Last Saturday I attended a singing workshop with Dafna Dori from Jerusalem organised by my friend Malcolm. I don't really consider myself a singer, but with what I've been doing with the drumming group I am getting a feel for it and would like to explore the possibilities. There were about 16 of us there including my daughter and another young girl. The rest ranged widely in age. We did some fun warm-ups and then proceeded to learn three Jewish songs. There were the challenges of unfamiliar pronunciation and scales, but we seemed to do quite well. For the last song we also learnt the circle dance that goes with it. I'm not sure what people would think of us all dancing around in the wood outside the studio singing in Hebrew, but I enjoyed it.

The fact is that these songs are religious, but I didn't feel too uncomfortable singing them. That may have had something to do with them being in another language, but they were fun to sing. I don't particularly enjoy singing hymns on the rare occasions that I'm in church, but then a lot of those are pretty boring. There is plenty of spiritual classical music that I enjoy, but the words, if any, are often in other languages. Ultimately it is the quality of the music rather than the message that tends to move me. I can be moved by lyrics, but generally because they reflect my mood or inclinations.

I recorded the session on my Zoom H4. It was not ideally placed on the floor with a small tripod, but worked pretty well. I then had the challenge of editing over an hour of material to extract the songs for people to listen back to. I've done some previous editing with Sweep, but that was very slow and took up most of my memory. Ardour would not even load the MP3 file, but that may be due to a lack of add-on. I didn't try Audacity at first as I have been having issues with getting sound on play-back, but this time it worked and was very easy to use. I noticed that it used a minimal amount of memory. I just did the basics of cutting out the songs and saving each as a file without playing around with effects, but that is something I need to experiment with. It's not something I have ever done much with. I need to find time to check out some of the tutorials out there, but I expect there is no substitute for experience. There is an interesting set of screencasts on using Ardour.

Whilst writing this up I have been listening to free tracks from the new Byrne/Eno album and bassist Kev Cooke. All good stuff.

I'm a bit knackered after a late night/early start/long day sequence, but here goes with another exciting post for my loyal reader.

Last night I returned to Darbuka for another gig by bassist Steve Lawson and singer Lobelia accompanied by drummer Ray Dodds. Support was again from ukulele strumming social media man Lloyd Davis playing some great old songs.

This time Lobelia and Steve each did some solo songs. Lo used some very night (bare) footwork to loop her guitar and voice. One song was pure voice and wonderful to hear. Steve gig a great cover of She Sells Sanctuary (on the seashore). Ray joined in with some great drumming and percussion on assorted hardware. Finally they all played together, which lent a new flavour to songs I feel I already know well. I chatted to them all as well as another bassist, Simon Little, who I met via Twitter and sat with during the gig. He's played with some well known acts and is doing his own solo work that I just obtained from his free podcast and am enjoying now.

I bought Lobelia's solo CD from a few years back. It features some songs I've heard live, but in much more conventional arrangements. I have to say I prefer them as performed now. I look forward to some more new material.

I had some cool musical experiences on the internet over the last week. Firstly I watched Steve, Lobelia and others perform at another gig via a live video stream on Ustream.tv. This included a chat forum where I could exchange messages with other viewers and people at the gig. That was fun. A recording of the gig is up now. This was followed on Sunday by them performing some songs at home and uploading them to Phreadz where others (with beta access) could post video replies. That was enjoyable too, despite some technical issues.

At work the other day a friend lent me a CD by Martin Simpson. Nice bit of folk with nifty guitar playing. I used QCD on my Windows PC and it did its usual thing of posting the tracks to Last.fm. I subscribe to an RSS feed there of gigs within a reasonable distance. Within an hour it included some of his. Sites like Amazon recommend music etc based on what you buy, but this was based on what I was listening to and with less commercialisation. I doubt I will go, but others would find that information useful. I've been alerts to gigs I have attended via this service. Each gig has a page where people can post comments and link to pictures etc. I've been on Last.fm for over four years and just clocked up 20,000 tracks. That's what I have listened to on the computers, but I do most of my listening like that. I often use their music streaming services to find new stuff. I was on one based around what people who listen to ELO like when I passed 20k.

