Tuesday 17 October 2006

I finally got the internet to work in my hotel room after today's sessions. Had forgotten that I'm registered here as 'Mac Guinneff' which I quite like, but it did mean that it took a while to convince them last night that I actually had a reservation.

The first day of recording went very well I think. Gaël arrived with the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival's harmonium, which is in tune and works like a dream, and by mid-afternoon we'd recorded the eight-verse epic that is the Chanson de Terre-Neuve, which was rather satisfying. There's lots of experimentation going on but I don't think we're wasting time, and Johanne Goyette seems very happy, but then it's the producer's job to look happy at this stage.

harpsichord maker Yves Beaupré doing unscheduled harmonium maintenance,
watched by Chris and DG

Musically it's been a mixture of the deadly serious and the downright silly, with Chris goading me to do ever more outrageous things for his amusement. And we persuaded Suzie to play harpsichord on a couple of tracks so that I could play harmonium. It's her instrument after all...

I've just been talking to Matt Wadsworth who's coming to our gig on Friday. Haven't seen him since he lived in Walthamstow!