SEX DUMMY E.P.
Ballerina
Geometry
Sex Dummy
Grey
GENERAL INFO
A promotional CD-R handed out mainly to friends, featuring the first four songs I wrote and
recorded for Gary Le Strange. All four songs also appear on his official debut album, Polaroid
Suitcase, but these are different, earlier mixes with different vocal performances and, in a couple
of cases, different lyrics. I retroactively gave it a catalogue number - GLSCD001 - to make it an
‘official release’ but there’s nothing truly official about it beyond me saying it is and I never actually
offered it for sale. I don’t think I ran off that many copies either, but it worked as a temporary
means to spread the idea that I was serious about the act.
RECORDING VENUES & DATES
74 Chewton Road, 27 Maude Terrace & 23 Maude Terrace, Walthamstow:
6 February 2002 - 28 February 2003
COVER IMAGE
The cover pic is from Gary Le Strange’s earliest photo session on February 13, 2002, in the
bedroom of 74 Chewton Road, Walthamstow, taken by my wife Katy. I hadn’t really thought too
much about his image at this stage so I just wrapped a tie round my head and daubed several
shapes on my face with lipstick. The RGB effect on the image was just one of the most basic
settings on Adobe Photoshop. It seemed to work well enough, adding the right amount of colour
and bargain bin mystery to the face. You can see the original CD-R packaging insert and a couple
more cover attempts here.
THE MUSIC
These are Gary’s earliest songs so they’re all pretty basic in one respect - they’re all about things
he likes or feels positive about. It’s almost like a list of character traits, or a list of basic statements
saying “This is who I am” or “This is what I’m into” - he’s saying “I’m Gary Le Strange and I like
ballet, geometry, shop window dummies and the colour grey.”
THE RECORDING PROCESS
I hadn’t been making music very long so the whole thing was a matter of trial and error, seeing
what worked and what didn’t, starting with the simple tools I already had and adding new ones as
and when I needed them. I’d learned how to make basic computer music not on a computer but
with a great little music-making program made by Jester Interactive for the Sony PlayStation called
Music - the original version was released towards the end of 1998 and I took to it really well,
creating over an album’s worth of material in less than a month. It didn’t sound like the output of
a professional recording studio but it was loaded up with interesting sounds and I realised that I
could get a half-decent retro 1980s sound out of it if I tried. The second version of the software
was called Music 2000 but the version I used on these recordings was its third iteration, MTV
Music Generator, released in 2001 for the PlayStation2.
But that just gave me rudimentary backing tracks. I couldn’t record my voice on a PlayStation, nor
would it let me mix the vocal onto the backing tracks even if I could, so I had to improvise. I’d just
made an animation for Channel 4 which had given me the budget to buy a decent film editing
program - Adobe Premiere, which you could actually buy outright back then instead of having to
subscribe to it - and a powerful sound editing tool called Sound Forge, which allowed me to record
my voice and add basic effects like reverb, compression and so on. So using them seemed like the
obvious solution. It’s only now looking back that I realise how complicated it all was.
I could have just exported the finished backing track directly from the PlayStation but, realising I
could get a slightly better sound if I remixed the track in Premiere, I made the decision to export
each instrument separately. So I ended up with this really weird set-up, where I made the initial
music on the PlayStation, hooked up to the TV in the front room, then exported each instrument
track - each synth line, each kick and snare - as audio, in real time, onto a portable MiniDisc player.
Then I recorded all the stuff from the MiniDisc into Sound Forge on my PC - also in real time. Why I
didn’t just hook the PlayStation directly up to the PC I don’t know - maybe because they were in
different rooms and I just couldn’t find a practical way of doing it. Later on, I think I bought longer
audio cables just for that purpose, but in the beginning I’m not sure that even occurred to me.
Always had to do things the long way round.
From there, I could add effects in Sound Forge, learning music production techniques as I went,
and reassembled the track in Premiere, where I could export a final mix. Then back into Sound
Forge, where I’d master a final version of the backing track, before adding the vocal line. Looking
back, I can’t quite believe I got such a good sound out of it, but the only microphone I could afford
was a Shure SM58 - more often used as a live mic and not that well suited to studio work. And
then the same process again - recorded the voices in Sound Forge, added effects, exported as
WAV files, edited in Premiere over the top of the backing track and then back into Sound Forge for
the final mastering process.
Given all that, it’s a marvel that I ended up with anything even halfway decent, but these four
tracks are my earliest attempts at recording proper pop songs, designed to be listened to by the
ears of real humans who aren’t me. I’d re-record superior versions of them all within the next few
months, but these are my first tentative mistakes. I’ve never released any of them to the public
before, so this feels a bit like showing people my dirty underwear, but the opening track is
available to listen to here and the rest will magically appear over the coming months as I work my
way through the archive.
THOUGHTS & FEELINGS
Everything on this EP is done much better on Polaroid Suitcase so I don’t know why you’d listen to
it out of choice. It was an important step for me but not necessary for you to hear it. I’m only
uploading these tracks now to prove to you I’m not lying about it. It really did exist.
BEST TRACK
Geometry. Except the alternative spoken ending, which is terrible.
2003
SEX DUMMY E.P.
