Gavin Sutherland - Musician and Songwriter

Listen to 'From The Darkness Came The Dawn' on Soundcloud

People from all over the world got involved in this song. It's all done now, and this is how we did it:

1) Click the download button for a quick listen, RIGHT CLICK to download the mp3 file ('alt' click on a mac).

It's a three chorder in the key of A. You'll need some basic recording gear and some kind of audio editor. I use 'Audacity', it's a free download, a very handy program, and really easy to use.

2) Add your bit and send back to me at suthsongs@hotmail.com (backtrack panned hard left and your bit panned hard right).

3) We'll pop it into Pro Tools and put the whole thing together.

The story so far: In a nutshell, I wrote a song recently and thought it would be a good idea to get some other musicians involved so I've set up 'The Big World Dance Band'. The idea is that any musicians with a simple audio editing programme on their computer can add something to the track by emailing their part to me. When we've collected all the bits and pieces this end, we'll put it all on to Pro Tools and put the whole thing together like a big audio jigsaw puzzle. Not at all sure what we're going to end up with, but that's what makes it interesting. Cheers!

It's a straight ahead three chord song, no surprises, so you can just relax and do your thing. The track is very basic, guitar, drums and an 'oo' backing vocal part for singers to sing along with or add a harmony to. Best if everybody keeps their bit pretty simple so there's room for lots of stuff. I know you'll sort the arrangement out without any probs but, just for the sake of it, this is how it goes:

2 bars of drums as count in then:

A . . . D . . . A . . . E . . . A . . . D . . . A . E . A . . .
D . . . A . . . E . . . A . . . D . . . A . . . E . . . A . . . rpt and so on.
A couple of times through the sequence will do the trick.

Oh, and just for the record, the idea of this is to get a bunch of people working together on something using the web and all that, it's nothing to do with money. If somewhere along the road it makes a couple of quid, from somewhere or other, it will be given to Cheetham's kids hospital in Stoke-on-Trent.

"Hey, hey we're The Dance Band, People say we Dance Band around,
But we're too busy playing, To put anybody down!"

flags

Cast, in order of appearance:

Gavin Sutherland (Scotland) - John Wright (England) - James Lazzari (England) - Nick Bowers (Spain)
Ian Bannister (England) - Chris Ellis (Australia) - Sadie Gwynn Jones (Australia) - Ian Lang (England)
Kate James (Scotland) - Steve Lazzari (England) - James Sutherland (England) - Maurice Cope (England)
Terry Butters (England) - Polly Sutherland (Scotland) - Chris Sutton (Scotland) - Omar Affif (Morocco)
Fergus Cox (Scotland) - Nancy K. Dillon (USA) - Chris Triance (Scotland) - John Sutherland (Indonesia)
Sam Lumsden (Scotland) - Houdi Donnelly (Scotland)

Recording Engineers:
James Hunter (Scotland) - Pól Ó Cluanaigh (Australia) - Garey Shelton (USA) - Jack Butters (England)

Produced by Gavin Sutherland (Scotland) Mastered by James Hunter (Scotland)

Dance Band Diary, 2011

April:
John Wright sent me some drum parts for my new songs.

September:
Beginning to formulate some ideas for a net based band, bringing in musicians from all over the globe to record a song. (Something I'd tried out before using myspace, but on a smaller scale).

October:
23rd. Dance Band recruitment campaign gets up and running. First steps taken to promote the project and recruit musicians through website and facebook.
24th. Put a very basic backtrack on my website for recruits to download and play along to. What's the responce going to be like? I've no idea!
26th. First mp3 arrived from James Lazzari. A chorus keyboard part. Right, game on.
dance band photo 27th. Nick Bowers sent bottleneck guitar up from his studio in Spain.
28th. Ian Bannister beats his post op blues to record and send in a bass part.
29th. Some chorus oos arrive from Kate James a couple of miles away and later that same day Australia joins in with some bass from Chris Ellis and a few more oos from Sadie Gwynn Jones.
31st. Ian Lang sends a straight ahead acoustic rhythm guitar up from England. dance band photo

November:
1st. Steve Lazzari joins the band with a big warm Wurlitzer.
3rd. Checking through and assembling the tracks we've picked up so far.
dance band photo 10th. More stuff from England with some Teenie Hodges style Strat chops from James Sutherland, a slick country piano from Terry Butters and a couple of hot lute licks from M C Lute Master.
13th. More assembly work with the new additions. Yes, it's shaping up well.
20th. The Global Village plot thickens with some youthful uke from Polly Sutherland, Chris Sutton at the mighty Hammond, and some toe-tapping djemba from Morocco's very own, Omar Affif. dance band photo
23rd. Fergus Cox just dived, head-first, into the mix with some big, spicy, power chords.
27th. Right on the case today. Working with Jim. Arrangement sorted out and a quick vocal. The plan is working.
30th. Nancy K. Dillon sends us her lovely voice, all the way from Seattle, John 'Suds' Sutherland sends some guitar over from a wee studio on the outskirts of Jakarta, and Chris 'The Miserable Sinner' prepares to strike up the mighty Horn of Balnamoon. dance band photo

December:
3rd. OK, that's the horns arranged, recorded and mixed. Just the job.
4th. Clive Eakin (BBC Warwickshire) gives the Dance Band a good plug on his radio show.
5th. SNOW!
7th. Just got some kit stuff in from Sam Lumsden. Local guy, good player. He's doing pretty well in a drum competition right now, but a few more votes certainly wouldn't go a miss. So, should you feel inclined, check this out: http://www.drum-mastery.eu/drum-mastery/uk/en/entrants/166
dance band photo 8th. Shake, Rattle n' Roll as a hurricane thrashes its way across Scotland, but the band plays on, with Ian Bannister shaking some mean Big Sur Eggz.
13th. Fixing and mixing this week. Should be ready to go by the weekend.
14th. Houdi Donnelly slips under the wire with some hot percussion from The Banks O' The Ness.
15th. Mixed and Mastered and uploaded to Soundcloud. Job done!