Sunday, July 31, 2016

Listening ... to the signs

Incantation's gig was pure awesome. That's that. I was out of town for the weekend, but if you thought that would mean taking more break from M4D, you thought wrong. ^_^

I took the songs in their current form with me to the weekend trip, and listened the set once through out there with headphones. Not in one listening session, but few separate sessions.

How was it? Something to fix? Well, I didn't find anything that would need fixing, but instead felt really satisfied with the music and the stage of songs currently. Yeah.

Visual evidence included.

Gotta continue with them lyrics next.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Break with icing on it

For a change I haven't done anything concrete today for the release, if not counting dreaming & thinking about some lyrics for the remaining songs. Didn't get into writing yet, just letting the thoughts develop & evolve into something worth writing down. Plus there's no rush, I've progressed more than I thought I would have about a month ago.

So, today could be labelled as a break. What's the icing for the break? It's the entertainment moment of  the summer I'd say; going to see the one and only Incantation tonight in Helsinki. Yeah! \m/_

EDIT: Here's evidence of Inc entertainment. Why, since it's death metal and not doom metal? Because Inc has truly awesome DOOOMY moments hidden within their (otherwise amazing) death metal songs.




Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Diving into lyrics

I thought I would not continue tonight, but ... I thought wrong. When inspiration comes, you grab it and get creating. And so I started working on lyrics about an hour ago. At first I finetuned the first lyrics carefully as they felt they needed some tweaking. After that I got good ideas how to finish that cosmic tale.

Then I got idea for song title, those first lyrics. Song title gave me idea for tweaking the end of those lyrics 100% and it felt instantly awesome. I continued into the second lyrics I started some day or two ago. The flow started right away and I finished those lyrics quite soon - they have certain theme to them and I like how the certain kind of scientific vibe comes through there. As it happens, being scientific gave me idea for the song title and another instant gratification happened. Done!

So ... I thought that was it, but while joking about some matters I had another idea coming in, a different kind of lyric idea (compared to previous ones) and I went right to work on it. Ten minutes later I had third set of lyrics 100% ready as well as the song title, too. Whoa! And this one I really like, twisted little tale. Might even know what song these lyrics are meant for. Have a strong vibe they'll fit ...

Onwards through the greedy compressor  ... (as them O.L.D. once put it).

Completed the 4th space trip

Just finished going through all the songs once again, yes. Took few hours all in all, and about all the newly recorded space elements found their place like it was planned (which it certainly wasn't). Satisfied again, yes, guessed it right. :)

Funnily in some cases there was true coincidences; some of the samples I recorded intuitively, not just fitted perfectly into their places, but the sample lengths happened to match perfectly the earlier samples' length too. Huh? Yeah! Almost spooky. Considering that the samples length vary from 10-20 seconds into something like 200 seconds, then new samples happen to fit precisely ... wow.

I'm now only listening the whole package through in its' current form. If there's still some volume fixes needed to be done for the ambient elements, that shall be done before anything else gets done. The next real step is quite likely the lyrics. I've already started with that (two songs' lyrics are almost completed) so that's where I'm heading as I get this current listening & checking (for possible fixes needed) session done.

Great progress, really satisfied yet again. I didn't even imagine I'd have time to do some vocal tests today, but I also did that. So ... yeah! ^_^

Variations on a theme

I thought I would continue straight on with the "space sound paintings" today, but ... instead my inspiration lead me to do some vocal tests even that I hardly have begun writing lyrics. Hah! Such is the story for today so far. I've spent something like 3-4 hours on doing vocal tests on my own. In the end I started to get close the kind of vocals (effects, aftertouch) I might end up using in case if I decide to do the vocals myself. Though like said, I have few options with the vocals ... sound testing never harms in any case.

Now I'm off to shop and after the quickie trip to heatwave still raging outdoors, I'm going to continue with some space sound mixing, too. More about that later.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Space trip vol 4

So, yeah ... I worked through all the afternoon with creating more spacy soundscapes. Not just with using guitar, but using some other devices as well. Heavy devices, no strings attached (literally, hah!)). That combined with really hot weather today again (closer to +30 degrees celsius) it was rather exhausting task. Noticed only after finishing the day's soundworks, how tiresome it was, thanks to heatwave. Working in the apartment with indoor temperature being +28 degrees celsius, it can be tiresome, yeah!

Originally I thought I'd start mixing the new soundscapes in, combine them with the sections already finished, but ... thanks to the forementioned heatwave going on, I didn't mix a thing tonight. Well, that shall happen tomorrow then.

