tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88625032011-10-11T01:15:39.913+01:00My name is Matthew and this is my blog. It's a personal blog and isn't affiliated with any of the companies I work for or have worked for in the past. Just to get that out of the way.Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.comBlogger3031100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-81240464964879085202011-09-07T13:48:00.003+01:002011-09-07T14:02:52.816+01:00

As I'd subtly hinted before, I've done some music for a short film.Cleaning Up - Official Trailer from Guerrier Brothers on Vimeo.Trailer and lots of info can be found here. Also there is a Cleaning Up presence on Facebook and Twitter as @cleaningup_film.The first showing of this film will be at the Cambridge Film Festival on Saturday 17 September (with some other short films under the title "

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-4478266956758097912011-07-03T23:22:00.004+01:002011-07-03T23:39:49.906+01:00

Lots of things have been happening. Work-wise there have been my first work on the Big Finish Dark Shadows range (which was technically something I started in December, and I've done sound editing on two plays now), which I keep having to explain to friends but they'll hopefully be pleasantly surprised when the film (in which I have no involvement) comes out and they have some knowledge about

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-41562074009036706342011-03-21T22:41:00.003Z2011-03-21T22:58:43.072Z

(For new people reading, I use misheard lyrics for blog titles. I don't actually have a good reason for doing it any more, it's just a thing I do).So, just over four weeks ago I moved house. The original plan, the plan when I was leaving university, was to go back to the parents for a while to sort through stuff then move somewhere and get a job quickly to pay bills and eventually a career would

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-43246408777263016832011-03-03T23:45:00.003Z2011-03-03T23:50:42.915Z

(I don't need to explain the spelling mistake do I?)So there's been all sorts, further work on Benny stuff, Christmas, Dark Shadows, helping to sort out a sound system in a theatre, and moving house. But I'm still here. I'll hope to be doing more with this blog again soon, hopefully I'll be doing things that are actually worth blogging about.Anyway, just to let you know I'm not dead.Oh, also,

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-56036083810800847852010-10-07T01:33:00.003+01:002010-10-07T01:48:18.388+01:00

Still busy working on... lots of things. In the meantime, watch this:Then listen to this:If you still want more, there is a book of short stories. Which should keep you going until next exciting episode is released, which also wraps up this part of the story before Benny things move in an exciting new direction.

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-35958693522805443622010-09-18T03:02:00.002+01:002010-09-18T03:06:25.870+01:00

There's this thing that a small number of people do, I think it may be a dialect thing. Certainly it doesn't seem to happen all across the country, but it annoys the heck out of me. It is this: people who pronounce the letter H as "hay-aitch."I was washing the dishes, I was listening to the radio and someone said "hay-aitch" when they meant "aitch" - it's the word for the letter and doesn't need

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-88834137326930746432010-08-09T02:21:00.003+01:002010-08-09T02:42:03.661+01:00

Right, no blogging from me in ages because I've been super busy. Mostly working on Bernice Summerfield stuff. Like this:In terms of plot this links straight into the story of Resurrecting the Past and Escaping the Future, which I'm also working on. I'd never done work to picture on my own before (other times I'd worked to picture it was collaborative) and there's a lot to do. Also in terms of

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-51049375259332986702010-05-26T03:42:00.000+01:002010-05-26T03:43:57.111+01:00

Right, far too long without a blog post from me. The thing is that actually writing about what I'm doing whilst I'm in the middle of piles of work isn't terribly interesting. I didn't want to go down the political routes whilst the election stuff was happening either because, frankly, everyone seemed to be doing that and I wouldn't have done myself any favours by demonstrating the gaps in my

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-19873364665745789302010-03-10T01:53:00.002Z2010-03-10T02:08:54.360Z

First thing: I'm going to put all the answers up on that music meme thing at the end of this week. Just to warn you.More people seem to look at the blog when I write things, but not as many as I might have expected. I ought to carry on writing things and see what happens.Stuff is continuing, and in addition to stuff for Big Finish I have been doing a quick dialogue CD for the Biggar Theatre

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-50226349819012464602010-02-21T20:30:00.009Z2010-03-21T04:11:26.701Z

This comes via Claire (who does hers over on this blog here).The rules are detailed below but I added the following caveats:no instrumentals, because that would just be mean;no songs in languages that I can't type in (this ruled out one track by the Afro Celt Sound System);if I have to go more than three minutes into a song to get to the lyrics then it counts as an instrumental.There's a couple

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-9302496398359839452010-02-19T03:19:00.002Z2010-02-19T03:26:00.374Z

I had a look at the site stats yesterday after I posted that blog and weirdly visitor number hadn't fallen dramatically considering that I've not been writing anything new for quite some time really. Referrals were the usual mix of people looking for misheard lyrics I'd mentioned and quite a high proportion from other people's blogs (thank you for the links, everyone) and from my Twitter profile.

