Prometheus v3.79, Shelves, New Tails Overture

Another full day. Started with a fix and update to Prometheus. It's possible to delay output for a specific time (render hold) then add that time to the end. This is used for look-ahead engines, specifically the Cathedral Limiter, which has an internal delay. I realised that stats were calculated for the whole render including the first delayed bit. A tiny thing, barely a bug, but it's best that the actual output is that which is analysed, so I made the changes for this. Along the way I fixed a few potential division-by-zero errors which was a far more valuable change and something I'd not noticed.

Then, the next step of CD Shelves 2. I unclamped the base, then drilled and screwed it. Then, glued and clamped the top. Then, for the Box Shelves, de-clamped and sanded the new central 'leg' and spray painted that. Spray paint is so much better than my water-based black. Then, fitted this, straightening these shelves at last.

Then wall drilling to fit a new bracket for new CD Shelves above. One of the holes was at a brick edge and impossible to drill correctly, so I filled this and inserted a short (25 or 30mm) screw into the filler, primarily for cosmetic reasons, but it might have some tiny structural benefit.

The bracket was not totally level, which can't be helped; wall drilling is never exact. Only a few fractions off, 1cm at 500mm, so I made a wooden wedge to correct it by sanding a 3mm board; then attached felt which will also mould to the weight and self-level to some extent.

So, all is on track. When the top is dry I'll test it to fit. Then I should be able to fit all shelves in one go, then fit to the wall.

Two other little jobs; clamping and internal staining yesterday's picture frame (the inside edge needed staining), and changing the Christmas Tails overture, making Deb's contribution louder, and adding Scrabble's purr to the end.

Obsessively fun though the shelf project is, I've spent too much time and money on this. I must finish The Modern Game, I expect this will take the rest of the month. My income is pitiful, my beloved Deborah is not well at the moment, and much can feel bleak, yet my skills are as good as ever. I have plans, even if my outlook is stubbornly long term when I could really do with a short term boost. What can we do but our best each day? This I do.

Barring extraordinary feedback from the artists, Christmas Tails is complete. The shelves will be finished very soon, and The Modern Game too. All good.

Onwards we fly.

Shelf Work, New Frame, TMG4 Mixing

A day of technical challenges.

First I clamped and glued the base and sides to the new shelves. The base was placed flat, with a spacer, then the loose top, this made a sandwich wide enough for the band clamp. The sides (after first drilling and countersinking pilot holes for future screws) were then placed vertically and band clamped to the base. The advantage of vertical assembly like this is that the floor is very flat, but the sides needed temporarily holding up before the clamp was tightened. When tight, everything was laid flat and the angles checked, with slight adjustments made to the tops of the verticals to make them exact right angles as it all dried. This may be overkill for mere shelves, but it will be as accurate as any other thing in the house.

Only this joint is glued, the rest will be done, joint by joint, in contrast to the first version of the shelves when everything was glued and clamped at once.

Then, removing the old shelves from the wall. On the floor they didn't sag, so the wood was not bent, but heavy under its own weight alone. My error was using wood which was too thin for the length of shelf; I made my priority a low weight, not strength. For the box shelves below, I've decided on the simplest solution of a leg to the floor. These shelves appear to be bent, rather than merely sagging, so I've applied a wedge to gradually bend back up to flat. I still consider these a first version to be replaced one day.

Then, work on a picture frame which must surround a stretched canvas. A rare job, I don't often use stretched canvas, and have hardly ever made a flush frame like this. The frame is cut, about 1 or 2mm larger than the canvas. I'll pin then staple it in place I think.

In the evening, more mixing on the new Modern Game. These songs were not written with my voice in mind and from the outset this has complicated everything. Still, this iteration will certainly sound better than any of the others.

Prometheus v3.78, CD Shelves v2.00

Started the day with more updates to Prometheus. Fixed the peaking filter, which didn't work when Wet was less than 1, and created a new Peaking Filter II, with separate post-amp. Then I updated my website, adding the Electric Sprout albums there, and putting the new album on the front page.

