Ein Artikel von Souleraser vom 16.07.2005 (10000 mal gelesen)
Studio report take I : recording drumtracks
Written by Gav & posted online 30/05/2005.
Well well, it was about time that we started recording our new album.
After setting up my drumkit and doing a soundcheck on Wednesday-evening (25.06) we started recordings on Thursday. First on was the song 'Sweet Cyanide' but after almost a day of recording we decided that the drumsound still was not satisfying. So I rushed to the drumstore, bought & borrowed some stuff, put the drumkit back together and started recording again. Maybe it was because of the tension on Thursday (with the drumsound and all that) but on Friday everything went much smoother
and the recordings were more tightly and with the right drive. So we decided to re-record ‘Sweet Cyanide' and somehow Friday seemed to be my lucky day cause 4 more tracks were recorded and goooood! One track on the album has a real ambient feeling with quite some wacky sounds so on Saturday my mission was to provide some functional basic drumming for this song. I was quite surprised how this turned out. By Sunday we still had 2 days left for three more tracks. Shouldn't be that hard, right?
Despite of all this it took quite some time to get some really satisfying recording today. I guess the long days of recording and studio work made me pretty tired. It seems much heavier than my daytime (being a computer nerd) job. Monday was my last scheduled recording day. We left the hardest tracks for the last, but non the less, it needed to be finished today. Luckily the recordings went much better than on Sunday so everything was finished nicely in the planned schedule. Now it is up to the other fellows to do their thing.
Studio report take II : guitar recordings
Written by Ron & posted online 14/06/2005.
After playing guide guitar in order to help Gav getting the drums on tape, it was up to Gail (producer) to do some editing on the recorded tracks. After that I was the chosen victim to show my abilities on the six stringed axe. The first day we spent a couple of hours trying to find the guitar sound we had in mind. After trying some different set-ups and guitars, we definitely succeeded finding exactly what we wanted. I started recording the first of the 36 guitar tracks (9 songs with 4 basic guitars per song). I must say this went pretty smooth, so after 3 days of a little blood, minor sweat and just a few teardrops I finished the basic tracks of one guitar. For the other guitar's basic tracks we had to find another sound fitting to the already recorded one. Again we tried several set-ups before we were satisfied. And satisfied we were! The sounds match perfectly and are causing a big smile on my face every time I hear it. Playing the other guitar parts again took 3 looooong days. Respect to Gail and Rene (assistant studio engineer) for making such an amount of studio hours a day. Now it was time to play the clean, acoustic, melodic and solo guitars. The solo guitars were partly recorded by Muuk. After 3 (again long) days of experimenting with sounds, riffs, little extras and listening the songs over and over again we finally got to see some daylight again. With all guitars on tape, knowing it shreds big-time, I can get some decent sleep for the first time in weeks. But hearing the result, it must say it was definitely worth it. Next up is Maurice (Engine of Pain) recording the basslines. Maurice replaces Rocco (who is not a member of Callenish Circle anymore) in the studio. More news about that soon...
Studio report take III : bass & wacky sounds
Written by Gav & posted online 20/06/2005.
Hi all, here a small studio-update again. Past days our session bassplayer Maurice Brouwers (Engine of Pain) had to pull off a few stringz. Only four weeks ago he started rehearsing the songs with us and creating basslines (from point zero). The first results are a fact and he did a really cool job. Almost 6 tracks are finished now and he did some really surprising things. Today he is finishing the last tracks.
Another thing that kept us awake and buzzy were the wacky sounds we are experimenting with. Gail Liebling (Gail of God), our producer and live sound-engineer is absolutely killer with synths and stuff. So last couple of days we spend quite some hours brainstorming and experimenting with the final wacky sounds extras on the new album. So also from that corner, some surprising stuff is to be expected! That's all for now, but
we will keep you posted in the next few days...
Studio report take IV : bass recordings
Written by Maurice & posted online 23/06/2005.
Hi there folks... you probably expected some lines from Rocco here, so first let me introduce myself. My name is Maurice Brouwers, bassplayer from Dutch Thrash band Engine of Pain. Just a couple weeks ago I got a quite surprisingly and unexpected phone call from the Callenish lads if I wanted to play bass on their new album... and of course I wanted to do that! So after a couple of very intensive rehearsals and long days working together with Ron and Gav we managed to create some really cool bass lines. Before we actually started recording we had to find a suitable bass sound and in order to get that sound we borrowed some equipment here and there. Thanx and appreciation go out to Junior (Desensitised) & Pol (Morning)! We tried a couple of different set ups and finally found a very heavy and bad ass sound. The first very long recording day went pretty well and we recorded almost 5 songs. I only had some sound problems with my bass, so we decided to record with my other bass which sounded much heavier. The second day was again a very long working day and it was more difficult since these songs were quite new song to me. Some of them were re-written/arranged in the studio, so also most of the basslines had to be re-written/arranged in the studio.
