Mark O’Meara: the blog

I just found another quote from me in my Deborah capacity on the triple j fan.au site.

I sound like a complete wanker.

Lesson - if it looks like a duck.

I remixed Ringo last night to bring up Sarah’s lead guitar and also to make the whole thing louder.

I had a real problem that the recording has half a dozen peaks but is quite quiet by and large. I was trying to amplify all the low bits but it was getting no-where.

Yesterday I had a flash of inspiration. So I reduced the peaks then amplified the lot. Sounds simple but I nearly didn’t think of it. I am starting to get a bit worried about the sound levels so I am greatly…relieved.

Lesson for the morning - and I didn’t even have to get out of the bath to have this flash of inspiration.

I am back for a second day at work. I was a bit shocked when 6am came around and I had to get out of bed.

Nothing much to report other than it was pretty cold this morning when I was out with pooches.

Nicky has some leave next week and the week after so she can walk them then. Hoorah
Lesson for the morning - it’s all easier when there is an end in sight.

I had a dream that I had been asleep for 40 years and so had most other people I know. Things had changed which was not a huge surprise.

Probably just because it am going back to work after two weeks.

Lesson for the morning - some dreams have an obvious meaning.

Back at work, what joy.

It appears my collegues were still feeling amusing after the whole switching offices gag. This morning I had to deal with switching all the cables back so that my phone and computer all work properly.

Lesson for the morning - at times like this I wish I worked with adults.

As a feeble attempt at being funny I introduced Tim and myself at the end of each song as a different band name. Here are the ones I remember.

The Peanut Butter Contingent
Schrodinger’s Forgotten Dog
Dali’s Moustache
Men With Beards
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Music
Higher Charges May Apply From Mobile Phones
The Hopeless Case
The Pale Damiens (complete with a album called Real Men Don’t Talk to Buffalo)

Lesson - comedy is about inspiration not hard work.

One of the highlights of the evening was getting Denis McGregor up to sing on Slow Motion. Kelly had suggested that I should ask her but probably didn’t realise how firmly I would push the invitation.

Anyhow after much encouragement she did get up and sounded quite good into the bargain.

Later, during Peter’s set, she looked terribly excited about him singing No Woman No Cry so I got him to invite her up to sing. Again she carried on like it was not going to happen but she did get up and again sounded quite good.

Another lesson for the night - I would love to be asked onto stage to sing on some songs.

Well the show at the Yak went quite well.

There was not much of a crowd but the show was good fun. Dallas and Christopher were there as were Dad and Rad and Kelly and friends.

Aside from that the place was pretty quiet for my first set.

Tim turned up in time to play on the first set which was marvellous given that he had been from Ferntree Gully to Geelong and back before coming to the Yak. Better still he was in fine form, evening singing little bursts of backing vocals here and there.

The main act was Peter Rotamah who is always a pleasure to listen to and watch. After his first set I got to play another set which was a bonus.

Anyhow about 11.30pm I called it quits and Nicky and I were tired little teddybears.

Lesson for the night - You can have a great night after a fun day.

Well we went back to the fun day at the dog obedience club this afternoon. The very attentive of you will remember that one of my early entries was about going to an earlier one of these events.

This time we did not get soaked to the skin and we were only there for 2 hours (not four or more).

Also we did a little practice before Indiana went to be assessed. After about 10 tried we nailed the drop command which was just great after that.

All in all a dramatic improvement.

Now i should do some practice for the show tonight but I am kind of tired already.

Lesson for the afternoon - dog fun can really take it out of you.

This morning I toddled over to Willy’s to try and cut a practice version of the album. It is one thing to hear it on minidisc but another to hear it in the car and the ghetto blaster.

Anyhow, bless his cotton socks, we tried and tried and all we did was destroy perfectly good blank CDs in the effort. We finally got one that looked like it worked but I cannot get it to play anywhere at all.

Lesson for the morning - you burn and learn.