Saturday, June 11, 2011

Rhythm guitar recording band camp.

I drove to Ruokolahti on Monday evening. I took two electric guitars (Ibanez S7320 with upgraded mics & Schecter Solo-6 Limited), an amp head (Koch Powertone II) and an amp cabinet (4x12" Fender with Celestion Vintage 30 elements). Also on the trip was my wife and a hellish red tent.

We miked the cab with Audix i5 and a Shure SM57 clone (the legendary T.bone MB75). Audix was fine there where I first put it, and like the SM57 always does, the other mic needed some adjustments to be done with headphones on. The sound we found is very raw, metallic gain tone with full body, not mid-scoop here. We recorded also the raw preamp line from the send bus of the series type loop. No effects needed, Koch provided a very convincing tone once again.

On Monday evening we got one song on hard disc, though it took almost two hundred takes. The problem with recording my parts is the problem with rehearsing that is caused by the distance from my home town Jyväskylä to Imatra area, about 250 kilometers. Recordings started in good mood, the only reason to complain about was the room temperature, 28 degrees celsius.

On Tuesday we managed to record two full songs more. On the second one I already got a bit frustrated when I just didn't seem to get the timing of one quite simple riff played right at metronome click. Well after a while I got it done and the rest went more easily.

On the morning of the third day we slept till 12 o'clock and missed some potential recording hours, but on the evening I think I found a bit better playing touch than on the preceding days. We got two songs done also on Wednesday. The room temperature was 30 degrees celsius all evening. It made my head ache but luckily cold beer gave relief.

On Thursday we needed to make some necessary preparations for the promotional picture shootings so we went shopping on some of the flea markets of Imatra and Lappeenranta. We found some fine outfits there. Once again two songs got finished on my part in the evening. Now the room temperature was 31 C degrees.

Friday started with promo picture sessions. We put the fancy costumes on and went outside. We had Janne's old friend Jesse taking pictures with two similar cameras with different lenses on two locations at Ruokolahti. I think these are the best promo pictures with this band so far. Also they fit with the theme of the album very well. On Friday evening there appeared some complication as the well ran dry. It already seemed that we must leave and drive home that evening, as we couldn't take shower. Because of that supposed rush, Janne played my part in one song (Julma jupakka) almost completely as Lari interviewed me on video. We got the idea of going swimming in Lake Saimaa instead of shower, so we spent the last night in the tent like it was originally planned.


Now it's Saturday and in one hour we will have running water. There is one little chapter to be shot on video and after that I will drive home, tired but satisfied. Special thanks to Niko and Janne for mighty ice cold nerves and great studio engineering work, also thanks to Lari for being always so supportive. Thanks also to Fazer Salmiakki Mix which tasted even better after warming up with Dutch liqourice warming machine Powertone II. Last but not least thanks to hameväki Jenna and Nina.

- Taneli

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