Once I began gigging with
my new Electro-Voice (EV) EVERSE 8 it become apparent that a microphone stand
for my mobile phone (with the EV QuickSmart Mobile App installed) would be
great. I asked Uncle Google and it seemed like the Hercules DG307B: Universal
Tablet/Phone Holder would be perfect.
Sometimes I sit down at
gigs and operate my BOSS VE-8 Acoustic Singer, by hand, instead of using the foot
switches. I thought a microphone stand tray, for the VE 8, would also be
useful. I wanted the tray as small as possible and the Gravity GMATRAY1 Universal Microphone Stand Tray filled my requirements.
So once again, it was
off to Mega Music, my local music store.
Unfortunately the
clamp on the Gravity GMATRAY1 was too small (only just) to fit the bottom
upright of my mic stand. After some thought, I decided to make my own tray using
a second Hercules DG307B. So it was back to Mega Music who quickly exchanged the
Gravity GMATRAY1 for a Hercules DG307B.
I made a tray to fit,
using a Black Chef Inox Cutting Board (from Spotlight) and two Riley Nylon
Midget Black Fairleads (RM168BLK) (from my sailing spares box). The fairleads
created a front & rear edge to the tray. The DG307B tablet holder clamps
provided a sufficient edge at each side of the tray. The breadboard dimensions
are 250 x 400 x 12 cm. The 12mm was the perfect depth to fit the tablet holder
clamps and one single cut across the board was sufficient to create a made to
measure tray for the BOSS VE-8 Acoustic Singer (217 x 161mm).
I have been an Electro-Voice (EV) girl
since 1996, when I purchased a 100M amp and two SX100 speakers. These days,
gigging takes me to smaller venues, some without power. I was delighted to find
the EVERSE 8 in my "what to buy" research.
My first gig with the Everse 8, at La Chiquita Cafe in Fremantle
I am not someone who likes to fiddle with
sound; when I find something I like I stick to it. With this in mind I went
through each FX in turn and selected my vocal and acoustic guitar sound.
I only found two quirks with the EVERSE 8:
When recalling a preset, or if you switch
the device off and on, any level above 10dB is set to 0dB.
The speaker volume cannot be saved in a
pre-set.
Once you know about this, happy days.
I found out, by accident, that my android
phone connects to the EVERSE 8 without Bluetooth turned on. This makes sense to
me, no phone calls broadcast to the world if you forget to go to flight mode.
I wrote the song, Have You Ever Been
Before, as a tribute to The Porongurup National Park, home of Castle Rock and
Granite Skywalk. Porongurup National Park is a beautiful part of the world in Mountain Country in The South West of Western Australia.
During my career years, I spent many a long
weekend recuperating and resting my soul at Porongurup. Porongurup has always
been my go to place for peace and tranquillity. In 1997 I was lucky to find my
own piece of paradise, a small cottage, at the foothills of The Porongurup
Range.
On Wansbrough Walk towards Nancy Peak
One day, while I was walking along the
Wansbrough Walk trail, on my way to Nancy Peak, I found myself humming an
original tune and it was there that I wrote the lyrics "Have you ever been before, where the mountains rest the soul and
the trees grow tall. Let the silence soothe your mind, and you'll find there's
no reason to count the time." From that moment the idea for my song,
Have You Ever Been Before, was born.
To sing, Have You Ever Been Before, on the
porch of my Porongurup home, for Play Music On The Porch Day, was a magical
experience, I hope you enjoy this song.
Devil's Slide - Porongurup National Park
Have You Ever Been Before One day in seventy eight I
met a man His name I don’t remember. We were sat by a river It was spring, late
September. He had the time to listen, And his eyes they did
glisten And he took my hand and held
it close and he said. “Have you ever been before Where the mountains rest the
soul And the trees grow tall? Let the silence soothe your
mind And you’ll find there’s no
reason To count the time.” There is little time to
contemplate The beauty of life at the
end of each day. I long to watch the world go
by And enjoy the sight of a
bird at play. I know instead of all this
greed, Food and shelter is all I
need, But it’s hard to change to a
life I don’t understand. Yes I think I hear the call To where the mountains rest
the soul And the trees grow tall. Let the silence soothe my
mind And I’ll find there’s no
reason To count the time. When he stood up to leave I saw his face was lined and
weathered. He picked up his walking
stick And reached for his old dog
who was tethered. He knew where he was going He’d been that place before, And he looked back o’ver his
shoulder And said once more. “Have you ever been before Where the mountains rest the
soul And the trees grow tall? Let the silence soothe your
mind And you’ll find there’s no
reason To count the time.”
CopyrightJane Laws1996 Unauthorised
copying, public performance, broadcasting, hiring or rental of this song
prohibited.
Fremantle Harbour Bound is one of my
maritime folk songs, it is a story about being at sea, for a very long time,
and finally sailing towards home.
However the song goes much deeper than that
and reflects upon my own personal journey of finding my way to live on the
shores of Fremantle. All of my adult life I have connected to Fremantle, to the
history, to the culture, to the port, to the people. Although I have been a
member of Fremantle Sailing Club since 1987, the different roads I have chosen have
never led me to live in Fremantle.