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-3509150019892564112010-02-18T00:08:00.002Z2010-02-18T00:28:45.144Z

Right, so no blogging since before Christmas it would seem. Where to begin...Christmas was great, New Year was fantastic (first time I've done New Year outside Scotland). Spend most of January dialogue editing, then there was a week or so where I was dealing with some theatre stuff (mostly research) and then sound editing the thing that the dialogue was finished for. I'm still doing that now

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-78841259778537646652009-12-18T03:12:00.001Z2009-12-18T03:14:21.826Z

Right, so once again my lack of blog action has been principally down to my being busy with work stuff again, although Twitter may be taking it's toll too. The thing is that Twitter removes one requirement of a blog: some kind of framework to put thoughts around (not that I ever generally used that anyway). For a while I did think of Twitter as the Internet equivalent of standing in a large

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-52433251374972445212009-10-31T12:36:00.002Z2009-10-31T12:38:13.583Z

Some time ago my younger brother mentioned on Twitter that we had come up with a theory about the young-teen novel Twilight. It actually seems to make some of the plot elements make more sense, at least to me.Here goes... we know from throughout the book that Bella is a clumsy oaf, and quite early on she has an actual in-hospital injury after being almost hit by a car. It's also at this point

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-19728953278015395422009-10-22T02:53:00.002+01:002009-10-22T02:55:37.907+01:00

Big Finish currently have the first episode of The Phantom of the Opera available for free via their podcast feed. That is episode one, in full, for free. You can get the MP3 directly here or via the podcast RSS feed here, or via the iTunes store here. From the Big Finish site:"We at Big Finish are very proud of our full-cast audio adaptation of Gaston Leroux's classic tale 'The Phantom Of The

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-6041490175947177842009-10-12T02:27:00.001+01:002009-10-12T02:31:51.450+01:00

First of all, belated apologies to Vicky who left a comment ages ago and I forgot that I had to click on a button before it would be published. It's there now.The short version of recent events is that I finished one thing (which was slightly late) in a big hurry, started a new thing and in the week or so in between tried to arrange my finances to the satisfaction of the Revenue and integrate the

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-80172957901650691582009-08-30T00:42:00.001+01:002009-08-30T00:54:48.925+01:00

Right, it's been almost a month since my last blog which is just verging on silly. I've even been doing stuff. First, work things: latest BFP thing I worked on was released this month is a Bernice Summerfield adventure called "Venus Mantrap." Also released was the Bernice Summerfield Inside Story, which I wasn't directly involved with but I am mentioned in after some brief interviewing via

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-25875092936089350152009-07-29T10:36:00.004+01:002009-07-29T10:47:57.003+01:00

The Company of Friends has apparently been released as a download (with CDs surely on the way to people who have pre-ordered or the exciting, intelligent and attractive people who have subscribed to the Big Finish monthly Doctor Who range).Someone on a forum reckoned that the music for the trailer sounded a little like "Doctorin' the TARDIS" by The Timelords (who were basically The KLF). Although

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-81791192996076919022009-07-27T00:55:00.002+01:002009-07-27T01:00:48.480+01:00

Right, I haven't blogged for ages which is frankly lax of me. I was thinking about things this week whilst writing an e-mail to a friend about this and the problem comes down to this: I can't really blog about what I'm doing generally. This is because I'm generally doing work for people who have a finely-tuned promotional machine that doesn't need me undermining it.Of course there is also the

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-32438732633532821552009-07-09T00:15:00.002+01:002009-07-09T00:19:23.241+01:00

This week I have (whilst not working) been watching Torchwood and the second disc of Ultraviolet (television drama, not the movie) which I have rented. Both deal with secret government organisations and I like them both, but this scenario (which could be common to both) demonstrates how they are slightly different. Bad guy uses a payphone whilst being watched by a good guy whom the bad guy

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-30212640967780367822009-07-01T12:13:00.000+01:002009-07-01T12:14:12.235+01:00

Ten years ago today I was standing around in Edinburgh because I wasn't very good at maths.Easter 1999 and I'd opted to go to a study school thing organised between local high schools for people who wanted additional study/practice questions before exams. Although I'd done quite well at Standard Grade maths Higher wasn't going so well, so I went along. Of more than twenty pupils that put their

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-38877103659650545102009-06-27T00:56:00.002+01:002009-06-27T01:08:50.769+01:00

Proper blog half-written (I really have been back from London for a while) but in the meantime...A while ago I expressed the opinion (first as a blog comment and then on Twitter) that Buffy Summers visiting Forks would work well for me, and probably not take terribly long in terms of narrative content. I'm very happy to see that someone with better video editing skills and time on their hands had

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-67669614163308557392009-06-06T10:42:00.002+01:002009-06-06T10:58:49.175+01:00

Not blog posts for quite some time, but I've been very busy - mostly working on forthcoming projects for Big Finish Productions. The big one is out of the way now and whilst the others aren't lesser projects they are a bit closer to what I'm used to.Currently I'm writing this from London, with all the associated noise and bustle even in the relatively inclement weather. I travelled down here

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-52934186788057592462009-04-28T16:34:00.003+01:002009-04-28T17:00:24.766+01:00

This is Simon Holub's cover for The Scapegoat, isn't it fab? Episode one of The Scapegoat is available directly from Big Finish as a download this weekend, and on CD in a few months.Busy working on Other Things just now, which seems to be going well. In spare time I have recently been very much enjoying:Deadwood series 1 (which I missed completely),Emmy the Great,The Mummers,

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-89181356920281219692009-04-04T23:59:00.002+01:002009-04-05T00:19:11.801+01:00

