Synthesiser Heaven – “Synth Britannia” (2009)

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Corey Stewart

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a special place in my heart for the music from the late 70’s through to the end of the 80’s, especially if there’s synths involved.

I stumbled across the 2009 BBC documentary Synth Britannia on YouTube (as a series of 10-12 videos I think) a little while ago and it had me entranced from start to finish.

I found it fascinating to see how artists and bands such as Human League, OMD, Joy Division/New Order, Yazoo and Gary Numan got their start and even for just for a little while, it made me wish that I was born at least 10 years earlier.

Here is the full version of Synth Britannia… Enjoy

Peace,

Corey

Sting’s Songwriting Process – An Insight

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Corey Stewart

I stumbled across this old video on YouTube of Jools Holland interviewing Sting (circa early 80′s) recently and it gives a brilliant insight into the way that Sting gathers, processes and demos his songwriting ideas before introducing it to the rest of the Police band members

Even though the video primarily focuses on how he came up with “Message In A Bottle” (one of my all time favourite songs) there are plenty of pearls of wisdom to be had if you listen for it.

Look out for the introduction of Dennis as one of the central characters in his songwriting process.

I loved every minute of this video especially the old recording technology I mean, I used to have a Tascam Portastudio (ahh, memories). I hope you enjoyed it too, let me know what you think.

Peace,

Corey

Help, I Was Hacked!

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Corey Stewart

I have been a bit quiet over the last week because this website got hacked and I’ve been spending the time researching and trying to fix the issue.

Thankfully, it’s all better now but man, what an ordeal.

In my research I read that having your website hacked triggers the same feelings as if your house was broken into.

This is something I can certainly attest to.

Just the knowledge that someone got into Corey Stewart Online and decided to muck things around a bit made me feel sick in the stomach however, getting hacked seems to be “just one of those things” that you have to deal with if you have an online presence.

I use WordPress and I’m very diligent in my version and security updates but it doesn’t seem to be enough. The hacking problem doesn’t seem to be a WordPress-centric issue because sites that run other content management systems (CMS) such as Drupal or Joomla are being hit as well.

The hack I was hit with was called an “eval base64_decode” hack which essentially puts malicious code into most of the php code of my website. The end result being that when you went to Corey Stewart Online it was then redirecting to another site.

To get rid of it I had to go through every PHP file manually and delete the malicious code or in some cases, delete whole files that were placed there by the hack in the first place.

That was about two whole days right there. What a pain in the arse!

I suppose the lessons that I learnt from this whole experience have been twofold.

First of all, I’m going to be even more mindful of my internet security and not get complacent just because I run a Mac and secondly, I’m able to roll my sleeves up and get my hands dirty with php code and fix a problem all by myself.

I do feel good about that.

I’ve also been able to get a good snapshot of the relationships between the domain names that I own and the websites that I run and realise that I could’ve tightened up my security there as well. That has also been rectified and I feel most relieved.

All in all it has been another action-packed week here at Corey Stewart Online. Just wondering when the fun starts.

Peace,

Corey

RIP Steve Jobs 1955 – 2011

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Corey Stewart

Thank you for changing our lives for the better

Peace,

Corey

CD Project Update #18 – The Marvels Of Modern Technology

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Corey Stewart

Yes, I know there’s been a long time between CD Project updates but (as outlined in a previous post) there’s not much I could do if I can’t physically get to the studio.

Anyways, here’s what’s been happening in the last few weeks

The initial eight Stig Lindell keyboard tracks done at Chapel Lane Studios have now been integrated with the tracks recorded at Red Brick Music and the results so far are stunning to say the least.

Thank goodness the tracks were all recorded with a click-track otherwise trying to match the recorded files from two separate studio locations would have been a logistical nightmare.

The rest of the keyboard tracks will be completed by Stig in the not too distant future but this time instead of recording them at Chapel Lane again, he will be recording them in his studio in Sweden.

I have put the rest of the files up onto my server. Stig can then download the files, do what he needs to do to them and then upload the results back up to my server again.

Ahh, the marvels of modern technology…

Speaking about modern technology, my car is now cleared of any defects and is allowed back onto the road which means that recording will start again from next Wednesday.

All that needs to be done now is for Darren to finish off his guitar parts (going for a goal of one track per week) and for the final vocals and other bits and pieces to be recorded and then we’re onto the next phase…

The creation of the physical product, which reminds me, I must organise photos, graphics then the printing, duplication plus, the venue for the CD launch.

Well, I’m off to create yet another list.

Peace,

Corey