YO YO HO HO!!!
My point of view on the things that went on in the studio. The week spent in Petrax was awesome. Sauna every night, a few beers almost every night and I didn’t have to worry about recording anything that was going to end up on the final album. When Tomppa and Samppa played their ultimate and unforgiving beats I just jammed along. If I didn’t feel like playing, I just didn’t. I went downstairs and watched TV or took a shit.
At Villvox for the most of the recording, I had an underlying sense of anxiety and stress (and a few suicidal ideas) because I had to go to work during this whole time. There just wasn’t any way I could have had a few extra days off. But when the week of the guitars being recorded was nearly over, I was free for the weekend. And when I finally got to concentrate on recording my parts, I WAS ON FIRE!!! I don’t have so much to say about the sounds and how we made it (somebody turned the knobs and I said when it was ok) or even the order I played the songs (I can’t even remember), but I think I did a pretty good job.
This time around I really think that my playing has been unchained. No holds barred!! In fact everyone’s playing is OUT OF THIS WORLD!! I have been given the freedom to play whatever I wanted to play, still keeping the essence of the song in mind. The long period of rehearsing for the album was really us crafting our parts, so that in the studio there would be no worries about playing. But sometimes when I thought about the songs in my head over and over, I was concerned that maybe I don’t have all the twists and turns of the songs sorted out. And “what the fuck should I play on that part that comes right after the chorus before the ending riff” or something like that. But when I had my guitar in my hands and we were recording, the whole thing just flew out of me onto tape. I was just the instrument for the music to flow through. There is one solo in particular that I didn’t have a clue of what I would play, but when I got to it, it was just wild. And playing acoustic guitars long into the night was enjoyable. Blaablaablaa….
So, I am very thankful of this opportunity to leave my legacy in the world. This is something that is going to live on long after I’m gone. And I am completely satisfied of the result at this point. I can’t wait what it will sound like when Jules gets to throw his honey-soaked voice in on the mix!!!
And also I had my attempt at growing a studio beard. It was something really strange, it grew only on my right cheek… But I am a mutant…
torstai 30. lokakuuta 2008
tiistai 28. lokakuuta 2008
Guitars
Prologue:
I have to admit that this album we are making has been so close to me for a so goddamn long time, that putting my thoughts in words is not an easy task. If the following seems a bit pseudo-artistic crap, keep in mind that I have not thought of anything else since last fall.
The feeling at the moment is a very satisfying one, because now I can hear the stuff for real. I have heard it in some crappy demos and just in my head, but now I hear it without having to straighten it out in my head.
I hope that every person that listens to this album is eager to read also in “between the lines”, since the musical dimensions are meant to support the texts and have some dialogue with them too.
This album will make us all proud of it, that I can guarantee, but we hope that it will also give some of you something to think, and most importantly, something to feel.
Every song on this album is a part of something we want to say, and it is not only a collection of songs, but it’s not a theme album either. It’s somewhere in between…
Aren’t we all?
So, something about the guitars...
We started to get in the songs with Antti already at the Petrax Studios, we played with Tomppa and Samuli when they recorded and recorded also some demo guitars, just to hear the overall feeling.
After a nice week at the Petrax, we were 10 kilograms heavier, due to Tiina’s unbelievably delicious cookings, but also ready to lock ourselves inside the Villvox basement to shred, shriek, scream, shiver and stomp the hell out of our guitars.
My setup for playing was quite complex in comparison to the ones I used on “Beaten” and “Disco”.
I used two heads, Peavey 6505 through a Mesa Boogie –cabinet (thanks to Jaani from Entwine) to get some mass to the sound, and a good old Marshall 100W Jubilee with MXR Wylde Overdrive pedal through the good old 4x12 homemade cabinet I’ve used all these years.
So we split the signal from my guitar to these two setups, and an unbelievably full sound was built.
I used three different guitars through the album, trying to pick the right ones in every song.
My good old “Vato Loco”, the Tokai Love Rock -92 with the 90’s heavy metal pickup from DiMarzio was the main element, but I supported it with the Jackson RR with SeymourDuncan active 18-volt pickup and my newest baby, Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Signature Stratocaster.
The Stratocaster with the Texas Special –pickups might be a bit unorthodox selection for playing heavy metal, but I must say that it gave the guitars some room to breathe. Also all the electric clean parts were played with this one.
Speaking of the clean parts, we used quite a lot of acoustic guitars on this album, also in parts you would not expect to hear them in. Keskusmusiikki, the best music shop in Lahti (or anywhere) was kind to lend us a 12-string acoustic and a nylon-string acoustic.