Then the winter of 2022 came along and it
was either "now or never" and my partner and I sold up and moved to
Fremantle. The song, Fremantle Harbour Bound, came to me while I was musing
with my guitar on a stormy afternoon while we were in the throes of moving.
Erik Kowarski, renowned Perth improvising fiddle
player, recorded and produced my first album, Gypsy Traveller (released in 2000.)
It was wonderful to team up with Erik again for the journey of recording Fremantle
Harbour Bound. Erik's beautiful fiddle has added a haunting touch and nautical
flavour throughout the song; thank you so much, Erik.
The Fremantle Harbour Bound video was
filmed aboard my yacht, Ambience, in the waters around Fremantle. With only two
of us onboard, we found the on-water filming a memorable challenge. Trying to
look after Ambience, each other, other water users, and filming is a day we
won't forget in a hurry.
Way back in 1996, when I wrote the song,
Seaflight, (a tribute to Perth teenager, David Dicks, who was sailing solo and nonstop
around the world), Fremantle Sailing Club life member, Gran Hickling, asked me
if I could write a song about the sailing club. Gran would ask me every time I
saw him, which was, at times, every week. I used to just smile and muse to
myself, "what could I write in a song about our club." Then last
year, when Fremantle Harbour Bound came along, as if out of nowhere, I thought
to myself, this is the song that Gran always wanted me to write.
Fremantle Harbour Bound
I am Fremantle Harbour
bound, Around the sound, around
the town. A west bound wind will
bring me home, Away too long, I am
harbour bound, Fremantle Town.
Will you forgive all that
has gone before, So I might live in peace
upon your shore. And in my mind I hear a
distant call, I'm harbour bound,
Fremantle Town, Fremantle Town.
I am a mile away from
nowhere now, Do you hear me sigh? Do
you hear me shout? And do you hear me sing
The Lord's Prayer out loud? Away too long, I am harbour
bound, Fremantle Town.
I am Fremantle Harbour
bound, Around the sound, around
the town. A west bound wind will
bring me home, Away too long, I am
harbour bound, Fremantle Town.
Copyright Jane Laws 2023 Unauthorised copying, public
performance, broadcasting, hiring or rental of this song prohibited.
I choose the title, Timing
and Expectation, for my 5th studio album, long before I had written all of
the songs. Even though we often have no control over "timing," when reflecting on my life, it always
occurs to me that the timing of an event has a significant bearing on the
result. The degree of pleasure or pain that you experience from even the most
trivial events can be affected by their timing along your life’s pathway. “Expectation”
because keeping your expectations in check is one of most difficult and important
life skills I have ever had to learn.
I kept a copy of the album
cover on my music stand to motivate and inspire me during this two year
recording project. Timing and Expectation is a collection of thirteen of my
original folk-roots songs.
I continue to enjoy
writing a travellers tale, and four of the songs are inspired while riding the
open road on my motorcycle: Eighty-seven
Years, Wilcannia My Darling, Travelling Man and Where the Wind Blows Cold.
Falls of Thunder, Can I Dance? and Smoky Bar were inspired by some of the folks and places that have
made an impression on me along life's way. My home town of Rockingham in
Western Australia inspired Down to the
Waterline.
Help Me Free My Mind turned up unexpectedly. It was important
to include this song on the album as the more we talk about mental health the
better the long term outcome will be for everyone.
It's 3am in Studio 453
I worked for hours with my
trusted companion, affectionately named Harvey Korg (Korg Harvian 30 Digital
Ensemble Piano) on the arrangements for the songs.
My vocal and acoustic
guitar recordings were recorded in the early hours of the morning, when the town
was quiet. All sound checks were completed the night before so we could begin
recording with a minimum of fuss. On a given morning we would record either
vocal or guitar. We would set the alarm for 1am. Guitar recordings would begin
at 1:30am. Vocal recordings would begin at 2am, giving me an extra half an hour
to warm up my voice. These early starts took their toll on us and after we had
recorded the last track of the last song both me and my sound engineer were
very pleased that the recording side of the project was complete.
We busied ourselves and
created music videos for four of the songs. The music video for Eighty-seven Years was filmed at
Porongurup, Western Australia. On Falls
of Thunder I used super 8 footage of the falls, taken by my mum and dad. My
role in the Down to the Waterline
video was filmed on my home town beaches of Warnbro Sound and Mangles Bay. Help Me Free My Mind was filmed late one
afternoon, in my front garden, during a covid lockdown.
One of my favourite places, on the beach at Warnbro Sound
I would like to say a special
thank you to my sound engineer, and life partner, Steve Laws, for the hours spent
in my studio, recording, mixing and mastering this album.
Sound bites and lyrics are
available on my website. I hope you enjoy Timing and Expectation, the album is
available for purchase or streaming on all of your favourite music apps; enjoy.
My recording studio is
made up of the following components:
·HP Envy 17” (Intel Core i7-4700mq processor, 16GB RAM and 1TB
hard drive).