My last cool musical link of the week is King Crimson Live. You can buy downloads of various concerts, but they also give away the odd track via a podcast called Hot Tickle. Cool or not I love a good bit of Prog.

I've been thinking that I need to learn some new tunes on my guitar, so I was poking around on Youtube and found a series on the tune Classical Gas (a song with its own web site!). I've done the first couple and it's not sounding too bad, although I think I am missing a few notes that he doesn't properly describe. I'm also consulting some tab versions that I found. I've not learnt many tunes from video, but it's handy for getting the fingering right. I'll see if I can learn the whole thing, but that may take a while.

Youtube has loads of musical tutorials for all types of music. There was nothing like that when I started playing. The guitar magazines I bought didn't even come with CDs (or equivalent) so that you could hear how a piece was supposed to sound. Total Guitar was a revelation when it appeared with a CD. Now they do DVDs and video files on the CD. Budding musicians have never had it so good.

I'm also trying to learn a few classical piano pieces by the old-fashioned method of sheet music. I find that a totally different mental exercise, but the results are enjoyable. I also get some benefit from coaching my kids on their respective instruments.

I'm on the lookout for any local musicians who want to cooperate. I'm listed on a couple of musician sites, but the replies I've had have been from bands who need someone with more time to commit. There's a new site dedicated to the arts in my town. I've been in contact with them about setting up a noticeboard for finding people to work with.

If you are really lucky I may eventually post some recordings when I've polished my technique and gained some studio skills.

Sunday was spent in the glorious sunshine over at Malc's for the second of his Beat Camp workshops. This time their were more people I didn't know from other drum circles. We were learning some new tunes by master drummer Mamady Keita. We did three songs. I did a fair bit of kenkeni playing. I enjoy coordinating different patterns with each hand, but also played all the djembe parts and breaks. It will take a while to learn them properly, but this was a great introduction. Malc has written up his own report on the day.

I took along my Zoom H4 to record some of it. Someone else already had his H2 set up on a fancy tripod. I was using a mini Gorillapod after managing to break the tripod that came with my H4. The results sound pretty good. I was having some battery issues, but I think that may be due to my rechargables getting on a bit. I ought to get some new ones and a decent charger as I use them a lot. I was going to edit and post one of them, but I'm having some issues with Audacity playback and don't have another working audio editor installed.

As mentioned before I've been following the antics of bassist Steve Lawson and enjoying his music. When I heard that he was playing at a convenient bar in central London I was eager to get to the gig. He even offered free or reduced entry to those who contacted him beforehand. Darbucka is not far from Kings Cross Station, which suits me nicely. When I arrived Steve greeted me by name, having recognised me from my on-line avatars. He was setting up, along with drummer Roy Dodds. I noticed that the drum kit included a Hang. I'd not had a close look at one before and he was nice enough to let me have a play with it.

I got myself a beer and some food then settled into an armchair to await the music. I soon got chatting with Wulf and Jane who introduced me to a few other people. It seemed that half the audience were bass players. Steve opened the evening with a new piece, but had some issues with his Looperlative cutting out. I think he may just have hit the wrong switch. Next up was ukulele player Lloyd Davis. He did some good versions of some classic old songs. He was followed by Steve and his new wife Lobelia. She's a stunning singer and Steve works magic with his bass and loops. They performed some originals and covers. Their Love is a Battlefield can be heard and seen here. The originals were great too and I bought their live CD. Finally, for me, was Miriam Jones. Another stunning voice, she sang some nice folk-tinged songs. The final set was Steve's trio, but I had to leave in order to catch a train home. A shame, but I had still enjoyed a great evening of music. I didn't get to hear the Hang in action.

There are some pictures on the last.fm event page. I'm amazed how well they turned out as it was very dimly lit in there.