After I get the new sounds integrated, I'll start working more with the lyrics. Expecting that one guest intro expansion in coming week or two, but probably that's the only guest section there will be. I've got enough ambient elements of my own by now.

Early startin'

Started quite early today, around 7 AM ... but not with the way I thought I would. Instead of going into soundworks directly, I got an idea for lyrics, for one song. I even could see for what song the lyrics might well be ... and yes, after writing big bunch of lyrics and quickly listening to that certain song and singing the lyrics along in my mind, I could see them fitting nicely. Well, anyway, I stopped the lyrics there since I wanted to get recording more ambient sounds.

And so I did. I started recording aroun 8:30 AM and now as it's bit over 11 AM, I have about handful of effective sounds created with guitar this time. Room for more, soundwise, I imagine - but having crafted some good sounds, it's soon time for well deserved coffee break. Even that I don't have a cherry pie with me (Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks, Twin ...). ;)

I'll continue soundworks after coffee break.

But before I go, here's a pic I took while in the middle of recording sounds. Once again, I had assistant for creating some moody sounds.


Monday, July 25, 2016

Space, act III

Very productive day once again. It was a very hot day, awesome summer day actually - and I spent most of it indoors tweaking the soundscapes ... hah! Well, I did get a breath of fresh air in the evening. And even some ice cream (which I'm going to enjoy right after this blog post!) ...

I did work on the material during weekend as well, not all the time but completed about one song worth of space sound painting. This morning I did the rest two songs' space base ambiances. What do I mean by saying base ambiances? It means literally base ambiance - I intend to record some more sounds still, over the base space elements, but in a different way I recorded the first soundscapes a week or two ago. The plan is to get even more depth to the space / otherwordly soundscapes. And I think it'll turn out great.

The songs seem to go according to sort of numerology, in multiple ways as well. Not only the song order is certain kind of ... well, magic by numbers and tempos, but the same numbers came out in the fact that there are certain amount of songs which have almost zero space sound effects during the actual song (if not counting possible intros / outros). Same numbers, anyway. Funny coincidence.

After I got the base space soundscapes done today, I went through all the songs and adjusted them into good bouncing stage. Did bounces out of all the eight songs and listened them through twice today with the space elements. Sounds both exciting and good to me. There might still be something to tweak in the space elements, but nothing major. Originally I planned to continue recording space elements already today but ... the above tasks took most of the day, so - I'll continue with space recording tomorrow, so it seems. With all new inspiration, too.

Until next time!

Friday, July 22, 2016

More space in my face

Spent about two to three hours this morning post processing rest of the sound recordings I did about a week ago. The space ambiances. At that point I got all those recordings finished and most of them produced stuff varying from quite usable into extremely usable & satisfactory from atmosphere's point of view.

Late afternoon I started experimenting with planting the soundscapes into selected songs. Quite a timetaking and demanding process in itself - it takes lots of listening, tweaking, re'listening, re'tweaking, ... again and again. I lost count of hours but at this point I have already three songs which have space (or just otherworldly) elements in them.

Initial feeling is once again awesome. I only have one positive problem with these soundscapes - some of them are massive, longer creations ... and here I have doom songs that have "less silent sections than the debut album songs had" ... haha! Well, I have a strong feeling it will turn out great anyway. Not all the songs will get space elements throughout the song, some might just have intro/outro etc.

Phew. Gotta continue perhaps only after weekend break. So far, so amazing.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Day of spacy soundscapes

Spent pretty much all the day working with the space sound creations & processing of the soundscapes. Timetaking process, to get the kind of soundscapes I want out of the sounds I created last weekend. But was it worth taking full day? Certainly. I'm once again really satisfied with what I got done today and especially how it sounds. It would be blasphemous to talk about just "some sounds" ... it's more like a sound world of its' own. It's not short, small samples & effects, but it's ... more like the opposite.

These space elements will definitely expand this forthcoming M4D album exactly the way I want ... to put it shortly: Mysterious, weird soundscapes. I still have few more space sound creations to post process tomorrow, then we'll see what happens next. Lyrics ... one thing I ought to do, but I might do more space sound recordings, too.

Space mandala .... zap!

At first ... for some reason blogger throwes those big spaces between the chapters - ugly and annoying - but no can do. Tried different tricks but them spaces stayed ... perhaps that space picture is so powerful? :)

Built a stone mandala (of creativity) intuitively this morning. After building it and combining the scene of stones with spacy background through photoshoppin' I noticed it's clearly connected with this ongoing M4D project / new material. It is evident. The colors, the shapes ... darkness of space, certain kind of mythical colors glowing ... shapes, etc. See the picture included.

