A few weeks ago, I successfully applied for an Arts North West Micro Grant for $600. I’ve used this money to buy a portable recording unit so that Chris Purcell – my musical collaborator – and I can make some quality digital ‘demo’ recordings at home to share with our local community and further afield. Over the last five years, Chris and I have written 27 songs together, and we’re keen to launch these songs into the world. At the moment, neither of us have the resources to record a professional CD, so the Tascam DP-03SD is the next best thing. The unit arrived a week ago, and Chris and I have met three times already in ‘song-room central’ at Chris’ house. It’s been very exciting to experiment with different ways of recording voice and guitar to achieve the best results. A huge learning process for me, but thankfully Chris has some experience with sound engineering. In the company of our adoring fans – Chris’s dogs Ruby and McGregor – we’ve recorded two songs, and mixed and mastered one song. Chris has also bought an Epiphone steel string acoustic guitar from Black Dot Music in Armidale to use as our primary recording guitar. It’s all going extremely well, and we’re hoping to complete and post our first song next week. Thank you, Arts North West, for this wonderful opportunity!