Coming soon:I did the sound editing for the eighth Doctor and Lucie story The Scapegoat. It's the fifth story in the current series, and each episode is being made available to subscribers on a weekly basis - so you can get a weekly fix of Doctor Who whilst the television series isn't on. The Scapegoat will be available to download from and on CD from July. Also there's a trailer here (where the

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-27272615526524624372009-04-01T10:29:00.002+01:002009-04-01T10:41:33.403+01:00

I had been going to announce that I was working something intentionally ridiculous as an April Fool, however I cannot think of something that is ridiculous enough to place it outside the realms of possibility.How about the one where it's set totally in the skies above pre-historic Earth and we remember to destroy each location as we leave?Or the one where the Sixth Doctor communicates with giant

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-31211827870614281262009-03-17T01:20:00.001Z2009-03-17T01:31:00.483Z

(that's apparently an anagram of my name)Well, that's The King and I out of the way. For the record, putting up shotgun microphones for a musical is a bad idea unless you are going for that "off-mic" sound 80% of the time (and the other 10% is perfectly audible because the actor happens to be standing in one of the few spots with coverage). Riding the levels for each mic to avoid picking up the

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-63502399902220028412009-03-09T00:12:00.000Z2009-03-09T00:13:27.549Z

I badly need to post a blog to move that dodgy-looking video downwards a bit. so here goes.This weekend has been mostly given over to theatre activities. The challenge with these things (and live events in general) isn't normally how things work but how do you cope with things when they don't work in the way in which they are supposed to, and you have to suddenly embark on fault-finding with an

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-20140912397558834932009-03-03T20:24:00.001Z2009-03-03T20:27:56.973Z

I had ordered two things which arrived unexpectedly early - Amber Benson's novel "Death's Daughter" (which I bought basically as a result of following her on Twitter, and I'll likely talk more about that once I've read it) and the new CD under Norman Cook's latest pseudonym "The Brighton Port Authority." The CD is quite good and I had a look on youtube to see if they'd had any videos done, as

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-81809673782478616312009-02-27T01:20:00.003Z2009-02-27T01:34:04.169Z

I'm working away and things are coming together in the current project. Going straight on to another project after that, then probably about another four in a row (I have quite a pile of scripts here) after that. I'm still not entirely sure that I can/should name these projects publicly - especially not now that some people seem to be getting here from the Big Finish forums - so I won't.So I'll

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-33692163711321928192009-02-20T21:40:00.003Z2009-02-20T21:45:51.809Z

Okay, so the background music is slightly cheesy and he gets a few of the chords wrong... but he's playing it using two fricking Tesla coils.I don't know the significance of the man in stilts. One person I spoke to about it suggested that it may have been someone from a stilt-walkers convention next door complaining about the noise.

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-9035566082798043222009-02-12T18:19:00.004Z2009-02-12T18:32:52.546Z

Big Finish are re-launching The Phantom of the Opera this spring. As part of the lead up to that, there's a shiny new website and a video competition, with the prize being £50 (or the equivalent in your local currency) of downloads from Big Finish.I've been having a look at some of the video entries so far, and some of them are very impressive. All the entries so far are collected here.

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-36758592463731435062009-02-12T12:55:00.004Z2009-02-12T13:05:53.224Z

Life currently = BFP work, theatre work and some basic home stuff as well. I went to Glasgow on Saturday morning for about an hour and managed to come back with some kind of infection - like flu but without the sneezing and coughing, just the sore head, sore throat, high temperature and general confusion. Also the dog is being weird for some reason and has taken to howling and whining in the

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-87230029543530188932009-02-05T21:43:00.002Z2009-02-05T21:52:45.585Z

Quite a long blog coming up. You may want to go and make a cup of coffee or something.Still terribly busy here at the moment, and still not sure if I'm allowed to mention what I'm working on here so I shall err on the side of caution for now.There's been a dearth of stuff that's not been just day-to-day chores or work lately. I did finally get around to buying then reading Watchmen (I find it

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-6851110477077498922009-01-20T17:21:00.002Z2009-01-20T18:26:33.751Z

Here's how it is:I was working on a project that I'm not supposed to talk about, but now that's been moved on a month to make room for an entirely different project that I'm also not supposed to talk about but this newer project is due for release first. That's pushed several other projects back a bit, and just before that happened a release date for some of them were announced. I've just

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-79671103613046098332009-01-05T17:29:00.004Z2009-01-05T18:00:46.737Z

Next door to me live three young-ish girls (with a very new baby brother) and their parents. Two of the girls go to the Junior theatre workshop in Biggar, and often their Mum ends up taking us back after a rehearsal. The girls know that my brother and I like Doctor Who as it's something we can safely talk about as a shared interest. I'm not entirely sure they understand how my job is vaguely

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-46355684389653047212008-12-31T21:08:00.002Z2008-12-31T21:14:12.972Z

Lots going on here, although not quite as much work as I would like - too many distractions at this time of year. One of which has been preparing for a couple of weeks without the parents around. That isn't usually a problem for my brother and I, although we do have to plan meals in advance (and resolve once more to try to pass a driving test at some point so that we might get ourselves to the

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-2702554261797951452008-12-23T22:00:00.002Z2008-12-23T22:22:37.111Z

