Recording Day 13-14: Guitars, Keys, keys and keys

A good week-end with lots of measures covered, Robert solid as a rock and Alex gave some of the trickiest bits a run for the money. Micke has come down with a cold and is a bit more quiet than usual, but that didn't stop the Dynamic Duo to add some of the coolest stuff to date.

Next week-end is a volcano vocals event with new Maze star Jesper, can't wait to hear him do his thing. Stay tuned!


- "Looking good, Alex" - "feeling good, Robert!"


Robert rocking like he's born with it, serious licks on that supporting guitar!


Did that come out that bad? I like it!


Crazy guys like this, should be kept locked in - right?

Recording Day 12: Tipsy Night

Luckily it wasn't guitars this evening, since Robert had a fine day of gourmet testing of food and beverages behind him, and was handed wine by the glass by Elisabeth (Analog Mike's better half) on site as well. It started off bad and god worse. At one point, he was taking over the keys altogether, "move over, and give me those headphones, Åke". We'll the final result wasn't all that bad considering the blood alcohol level.



But Alex nonetheless got about three hours worth of solid recording time, and much was accomplished in the pads and strings sections. Most likely another full (half of Saturday, half of Sunday) will do the trick.

Best of all, we have some solid video footage from the event, uploadable to Youtube on request :-)




Alex after a well-accomplished feat in the Over the Hill hot seat, adding some great stuff to the new album!


Alx

Recording day 10-11: Guitar galore

Dear followers, friends and fans,

Robert I Edman has delivered again, as usual, in a star-studded fashion. His over trained digit doesn't act up as much as previously this spring and it's good enough for rock´n roll. A change of chords during practice has put a foot in the door for the closing of Great Cosmic Dream, and by taking the whole bazooka apart and then together again did the trick, and the guitar second voices now sound like they belong.


Preparation is everything

Sunday was another day in the local paradise of the Over The Hill Studio, and Robert attempted to to set as much as possible of the major strumming. Solos and pull-offs are yet to come with the Hagström 4x12'' that practically goes to eleven just like Shaun's :-). Micke and Robert obviously had more than chords together and perhaps they each had a slight hangover when the day was done. Well, the story doesn't end here, and we still don't know why Analog Mike refers to Robert as being the Kung Tung of the house. Hopefully, it's because of the heaviness of the strumming and not of the wine guzzling...


Robert and the infamous Tobacco Burst...


/a (back from vacation Sunday)

Skiing Day!

Alex took some time off and went to Who Valley (Vemdalen) with his family, to get some fresh air and clear the mind. Next week, it's some more keys needing pressing and sometimes a recreational timeout is the right medicine!


Alex and Clara being silly on the Nose Slope (Nääsbacken)

Recording Day 8-9: Metal meltdown and rockers galore

This weekend it was time for the guitars to enter the studio and contribute to the album! Mike tried out a new (old style) microphone to capture the soaring sound of the mesa/boogie, and it was even better than expected!


Thomas sais something along the lines of: "I sure told that Magnus Uggla guy that this here is my music, with real guitars man, and whatever he gets off to is not my fancy!"

You see, Thomas came in for a quality check and smiled as Robert started to record the heavy guitars on Lullaby for Heroes (Thomas is a true "connoisseur" in heavy guitar sound). Now since can be only one guitarist (softly, with the voice of S Connery) on this album, Robert took his chance to use both his les paul and strats to beef up the sound, and together with his new mesa/boogie amp it really sounds heavier this time. Actually you could almost see his hair and beard grow as he played through the tracklist. Mike, hand me the Jack Daniels…



A rumor is out that a drum solo has been recorded and sent to some owl!!?? Strange things happens here :-)



/ Rocking Rob.

Recording Day 7: Sneak Bass

A rumour is stiring that the axe-man entered the studio to polish the line on one of the tracks. As nobody was around (save Micke) he typically took this opportunity to lay down one mother of a solo in the intro of the track as well. Allegedly, he uttered something like: "Well, I kind of reckoned nobody would mind, and since I didn't have anyone to ask, I kind of went right ahead...."

This could possibly raise some attention from the other band members, and we look forward with great excitement to what this will bring. Will this bring the production to new heights? Will the base player be assigned a chaperon from now on?

Is anything of this true, or is it in fact just a rumour? Only Micke knows for sure...



/Bassebus

Recording Day 6: Need some padding

Since Alex just came back from a trip to York, he was all wound up in the studio, couldn't sit down and all he went about was their friendly atmosphere, great beer and horrid food. Once in a while, he managed to sit down and play some while Micke and Robert were talking loudly in the control room about miscellaneous things, pretty much everything from spoon feeding to gory trash metal. Anyway, we had a fine evening together, Thomas came by and once we kicked him out we actually got some things done :-)

Quite some beautiful pads, one last Clavia CP70 overlay and an eerie background theme for the Chemical Sleep song.

Picture: Robert's secret book with annotations about the songs, the musicians and who knows what else. After this shot was taken, the book slipped into hiding and the photographer was never seen again..