During the last day of guitar recordings, we gave the songs some beautiful tones with these softer instruments, hope you’ll like them.
And, the songs…
During the whole time we played the guitars, I had my “playing cap” on, and every time I got something in, I wrote it to the cap. For every solo I drew an “X” and every clean guitar I drew an “O”, for every acoustic guitar I drew a black dot inside the “O”.
For the intro, that has lived inside me for a really long time now, I drew a small note.
The song list on my cap seems to be the following (as in, in this order I played them in):
1. Base (surprise, surprise! This song was the first one, we built the guitar sound with this one)
2. Inherit The Void (this song will NOT be on the album, but we like it very much… ;) )
These first two names are official, the rest of them are not.
3. “SPT” (a quick song, somehow it reminds me of “Painbox”.)
4. “MastoAntti” (a really heavy song, that opened fully to me in the studio.)
5. “Left” (rocking, melodic but also grim, maybe “the song” on the album for me.)
6. “Skitso” (a weird, very blunt and dismaying song.)
7. “Right” (a fast, hardcore motherfucker punk song with something new from us.)
8. “Middle” (this one is for the ones who enjoyed “Learning To Die”.)
9. “Trioli” (a different song with some angry attitude, a real live song.)
10. “Uusin” (the newest song on the album, angry and fast, just the way you like it.)
11. “Speed Metal” (a song with a big “fuck you” to a lot of stuff. Really like this one.)
So, this is NOT the order the songs are on the album, we’ll save it for later.
When I look at the “playing cap”, there seems to be nine “X”’s and five “O”’s on it, with dots or without them.
All in all, the album is much more versatile in every aspect than our debut was, there are not too many songs in the same tempo, and also the keys in the songs change, it’s not only open C in every song. The intro I wanted to play in free tempo because of the character of this small emotion in simple notes.
I was surprised of the fact that how easily we got the guitars done, it seems that the time we spent on practicing before the studio was not in vain.
Now I’m headed back to the studio to listen to Jules doing his thing. And the studio beard just keeps on growing…
This is going to be great, be patient, my friends.
-Williami
I have to admit that this album we are making has been so close to me for a so goddamn long time, that putting my thoughts in words is not an easy task. If the following seems a bit pseudo-artistic crap, keep in mind that I have not thought of anything else since last fall.
The feeling at the moment is a very satisfying one, because now I can hear the stuff for real. I have heard it in some crappy demos and just in my head, but now I hear it without having to straighten it out in my head.
I hope that every person that listens to this album is eager to read also in “between the lines”, since the musical dimensions are meant to support the texts and have some dialogue with them too.
This album will make us all proud of it, that I can guarantee, but we hope that it will also give some of you something to think, and most importantly, something to feel.
Every song on this album is a part of something we want to say, and it is not only a collection of songs, but it’s not a theme album either. It’s somewhere in between…
Aren’t we all?
So, something about the guitars...
We started to get in the songs with Antti already at the Petrax Studios, we played with Tomppa and Samuli when they recorded and recorded also some demo guitars, just to hear the overall feeling.
After a nice week at the Petrax, we were 10 kilograms heavier, due to Tiina’s unbelievably delicious cookings, but also ready to lock ourselves inside the Villvox basement to shred, shriek, scream, shiver and stomp the hell out of our guitars.
My setup for playing was quite complex in comparison to the ones I used on “Beaten” and “Disco”.
I used two heads, Peavey 6505 through a Mesa Boogie –cabinet (thanks to Jaani from Entwine) to get some mass to the sound, and a good old Marshall 100W Jubilee with MXR Wylde Overdrive pedal through the good old 4x12 homemade cabinet I’ve used all these years.
So we split the signal from my guitar to these two setups, and an unbelievably full sound was built.
I used three different guitars through the album, trying to pick the right ones in every song.
My good old “Vato Loco”, the Tokai Love Rock -92 with the 90’s heavy metal pickup from DiMarzio was the main element, but I supported it with the Jackson RR with SeymourDuncan active 18-volt pickup and my newest baby, Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Signature Stratocaster.
The Stratocaster with the Texas Special –pickups might be a bit unorthodox selection for playing heavy metal, but I must say that it gave the guitars some room to breathe. Also all the electric clean parts were played with this one.
Speaking of the clean parts, we used quite a lot of acoustic guitars on this album, also in parts you would not expect to hear them in. Keskusmusiikki, the best music shop in Lahti (or anywhere) was kind to lend us a 12-string acoustic and a nylon-string acoustic.
During the last day of guitar recordings, we gave the songs some beautiful tones with these softer instruments, hope you’ll like them.
