5/AA3. Both sound fine and are keepers.

However, I spent practically the whole day trying to sort out ...NUMBER TWO, and having got to the 37th different mix, I decided that I can't do anything with it in its present state. I won't even begin to list all the hoops I tried to jump through to bring this track home, but ultimately I couldn't get it to work. It's a shame, because I really love the track. I gave it every chance to come through, but...

The problem lies in my choice of VST soft synths, I plumped for a couple of "distressed" sounds which seemed to occupy the same space EQ-wise. No amount of adjustment would make the various parts sit well together, so I have decided to drop the track from the album. I'll revisit it again in the future - I just don't have the time for it right now.

Of course, that now means I have to adjust the tracklisting. What larks! A job for next week, perhaps. Well, at least the album will be even shorter now...;-).

Enjoy the fine weather!

Regards,


djp

Tracklisting/Complications From A Fall/The New Number Two/A Plague On Both Your Houses/Watching The News With The Sound Off - 020715

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

Another frustrating today, but maybe not as bad as yesterday.

Having reviewed the work I did yesterday, COMPLICATIONS... passed muster, the others didn't.

I spent much of the day remixing in CE5/AA3 - ...PLAGUE... is now fine. ...NUMBER proved very frustrating - I'm now up to Mix 29 and I'm still not sure if it's OK. The 29th mix is OK to sleep on overnight - if I'm not there, I'm nearly there. I didn't get around to WATCHING... at all.

Busy day tomorrow, I reckon...;-).

Regards,


djp

Tracklisting/Watching The News With The Sound Off/Complications From A Fall/The New Number Two/A Plague On Both My Houses - 010715

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

Frustrating sort of day. I decided to go for a spin in the car to review the tracklisting over the stereo speakers. To do that, I enlisted the aid of my old iPod Shuffle, which I thought had packed it in a few years ago, but apparently was only resting between engagements...

Went off for a spin for an hour or more, out by Lough Derg and Terryglass and back by Borrisokane (as you do...). I reckon the "musical" tracks are fine, but some of the ambient tracks need to be tweaked,

I adjusted the EQs for WATCHING..., COMPLICATIONS... and ...PLAGUE, and they seem to be OK, but ...NUMBER TWO is giving me trouble. I couldn't tweak the EQ, so I had to do a quick remix of the track in CE5 and master in AA3. Not sure if that works so well. If I can't fix the track, I'll just have to drop it.

I'll check these four tracks again tomorrow and see where that leaves me.

Bummer...

Regards,

djp

Gomorrah/Tracklisting - 280615

Sponsored by "Neu!"

GOMORRAH

Graphics done for a prospective October release.

TRACKLISTING

Made an MP3 file of Version 3b in AA3 for review purposes. Can't wait to listen to it over the car stereo and the setup in my lounge. There may be a few tweaks to be done on a few tracks, but more in the way of EQ adjustments. I'm certainly not messing around with crossfades again...;-).

Regards,


djp

You Have My Heart Scalded - 270615

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

Ran up graphics for the ...SCALDED EP, which I hope to release in early August.

The graphics have a certain stylistic similarity with those of ...FLY. 'Cos that's how I roll...;-).

Regards,


djp