Ballerina
Geometry
Sex Dummy
Grey
GENERAL INFO
A promotional CD-R handed out mainly to friends,
featuring the first four songs I wrote and recorded
for Gary Le Strange. All four songs also appear on
his official debut album, Polaroid Suitcase, but
these are different, earlier mixes with different
vocal performances and, in a couple of cases,
different lyrics. I retroactively gave it a catalogue
number - GLSCD001 - to make it an ‘official release’
but there’s nothing truly official about it beyond me
saying it is and I never actually offered it for sale. I
don’t think I ran off that many copies either, but it
worked as a temporary means to spread the idea
that I was serious about the act.
RECORDING VENUES & DATES
74 Chewton Road, 27 Maude Terrace & 23 Maude
Terrace, Walthamstow:
6 February 2002 - 28 February 2003
COVER IMAGE
The cover pic is from Gary Le Strange’s earliest
photo session on February 13, 2002, in the
bedroom of 74 Chewton Road, Walthamstow, taken
by my wife Katy. I hadn’t really thought too much
about his image at this stage so I just wrapped a tie
round my head and daubed several shapes on my
face with lipstick. The RGB effect on the image was
just one of the most basic settings on Adobe
Photoshop. It seemed to work well enough, adding
the right amount of colour and bargain bin mystery
to the face. You can see the original CD-R packaging
insert and a couple more cover attempts here.
THE MUSIC
These are Gary’s earliest songs so they’re all pretty
basic in one respect - they’re all about things he
likes or feels positive about. It’s almost like a list of
character traits, or a list of basic statements saying
“This is who I am” or “This is what I’m into” - he’s
saying “I’m Gary Le Strange and I like ballet,
geometry, shop window dummies and the colour
grey.”
THE RECORDING PROCESS
I hadn’t been making music very long so the whole
thing was a matter of trial and error, seeing what
worked and what didn’t, starting with the simple
tools I already had and adding new ones as and
when I needed them. I’d learned how to make basic
computer music not on a computer but with a great
little music-making program made by Jester
Interactive for the Sony PlayStation called Music -
the original version was released towards the end
of 1998 and I took to it really well, creating over an
album’s worth of material in less than a month. It
didn’t sound like the output of a professional
recording studio but it was loaded up with
interesting sounds and I realised that I could get a
half-decent retro 1980s sound out of it if I tried. The
second version of the software was called Music
2000 but the version I used on these recordings
was its third iteration, MTV Music Generator,
released in 2001 for the PlayStation2.
But that just gave me rudimentary backing tracks. I
couldn’t record my voice on a PlayStation, nor
would it let me mix the vocal onto the backing
tracks even if I could, so I had to improvise. I’d just
made an animation for Channel 4 which had given
me the budget to buy a decent film editing program
- Adobe Premiere, which you could actually buy
outright back then instead of having to subscribe to
it - and a powerful sound editing tool called Sound
Forge, which allowed me to record my voice and
add basic effects like reverb, compression and so
on. So using them seemed like the obvious solution.
It’s only now looking back that I realise how
complicated it all was.
I could have just exported the finished backing track
directly from the PlayStation but, realising I could
get a slightly better sound if I remixed the track in
Premiere, I made the decision to export each
instrument separately. So I ended up with this really
weird set-up, where I made the initial music on the
PlayStation, hooked up to the TV in the front room,
then exported each instrument track - each synth
line, each kick and snare - as audio, in real time,
onto a portable MiniDisc player. Then I recorded all
the stuff from the MiniDisc into Sound Forge on my
PC - also in real time. Why I didn’t just hook the
PlayStation directly up to the PC I don’t know -
maybe because they were in different rooms and I
just couldn’t find a practical way of doing it. Later
on, I think I bought longer audio cables just for that
purpose, but in the beginning I’m not sure that even
occurred to me. Always had to do things the long
way round.
From there, I could add effects in Sound Forge,
learning music production techniques as I went,
and reassembled the track in Premiere, where I
could export a final mix. Then back into Sound
Forge, where I’d master a final version of the
backing track, before adding the vocal line. Looking
back, I can’t quite believe I got such a good sound
out of it, but the only microphone I could afford was
a Shure SM58 - more often used as a live mic and
not that well suited to studio work. And then the
same process again - recorded the voices in Sound
Forge, added effects, exported as WAV files, edited
in Premiere over the top of the backing track and
then back into Sound Forge for the final mastering
process.
Given all that, it’s a marvel that I ended up with
anything even halfway decent, but these four tracks
are my earliest attempts at recording proper pop
songs, designed to be listened to by the ears of real
humans who aren’t me. I’d re-record superior
versions of them all within the next few months, but
these are my first tentative mistakes. I’ve never
released any of them to the public before, so this
feels a bit like showing people my dirty underwear,
but the opening track is available to listen to here
and the rest will magically appear over the coming
months as I work my way through the archive.
THOUGHTS & FEELINGS
Everything on this EP is done much better on
Polaroid Suitcase so I don’t know why you’d listen to
it out of choice. It was an important step for me but
not necessary for you to hear it. I’m only uploading
these tracks now to prove to you I’m not lying about
it. It really did exist.
BEST TRACK
Geometry. Except the alternative spoken ending,
which is terrible.