And, the songs…
During the whole time we played the guitars, I had my “playing cap” on, and every time I got something in, I wrote it to the cap. For every solo I drew an “X” and every clean guitar I drew an “O”, for every acoustic guitar I drew a black dot inside the “O”.
For the intro, that has lived inside me for a really long time now, I drew a small note.
The song list on my cap seems to be the following (as in, in this order I played them in):
1. Base (surprise, surprise! This song was the first one, we built the guitar sound with this one)
2. Inherit The Void (this song will NOT be on the album, but we like it very much… ;) )
These first two names are official, the rest of them are not.
3. “SPT” (a quick song, somehow it reminds me of “Painbox”.)
4. “MastoAntti” (a really heavy song, that opened fully to me in the studio.)
5. “Left” (rocking, melodic but also grim, maybe “the song” on the album for me.)
6. “Skitso” (a weird, very blunt and dismaying song.)
7. “Right” (a fast, hardcore motherfucker punk song with something new from us.)
8. “Middle” (this one is for the ones who enjoyed “Learning To Die”.)
9. “Trioli” (a different song with some angry attitude, a real live song.)
10. “Uusin” (the newest song on the album, angry and fast, just the way you like it.)
11. “Speed Metal” (a song with a big “fuck you” to a lot of stuff. Really like this one.)
So, this is NOT the order the songs are on the album, we’ll save it for later.
When I look at the “playing cap”, there seems to be nine “X”’s and five “O”’s on it, with dots or without them.
All in all, the album is much more versatile in every aspect than our debut was, there are not too many songs in the same tempo, and also the keys in the songs change, it’s not only open C in every song. The intro I wanted to play in free tempo because of the character of this small emotion in simple notes.
I was surprised of the fact that how easily we got the guitars done, it seems that the time we spent on practicing before the studio was not in vain.
Now I’m headed back to the studio to listen to Jules doing his thing. And the studio beard just keeps on growing…
This is going to be great, be patient, my friends.
-Williami
maanantai 6. lokakuuta 2008
About the bass and Riki Sorsa..
First of all, I don´t have much to add what Mr. Mikkonen already wrote. But anyway, I was also very impressed to get to play at Petrax. What a great week we had. And what a great sound came out, we used two cabins, other was my own 1x15" and the other I borrowed from Mr. Broman of Damngod and it was MesaBoogie 2x15". Thank you Toni! Amplifier was the good old Marshall Jubilee. Strings I used we´re Rotosound and from this point I´ve got something to tell.
Rotosound strings are ok but this time they just did not work. I blame Riki Sorsa. I broke three ( yes that´s true, 3 ) E-strings by playing too hard. It sounds amazing because I use very thick strings. It was not so good because we nailed the songs together with Samuli and when strings just broke, you have to start from the scratch and it eats the feeling away. From now on, I blame Riki for every bad thing. Actually it felt like his spirit had surrounded us. You see, we found lots of old Suosikki-magazines from the early eighties at the studio. Almost every magazine had some story about Riki. And even when I was having my lunch break and watching tv, he popped out from there also. So he was really near all the time.
But after all I´m smelling bad but feeling good. The atmosphere at studio was GREAT! Thanks goes to Petri & Tiina, Alkku & Ville and of course my playing buddy, Mr. Mikkonen. That´s all folks, Tomppa says hello to everyone. By the way, the songs are starting sound really HEAVY and GROOVY. Fukin´ aye!
Rotosound strings are ok but this time they just did not work. I blame Riki Sorsa. I broke three ( yes that´s true, 3 ) E-strings by playing too hard. It sounds amazing because I use very thick strings. It was not so good because we nailed the songs together with Samuli and when strings just broke, you have to start from the scratch and it eats the feeling away. From now on, I blame Riki for every bad thing. Actually it felt like his spirit had surrounded us. You see, we found lots of old Suosikki-magazines from the early eighties at the studio. Almost every magazine had some story about Riki. And even when I was having my lunch break and watching tv, he popped out from there also. So he was really near all the time.
But after all I´m smelling bad but feeling good. The atmosphere at studio was GREAT! Thanks goes to Petri & Tiina, Alkku & Ville and of course my playing buddy, Mr. Mikkonen. That´s all folks, Tomppa says hello to everyone. By the way, the songs are starting sound really HEAVY and GROOVY. Fukin´ aye!
Drums at Petrax, Hollola
Sunday 28.9.08
It all started on Sunday when we packed our stuff and moved to Petrax studios in Hollola. I haven’t visited the place before so I was very excited when we first arrived. The building was beautiful and the playing room was huge. I wanted to put my playing gear ready at once. So I did. I made a little sound check and was very impressed by the sound of that space. I will be playing a lot of drums this week!