Back to programming. I thought of making the Cathedral Limiter a track as well as a song engine, which would make Prometheus useful for CD mastering (yet with hi-res audio); but it has a problem in that silence of one second in a track causes it to shut off until a note is played, and the look-ahead delay would create that silence. I can disable or extend it, but remembering to do that is a tad awkward. It took me hours to work out that the failure of this effect was due to this! The program also crashed once, which is worrying. It's not crashed in years. Crashes when experimenting with half-compiled plugins may be due to overlooked mistakes in that code. All I was using at the time was a Saw Wave, Peaking Filter, Cathedral Limiter.

At 13:30 I charged into woodwork on this, the last dry day forecast for weeks. With my mum's help I routed the joints and slots for CD Shelves Iteration 2. The Bosch bit is exactly 12mm, a fraction too small to create slots for 12mm MDF, so I needed to rout each joint twice, the second by about 0.2mm wider. This was enough. Then, masking, and at 15:10, spray painting. Even at 5 degrees, the paint dried quickly, perhaps because I kept the paint can inside at a cosy 18 degrees. By 16:20, the shelves were painted. A record time. Spray paint is much faster than my water-based stain.

It's Friday and I've not done a thing on The Modern Game this week. I may charge to finish the shelves first. My mood is low to despairing, but what can we do but ignore such animals and work at our best. Fate plays its hand and we must accept our cards. All we can do each day is try our best, and try to learn as we go.

Onwards we roll our heavy rock.

Woodwork Postponed, Painting Repair and Restoration

I'd hoped to rout new shelves, but it was too cold and I feared the dampness of my visible breath. Tested the new 12mm bit. The channel was too small for 12mm MDF, I wondered if the cold made the channel smaller, but perhaps not enough to make a difference. I'll aim to do this tomorrow afternoon, a still cold 5 degrees due, but better than a week of rain also forecast.

Then, work on painting restoration. After the first patch, a second yesterday to level it, and today a first application of paint.

This evening, an update to Prometheus to return the amount of pre-start silence at the start of a song; then a migraine on the left side of my head which continues agonisingly. I want to sit in the dark.

Fame at Last

Begun with singing some quick vocal for 'The Trees'. I had only about 20 minutes spare, so made the most of the time.

Then, a full day of admin on Christmas Tails and the new single, Will You Be My Snowflake? Time was when I'd finish an album and move on, now the finishing stage is full of work, which at times seems never ending. I filed Christmas Tails and sent out an email to all of the artists with a vital update. I noticed that today's Crewe & Nantwich Chronicle has a huge story about the album, so I thought this was the best time to list the album.

So, I did this, and added all tracks with lyrics, credits, ISRC and ISWC codes, and other details. This will be invisible to purchasers for now, apart from the first overture track, but it's still vital. Then, sending a preview to all artists.

Then, work on the Will You Be My Snowflake? single. Transcribed the sheet music for the two other tracks, this took a few hours. 'Heaven's Day' had to be entered manually. After that, registration of the music in various places. Musicbrainz should now (or should eventually...) list all of the tracks and artists for both albums. This meant creating the first official listings for many of the contributors, such as The Forrest Dick Band (Mick Dick and Mortimer C. Forrest, both of which are aliases).

I also had time to test the new router bits. They seemed to fit but I didn't give them a spin. I now have an urgent need for new shelves. The old ones are sagging millimetre by millimetre each day. Last night another DVD fell over due to shelf droop. We live and learn. I've removed all of the contents now. I've decided to get 5th wall bracket to ne fitted below and in the centre to reinforce everything. There is something inherently unstable with holding a rack or cabinet by the sides rather than underneath. I'll do both for iteration 2.

This evening I see that the miniature that David Lawton has painted of me is currently on exhibition in The Royal Miniature Society exhibition at Bankside Gallery, London, not far from Tate Modern. I feel famous today. Photo by Tom Mulliner.

Christmas Tails Overture, Will You Be My Snowflake Single

A super day of music work.