There were a lot of Twitter users at the gig and they have been Tweeting madly about it. I have already connected with several of them. It means more when you have actually met the people. Unfortunately Twitter is being abused by a few people. They seem to follow thousands of people in the hope that some will follow them and see whatever spam they are posting. In some cases they just seem to be on an ego trip of collecting names. I tend to block these people as I can see no purpose in them following me.

I've been lacking a practical way to do any audio recording for a while. I have an iRiver audio player that can record, but it's a chore to use. A while back I read about the Zoom H2. This looked like a great device for recording via its multiple microphones. Then I saw the H4 that can also have instruments plugged into it. It also includes four track recording with built-in effects. That looked like the gadget for me. After my usual dithering over buying a new gadget I ordered mine last week.

I've had a bit of a play so far and it's looking good. I've recorded some acoustic guitar using the microphones. That shows up my lousy playing. Also recorded the kids doing their stuff. I've been wanting to do that for a while. I've also had a brief play with the multi-tracking. The preset effect settings tend to be a bit extreme. I need to work out what I need, but have never gained much experience of that sort of thing.

One thing I was not totally sure about was how well it would work with Linux. The answer is, pretty good. You get to select whether it should be a USB storage device, to let you read the SD card, or as a USB audio interface. Both work, but the former is a slow way to download data. For audio I was able to select it as an input in Skype, Audacity and Jokosher. This means I have been able to do speech on Skype for the first time in ages. I have issues with the recording apps. I somehow have Audacity set up so that it will not play back and Jokosher is very unstable. I ought to look at getting Jack and Ardour working, but that seems more complex than it should be.

Now I have this gadget I have more incentive to work on my playing and actually work out some pieces to record. I also want to do some recording of my drumming, including our group sessions. When I have something I'm happy with I will upload it somewhere, probably to my Multiply site as that allows for limitless uploads.

For help with using this device I am using several on-line forums:

• 2060.org is dedicated to Zoom devices.
• Studio-Central is a general recording forum. Lots of knowledgeable people there
• LinuxMusicians. Fairly new and I only found it this week. Not a lot of activity, but it's one of the few sites covering music on Linux. Linux crops up on some of the others, but not much.

I've updated my music page to reflect the current state of my collection. Nothing very flashy, but I'm sure I should be able to do something interesting with it all.

Sunday was the day for the long-awaited Secret Bass recording session. The aim was to record a few songs to put on a CD that we can give to event organisers and to beginners. I arrived to find the Strawbale Studio full of microphone stands along with the actual recording equipment. We had 16 channels available to us and used them all between seven musicians when doing vocals as well. We managed four songs in three hours, which is probably more than some bands do. All were done 'live', with no overdubs, but some may get edited to get the best overall performance. I did a fair bit of singing, but didn't play any djembe. I did dun duns on two and shakers on another. I look forward to hearing the results.

Malcolm has done a write-up with all the technical details.

We used two video cameras to try and capture the event. I have the task of editing them. This will be my first time working with multiple views. I expect I will have to line them up as best I can and switch between them. If I just use the sound from one it should work out. Any hints appreciated.

Last night I played another gig with Secret Bass. This was a charity event to raise money for stained glass window at a home for MS sufferers in Essendon. I actually did a fair bit of practice for this one and was somehow more nervous than at previous events. This may have been due to playing before an audience who had paid to be there and in an enclosed space, rather than the open air where I had performed before. We were last (top?) on the bill after Irish dancers, Indian dance from Bizia + students, dinner and the village handbell ringers. The nine of us were dressed up in a range of outfits of varying degrees of 'Africaness'. The set went down pretty well with the audience who clapped along and gave us some loud cheers. There were even cries of 'More!' as we finished the last song, but we had nothing else prepared and it was getting late anyway.

I really enjoyed this performance, even though I made lots of mistakes. I managed to add some solo rolls during one song. One difference to previous events was the sound. Outside the sound just disappears, but in an enclosed space you can really feel it. Some people told me how impressed they had been by the sound and the music. It is not something you get to hear much live in this country. I admit that we are mere amateurs of this art, but I hope we can impress some of the flavour of African drumming. Malcolm has done his own write-up of the event. I'm not sure if any of the photos taken will be available on-line.