It's Christmas Eve Eve, or Festivus if you happen to be a Seinfeld fan. There are no presents under our tree. This is because we have an inquisitive dog who would have opened them for us by now if we'd left them there.This next month or so may not provide much material for blogging. Lots to be done, and this project isn't due out for a little while so I can't really reveal any more about it until

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-39860978596875389942008-12-19T13:53:00.002Z2008-12-19T14:20:05.480Z

Still working on things about which I should not yet speak, and trying to get that finished as soon as possible so that I can work on other things about which I should not yet speak. Recently I've also been providing unofficial phone and e-mail support for Pro Tools to a local musician, and then to a less local friend of the local musician. The manual for Pro Tools is great for explaining how

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-30745995573049551562008-12-19T04:06:00.005Z2008-12-19T23:01:03.975Z

Twilight is released in the cinemas today. A few months ago I read the book on which it's based and wasn't that impressed. I'd bought the novel at the last minute before getting a flight and took the somewhat rash step of buying the sequel at the same time for the way back. If you are planning to go to see it, or even read the book then I wouldn't go much further for there shall be spoilers.I

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-46281259564854845512008-11-29T00:04:00.002Z2008-11-29T00:13:37.704Z

Return of the Krotons is mostly finished - just waiting for a jet-lagged and busy director to have a listen to things, and then there may be minor tweaks.That means that I'll soon be starting on the next project, the details of which I'm not allowed to reveal. It has been revealed elsewhere that it will be a special release for the Doctor Who monthly range featuring Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor,

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-25997947216005426512008-11-28T23:29:00.007Z2009-07-01T23:47:06.696+01:00

Blog RollAlezedAudio Time TeamFrom Bad to Verse"I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute"IndexedLet the Stress BeginNeil Gaiman's JournalNothing Tra La LaThe Man Who Fell AsleepVicious ImageryVirtually Fat FreexkcdGenerally fab sitesBig Finish ProductionsMac OS KenThe RegisterReal WorldSonic State NewsThe Word MagazineZero PunctuationProducts I use and am happy to provide free

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-52945370213512385452008-11-28T23:19:00.014Z2011-09-07T13:46:27.663+01:00

Peter Gabriel Ltd/ Real World RecordsGrowing Up LiveFamily PortraitPlay - the VideosStill Growing Up Live & UnwrappedMokshaBrainheart MusicS T A RBig Finish Productions - Bernice SummerfieldThe Summer of LoveThe Empire StateThe Judas GiftThe End of the WorldThe WakeBeyond the SeaThe Adolescence of TimeVenus MantrapSecret OriginsDead and Buried (video)Resurrecting the PastEscaping the FutureDead

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-51039148319981288852008-11-25T22:34:00.003Z2008-11-25T22:41:03.420Z

I haven't blogged for a while because I've been busy with "Return of the Krotons." I still am, so this is a very short blog for now. I am using Twitter, which is visible on this page but not on the RSS feed so if you are really anxious about what I'm up to you might check there.Forty Five has been released and people seem to like it. This is a little odd for me because I've still only heard the

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-9151585610113656892008-11-12T14:26:00.001Z2008-11-12T14:27:05.593Z

Part 2 only because I've already used that particular misheard lyric once.

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-79223531123826366462008-11-11T01:18:00.002Z2008-11-11T02:35:56.098Z

It's all been quite busy here at Talking Fingers Towers (I was meaning to re-name this blog - must get back to that some time, if only so I never use the phrase "Talking Fingers Towers" again). First a visit to the Midlands where it snowed amongst other things, then on to London to catch up with friends and also attend a Big Finish recording. I am not allowed to reveal anything about what the

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-25541178025252667832008-10-27T00:05:00.002Z2008-10-27T00:15:13.784Z

It's been quiet from me again, and sorry about that, but I've been busily working on my episode of the Doctor Who anniversary release from Big Finish "45." That's finished now, and as seems to be almost customary at this point I'm now going to go and visit friends before I start on the Next Thing, which I've signed contracts for but as no one else has given away details about it I won't either.

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-91404050612745045062008-10-16T19:23:00.002+01:002008-10-16T19:26:31.988+01:00

Made by Adam Buxton, and rather too close for comfort in places. Contains bad language (in case you are in an office or library where people may object to that sort of thing).

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-61934813520171839912008-10-10T20:36:00.003+01:002008-10-10T20:49:13.271+01:00

I'm taking a moment because I need a break from Pro Tools. Yes, hard at work here. It's slightly odd because I'm only working on one episode of 45 so although I have a full story to do the total run time is only about 25 minutes so every scene is quite short.Anyway, my reason for blogging just now: I have a plan for the London Olympics. Now I know that no one will listen to this who can do

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-84709208171070215472008-10-02T00:15:00.003+01:002008-10-02T00:30:42.971+01:00

Further to that last blog I posted, announcements have been made and so I can say it here: I'm going to be doing sound editing and music for one of the episodes in Big Finish Doctor Who anniversary-themed "45"Somewhat confusingly this is their 115th monthly Doctor Who release and not their 45th one (although Project: Lazarus is great) - the 45 refers to it being the 45th anniversary of the

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-26678785805062106962008-10-01T11:38:00.004+01:002008-10-01T11:53:51.774+01:00

