2012 - Your year in review

[Manning]

I asked this last year and it went well, so here it is again for 2012. (Here's last year's thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5879)

Obviously the year started on a pretty dark note for all T-rockers with the death of Kristian. Expected yes, but tragic all the same.

For me, it was a year of consolidation. Our studio is functional and we got our first paying customers, but we don't have the money to do all the cosmetic work we need to do and that hampers our ability to officially "open". At the end of last year I bought Steve Francis's Auditronics 740 and so we spent a lot of time getting that fully wired in and polished up. Didn't get much outboard gear this year but I bought a lot of new mics, including eight Bees Neez.

For the composing/production side I quit using Logic after 12 years, and moved to Cubase and massively upgraded my collection of VSTs. And I foolishly embarked on building an iso booth at home.

So that's my story. What's yours?

[Wiz]

I just went back and read the 2011 thread.

Wow, a year...most of my important stuff has been out of the studio.

The best news, my daughter, she has come through all her problems, and is flying high. It is such a wonderful relief, I couldnt be happier nor more proud of her. What a difference a year makes, and I couldn't have hoped for better for her.

My wife, still teaching away madly, her business is flying.

In fact, I just put my wife and daughter on the train, they are heading off to Bali for a mummy/daughter holiday.

My side of things, not bad, cant complain. I spent most of 2012 consolidating in the studio. Buying and selling things, trying to get my "sound" to where I want it, for my next album. Only in the last week, did I utter those immortal words "I'm there..." we'll see when I come back to this thread in a years time... 8)

2013 is an exciting year for me. Mid year I head to the USA to catch up and meet with "friends" I have never met, 3 people I did an album with, and a boat load that I have know for a decade. I will be there for a month travelling the south, doing some gigs with friends bands etc, its a bucketlist trip for me.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year and a great 2013.

[obutcher]

One year already. So fast! I should contribute more around here rather than just replying in the yearly wrapup thread! Might pop down for lunch on Sunday if I'm free, it would be great to meet a bunch of you.

General life: Started out the year by getting married. It's great! Best decision. We had some housing issues though as we thought we had somewhere lined up but the day we came home from our honeymoon we found out we actually had nowhere to live! Long story short we stayed in a couple of short term places but have now settled into Ashfield. Great place and we eat dumplings every week. Lovin it. The experience taught me a thing or two, it means I'm a LOT more thankful to have a house to live in!
Had the shin splints come back. Different physio now and things seem to be healing up a bit better *fingers crossed*

Audio wise: I did the 3 month internship at 301 starting end of February. Doing that and working full time meant I was working 16 hour days most days of the week, but I met a lot of great engineers and musicians. Also got to help on a few recordings which was nice. I sure loved playing with their Neve and SSL!
Thanks to that I got a little bit of work on The Voice (only a small bit, but something!) and did a live recording with Lachlan Mitchell at the Horden Pavillion of The Jezabels. Since then I've been assisting him once a week down at Jungle Studios as well as still teaching the audio prac classes at JMC.

Its been a busy year for me. Keen to find out where 2013 takes me!

[Chinagraf]

This was the most up and down year I've had in about 15 years I reckon. Had some great gigs, had some times where I was so over it all I wanted to chuck it in. Had a couple of close friends go through some really scary health stuff, packed it in for a break and went traipsing round SE Asia. Bought a couple of nice guitars. The main guy that started the studio I have my room at sold out of the business later in the year and things are still finding their levelling point since.
I do a lot of dance music and remixing, decided I couldn't take the kick drum thing anymore and told my manager I'm stepping away from the genre, maybe for good. As is the way I got offered a few mixes not long after that I couldn't turn down, one for Toni Braxton, a song called I love you and then a remix for Beyonce on her singe "I was here" and one other great US artist that's sitting over there waiting to see if they do the release or not.. So I got to remix 2 artists with pretty amazing voices that I've admired for a long time and another one I didn't know, but was originally produced by Clive Davis, but I have made the decision to stop doing dance next year and either work with real people playing real instruments, or possibly start heading into something different. For the first time probably ever, this year I started thinking that I'd be just as happy doing something other than sitting in a studio every day. It's been a year of change/upheaval for a lot of friends and colleagues in the business this year, maybe we're all just getting to that age hah, dunno. I'm gonna enjoy the summer and take it from there when the weather starts getting colder. Be interesting to see where I am this time next year though. Probably posting here, saying I swore I wasn't going to do dance music anymore

[Gian]

When my wife turned 42 a friend gave her an article from a medical journal that stated that 42 was, statistically, the worst year of everyone's life.

At the end of 2011 I travelled to Italy with my family. I took some mics and computers, a duet and a guitar. The plan was to finally record the songs I had written. But, living in a completely different culture and trying to help my kids with school completely took over and the best I got to do was play my guitar.

However, I got to spend hours per day walking and talking, tutoring my kids. Not just in school work but also in their instrument they each play. That was valuable precious time that I will find difficult to find here in Australia.

My wife and I got to do and see some amazing things in a part of the world so rich in history and we made some wonderful friends.

Money started running out and we moved back to Sydney, where we used to live 8 years ago (just before Italy we were in Tamworth). So living in 3 cities in a year has caused a lot of disruptions. Kids however are settling back into school having only been at their present on for 5 months and only just last night they tell me they are receiving an award at presentation night. They have certainly developed adapatability skills. Wife finally has work in her industry. And I am back with my guitars and I get to play with electronics again - harvesting old destroyed tube chassis into guitar amps.

So while i have found this year particularly difficult, it has been very rewarding for myself and my family. We are still settling back into life and it will probably be another 6 months before things are in a better place - but wife has agreed that I need a dedicated space to make/record my music. So we are looking for a house that fits that requirement.

[walding]

In a nutshell, I've rebuilt my life after a long term relationship breakup last year.

Bought an apartment, moved to a new suburb, set up the best studio I've ever had, been on a few minor tours, mixed a lot of good bands and I've started working with one of the most talented singers I've ever heard.

Started this year completely in no mans land, ending it on a high.

Strange thing this life is.

[psycho_monkey]

Erm...I moved countries! Started off in London, ended up in Sydney in May....going just about as well I could have hoped for so far! Some label work (for big and small artists), some unsigned stuff, and some promising things in the pipeline...and let's face it, the weather is a vast improvement!

[Manning]

Cool, and welcome to Sydney - are you coming to the Trock BBQ on Sunday?

[mylesgm]

Hi Psycho Monkey, welcome to the forum!
Generally we all put our names in the signature box so everyone knows who everyone else is... you're not George Martin in disguise are you?

[ChrisW]

the weather is a vast improvement!

And the economy.

[DarkSky]

Erm...I moved countries! Started off in London, ended up in Sydney in May...

Nice seeing you here Adrian. Hope things will continue to pan out well for you in Sydney!