Well actually of course no one cuts discs unless you’re after vinyl copies (from digital masters, of course) to sell for an extra price-bump up. Just like in general recording sessions involve no tape, though you might still say you’re taping, and the difference between an album, an EP and a single has become largely academic since they were all chiefly released on CD, never mind as files with no physical format.

Be all this as it may, I spent this afternoon in an increasingly chilly church recording what will hopefully be a new set of freelance / solo demos. We had to turn the heating off to avoid noise, and I think my fingers would have frozen solid if we hadn’t called it quits after about three hours – luckily I think I have what I need, though I haven’t listened to any of it back yet. Nice acoustic though. This was very much a family affair, so deep and sincere thanks to:

• my brother Richard for engineering and supplying the recording kit
• my mum Hilary for playing piano on one track and lending me her semi-Baroque set-up violin for another
• my dad John for lending me his violin and viola (used on two tracks respectively)

And before you ask why I borrowed instruments instead of playing my own, if you were going home for a week to a house with two violins and two violas in it, would you take a viola or a violin with you? Especially if you had to take everything on the train and you were carrying your family’s Christmas presents? I rest my case.

Results hopefully to go up on Soundcloud within a few days. Watch this space!