You can listen here for the next seven days: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00cl7cg

Hope you enjoy!

Tom

So the day has finally arrived! My next album will be recorded today in two completely live sessions at 2pm & 7pm at the Oh Yeah Building, Belfast. To say I’m excited would be an understatement. This will the the culmination of so much hard work by a great many talented people:

Nick Fitzsimons: Drums
Marty Timlin: Upright Bass
Conor Scullion: Piano and Organ
Linley Hamilton: Trumpet
Angie McCrisken-O’Reilly: 1st Violin
Michael McMullan: 2nd Violin
Zarah Fleming: Cello
Ciara O’Neill: Vocals
Hornby: Guitar & Vocals
Amy McGarrigle: Vocals & Glockenspiel
Rich Dale: Vocals
Ben McAuley: Vocals

Rocky O’Reilly: Producer
Ben McAuley: Engineer
Barrett Lahey: Engineer
Lee McMahon: Monitors

Come along and help us make something special.

I hope you enjoy!

Tom

Just a reminder that the recordings will take place at the Oh Yeah Building on 3rd July and you can attend either the 2pm session or the 7pm session. Tickets cost £9 which includes entry to your chosen session and advance purchase of the completed album which will be sent to you as soon as mixing, mastering and pressing are completed. You will be credited in the liner notes and your copy of the album will be personalised by me.

One more reminder, tickets for these events are strictly limited so get ‘em while you can!

Tom

I explain in a little more detail the plan for the day and the thought processes behind the slightly unconventional recording method.

Tom

The three tracks from the forthcoming album are “The Ballad of Morton Candell”, “Flowers” and “A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea Part II”.

The session was engineers by the very talented Simon Mateer at My First Recorder Studio in Belfast.

I hope you enjoy!

Tom

Mr Eddie Mullan of Culture NI interviewed me recently regarding my upcoming Album Recording project.

He also recorded me playing a short acoustic session of two songs that will be on the album, “Flowers” and “The Ural Winter”.

You can read the article and download mp3s of the session tracks for free here.

Tom

In Association with Trans & Oh Yeah

This summer, Belfast based singer/songwriter Tom McShane & producer Rocky O’Reilly (Start Together Studio) throw open the doors and invite fans to witness first hand and take part in the creation of Tom’s next record. Fear not though; this will not be the repetitive and laboured process of endless over-dubs and recording trickery. This instead will be a dynamic and exciting live performance modelled on old school recording techniques of the ’50s & ’60s.

Two open-studio recording sessions will be held on July 3rd. During each of these sessions the album will be performed in its entirety with each song being performed only once per session. The best take of each song will be selected for the final cut of the record.

The recording will be facilitated by the Oh Yeah Music Centre, the creative hub at the heart of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. Recording will take place across various rooms with Oh Yeah’s main exhibition/performance space becoming an extension of the Start Together studio space, also based in the Oh Yeah building.

Tickets for this event are strictly limited. The ticket price not only admits fans to one of the recording sessions for this special one-off event but also includes a pre-order of the finished album which will be mailed to them as soon as the album has been mixed, mastered and pressed. Each ticket holder will be credited in the liner notes and receive special individual copy that will display their name.

Become part of the discussion that shapes the development of this record by joining Tom’s mailing list to have your say in everything from album art to the album’s title and receive demo versions of the album’s tracks as pre-production progresses.

Oh Yeah Building, Gordon Street, Belfast

Saturday 3rd July 2010

Session One 14:00

Session Two 19:00

Ticket price per Session (inc. album pre-sale): £9

Tickets available through the Waterfront Box Office

I just wanted to give a little update on the recording. We went into Start Together last Sunday as planned and laid down the drums and bass for “Private Rooms”, “The End of the Summer” and the new track I rehearsed with Nick a couple of days before the session. It’s provisionally titled, “Love is Hard on the Heart”.

I’m so happy with how it’s all sounding so far. Nick nailed the first two tracks in the first take. The man is a drumming legend. We took a bit of time with the new track, trying different approaches but in the end the take we used was very close to how Nick and I were playing it at our pre-recording practice. The recording has a great moody quality to it. I’m going to keep the arrangement sparse but I have a few ideas for some subtle additional instrumentation.

I’m already planning ahead to getting the next bunch of songs recorded. I guess I should finish these first though! Exciting times!

Here are a few more snaps:

Working with Rocky is great. It’s important to record with someone who gets what your music is about. It makes recording so much more fun. I guess you need to trust the person you’re working with, trust their ideas.

Nick came over to my house on Friday night and we worked on drums for a new song he hadn’t heard before. It was really good fun and I recorded a rough version of the song. It’s the first time I’ve ever had anyone come and recorded with me on my eight track. Actually no, my friend Rigsy Recorded piano on a few songs for Songs Are Sad back in 2003, but apart from that! It was great anyway, I’d like to do more of that!

Here are a couple of shots.