This is more of a quick update than one of my usual more lengthy blogs. People keep reminding me that I haven't blogged in a while. It's forever on my 'to do' list. But the reason for my lack of blogs in recent weeks is simple: I've just been too damned busy!

Yes, it's been another rollercoaster year, one that has flown by at neutrino speed (should, of course, the current talk about these faster-than-light subatomic particles prove to be true).

The loose album release deadlines I set out at the beginning of the year have proved to be the overly optimistic, ideal-world projections I feared they might become at the time. For starters, this year will have seen me play around 200 live shows. That's not an excessive amount when compared to the 260+ shows a year I've played sometimes. But it certainly means less time is available to spend in the studio.

And, on that front, I've certainly not been slacking. I have been continually chipping away at my next solo album and have 26 tracks, whittled down from over 60 songs, in various stages of production. I am not going to be foolish enough to anticipate when it will be ready - I have to fit it in around other projects, but I am buzzing about the songs I've written and the overall feel of the tracks. I get the feeling this is going to result in two solo albums, probably released a few months apart.

I have also been producing an album for my mates Brotherhood. The routine on that is one track every six weeks, each of which takes me around two weeks to program, produce and record. This week, we had a playback evening, listening through to all tracks recorded to date. My main worry when I take on a long-term project that is completed in fits and starts is consistency of sound. This is not so much of an issue when working on my own albums - both Earthly Powers and B.O.A.T.S. were put together in down time. I didn't have the luxury of dropping everything to work on them solidly, which is the more conventional approach when recording an album. Happily, employing the same logic (and detailed note-taking, for which some of my close friends rib me mercilessly), the Brotherhood project definitely has the feel and sound of an album recorded in a block booking. Recording of their album should be finished around March, and I then have to edit and mix it, which will probably take another couple of months.

And therein lies one of the downsides of doing everything oneself: It's the schlepper work that ends up taking so much time in the studio. There really is no short cut to editing and managing files, audio rendering, AutoTuning, comping, stem-building and countless other tasks that are necessary to carry out prior to mixing. One day, I will find an enthusiastic (not to mention capable and efficient) engineer who I can afford to pay to do those jobs. Until then, I will get as much done on my own as is humanly possible. Three heads and six hands would be an advantage... though not necessarily in a social context.