The 447. For musicians by musicians. A free and open source fan sharing and audience development collective.

Coming soon. Very soon. Follow on Twitter @the447 for the latest news and updates.

And now, just one year later, we average over 2,000 visitors a day and the whole project, the label, and the music continues to move forward and grow.

Thank you. Thank you to everyone who helped in any way whatsoever. Thank you to the people that linked to me, to the people that donated sums large and small, everyone who purchased music and to absolutely everyone who has been involved with making this project a success.

None of this would have been possible without your support. You have proved that independent musicians can succeed and flourish when they use the correct tools to connect directly with their audience. Thank you.

With Christmas fast approaching it is now time to take a few months rest.

Merry Christmas, happy new year, see you in 2010.

I faced a choice. I could either rush and push to release an album at the end of 2009 or give it the time it needs, the time it deserves.

The album will be released when it is finished. Not a moment before and not a moment after.

One phrase in particular stuck in my mind.

You don’t just roll out of bed and fall onto a flat nine chord.

Of course, he was correct, but what if inspiration strikes while you are asleep? What if you do roll out of bed with a head buzzing with ideas? Or, worse, what if you wake in the middle of the night, itching to get your thoughts down, terrified of the potential regret you will face if you fail to capture them?

The solution is old school. A fountain pen, Noodlers bulletproof ink and some index cards. I also add a diet coke to the list to help pry my eyes open.

That’s all you need to capture your thoughts and ideas before returning to your comfortable pillow.

Why Noodlers bulletproof ink? Because at four in the morning it is very easy to spill that coke.

Given the nature of this blog, it’s purpose being to act as a focal point for my jazz career, documenting it’s progression, promoting and distributing my work, it’s update tempo will not need to be particularly fast.

Many people fall into the trap of thinking that they must update their blogs as often as possible, some many times a day, in order to be successful. This simply isn’t true. Your blogging rhythm has to reflect the nature of your blog, your tone and your style.

After all, there are only so many hours in the day, and many of the hours allocated to my jazz career are, quite rightly, taken up with practicing and composing.

And, let’s not forget, I have an album to write. The music has to come first.

The solitude that I need can only be achieved if I am comfortable and pain free. With more and more hours spent sitting in front of a computer, blogging, promoting, writing, composing or transcribing it’s time to get serious about the chair that supports me.

I need an ergonomic chair. And I need one now.

Three pieces underpin the tone of the album reflecting the three women that always were and always will be, literally, my life. Each piece will flow either to or from, directly or indirectly, one of these three roots.

And blood is the one thing that binds them all together.

My mother, my wife, and my daughter.

My blood.

Pretty, isn’t it? The Rupert Neve sE RNR1. I’ll let the sE Electronics press release handle the introduction.

The sE/Rupert Neve collaboration Ribbon is the first of several mics being readied for production in this Rupert Neve Signature sE series.

The RNR1 offers revolutionary performance, courtesy of a unique blend of discrete circuits and purpose designed, transformers from Mr. Rupert Neve, and the best capsules and chassis design that Siwei Zou and sE have to offer.

The RNR1 mic has all the qualities engineers love in the very best Ribbons … warm and silky lows and incredible depth and air to mid frequencies, but with a clarity and impact in high frequencies that reveals vital harmonic information normally missing.

Legendary audio engineer Rupert Neve adds,

I have worked for some time on the designs for this new range of microphones – the concepts of which are actually already being implemented in our own Rupert Neve Designs 5088 Console – namely utilizing Discrete Single-Sided Circuits and my custom designed transformers.

This new approach to analogue sound processing has required extreme care in its manufacture and meticulous alignment of the embedded discrete opamps and the delicate microphone elements.

I am delighted with the early fruits of this collaboration and look forward to the series of revolutionary products that will follow.

Siwei Zou, renowned classical musician and sE Electronics founder says,

This collaboration has been a dream come true for me. I have known Rupert for many years, and have discussed with Rupert many times his theories regarding microphone development and design. To get the opportunity to couple Rupert’s exemplary and time tested approach to electronics design with my own passion for excellence in sonic reproduction and acoustics, has been incredible. I think that the results speak for themselves.

A ribbon microphone designed by Rupert Neve, with dual-transformer amplifier circuit architecture, one between the ribbon transducer and the amplifier circuit, to optimize the impedance loading of the ribbon, and another on the output of the amp circuit.

Is this the perfect jazz trumpet microphone? I think it may be time to find out.