Hello, I'm still alive, etc. I was away for a week, and then there was the Kovwirana 2008 event in Glasgow, and then my brother came home, and then I went to see Noises Off (which was fab), and then I had a cold and haven't felt much like blogging since then.But now there is more and urgent work coming next week (I'm not saying what it is until someone else does) and much more work for later.In

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-27802368934156224592008-09-12T09:16:00.003+01:002008-09-12T09:19:51.567+01:00

Oi, you - the one who found my blog because you were searching for a bit-torrent of the latest Bernice Summerfield release. You are in Hamilton, Ontario, and using Internet Explorer 7.0 and Windows XP. You found me via Goggle.ca which you access through a Bell.ca ISP (I have kept the IP address). I have but this to say to you: buy it, you cheap so and so. If you can't pay for it just now because

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-14173493865479214792008-09-12T01:19:00.002+01:002008-09-12T01:41:46.211+01:00

So the thing is that I already basically wrote this blog entry and I was happy with it, then I went off to do something else and without thinking closed everything without saving. So this is never going to be as good as that first one, but no one else will ever read it so it shouldn't matter.So, some time ago now, I went down to the West Midlands to catch up with friends. I flew down to

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-15548507822177031932008-08-26T20:25:00.002+01:002008-08-26T20:28:09.276+01:00

Lots to blog about this week. With the Big Finish projects finished for now I've actually been doing things. That don't necessarily involve sitting in front of the computer all day. To start with these were tidying up scripts and backing things up on to DVD. When working on a project I backup daily on to a second hard drive, then when the project is finished I back everything up on to DVD discs

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-3412731588647670922008-08-12T21:05:00.002+01:002008-08-12T21:26:06.373+01:00

Lots about Hamlet in the press this week because David Tenant is playing the lead in a production in our glorious Capital. I didn't study Hamlet at school, in fact I managed to get through high school with good grades in English and never once study Shakespeare (I did do Chekhov though, as well as Tennessee Williams and George Bernard Shaw - and those people don't have much in common beyond

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-7688319272114138632008-08-10T12:10:00.003+01:002008-08-11T01:39:39.169+01:00

I'm looking after both house and dog for the weekend. What with being rather busy at the moment, the biggest impact of this on my typical working day is that I'm generally getting up before 8am now, and I'm walking the dog twice per day instead of once. It's been raining a lot lately - as I'm sure most people reading this know - and so my general choice of footwear has been the rubber waterproof

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-13316712015302386162008-08-03T11:10:00.001+01:002008-08-03T11:12:12.285+01:00

Spam is destroying the world. Okay, no it's not really - but the junk e-mail messages I've been receiving lately do seem to be coming from an alternate universe constantly on the brink of destruction. Recent message subjects that I've seen prior to deleting have included "Japan announces nuclear weapons capability - china alarmed," "'America will invade Iran' says president." Clearly targeting

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-1601908495353289762008-07-15T23:21:00.004+01:002008-07-17T08:57:03.421+01:00

Lots of work lately. I'm at that awkward point of starting one project just before the previous one is finished. The next one has kind of been announced now, so I can mention it here too. I'm doing the sound design for the audio version of "Doctor Who: the Ultimate Adventure" stage play. I had been only dimly aware of the existence of the stage plays so it was quite fun to read the script (which

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-36581103236508389142008-06-23T01:23:00.002+01:002008-06-23T01:32:41.691+01:00

The trip to London happened and went well and already feels like quite a while ago. Music tech shows are always bad for my bank balance but I'm also thinking again about upgrading my computer (because mine is now the slowest of the three main computers in the house and I'm the only one who uses mine for proper work) and the iPod (less urgent but the rubber firewire connection protector has broken

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-40968746132584537422008-06-12T08:18:00.001+01:002008-06-12T08:24:50.674+01:00

Still very busy with the current Benny work, but despite this I'm going to London for a couple of days to attend the London International Music Show and pop over to Big Finish Towers to pick up the raw materials for the next project.How jolly exciting. It's terribly tempting to organise far too much to do whenever I go to London and I end up rushing from thing to thing, so I'm decided that when

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-92204700590725001692008-06-05T10:31:00.001+01:002008-06-05T10:35:48.965+01:00

This blog is a bit all over the place because I'm busy just now. Roughly speaking, it's one paragraph per topic.Re Steven Moffat taking over Doctor Who show-running... Paul Cornell suggests that it may be time to revisit "Lesbian Spank Inferno". Aleks suggests that the Melty Man or Captain Subtext might be more appropriate, but some of the male fans may disagree with her.During the year off after

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-12948923920576557752008-05-24T01:26:00.003+01:002008-05-24T01:31:40.089+01:00

Living in a rural area you might expect to have more wildlife popping by the garden than in a more urban area. In the past we've had various birds (up to and including sparrow-hawks and a very lost homing pigeon which stayed for over a week before someone was sent from Newcastle to retrieve it) and pests such as rabbits, squirrels, moles, and mice. The pests bring predators such as the farm cats

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-44728350599702514082008-05-20T23:49:00.002+01:002008-05-20T23:58:52.164+01:00

It's funny but with no real need to write down what I'm doing every day it's only really the "last opened" or "date created" meta-data in computer files that tell me what I was doing last year. Oh, and this blog.But I happen to know that around this time last year I drove my moped to Biggar, bought some baguettes for lunch and recorded the sound of the automatic door at the chemists. I also know

