We are done with this shit!
We recorded more vocals and wrote new chorus for one song because we were not satisfied with how it sounded. Now we're done with the recordings! Nino continues mixing...
Moment of Silence
For this album we've had this song called "Moment of Silence" and so far it has been neglected in this session. It's an instrumental song composed by Mikko. We've never played it together and we probably never will. Today we took care of this outcast by recording all the material for it. Now it's ready and sounds good.
Background vocals, some guitars
Mikko, Mika and even Jarkko sang background vocals to various songs. We also recorded some more guitars. Nino started to mix the first song "One Desire".
Even more vocals, solos and insane noise
Still recording vocals and vocal-like-insane-noise. After the sunset we heard somebody banging the gates of Sonic Pump. We opened and there was the body-fluid-oozing Jussi-Zombie, fresh from the grave, ready to record some guitar solos.
More vocals, more guitars
We've been at the studio almost everyday until 21:30 or something and after 10 hours of work you just don't feel this absolute necessity to update the studio diary. Sorry, that's not the way this should go but what can you do? Well, Mikko continued with vocals and Jussi added some more guitars. I can't remember any details anymore...
Clean vocals, lead guitars
Mikko started to work with the clean vocals and after that, late at night Jussi had the chance to record some additional guitars.
More keyboards, no Jallu
Hangover. More keyboards, no Jallu.
Keyboards, sauna, beer and Jallu
Juha recorded keyboards with Mika, while Jarkko and Jussi went to sauna and drank booze. Mikko just drank beer. After some time everyone drank booze...
Final growls and some additional guitars
We recorded the last growlings and some lyrics were still written today during the session. Later Jussi started with his additional guitars.
Vocals, bass and clean guitars
More vocals, more bass. Mika also played clean guitars today. He used Danelectro's baritone guitar and Matti Nevalainen's Vintage Series telecaster through Fender's Twin Reverb (1978) amp. Grrreat ;D
Vocals and bass
We started with the vocals early in the morning after Mikko cleared his throath with Sonic Pumps fine morning coffee. We worked only with the growlings and as soon as Kari got to studio we changed to the bass tracks.
Guitar sickness
Mika continued with rhythm guitars. He played his parts to "Half-Life", "Quicksand", "Dialog With Pain" and "Kesäraaste" which now has a real name: "A Change Through Destruction". The session was so exhausting that Mika was feeling quite sick in the end.
Rhythm guitars
Today Mika started to record final rhythm guitars. Mika recorded guitars to "Forsaken Shell", "Trapped Inside", "Another Link in the Chain", "The Deaf Cult" and "One Desire".
For this album Mika played through Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and ENGL heads and Mesa Boogie cabinet. He also used his brand new ESP Ltd MH-1000 guitar for this session if anyone is interested.
Drums and drums and drums...
Jarkko continued with the drums and Mika played demoguitars. Now we got "Forsaken Shell", "Half-Life", "Moment of Silence", "The Deaf Cult", "Another Link in the Chain" on tape. And I really mean "on tape" because we used a tape recorder in these days of modern technology. Another thing is that Mika bought new guitar for this album. It's is ESP Ltd Deluxe MH-1000 if anyone is interested.
Drums
We recorded drums for songs called "Kesäraaste", "One Desire", "Trapped Inside".
1st day of Phase 2
Today we took all the equipment to Sonic Pump (again). After checking out the sounds we started to record a song we still call "Kesäraaste". Since it didn't work out so well and everybody were extremely tired (Nino came back from european tour on sunday) we decided to call it a day. For you drummers out there, here's Jarkko's drum set-up (all the drums are Ludwig except octos). Jarkko uses Zildjian cymbals:
• 2 x Kick 22"
• 1 x Snare 14"
• 2 x Octo
• 4 x Tom 10", 12", 14", 16"
• 2 x Splash 10" (K-Custom and Custom)
• 3 x Crash 17", 18", 19" (A-Custom)
• 1 x Ride 20" (Ping)
• 1 x China 18"
• 1 x China 18" (Ufip)
• 1 x Hi-hat 14" (K-Custom)
• 1 x X-hat 14" (Mastersound)
• 2 x Tama Iron Cobra bass drum pedal
Beer and mixing
Nino continued mixing while Jarkko and Mikko drank beer with Repe from Impaled Nazarene. Guitar solo and some additional guitars were still recorded. Now the songs are ready. We'll return to the studio later this year to continue...
Background vocals and mixing
Time for background vocals and choirs. First Mika sang alone and then Mikko and Jarkko joined for the choir phases. Nino started mixing the songs. Jarko tested the power of Sonic Pump's sauna for the first time.
Singing, growling and more guitars
Today Mika recorded some additional guitars. We thought that the songs needed some extra punch and so Mika played the basic guitars one more time through Marshall JCM-800 amplifier with the same old Peavey cabinet. He used BOSS SD-1 pedal to bring more rawness into the sound.
After we got every instrument on tape it was time for vocals. Mikko sang all the clean vocals before we tried something little different: we recorded a lot of growling. The result turned out quite brutal... Which is good!
Guitars, bass and keyboards
Mika started to work with the guitars. Today's setup was simply Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier amplifier with Peavey cabinet and ESP Les Paul guitar. Mika played just the basic tracks so Kari and Juha could do their phases. After the guitars Kari played the bass lines with minor tune problems, but everything worked out just fine. Then Juha did his phase with the keyboards.
First Studio Day
We were in the studio for 6 hours and we recorded drums for two songs. Until this day we called these songs "Pirkko Liekeissä" and "Stoner", but today we kinda had to decide the real names. Now they're called "Quicksand" and "Dialog With Pain". These two are all we're going to record for now. Next session is on 14th of May.
Drum Kit Transport
Today we moved Jarkko's drums to Sonic Pump. We crashed in to the studio right when Ari Koivunen (the Finnish Idol) was recording vocals for his debut album. They decided to have a break and so Jarkko got to set up his little playpen for tomorrow's session.
The Last Rehearsals
Two days before the recording start-up. We checked out all the minor details concerning the drum work and Mika made some preparations for the recordings. That lazy bastard recorded the demonstration guitars for Jarkko beforehand, so he wouldn't have to play with him at the studio.