Started by creating an overture track for Christmas Tails. I needed a track that would be free to pre-buyers of the album, and one that acts as the free preview for browsers. It's an impossible choice to choose one of the tracks, which I consider equal, so this solves the problem. Like before, it's a medley which includes all tracks, but I with a church organ blasting out some festive sounding chords behind, where every chord seems to be suspended with Catholic cadences until the joyous C-Major at the end.

Then, work on a cover for my 'Will You Be My Snowflake?' single (with newly added question mark to the title). I'd already formed a sort of small album, with three tracks, and had thought about expanding it into 4 or 6, but then it wouldn't be ready until next year, by which time things may have changed and these may feel out of date. Up against a time wall I've decided to release them in mid-December.

The cover started with a photo of myself and some experiments with a snowflake fractal. That didn't work, so I tried a leaf brush acting as a negative mask and that looked rather pretty. Then text choice and placement. The whole thing took a couple of hours. The final touch was a star/snowflake sort of shape made using Genetica. Here is the finished cover:

After that, creation of the iTunes Digital Booklet (complete with lyrics), dividing the tracks, sending them for distribution, and the start of listing them in my catalogue. I still need to work on the sheet music and many other details; but that completes my 12th release of 2025, with The Modern Game already planned for the first month of 2026. A bumper year for new music.

In between I've worked on Christmas Tails a few times. This evening Andrew sent in a new version of his track, so the album is now complete. I'm awaiting a few small details for the filing process, and lots of background admin now needs to be done. Last time I filed it all with Musicbrainz, and will do the same here.

A last job of the evening was a two mile walk in the rain to collect my new router bits.

Christmas Tails Assembly

A full day of work on Christmas Tails, so much work. First working out the track order, setting the basic per track details and filing all of this. Then setting the master levels, and dividing the album into tracks. Plus, the visible track lists and lengths for the CD artwork, checking the lyrics. Lots of jobs.

One snag is the need for one 'free' track or one 'showcase' track, which is a key feature of Bandcamp. This was the reason I created a medley last time, a sort of overture. I may have to do the same here.

I listened to each track and checked the lyrics word by work as I listened. Amazingly (apart from my track, and Deborah's, of course) only one track, John Lindley's, had the completely correct lyrics. Each had at least one mistake, but one song clearly had 'first draft' lyrics with whole lines being different.

Here, exclusively for you good people, is the track list and order so far...

It may yet change. The release date is set for November 28th but people can pre-order it now.

Shelves Foiled, Mostly Modern Game Work

Awake for hours, ready to charge with great energy into routing my new shelves, on this, the warmest (well, mildest, at 11 degrees) and driest day for a few weeks. I woke early, assembled the wood, the hoover, rulers, and everything... but hit s snag. I'd not used the 12mm router bit, and the two that my father had used imperial shaft sizes - how I hate inches! The router comes with a few collets, but none would fit either of these, which is even more stupefying as almost all router bits come in a limited range of sizes. I sighed and was resigned to buying a new bit with the correct 8mm shaft. B & Q didn't have any (the very limited ones on offer, again stupefying, were also in inches. If I were prime minister I'd tax every device that features inches, pounds, pints, miles; it would raise money and help engineering). I ordered a set online, so must wait days, and now, my shelves which could have been completed today will take weeks. I should have tested the 12mm bit far earlier.

After that, a productive day of music. First, updating the cover artwork, and creating the 14 page iTunes Digital Booklet.

Here's the final cover (ta da!):

Then mixing the album again. In the night I thought it would be a good idea to release my Christmas song, and it's fellow two songs, as a single or EP now, rather than wait a year, so I've manically worked on mastering this. A single today has 3 tracks at most, but an EP 4 to 6, so I've toyed with making a new one. I looked at some existing songs and found a sequence inspired by Matt Gray's theme to Dominator on the Commodore 64. I quickly wrote some words on what this time of year is like; currently entitled 'Burn Me Cold':

Burn Me Cold

Dark dark November
Frigid in my bones
Everybody needin'
Money running low
It's a black white season
Don't I know

Windows are a leakin'
Saving up the mould
Give me some salvation
Dear dear Lord
And the screens that I stare at
Burn me cold

Later on, some initial mixing and track ordering for Christmas Tails. Work on that will start tomorrow.

Onwards!