Month: September 2016

Boy in the field

| Forgotten Fields
Illustration of a boy and his dog resting in a field
When I was a boy, this illustration made me fall in love with fields. (Illustration by Russell Harlan for The Bible Story: The Book of Beginnings, Volume One)

Memories

To me, fields are places of quiet reflection. Some time ago, I wrote about the origin of that association, in my childhood. I mentioned a children’s book with an illustration of a boy in a field. I discovered the book online and ordered a copy. It arrived, today.

Distorted by time

Paging through it, I remembered every illustration. But, there were differences in the details. I remember the boy lying in an open field of tall, golden grass, but as you see, the grass is short and the landscape domesticated and green. (On top of this, I somehow added a straw hat, whilst completely forgetting the sleeping German shepherd!) How memories are distorted by time!

Through grown-up eyes

I see why the illustration made such an impression on me, in my youth. It has an idyllic Norman Rockwell quality. Even though it’s just an average children’s book illustration, I’ve become instantly sentimental about it. So, it feels strangely sacrilegious to analyse it, too much. I am just happy I get to see the image, once again.

FORGOTTEN FIELDS

Mixing is hard

| Forgotten Fields


There are many technical issues that can frustrate an amateur mixing artist, like me. Problems appear when and where you least expect it. Just when you think everything is perfect, you hear a distortion you swear wasn’t there, a few plays back. I confess that there are moments when I am tempted to hand the tracks over to a mixing studio and let them take care of the whole thing. But, what good would that do me? I want to learn how to make more than just rough mixes. I want to be able to make my mixes as good as I can, before handing them over to the professionals. That’s what I’ve been trying to do, these past few weeks. It hasn’t been easy, mixing music is hard. But, I’m up to the challenge!

FORGOTTEN FIELDS

An invitation to wonder

| Forgotten Fields
A black and white photograph of an airship flying past a landmark in 1920s Berlin, whilst an onlooker waves his cap.
This photograph is from my airship image collection. It is one of my favourite pictures. It was taken as an airship passes near a Berlin landmark in the ’20s when sightseeing by airship was popular. The ship is saluted by an onlooker (perhaps me, in an alternate world).

Airship fanboy

I have been collecting airship images for nearly a decade. Truth be told, I know very little about them, historically and technically. I am just a simple fan. They fascinate me. My imagination is captivated by their scale. The idea of them slowly sailing overhead, like an enormous leviathan… it makes my heart beat faster!

US Navy airship Los Angeles in the giant Hangar at Lakehurst, New Jersey
US Navy airship Los Angeles in the giant Hangar at Lakehurst, New Jersey

Marvel with me…

I attempt to capture such an overhead flight in one of the tracks I have written for the Airship album. The track is titled “Giant in the Sky”. I cannot wait to share it! When I wrote it, I pictured myself gazing up in awe as the ship passes over, blocking out the sun—imposing, awe-inspiring! Just look at the size of the USS Los Angeles (above) and the USS Macon (below). How small the people are in comparison—the airships are mind-blowingly massive!

The music I wrote for Airship is nothing more than an invitation for others—for you—to marvel at the giants with me. Join me in the fields and we’ll look up in wonder, forgetting our sorrows, for a moment…

Construction of the USS Macon
Construction of the USS Macon

FORGOTTEN FIELDS