Have you voted yet!?

Voting is still open in the final round of Busker2009, the Kilkenny 400 Busking Competition in association with KilkennyMusic.com.

If you haven’t cast your vote for your favourite busker yet then click here to go to Busker2009.com and check out video performances by the six finalists; Sean Watmore, Quintet Tarantino, Fionn O’Hargain, Vicky Day (above), Annie Chambers and Beef Supreme. One of these finalists will walk away with a €1,000 cash prize!

Voting closes this coming Friday at 11:59pm. And don’t forget that you must click the link in the confirmation email to make sure your vote counts. If you don’t click the link in the email to confirm your vote, your vote won’t count!

Tune into KCLR96FM tomorrow around 3:15pm to hear more about the competition.

Busker 2009: Final Voting Is Open!

Voting is now open on the final six acts in the Kilkenny 400 Busking Competition; Busker 2009.

After seven months and countless hours of street music, the final round of busking for the competition took place on the streets of Kilkenny on Saturday with finalists Quintet Tarantino, Sean Watmore, Vicky Day, Beef Supreme (above), Annie Chambers and Fionn O’Hargain all competing for the €1,000 cash prize.

As always voting is open to the public so please go to Busker2009.com to watch the six video performances by our finalists and cast your vote for the best busker of 2009.

You will get an email asking you to confirm your vote and please note that only confirmed votes will be accepted.

Voting closes at 23:59 GMT on Friday November 13th.

South – Insula: Front Cover Shoot (Photos/Video)

Following the launch of South’s debut album ‘Insula’ in Whelan’s with The Lions Mane & Sticky Digit last Friday, I can finally upload the cover shot used on the album, along with a strobist shot from the test shoot and a behind the scenes video from the studio photoshoot.

First up is the shot from the test shoot in my sitting room; having spent a lot of time in the Mill studio with the lads during recording, we had worked out some ideas for the cover; the main ideas involving the band, a couch and a big old television.

With the recording finished and the tracks in the mixing stages, we met up for two photo-shoots on the last weekend in May. The first on the Saturday night, I re-arranged the furniture in my sitting room and used every lamp and light I could find around the house to try different lighting techniques, while the lads chilled out on the couch finding gross things on the internet.

Most of the lighting set-ups were a disaster but the set-up for the finished shot is as follows: there’s a household lamp positioned behind the couch to back-light the lads, another lamp positioned to the right of Ken as a side-light and another lamp lighting the back of the television. The glow from the television wasn’t bright enough to light all three faces so I used the screen from my Powerbook G4 and my Sb800 positioned on the floor (I can’t remember the setting).

The resulting shot was the best thing I got on the night but wasn’t exactly what I was going for or suitable for the album cover, but that’s the great thing about test shoots. The following afternoon we drove to the new HotShotz Studio in Callan (thanks Benny) and having a better idea of what we were now going for, I set up the studio for my first ever shoot on a Canon (EOS 5D with a EF24-105mm Zoom).

My first proper studio shoot was a lot of fun, I spent some time spotting the lights and we spent the afternoon tweaking positions and poses as you can see in the behind the scenes video from the photoshoot (above).

If you haven’t got your hands on a copy of Insula yet then the video features the awesome track  ‘Acid’ and a look at the finished front cover design by Ken McGuire.

The album will be available online in the next few weeks through SouthOfficial.com but until then if you want to purchase a copy of Insula then just get in touch with South on MySpace.

South – ‘The Making Of Insula’ Episode 3

South – ‘The Making Of Insula’ Episode 3 is now online. This is the final episode in the series and another exclusive sneak preview to a brand new previously unheard South song.

This episode was easily the toughest to cut together; I had to shave about 14 minutes off it. It meant having to sacrifice a lot of good footage which unfortunately wouldn’t stand alone. In some cases it meant cutting some scenes short, in others it meant losing entire songs from the web-series.

The final installment begins like Episode 2; with another out-take’s slash ‘Previously’ sequence; a brief look at some of the laughs and “Christian Bale moments” during the recording sessions, before moving on to look at the recording of ‘Acid’ (previously unheard).

Anybody who saw the teaser trailer will recognise the first shot; which tracks through the studio just before Daw begins on the drums. For those interested; this is the only opportunity to see the benefits of colour grading, as the teaser trailer shows the raw footage compared to the overall finished look.

This sequence with the drums had to be cut very short, the full length version covers the entire drum take; with Daw messing up at the end only to have to start again. Several times. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t put it all in.