But together with Gail (producer) and Ron I managed to record them and they really sound killer. Next week I will record some minor stuff that we didn't have time for this time. Next up is Pat to record some shredding vocals... go for it!
Studio report take V : vocal recordings
Written by Pat & posted online 04/07/2005.
At last it was my turn in studio. On day 1 we started with the song 'Sweet Cyanide'. This one is most in line with the faster songs on MP//YP, containing a very catchy chorus. Next up was 'This Day You Regret'. Since this will be the opening song it needed some extra attention. Gail (producer) and I worked out some really great vocal lines and experimented with different vocals styles and cool effects. On the 2nd day we recorded 'As You Speak', 'Blind' and 'Behind Lines'. Even though it was a very long recording day everything went pretty smooth.
Now I had a couple of days off. A very welcome break cause after 2 days of intense recordings my vocal cords got slightly irritated and needed some rest. On day 3 we started with ‘Guess Again' and this turned out to be the most intense, extreme and over the top vocals I ever recorded. Luckily the other song that day was less intense cause I am not sure if I would have succeeded to record another song in the vein of 'Guess Again'. For 'Black Sear' I only had to record the couplets since the choruses will be sung by Kaleen (Gail of God). Again a few days rest and again a welcome break cause one of the last songs I needed to record was only finished during the last few rehearsals and even partly in the studio. So also the vocal lines for this song still needed to be worked out for the biggest part. Nevertheless 'Ignorant' turned out to be a killer song. Last song in the schedule of day 4 was 'Self-Inflicted', by far the slowest song on the album. All in all I can say I am extremely satisfied with the vocal recordings and also the cooperation with producer Gail went absolutely great. We really worked out some amazing vocal lines and also experimented a lot with different vocal styles (no clean vocals, don't worry!!!) and great sound effects. Gail definitely has some great ideas when it comes to recording vocals. Next week Ron and Gail will head to Denmark to mix the album with Tue Madsen at his already legendary Antfarm Studio.
Studio report take VI : mixing at Antfarm Studio
Written by Gail Liebling & posted online 13/07/2005.
After 22 days of gruelling long hour studio sessions in a dim lighted basement studio I was happy to finally see some decent daylight again.
Or at least, I thought so (hahaha). Ron booked us a 13 hour night-train trip to Aarhus, Denmark where we arrived at around 10 in the morning to be picked up by Tue and be shipped straight into his Antfarm studio again. So much for sightseeing. Tue was just anxious to see what I had put together on the hard drive I guess. After we checked the recordings and adjusted everything to his studio set up I saw him relax. And yes...
he did ask if we were tired. After that we started discussing where I wanted to take this production. How I had recorded certain stuff and why. Especially the vocals needed some explanation since Pat and I really went out of our way to get some wacky shit going with the vocals.
Luckily Tue and I think in a very similar way, so there was no need for lengthy elaborations about anything. Everything needed only half a word. Nice!!!!! That makes this job so much easier and I think you can hear it in the mixes. It's really turning out to be a heavy hitting, glueing you to the wall and biting your ass album. Really worth all the effort we put into it. And an effort it was. I worked the guys really hard to get the right feel and tightness. I think it was especially hard for Maurice stepping in on such short notice and having to record a lot of parts
more or less on the fly (a lot of them were made up just minutes before recording) and having me push him to f**king rape that bass guitar for 12 to 14 hours a day. He sometimes looked as though his head was gonna explode. I gotta hand it to you body... respect! At this point I think I have to let you in on a secret. Ron and I spent a lot of time together these past months. I mean... 18 out of the 22 recording days him and I
were together. Plus the train trip and sharing a room here in Denmark. It kinda creates a bond you know. When we decide to marry I promise we´ll announce it here first, ok? (sorry about that Kim, but this trrrrue loooove... LOL). But seriously. We spent lot of time together. First playing guide while laying down the drum tracks, then recording 36 rhythm tracks and on top of that a lot of melody and clean guitar tracks plus helping out with the recording and creating of the bass tracks. And now here in Denmark, making sure Tue and I don't go for a Britney Spears sound (yeah as if...). You kinda expect we'd start to annoy each other somehow, right? Not!!! I'd do it all again baby. Basically I think this coop was brilliant. Thanx for the trust and letting me do my thing guyz.
Actually the only time I really got asskicked was when Kaleen heard the final edits of her vocal stuff. She made me record it all over again in the very last days to make it stick better to the rest of the music. I must admit though... it's way better now. Thanx honey (Ich tanze ja nutzlos in der Sonne). Next up is the mastering stage. Really looking forward to hear what the finishing touch does to this already killer
record. I guess the underlying message of this last part is...