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-45170883145841761512008-05-05T15:35:00.004+01:002008-05-05T15:39:07.505+01:00

Quick blog from me just now ("blog" is a horrible word, isn't it? But not as pretentious-sounding as "journal" which this isn't anyway). Since finishing with the theatrical distractions and my younger brother heading to Switzerland for a while, I've been concentrating on the Big Finish stuff again. Which is just as well as it needs to be finished rather soon to be ready for the release date in

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-18240883622265754422008-04-23T22:21:00.003+01:002008-04-23T22:35:28.076+01:00

David Bishop wrote recently about how in writing he needs to have an ending laid out before he can start. This got me thinking a little about my own working order, and gives me the opportunity to say something that might not have been already mentioned on the "behind the scenes" types of segments Big Finish sometimes do.It's fairly well known that films and television are often filmed out of

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-48237994658712500632008-04-21T00:23:00.006+01:002008-04-21T00:34:37.369+01:00

I only just found this out, but BBC7 are broadcasting "The Phantom of the Opera" again, in the same slot as last time - Sunday evenings at 6.30pm but not the later repeat because that's when the Doctor Who commentaries are on.It's an edited version of what you'd get in the CD or download, but it's a chance to hear it if you are at all interested.

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-62237462631471343212008-04-20T00:49:00.003+01:002008-04-20T01:09:50.045+01:00

Apologies for the lack of posts, it's been quite busy here. Some more "bits and bobs" sort of work on top of the Big Finish work. I'd talk more about some of the clever things I've been doing lately but they may be considered spoiler-full. I can safely say that I've used a washing-up liquid bottle, some wet cardboard tubes, two pieces of MDF, and a contact microphone taped to a salad-spinner in

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-64057131917628094102008-03-25T23:07:00.003Z2008-03-25T23:33:09.954Z

Alice Through the Looking-Glass went mostly without a hitch. After the post-final-night party I immediately caught a cold (one of the hazards of working with children) and now have that slightly odd feeling that my head isn't large enough to contain normal logical thoughts. Reading has been a weird experience because odd little bits of stories are staying with me and repeating over and over

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-2360837680422726262008-03-18T00:56:00.003Z2008-03-18T01:06:41.850Z

Looking at site statistics again. Someone found this blog after using ask.com to find out "how to pull glass out of a finger." I would suggest "quickly," especially as you may only have the use of one hand to type/mouse with. Someone else was hoping I would tell them "how to write your name on toast." Other searches included "twigs breaking sound effect," "Simon Guerrier on facebook" and "The way

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-14764503815827666882008-03-16T21:25:00.002Z2008-03-16T21:49:50.056Z

The last week has been drawing a few lines under long-running things. These are in no real order.Firstly I got my moped back from the garage where it's been (more or less) since the middle of January. Apparently the part they required was hard to get. So, I am now more mobile than I have been lately.After a while without amazing reception at home (most especially) I changed my mobile phone to a

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-77531596262782780362008-02-24T21:54:00.001Z2008-02-24T21:55:54.341Z

Pondering a couple of inanities over the weekend (did some work too, more work with putting microphones in odd places). Did I get a free sample of Horlicks malt chocolate drink with my rented "Sleepy Hollow" DVD because I'd rented a film with that name, or would I have received it anyway? Parents reckoned I should rent "While You Were Sleeping" to find out. David suggested "Insomnia."My brother

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-48989440862435394252008-02-22T22:04:00.001Z2008-02-22T22:05:34.354Z

I spent the first half of this week getting sound effects together for the next Juniors production at Biggar Theatre Workshop, "Alice Through the Looking Glass" (a musical version of the Lewis Carol novel "Through the Looking-Glass") which will run from the 19th until the 22nd of March. The plot of this musical version deviates from the original story about halfway through - between Humpty Dumpty

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-36861087531899105602008-02-05T20:43:00.001Z2008-02-05T20:45:54.295Z

I'd ordered a catalogue from a US company specialising in studio furniture. It came in an envelope with the most stamps I've ever seen for one posting. I suppose they must have wanted to use up small-denomination Christmas stamps, but still...

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-36985657362410215532008-02-03T19:23:00.000Z2008-02-03T19:56:53.829Z

No blog for ages and I apologise for that. Reason: mostly work and parents being away which left David and I doing all household tasks and dog-sitting. Also were experiencing travel difficulties (my moped is still at the garage being fixed now). The weather has been challenging too and I'm not adding an un-interruptable power supply to my shopping list, which will keep my computer on for long

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-69711211455659153942008-01-08T22:32:00.000Z2008-01-08T22:33:22.697Z

Taken from The Peter Serafinowicz Show (BBC2 sketch show, part of the rather interminable "Thursdays are funny" thing). After a day of watching episodes of Coupling on and off (for no real reason other than I bought a DVD boxset in the sales) this left me somewhat confused.

