3,85 songs mixed

We’re almost done with mixing the songs, the last one is on the way. Then, some small and quick fixes for all of the songs and we should be done on schedule, i.e. tonight. The basic mixes sound great! You’ll definitely hear a difference to our previous release. The vocals are clearer, and the soundscapes are pretty diverse at times.

We did some last-minute EQ’ing to the rhythm guitar tracks since they sounded a bit harsh out of the band context (e.g. in some opening riffs played by guitars only), especially with headphones. Now they’re a bit smoother, with some of the 5150’s high end toned down. Not my favorite amp, but we managed to get a great sound from it for this record!

The record will be mastered on Friday, and we’ll also get busy with the artwork this week. Expect a grand release date announcement real soon now!

Laterzzz,
Jari / Embreach

Taming the beast

After a well-deserved break, we’re back at the studio. We finished acoustic guitars and solos late Saturday night (or early Sunday morning) and headed back to Helsinki barely awake, trying to keep company to Edu who was behind the wheel. Having slept most of yesterday myself, we just drove back to Hämeenlinna with Sami this morning. Edu and Jake came here last night already and listened to the tracks making notes on what’s missing and what needs to be fixed.

Janne started mixing the songs early this morning and we’ve been mostly staying out of his way, since the first step is to clean up the drum tracks, which is mostly mechanical work and best done without a bunch of monkeys chattering in the background

Apart from two small fixes to lead guitar tracks, from this point on it’s all about making the record sound like the massive opus it is in our heads. Most of the music we’ve written is pretty straightforward in the sense that there’s only two rhythm guitars (often playing the same thing), bass, drums and vocals. But then there are sections that have grown to quite epic proportions, with many different vocal things and a “choir” of guitars going on at the same time. Let’s see how they turn out in the final mix!

Exciting times,

Jari / Embreach

Quick status update

Bass tracks are done! Great job from Jaakko, considering this was his first time in a studio ever. Over half of the clean vocals are done, and we are currently recording growls for one of the tracks as the day draws to a close. Plenty of guitar tracks to do still, all the solos and most of the acoustic stuff etc. Looks like we’ll have to put in one extra day during the weekend, although we were planning on completing all recordings this week to be able to mix the album on Monday and Tuesday next week. If all goes well, we’ll be mastering the record on Friday next week! That should keep us right on track for a release date real soon now!

The stuff we have finished is absolutely killer. Everything is top-notch, from Jake’s drums to Sami’s vocals to Jaakko’s bass lines. Hopefully the guitar tracks won’t be bad either I actually recorded an acoustic guitar solo for one of the songs just today, a nice little touch.

I’m le tired now, but have to keep on going for a while still. Found a nice little Thai restaurant here in Hämeenlinna, the food and a couple of beers is making us a little drowsy right now.

Stay tuned.
- Jari / Embreach