Instead, the episode moves on to recording the bass for ‘Acid’, some technical difficulties, a bit of worrying, Ken’s hilarious struggle with “the retarded tuner”. There’s a sneak preview of “the magic sex chords” for previously unheard ‘Over My Eyes’ and more.

As the days in the studio passed by in a blur, the lads slowly but surely ticked off their progress on the chart, songs were finished, a lot of munch got munched, we drank way too much Monster Ripper and Thomas slowly got used to me sticking a camera in his face and finally did some talking.

Episode 3 finishes with a final sneak preview, another previously unheard song ‘Life Goes On’, which features on the soon to be launched debut album. This was actually the second music video sequence I cut together during the editing process. This was when I first figured out how to layer the footage so I could show more than one thing at the same time. I was wary of getting too carried away with using the effect but given the limits of operating the two cameras at the same time and sound of the song in particular, I wanted to blend the footage so the transitions flowed with the song (my favourite transition happens at about 8mins 26 secs).

The final episode going online brings me close to the end of my first solo project. I still have a whole bunch of photos that I’ll get them online in the coming weeks. You can check out my brand new Episode 3 promo shot here on the Oss237.com homepage. The response and feedback to the project has been very encouraging so far and as always comments, criticism or feedback are greatly appreciated.

Don’t forget that South & The Lions Mane will take to the stage in Cleere’s Theatre this Saturday. It’s going to be awesome! Doors open 9:30pm and admission is €6.

South – ‘The Making Of Insula’ Episode 2

South – ‘The Making Of Insula’ Episode 2 is now online. If you haven’t watched Episode 1 yet then click here.

The second installment in the series begins with a little “Previously” sequence, although it’s more of an out-take sequence; seeing as none of the footage seen actually appears in the first episode. Over the course of the recording process the running joke in the studio (every time something went wrong or we were having a laugh) was for somebody to say “previously on South”. When it came to cutting the footage, instead of losing all of the funny bits I simply cut them into a little previously section.

Episode 2 begins by filling in the missing pieces from Episode 1; covering the guitar and bass recording for ‘Downpour’. The first episode could have given the impression that recording the song was quick and easy, I wanted to show that the process took a couple of days; as each instrument was recorded on a different day and the song was slowly pieced together.

It’s also important to note that bassist (and ladie’s man) Ken Farrell says that ‘Downpour’ is “the last song on the album”; at the time of recording it was but having reviewed the finished tracks the lads from South decided to change the track listing and ‘Downpour’ is now track 9 but rest assured it’s still “got rain in it”!

This episode also shows a bit more of the difficulties faced by Producer/Engineer Alan Dawson as he tried to record himself playing the drums. There’s also some bass and guitar takes for different songs that appear on the album. Because of time-constraints I had to cut about 4 minutes off this episode; meaning quite a few takes and songs had to be cut.

Shooting without any script meant that when cutting it was difficult to keep whole conversations that ran too long. I had to chop bits and pieces of dialogue and sometimes cut it so people are actually having conversations with themselves over different days. So when trying to put some narrative structure to the whole thing and keep it at a good pace; I decided to cut back and forth between the scenes. Only showing what was necessary to piece it all together.

As with the previous episode (and the final one), this episode features a song that will appear on the upcoming album, in this case ‘Symmetry‘. This music video sequence was actually the third one I cut together, back when the plan was for four episodes, but once I chopped it down to three I decided to swap the music-video sequences around so that the final episode would finish with another brand new song.

By the time it came to cutting ‘Symmetry’, I had gotten a bit more adventurous with my cutting patterns; I had discovered that by layering the shots, I could show more going on at the same time. This is also used in Episode 3, but in an effort to keep similiar shots/set-ups fresh and make the videos separate to each other; with ‘Symmetry’ I tried alternating cutting patterns between the layers, cutting to the music so that most of the time what you see at that point is what you really hear when you listen to the song. I’m not sure if that will make sense when you read it but hopefully it will when you watch the video.

As always comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to everyone who watched the first episode; myself and the lads from South have been very happy with all the feedback. Hopefully you’ll enjoy this new episode just as much.

South – ‘The Making Of Insula’ Episode 3 goes online next Friday.

South – ‘The Making Of Insula’ Episode 1

South – ‘The Making Of Insula’ Episode 1 is now online… finally! After 13 weeks of stressing and working on the series, I can’t wait to hear what people think of the first installment.

Episode 1 begins as the recording sessions began; back in April on the first day in the Mill Studio, as the lads from South set up their gear. The mood was giddy and as they got everything ready; Daw tried to get his head around the idea of recording himself playing the drums. The first few days of recording focused on the drums so when editing the footage it seemed natural for the first episode to go that way.

