Aaron's weekly dispatch
This has been an amazing week, and it came off the back of a massive weekend before it with a private function and an open mic night, so I haven't really stopped.
I'd managed to get fave.rocks to a place where I was really pleased with how it was standing, so I wanted to divert my attention to LiftShot for a bit. It's a project I've needed to do some additional work on, and I had a big brainwave about an improvement I could make.
I've always felt the videos I was producing looked great, but they could do with an extra dimension, and I didn't really know how to achieve that. I was thinking I needed more cameras. What I realised is that what I actually needed was one camera filming in portrait, and then to magnify that visual so it fills a horizontal screen. That gives you that moving, handheld-type camera look, and you can create something with a lot more dynamic range, moving from a close-up of my face to a close-up of the guitar and then out to a wider shot.
This hasn't been easy to achieve. The entire early part of my week, and the gaps between gigs this weekend, have been spent trying to fine-tune the tool and make sure it works properly. One of the biggest issues has been using two completely different cameras, getting the footage recording well on both and then matching them closely in the app. Anyway, I'm really pleased with the results and I'm looking forward to doing some more tweaking on it.
fave.rocks has been going well too. I've been doing a lot of research on local listings and getting a bunch of artists on board, which is really cool. It's going to be a long process and I know I'm in it for the long haul, but I really believe it has legs to connect musicians all over the place. I really hope I can create something people use to stay connected and that makes it easier to get work.
If you haven't had a look at fave.rocks yet, it's here: fave.rocks. Find my page, hit the heart, and you'll get one email on a Monday with everywhere I'm playing that week.
And if you want to see what all this LiftShot work actually looks like, there's loads of footage from gigs over on my YouTube channel. Have a look and let me know what you think.
Now, onto the gigs…
Catching Up On Last Week
I never sent a Soundcheck last week. It was my daughter's birthday on the Monday, so on top of the gigs I had a lot of exciting family plans that kept me occupied to the point where I just didn't get the time. So a quick catch-up first.
Friday was The Acre in Windsor, Saturday was an early one at Marney's Village Inn in Esher followed by a private function in the evening, and on Sunday I was hosting the open mic at The Sovereigns in Woking. A really solid weekend.
This Week
Wednesday was the open mic at Windsor & Eton Brewery in Windsor, which is always a blast and really good fun.
On Thursday I was at The George in Eton, a really lovely acoustic night. It's so nice to be able to sit down amongst people and take requests without any speakers plugged in. The same goes for the Hare and Hounds in Claygate on Friday night. I love being able to move from one table to the next, having conversations with people while I'm performing. It makes it a much more personal kind of gig.
After the Hare and Hounds I went straight on to the Hideaway in Surbiton to perform for Charlotte's 40th birthday, which was really wild.
Then on Saturday I was in Kingston during the day for a charity event called BragStreet. Really cool vibes, the weather held out, and it was lovely to see families out together. I had a really good time.
Saturday night was The Sovereigns in Woking, which was an absolute blast. I was very fortunate to have a lot of friends come down to support the night and get involved. It's always great to see everybody and have a good catch-up, so it's not just entertaining everyone but sharing the night with everybody as well.
So it's been a wild week.
See you out there, Aaron