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-36153878237949971352008-01-04T00:20:00.000Z2008-01-04T00:33:36.260Z

And a Happy New Year to all. Working a little over Christmas; "The Wake" is finished and has gone for duplication, BBC7 have broadcast the first two episode of "The Phantom of the Opera" and download sales appear to be going well, and I've been editing interviews to go on the CD release when it comes out in March. "The Return of the Daleks" has been released on CD for anyone to buy (it had

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-28157009143272043072007-12-17T15:33:00.001Z2007-12-19T15:23:39.134Z

The Phantom of the Opera has been released as the first download available from Big Finish. The allows you to also buy two albums of music from the audio drama, and the CD version (released in March 2008) will feature interviews with the cast, singers and music composer.A slightly-edited version will also be broadcast on BBC7 starting this Sunday at 6pm (not 6.30pm), repeated at midnight and

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-84766273861548153832007-12-15T01:07:00.000Z2007-12-15T01:08:56.043Z

Sorry I haven't update things here, I've been busy and still am really. It's been a really busy few months working on "The Phantom of the Opera" and it's not quite done with yet - just the CD extras to do. "The Wake" is also almost very nearly done, trying to place and mix the music score for what may be final reference CDs to go to the director and producer.The first episode "The Phantom of the

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-91420212046334897332007-11-20T12:57:00.000Z2007-11-20T13:01:48.052Z

Inspired by a discussion on The Word magazine Facebook group, I present my own Wikipedia Prog Rock album. Make your own by repeatedly clicking the Random article button on Wikipedia to make the name of the band, title of the album, and as many album tracks as you have the patience for.Artist: Kendon OttleyAlbum Title: 1928 in ArchaeologyTrack listing:1. Rosemary2. Denial Feels So Good3. Mister

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-28667716828714224352007-11-15T01:43:00.000Z2007-11-15T02:02:49.520Z

When I was in my second year of university one of the tasks we were set was to make a recording live. It could be of anything we wanted, but no adding stuff afterwards or doing anything clever with editing - just something and make the best recording of it that you could. A number of people recorded friend's bands or people reading poetry (these are students, remember) - I recorded a full evening

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-16194480192330937872007-11-05T22:38:00.000Z2007-11-05T22:39:45.296Z

Very busy at the moment, which is why I haven't been blogging. But, I am allowed to tell you all something about what I'm doing: an adaptation of Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom of the Opera" by Barnaby Edwards. It's being released on CD by Big Finish, but will also be broadcast by BBC7 over Christmas. As you might be able to guess if you are familiar with any of the other versions of this story, it

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-84831099174404413302007-10-21T02:39:00.000+01:002007-10-21T03:05:04.893+01:00

Title comes from the subject line of some spam I received this week. A couple of odd little bits before I start here: someone suggested a brief version of my job description might be "making a specific sound at a specific time," but I can't help feeling that has something of a performing seal feel to it. Also, a different friend suggested that rather than "Talking Fingers" I ought to call this

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-32118924556961673552007-10-01T14:58:00.000+01:002007-10-01T15:02:36.470+01:00

I’m being held in a queue but that is okay because apparently my call is important to them. Last week I was in London and due to trains being a bit funny (works on the line extending the purposed journey time by 2 hours) I had decided to fly down. I was doing this the day after coming back from a sort-of holiday, so the plan of action was to unpack, sort out the stuff for the trip to London, pack

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-78114118060457373932007-09-15T09:28:00.001+01:002007-09-15T09:37:16.933+01:00

Last weekend I was doing the sound for a concert at the Glasshouses in Queens Park. Essentially there were two bands and four acts (two of the acts being made up of smaller ensembles from other bands). I think I was brought in at the last minute on that one but everything seemed to go quite well which was nice. There was that odd experience, shared with celebratory events such as weddings and

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-63779767560016259762007-09-08T00:37:00.000+01:002007-09-08T00:43:21.045+01:00

Busy with "The Wake" now and a few other things. Finally got the tax sorted and am in the midst of trying to tidy up the workspace before getting a short (working) holiday. Basically I'm taking all my work with me but the change of scene was great whilst I was working on "Dream On" so I have high hopes for this one. The day after I get back from the working holiday, I'm off to London a couple of

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-35818811223779783412007-08-28T23:51:00.000+01:002007-08-29T00:16:34.913+01:00

And it's on into the next job. Last week was the end of "The End of the World" and straight into "The Wake" via a day or two spent on the ref CDs for "Jake's Women" at Biggar Theatre Workshop (excerpt from my notes from the recording of the latter: "03.11 - Re-re-redo. No. No. No. Stop. It's all going wrong." It mostly went well though, and they've given me an interesting sound effect to do).I've

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-7739258267823427132007-08-22T00:15:00.000+01:002007-08-22T00:19:27.914+01:00

Since I last reported on site stats for this blog I've had yet more people looking for salacious info on Shania Twain's wooden leg, someone wanting to know about Melvin and Maureen's Music-a-grams, someone who Googled "go to bed you're a turnip," and another who searched for "deck the halls with cows on dollies" (presumably like a camera dolly so you can move them around easily once you get them

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-57907953811800181452007-08-21T23:50:00.000+01:002007-08-21T23:52:52.118+01:00

So there's this film. It's been written by a guy who used to write for Buffy, Angel and Alias but is now on the writing staff of Lost. The film is produced by the guy who produces Lost as well. The odd thing is that no one is revealing the name of the film. The trailer looks rather amazing, and apparently there is some link to the site Slusho.jp which is a weird almost "Fruity Oaty Bar" type