Monday 29.9.08
We started at 9.00 AM with a good breakfast and were ready to work at ten. The only ones who woke up that early were me and our engineer Mr. Kuosa. We had a good time to listen to the different variations of microphone setups. First we put two overhead microphones to the set and made a little recording. It sounded amazing just like that! Everything in my set sounded to be in good balance. I was very impressed. This space will give me the best sound I have ever got a chance to play with! After that we continued to put more microphones to the playing space. Many ambience mics to different places and listen to it again. After that we changed them and listened again. It was a teaching experience. When there was nothing to be changed we were pleased and satisfied. Oh my god, the sound is HUGE! Metallicas black album is nothing compared to this!! :)
Our producer Mr. Sorvali and my dear beat machine partner in crime Mr. Saarenketo were also very impressed and we started to check out the bass sound. Our recording method was to play the drums and the bass guitar at the same time in same space. That way we can achieve the maximal drive and grooviness to the songs if you know what I mean.
Everything was better than perfect and we started playing. We recorded the song that we humorously have called “Black Sabbath”. A very heavy song and maybe the heaviest song in certain perspective.
Tuesday 30.9.08
Breakfast at 9.00 AM and heavy metal at 10.00 AM. Everything was in order and we started to play. The first song that day was “Trioli” (name ain´t the official..:) Totally evil sounding song there: aggressive and twisted. We played it perfectly with Tomppa so we decided to leave it that way and started to nail the next song. That song was called Base. Very fun song to play. We got a good drive on and the drum & bass lines worked together like never before. It was totally nailed!
After that we went to eat like never before. The kitchen in Petrax studios makes it a heaven on earth…:) All the credits goes to Tiina Rappula. Thank you! After a good two-hour lunch-nap we were able to play again. In the evening shift we nailed two more songs: Superpowertrip and Schitzo.
Superpowertrip is maybe the fastest song of the record and it rocks like hell. It also contains a drum solo. In my opinion you should have a drum solo in every record! This is something to be waiting for! :) Schitzo (not the real name again) is the weirdest song of the record for sure. The song contains three different kind of parts and its very surprising. What were we thinking? I am totally satisfied to this piece!
The day started like the same. After a while we started to nail “Mastoantti” we had a visitor: Riki Sorsa! Tomppa got more involved with him so he will tell you more about him. Riki´s visit took our morning shift so we had the time only nail that “Mastoantti” –song. Yeah, it ain´t the real name. Can you guess where it comes from? :) “Mastoantti” is very groovy song and it is also very fun to play. It´s kind of straightforward song but you need a certain feeling to play it. It grooves like a moose! I´m sure you will love this one!
After Riki left us we went to eat and started our evening shift. It was time to make diamonds from the records most important songs called: “Left”, “Middle” and “Right”. The concept of those songs will be clear to you when you have a chance to get this record. “Left” is the hit song with a great drive and a killer chorus that you´ll never forget. Also Wiljami will play an incredible solo there. I´m sure he nails it! We nailed it also with Tomppa and what a great feeling…”Middle is a very emotional song with a huge dynamic. I thought my arms are going off after I played this one. Works in every frequency! “Right” is the brutal one. It´s not fair to tell you more about this, but I will promise this is something you have never expected from Profane Omen!!! :)
Thursday 2.10.08
The usual morning shift and two more songs to be nailed. Why? I wanna record more! Petrax –session has been the best this far. The sound and the atmosphere is something to be remembered. Well let´s get to the point. First “Dealers” a tricky one with an amazing drive. I had to play a while the beginning of the song until I got it perfectly. Here´s some unusual elements also included. Very fun to play again! Finally there was “Speed metal”. Totally straight-in-the-face –song and serious ADHD –stuff! :) This the headbanger! I am very proud of this. Certainly not a typical song but a great one indeed. It leaves nothing to be questioned so to speak. Rest of the day goes driving around and finding equipments for percussive elements.
Friday 3.10.08
This is it. The last day for me to record the best album I have ever been involved in. That´s for sure! This is the day for percussions. I am not going to make you a list of different instruments I used but I am going to tell you that they sound great. You should expect some unorthodox use of percussions in heavy metal! :) The result has never been this good and we have only drums and bass recorded. This album is going to kick ass!!! All in all this has been probably the best week for me as a drummer and I cant even imagine how fun it is to have a chance to play this record in front of a live audience!
From now on its fucking HEAVY METAL & HUNGER!
- Samuli -
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