This is not a shameless plug for our CD

There's a certain amount satisfaction washing around in my band at present, as the CD we've been working on for several months is finally finished.

It's been recorded, mixed, re-mixed, pressed, printed and delivered.

We've got several cartons of lovely, shiny CDs, all resplendent in their jewel cases with their beautifully printed covers.

I've never really thought myself as a recording artist before. The discipline of recording a definitive version of a song requires the sort of dedication and attention to detail that I find hard to muster; I would much rather do a gig than subject myself to the rigours of studio recording.
If you make a mistake when you're playing live, you have to carry on as if nothing has gone wrong; often you'll be the only one who knows you've dropped a clanger and even if you do something utterly hideous, hopefully only the rest of the band will notice.

Unfortunately, when you are recording, any and every mistake needs to be fixed. Admittedly, with the digital recording tools that are available these days, it is ridiculously easy to repair some mistakes; Played a bum note on the bass in verse two? Just cut and paste the correct note in from verse one. But other problems still require a lot of time and effort.
You can't easily 'patch' a lead guitar solo, and any vocal error will at the very least need a second take to replace it. Even if you only have to re-record a single phrase, it still takes time to set up and get it 'punched in'.
Recording is an enormously time consuming process. To record a three minute song properly will almost certainly take hours, and possibly months.

So, you'll see why we're particularly chuffed to have finished.

If you want hear how it turned out, you can find a couple of tracks HERE, or you might even hear us on one of our local radio stations, "Canalside Community Radio-FM".