Thanks for visiting my newsletter, where I cast a philosophical eye towards the UK’s grass roots music scene. Here you’ll find discussion of some of the technical elements involved in performances, my perspective on the creative choices made, and thoughts on why the music makes such an emotional impact.
Working in sound is an unusual combination of the technical and the unquantifiable: you can focus on pushing a guitar solo by half a dB, or how much total harmonic distortion (THD) is present in the signal flow, but none of this can account directly for the ‘magic’ of a performance or the impact of a recording.
In this newsletter I will talk about that balance: about how aspects of a song are technically achieved, and how that helps it to hit home. It will be technical at times - although always in a relatable and open manner - authentic, thoughtful and with good humour. In that way this column will hopefully be a faithful representation of its author!
If you like the sound of this and want to support it, please consider signing up for a paid subscription and you’ll receive video and audio recordings (like the one above) that give a literal representation of the work I’m writing about.
I will be launching properly later in 2025, but in the meantime please enjoy Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler’s live performance from their Mercury nominated album, which I did the live sound for at Green Note and filmed/recorded before later mixing and editing together.
Wishing you music and laughter
Oscar
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