As with the two upcoming episodes; this episode pays particular attention to an individual song, in this case, the previously unheard track ‘Downpour’, which will appear on South’s upcoming debut (out July 31st). I don’t know how many times I’ve had to listen to this song, it doesn’t really matter because I don’t think I can get tired of it, but when cutting the music-video sequence together I kept it to a fairly basic cutting style in comparison to the episodes that follow. At this stage I must also point out that the music used is not the final mix of the song, you’ll have to wait until the album comes out on July 31st, but it’s an awesome sneak preview.

As my first completely solo-project, it was difficult to come to terms with trying to do a two camera shoot on my own. I had to constantly be thinking the cuts in my head; with the Canon XAH1 (recording on tape) set up on a tripod to capture my master shot of each instrument during each take (and using the manual focus to get some nice pick-up shots in between), whilst always moving around getting cut-to’s on the Canon HG10 (recording on hard drive) mounted on my steadycam. The result was a hell of a lot of coverage that needed to be synced and then chipped away at.

Now that it’s finally finished I’d like to say thanks to the people who helped along the way; firstly thanks to Thomas, Ken and Daw for the opportunity to join them and work on something together, our time together in the studio was so much fun. I know it can’t have been easy to constantly have a camera in your face but thanks for not pulling a Christian Bale every time I moved a light or a flash went off in your face!? Having watched all the episodes with the lads during the week; I’m delighted to say that they loved them and I’m looking forward to working on music videos and the tour in the coming weeks.

I also have to say a huge thank you to Alan Slattery; for providing me with equipment and constant technical advice throughout the entire process. From frantic phone calls because I thought I broke his camera on the first day; because there’s a stupid button on the side that appears to have the only function of: making a camera act broken!? To solving the problem of each camera recording in a different codec through tape & hard drive. Right through the endless questions: how do I do that? What’s that yoke? I pushed this and now what’s happened? How do I make it do that and then turn everything inside out!? Thank you Sla and thanks for the colour grading that made everything look awesome in the end!

If your reading this then, please take 10 minutes to sit back and watch South – ‘The Making Of Insula’ Episode 1. As always comments would be greatly appreciated and don’t forget Episode 2 goes online next week and if you’re on Twitter then don’t forget to follow South for updates and news (and let them know what you think of ‘Downpour’).

New Photos: Busker2009 & Shakespeare in the House

Voting has closed on Round 6 of Busker 2009, with results of the public vote due to be announced on KilkennyMusic later this afternoon. In the mean time you can check out my photos from Round 5 and Round 6 on the KilkennyMusic Flickr.

Once myself and the Chief had captured the videos of the Round 6 contestants last weekend, we made our way to Rothe House for the Shakespeare in the House Festival; whilst Ken made his way backstage to get into costume, I caught the second half of Dreamstuff Youth Theatre’s version of ‘Romeo & Juliet’. Not a bad performance from the large group of young actors but I couldn’t help have the feeling that it was merely the calm before the storm (theatre wise anyway)

The sun was shining brightly over the courtyard stage when the Devious Theatre crew let fly with their mixed bag of ‘Shakespeare in Bits’; billed as “a crash course in Shakespeare for the ADD generation”, it certainly didn’t disappoint.

Highlights of the show for me: pretty much most of the performance from Niamh Moroney, John Doran and Stephen Colfer as they pummeled through four of Shakespeare’s plays (one in world record breaking time).

Other highlights included Devious newcomer Scott Barriscale as William Shakespeare (who for some reason reminded me of Young Einstein), and who could forget Kevin Mooney in tights and a Shakespearean rap battle to finish the show off. Kudos to all the Devious crew, their performance was hilarious, creative and endlessly energetic.

Whilst there were several other photographers there on the day, it meant the event was heavily covered, so in an effort to provide shots that were a little different I spent some time working on mine. Using textures to add a bit more of a feel to them. I’m not exactly sure how to make a photo look Shakespearean but I gave it a shot.

You can see all my photos from the Shakespeare in the House Festival including Dreamstuff Youth Theatre’s ‘Romeo & Juliet‘ and Devious Theatre’s ‘Shakespeare in Bits‘ on my flickr along with two of my favourite shots on the Oss237.com homepage.

If anybody has any comments or feedback then please stand under my balcony and shout it up at me.

Busker Round 6 & The Battle of the Bands 2009

Voting has opened on Round 6 of Busker 2009; the Kilkenny 400 busking competition in association with KilkennyMusic.com. As of last night, four new videos are up online and open to public voting so don’t forget to cast your vote for your favourite busker.

