Not Bad For A Girl: Katie Marie is testing driving the new studio toys

With the The Barrel House, Totnes, gig fast approaching, Katie Marie experiments with her new kit, writes tunes to order and has kewl Lucie Thorne on her Soundart Radio show

Hello there peepsickles! Hope you’re had a wonderful week. You may remember my new studio toys from last week’s article and this week I’ve been giving them a good test run in my studio.

The TL Audio dual valve compression unit works a treat and sounds bloomin’ lovely! It’s unlike other compression units I’ve used in the past, in that it’s ever so subtle when you apply the compression – even, when you wack everything on max. But more important than being able to add compression, it really does add a lot of clarity to whatever you’re recording, which you really notice when you’re in the mixing and mastering phase.

…and the Casio keyboard? Well, like I said before it’s so awful that I can’t help but adore it. My next mission is to create a tune using some samples from it! lol We’ll see…

So other than roadtesting my new toys, I’ve also been hard at work writing and recording songs for a music library in the US who I signed a contract with recently. I basically get sent a cue sheet with all the different genres they need and I then pick out what I think I can do, but I have to do a minimum of 20 cues, and they all have to be finished by then end of this month!! So far I’ve takled the Rumba track and also the Reggae and Punk ones! Now I’ve got to do some country, blues, rock, funk (looking forward to that!) and a bit of ancient music (what ever that is lol!). It’s a bit of a challenge but I really enjoy it lots.

I’ve also been putting plans in place for promoting The Barrel House gig (which is Sunday, November 22 don’t forget peeps!). Our lovely flyers and posters arrived yesterday so I’ll be off into town at the weekend plastering them here, there and everywhere!

My radio show was loads of fun yesterday. If you tuned in you will have been lucky enough to hear Ozzie singer/songwriter Lucie Thorne, who popped into the Soundart studios. She’s just finished a huge three-month tour of Europe and I felt very lucky indeed to have her on my show! So when you get five, check out her website as her music is very kewl indeed.

Anyways I’d best head off and get some work done in the studio! Hope you have a wonderful week and I’ll see ya next time!

• Check out Katie Marie on MySpace, or on her website.

For office supplies and stationary, visit Euroffice who are the UK’s no1 online office supplies company.