And Also The Trees Live In Berlin 9th July 2010

Matthew was once again out on tour with And Also the Trees. This time they were performing acoustically at the invitation of performance artist John Bock. The concert was situated in front of an exhibition he has curated at the Temporäre Kunsthalle in Berlin called FischGrätenMelkStand.
The echoey acoustics presented one or two challenges, but by keeping onstage volumes down and not chasing high SPL's a good sound was achieved. The more than capacity audience of over 400 people loved the performance.

Two new boys for the studio.

Catering for the discerning guitarist has always been one of our missions, we are lucky to announce a couple of new additions to the studio arsenal. Firstly we have the Mallard combo made by guitar amp tonemeister Mick Grabham, he of Procul Harum fame. This amp has to be the finest sounding 18 watt combo that I have ever heard, If you are looking for that early Marshall/Vox Valve sound then this amp has it in spades. This is a very special amp and spends all its time safely tucked up in the studio. Secondly I decided to make my own amp, no doubt inspired by the Mallard. Given that the Fender Tweed deluxe is a well documented amp and has a great deal of information concerning its construction on the internet, I decided that this was a great amp to begin with. Starting off with some research seemed like a good idea, so much study later I started the build with a chassis and component combination from Mojo in the States. Construction went well with many questions answered by looking at other builds on the internet. Valves and transformers were provided by one of the most helpful people I have ever spoken to, many thanks to Philip at Bluebell audio in Dundee for all your invaluable help. Cabinet making is not my forte, and would have required a huge investment in routers, thingies and sharp chisels which would no doubt have reduced my finger count somewhat so a cabinet was ordered from Rory Coupland in the Cotswolds, and a fine cabinet it was. Covering the cabinet was farmed out to my very talented son Ben Jones, who is a master Trimmer at Morgan Cars in Malvern. We were looking for a 1950's vibe with red and cream leather and a silver grill, hopefully pushing the automotive theme to the fore. Now that most of the components were in place a decision had to be made about a speaker. An original spec Jensen was the answer. The amp sounds great and looks fantastic. Just a handle to go and the job is complete.Hope you like "Lil Red". Number two will be making an appearance soon, once I have decided what it will look like.

mu-mu back at Wyastone Leys

Mu-Mu returned to Wyastone Leys on 1st of July for a recording session with very talented pianist Rachel M Davis from Evesham. Rachel had ten original pieces to record, the intention being to release her first CD of original material later in the Autumn. Rachel and her partner Jerry had spoken to numerous recording studios in the area before deciding to place the recording in the hands of Mu-Mu. The beautiful Steinway at Wyastone perfectly complemented Rachel's superb playing. Ten tracks were recorded during the day followed by a video session filmed by Nina Jones. We were impressed with Rachel's level of preparation and nearly all the tracks were recorded with a single take. Mixing and mastering took place and our traditional attention to detail seems to have paid off once again. The Steinway sounds fantastic and Rachel has written a very classy collection of piano tracks that are sure to attract the attention of anyone who listens to them. It was a real pleasure working with Rachel and Jerry and we wish them every success with this debut recording. Once we have further details we will post them on the blog and website.