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-11097115075547539482007-08-21T00:36:00.000+01:002007-08-21T00:43:30.713+01:00

With work on "The End of the World" very nearly finished bar the last few tweaks, there isn't a lot of time to clear the decks before the next one. In fact I'd already started work on it. Back when I started on this Bernice Summerfield stuff, just over one year ago, Simon Guerrier joked (so I thought) in reference to time between projects that they'd "soon put an end to that" and it has come true

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-5116113016747795422007-08-06T12:43:00.000+01:002007-08-06T13:10:30.519+01:00

Went to see the new Harry Potter film at the weekend. We had booked in advance because it was at the IMAX cinema in Glasgow and might have been busy, which it was. The only time I'd been to the Imax before was to see a documentary type of film, so watching a Hollywood blockbuster was interesting and it had a section that was in 3D. The main thing with IMAX is the sheer size of the screen - it's

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-59999687956857666342007-08-02T23:46:00.000+01:002007-08-03T00:11:34.558+01:00

Links are updated now. "The Return of the Daleks" isn't on the new Big Finish site for now as it's not for sale at the moment, but... well I'm keeping a space for it. In the meantime do go and have a look at the many fine wares, and the rather marvellous video that advertises the fourth series of "Dalek Empire." All other links seem to work but I'm not putting my profiles for Facebook or Bebo on

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-75659020076163159772007-08-01T13:17:00.000+01:002007-08-01T13:21:12.087+01:00

Big Finish have updated their web site in a new and shiny style. Unfortunately this means my links to pages at the Big Finish site currently don't work, and I'm too busy with work right now to update them. So in the meantime, here is a link to the Benny section of the new Big Finish web site.Earlier this week I fitted a contact microphone on to a sheet of tinfoil. These are the kinds of things

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-35255613953307958712007-07-26T00:48:00.000+01:002007-07-26T00:57:34.768+01:00

I am not going to have spoilers for the Harry Potter book here, if you haven't read it yet then you can safely read the rest of this blog post. If you don't plan to ever read it and are fed up hearing about it, you can still read the rest of this blog post.Score and trailers and sound design bits (have to do some sounds for the trailer, dontchyaknow). And then someone released some book last

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-44868234759284115322007-07-20T00:42:00.000+01:002007-07-20T00:45:59.986+01:00

Tomorrow night I will be going to our nearest book shop (which I used to frequent almost weekly when at school - you could order a book and it would arrive there the very next working day) and buying the Harry Potter book. I haven't been to any of these midnight opening thingumies for anything before so it should be fun. Apparently a few of the folks from the theatre go there in costume. Of

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-2782241699618126862007-07-17T12:06:00.000+01:002007-07-17T12:17:56.926+01:00

So the intent had been to blog when I returned from London on Wednesday evening, but I returned to quite a heap of e-mail and suddenly work seemed rather pressing. The rushed bit is done now though (for me, at least, for now), even if it seems to have resulted in some of us having pain-fuelled odd dreams.So... London had a bit to live up to because I actually rather enjoyed my last couple of

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-78728436365447745532007-07-10T00:26:00.000+01:002007-07-10T00:28:36.149+01:00

An unusual week in work terms, trying out a few things that I haven't done before for Big Finish, at least not by me: more on that later. Also finishing off the list of changes suggested by the director and putting some music score on now that we've homed in on the theme tune.I have a blog about the theme tune, it's partially written, but I'm not going to post it until the CD is out so you can

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-79884583789077502822007-07-03T01:16:00.000+01:002007-07-03T01:28:46.045+01:00

I've had a four-piece Amazon order arrive in four separate packages which was odd, at least it is on free delivery. The last of these was "The Fourth Bear" by Jasper Fforde is something I'm quite anxious to start reading but I'd only just started on Joanne Harris' "Gentlemen & Players." I hate rushing books. It's something I suspect a few people will be doing with the new Harry Potter book when

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-59706934614966786792007-06-27T22:00:00.000+01:002007-06-27T22:09:51.617+01:00

No blogs lately as I've been busy, and yet it's just the same kind of thing as usual and not that worth blogging about. It's that awkward stage where if I tell you the reasons for some of the things I've been doing involving a microphone, pasta, various soft fruit, and wet kitchen-roll tubes I would be giving away fairly major spoilers.As it has been revealed elsewhere, I can safely say that "The

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-26925956140751046222007-06-17T15:29:00.000+01:002007-06-18T14:21:35.534+01:00

Someone came to my blog from a weird site called BlogShares, which is one of those virtual investment games (the process is the same as for proper shares, but all stock is based on blogs and who/what they link to). I think the share price for this blog is principally because of links to Vicious Imagery (which has an amazingly high price on there). Anyway, it was weird and I'm happy to link to it

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8862503.post-40382437656781432612007-06-05T23:01:00.000+01:002007-06-05T23:12:22.114+01:00

(I wrote this on Sunday evening. Tonight we had some power cuts and my hard discs weren't enjoying that so I finished it off on laptop alone running from batteries.)Stuff about red-haired people in the press a bit this week. There's always been some vague undercurrent of people claiming they had experienced racist behaviour because of their red hair, or even just bullying at school. To be honest

Matthew Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803143982559299190noreply@blogger.com1