We previously saw Björk perform at Hammersmith in 2003 on the Vespertine tour. Then we were about six rows from the front. For 2008 we were back again for the Volta tour. The day was marred by some public transport issues for Tanya. First she had trouble getting a train to London due to signal issues, then her underground train was stopped for a medical emergency. She completed the journey by taxi. This meant that we had to rush a quick dinner in Smollensky's, rather than something more relaxed.

There was a big queue outside the venue, but it moved fairly quick. Some people were obviously a bit over-excited as a couple seemed close to blows over some issue. We went straight to our seats half-way up the circle, not far from where we sat for The Flaming Lips. I thought that Toumani Diabaté, was doing a set, but the stage was occupied by Leila doing some DJ stuff with various spoken recordings and beats. Not really my thing, but I quite liked it when she played Peggy Lee's Is That All There Is and Danny Kaye's Inchworm at the end. This was much better than the noise set that served as support last time and had the audience booing.

The stage was already set up for the main act, but we still had to wait around 30 minutes. Then the lights went down and on trooped her all female Icelandic horn section followed by the rest of the band. Then the lady herself. They launched into Earth Intruders. We got Hunter (one of my favourites) and Unravel, then Toumani came on to play kora on Hope. The next track threw me as I had never heard The Pleasure Is All Mine with a regular band, but it was good. The next guest was Antony Hegarty to sing on Dull Flame of Desire. I don't much like the song and was not that impressed by him, although he does a good vocal vibrato. That was it for guest, despite Björk's remark that there would be 'many'. There were more tracks from Volta and some old favourites. Army of Me and Hyperballad were amazing with lasers firing and some body-shaking bass. These were contrasted by Vökuró (just harpsichord) and Anchor Song (brass). As expected she finished with Declare Independence where everyone rocked out. The audience could have taken much more, but it was getting late.

I'm amazed by her energy. She is the same age as me, but can still rock and still belt out those amazing vocal effects. I wasn't too sure about her costume with pompoms on her hear and shiny frills. She was barefoot as usual.

There was a lot of use of the Reactable to create audio effects. I expect there will be a version you can run on your PC in a few years.

Other reviews and some pictures on Björk's site and last.fm.

I had another musical close encounter this week. I created an account on Orkut to check it out ages ago, but was not that impressed. I had a quick look the other day and saw I had been visited by Joe Elliott of Def Leppard. I guess he was looking for his deceased guitarist.

When I started messing around with the bass I searched around for tutorial material on-line. There is plenty to be getting on with for now. I also found a podcast by a solo bassist called Jeff Schmidt. The podcast and his blog give a great insight into how he works and what drives him. Some of his music is free to download, such as his Ruiner Severhead side project, but I was also able to buy a download of his album for about £2.50 through CD Baby. That's a real bargain and he gets most of it. He's not making a loving from his music yet, but I hope it at least pays for his studio toys.

Jeff is very engaged with his audience through his blog and on Twitter. We have exchanged a few comments on both. Through him I found another bassist, Steve Lawson who is based in the UK. I could have seen him play at a local gig, but couldn't make it. I have also communicated with him, mostly on Twitter. Today I was doing so whilst listening to one of his albums that he made available for free download. I shall be checking out more of his material and hope to catch a gig. Interestingly he is also subscribing to some of my feeds. I hope he finds something of interest there.

I realise that the internet has been playing a big part in helping bands get to their fans without having to deal with record companies. People like the Arctic Monkeys have used services like Myspace to do this, but I haven't really got into that. It's happening on Facebook too, but I'm not sure that is why people are using that service so much. I find it more interesting when the artists use their own sites and more open services, like Twitter, to reach out. It does require them to be technical, but may reap benefits.

I need to get on with my own musical projects. I don't aspire to reach a mass audience, but I should have some chance of reaching a few people by using the same technologies as the above virtuosi. Check them out.