Round 6 saw the return of Pete to the Market Lane (he’s been in every round so far but has yet to win the public’s vote). He was joined by Shane in the ButterSlip (making his 3rd appearance) and Liam outside the Bank of Ireland on Parliament Street (making his second appearance). Pierre (above) makes his debut into the competition (making it our 2nd Harp on the streets for the competition).

As always one of these buskers will walk away with €200 so don’t forget to cast your vote. The videos are now online and open to PUBLIC VOTING on Busker2009.com.

If you think you could do better then why not register for the competition which runs until September, there’s a further €1000 up for grabs in the final. You can watch the videos from Round 6, cast your vote or register for the competition on www.Busker2009.com.

The official launch of The Battle Of The Bands 2009 is also underway, registration is now open with this years competition taking place throughout July and August. The competition will run for four weeks, including the showcase final performance from last years winners South on Sunday August 16th.

As with the previous two years, I’ll be providing photographic (and possibly video) coverage of the competition, along with sponsoring a photography package to this years winners. Full details of prizes will be announced in the coming days.

Full details about registration for the competition can be found on BattleOfTheBands.ie.

NOTE: For best results view the above video in HD.

South – ‘The Making Of Insula’ (TRAILER 2)

Plans are being made to get the sound mix and final cuts underway, given the amount of work that still needs to be done, it’ll probably be about two weeks before the first episode of South – ‘The Making Of Insula‘ appears online.

Personally I can’t wait to have it finished; my first real solo-project has taken quite a lot of work but even at this stage I’m really happy with the results. Every single aspect of the project; from operating the two camera shoot by myself to cutting the episodes together has been an awesome way of “learning by doing” and I can’t wait to see what people think.

As I cut through all the footage one of the hardest things was having to let go of something good; cutting footage out for one reason or another, usually time constraints.The overall structure follows South in the Mill Studio throughout the recording process for Insula, but it will pay particular attention to some songs more than others.

I made this decision from the start for several reasons, mainly due to the sheer volume of footage I would have shot over a two week period, on two cameras covering guitar, bass, drums, vocals and all the in-between stuff. At present I just wouldn’t have the ability to edit it all. We’ve also got lots of plans and ideas for videos for certain songs so there’s no point in saturating everything with too much coverage.

In the case of previously unheard (and awesomely titled) South track ‘Zombie Attack’ which will feature on their debut album; I only had one single take during the recording of the song (it wasn’t on my list). That being said, the song is awesome and I really wanted it to feature somewhere in the whole thing and so I’ve cut together a second trailer (above).

The new trailer offers a sneak preview of what ‘Zombie Attack’ sounds like, direct from the mixing room in the Mill Studios. Featuring Alan Dawson on drums, Thomas Donoghue on guitar and Ken “For the ladies” Farrell on bass as the lads from South were laying down a rough version of the song before tackling each individual instrument. This is the only time you’ll hear any preview of ‘Zombie Attack’ before the album gets released as even the above footage won’t appear in any of the episodes.

You can also check out my brand new promo shot here on the Oss237.com homepage. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts; the entire shoot was also my first real attempts working with off-camera flash triggers and the new shot is another addition to what I’m being told is “my style”. The usual camera display type thing with focus thrown on the background and sharp on the monitor (on a Canon XHA1), shot on my 50mm with my SB800 positioned across the room, full power directed at Ken’s hands as he plays the bass. I’ve add some textures afterwards in the same style as the first promo image. Check it out here.

As always any feedback or criticism would be greatly appreciated. Plenty more coming soon!

Please watch the above video in HD for best results.

The Lions Mane & South on tour!

Things are gearing up for a Summer on the road as The Lions Mane and South announce tour dates around the country in association with MyMusic.ie.

Both bands have just released a list of gig dates; which includes performances in Kilkenny, Dublin (Whelan’s), Cork (Fred Zeppelin’s), Carlow (The Tavern), Waterford (Twister Vicks) and you can rest assured there’s even more dates to follow.

Having spent most of June sitting in front of a computer, I’m really looking forward to getting out and touring with both bands as they push their debut albums nationwide.

I already have plans and ideas for plenty of on the road photo & video content which will keep me busy throughout the Summer.

But first things first, I have to finish the videos and photos I’m currently working on, all of which will be appearing online very soon.

Make sure you don’t miss out this Summer; check gig listings for The Lions Mane on MySpace & Bebo and gig listings for South on MySpace & Bebo.

Further information and announcements will be made through MyMusic.ie later this week.

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