My journey to purchase a new guitar, to
compliment my Maton EM225 Dreadnought, began two years ago. I am not a
collector of guitars. Until 2021 only two acoustic guitars have ever lived in
my house, my first guitar, a "learn to play" Yamaha, purchased in
1974, and my trusted friend, my Maton EM225 (1996).
Trying out the Messiah at Kosmic Sound.
Two years ago the pickup in my EM225 developed
a ground hum which could not be fixed even by Perth's best technicians. I
thought I was destined to buy another dreadnought as I am a dread kind a gal.
Then a chance discussion with a technician at The Rock Inn in Mt Lawley suggested
that maybe the old pickup could be replaced with a new, state of the art Maton
AP5 Pro. After discussions with Maton in Melbourne I said "let's do
it." The AP5 Pro has breathed new life into my EM225 and opened up the
opportunity for me to purchase a "different sounding guitar" as my
new best friend.
For a couple of years I looked around and
played many guitars from all over the world, but I always came back to Maton. In
January 2021 Kosmic Sound had a great selection of Maton guitars for me to try
out. I sat down in their practice room for two hours playing one guitar and then
another. I kept coming back to the EM100C-808 Messiah. I was enjoying the
beautiful chime of this guitar, the high notes sounded like a harp whispering
on the wind; a very different sound to my dreadnought - exactly what I was looking
for. The next thing I knew I was at the checkout and my 808 was in her flight
case ready for the drive home.
Nothing like getting out in the bush and playing a few tunes.
Double the fun.
To say I am thoroughly enjoying my 808
Messiah is an understatement. I can seamlessly change from the EM225 to the
EM100C-808 as the neck profile feels identical. At the moment I have the EM225
in standard tuning and the 808 in Double Drop D. My 808 has arrived just in
time as I am working on recording my fifth studio album, Timing and Expectation.
I have just recorded my first song with my
new 808, Help Me Free My Mind. In
recent years songwriters have been encouraged to write songs about mental
health to help bring community awareness to this most sensitive and important
subject. I recorded the Help Me Free My
Mind “lockdown video,” just as the sun was slipping below the horizon.
Every time I lay eyes on the Messiah I
smile a contented smile. I think of picking her up and writing a song with her
all the time. I bought the right guitar and every time the flight case catches
my eye I think "Have flight case, must travel;" watch this space.
My journey with Falls of Thunder, my song about Victoria Falls, began while
listening to the teachings of Aboriginal elder, George Walley, at George's song
writing seminar in February 2020. Fremantle community choir, Walyalup Kannajil,
organised the song writing sessions with George Walley, an award winning
songwriter who operates MandjoogoordapDreaming ~ Mandurah Aboriginal Cultural Experience.
Even though I lived in Zambia and Rhodesia
(Zimbabwe) from the age of three, and crossed the border at Victoria Falls many
times, I had never thought of writing a song about the falls. Listening to
George's teachings, I searched my own spiritual journey for inspiration and
"Victoria Falls" came to me at the end of our first song writing
evening. In the early hours of the following morning, while the house was quiet
and my partner was still sound asleep, the lyrics to Falls of Thunder came to me, as if by magic, and by sunrise my song
was complete.
I will never forget the response when I
sang Falls of Thunder at our next
song writing session. From that moment, the idea was born to release Falls of Thunder as a single.
The cover artwork features a painting of Victoria
Falls by Zambian artist G. Mottini. Through the years, while living in Luanshya,
mum and dad bought several paintings from local artist Mr. Mottini. Every now
and again he would come to the house, to present and sell his wares. Mum and
Dad gave me this beautiful painting when they heard Falls of Thunder for the first time. The painting now has a
prominent place in my lounge, and I enjoy the falls every day.
My mum and dad had the joy of filming our
childhood holidays on super 8. Scouring the archives, I found some footage of
Victoria Falls, taken during a family holiday in 1966. I used this footage in the
Falls of Thunder music video.
The days seemed like they might turn from weeks
to months while I worked on the arrangement, recording and the creation of the
music video for Falls of Thunder. When
the Corona Virus became a global pandemic, and I began to understand the
seriousness of this terrible disease, I said to my partner "If I only get
to do one more thing, I would like to finish this song." I worked harder
and longer and on the 1st April 2020 I finally let go and released Falls of Thunder for worldwide
distribution.
I hope you enjoy the Falls of Thunder song and video. Through the lyrics I hope to
convey the deep spiritual connection I have with Africa, a connection I have
carried with me my whole life. Falls of Thunder has given me the opportunity to
express feelings and emotions that I have never previously included in a song. As
with many of my songs, I feel like I am only the messenger.
Group therapy for song writers
David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer, is
believed to have been the first European to view Victoria Falls on the 16th
November 1855. Livingstone named his sighting in honour of Queen Victoria, but
the Lozi (Kololo) name, Mosi-oa-Tunya ~ "The Smoke That Thunders" ~
continues in common usage. Livingstone also cites older names, Seongo or Chongwe,
which means "The Place of the Rainbow."