Originally I did this just for fun and to start a day bit differently (and even that currently I'm not lacking in creativity, boost never hurts) - and as it happens after creating this I suddenly got a very potential idea for album coverart. Gotta see how it would work, it demands (of course) some photography as usual, planning a scenery, combining several pictures and doing lots of post processing.

Well, that's that and ... I have a feeling I might end up writing more lyrics today. What I've already done (if putting that mandala story aside) is that I've listened the whole package through with the song order I came up with yesterday. And yes, it was exactly as I thought ... that song order works great.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Lots of progress for today

Got that song#4 sorted this morning from drums point of view. Then I went working with the song#3 and managed to get about half of it sorted out (drums) before it was time to do some social matters. After the nice little break continued with the drumworks and got song#3 sorted out during the afternoon. Turned out nicely.

I continued with drum matters only in the evening but with excellent results; finetuned both remaining songs, song#2 and song#1. Yes! But even that's not enough progress for today ...

... suddenly I realised what will be the final song order in this album. I have a strong feeling my idea will stay as it is now, but I'll of course have to listen the songs in this new order to get the hang if it's the ultimate flow. Actually I'm doing that just now as an end to this evening.

While I was listening to the songs in their current stage, I got idea for lyrics. Started working on the lyrics right away and I already know what song these lyrics are for. It's a good start as I will naturally have to get the lyrics completed as well at some point.

Seems at times that this package is forming itself as much as I'm helping it to take its' shape. Like a massive hidden device cloaking in the darkness of ... space.

Lots of things to be done, but as said, lots of things got done today, too. Satisfied? Yes!

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Less progress but still ahead

Today I managed to finetune drums only for song#4 - turned out to be song demanding closer attention and I'm still not 100% sure if I got it fully completed yer. Needs more listening. The song definitely improved quite some already.

Otherwise I'd managed to complete that one song's drumworks certainly today, probably one more song too - but today I also received a package from Thomann, and it took few hours of my time as well. Tools for adding into the space element recordings as was mentioned in earlier posts.

Well, I'm not continuing the space soundscapes yet, but instead I'll continue with the drums tomorrow.

Monday, July 18, 2016

Drumworks and spaceworks

Another day with an excellent flow ... Three songs now have final drumworks as I went all the drums carefully through and humanized them (by manually programming, sample by sample, hit by hit). All these three songs clearly improved with the drumworks, much more lively now. One of them is now not just lively but has all new edge to it. Cymbalworks can do miracles. Songs I got the drumworks completed are (working numbers) songs #5, #6 and #7. Six and seven got completed by midday, spent the morning with them. Just finished the drumwork on number five some fifteen minutes ago.

I spent the afternoon working with space elements & sound processing. Got some exciting soundscapes already, even that I just scratched the surface of post processing the sounds I recorded few days ago. More sounds will be recorded, but this time whole different way ... could well be already during this week, continuing the space recordings. But even if I didn't continue, I have lots of post processing to be done for the sounds I already have. To get them sounding the way I have envisioned.

Bottom line, once again: Really happy how this musical wormhole is progressing.

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Masspickin'

You could say today was rather productive ... I got bassguitars recorded for songs five and six before about 1:30 pm. Then it was time to go for a social visit for a couple of hours. After that, I sat down and recorded bassguitars for songs seven and eight. Yeah, it means that all the bassguitars are now recorded for this package. Didn't imagine beforehand I'd record bassguitars for four songs today but that's what happened. Satisfied? Yes!

Now my focus goes for two things; I'll have to humanize the drums some more, go them all through and I'll also continue with the work on space elements (and I'll get one especially helpful new physical tool for that probably next week already). I'll also start writing the lyrics at some point soon. So there's certainly things to do still, ... also gotta start thinking about the coverart at some point.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

More basspickin' & beginning of space process

Recorded bassguitars for the fourth track this afternoon. Was going to record more bass originally, but there was fitting time & space for beginning something else ... so I worked some two hours with beginning to create some potential space / machinery soundscapes / ambience for the album. Got a good start, but can't reveal the exact details as I think it would ruin the surprise of hearing the soundscapes in the end. Some things are better left secret. ^_^

Anyway, things are going good and I expect that to continue.

Friday, July 15, 2016

Thunderous session

I was still working with the bassguitar sound today, and actually I got the sound tweaked into something I really like. Now there is slight distortive element in the sound, not too big but still, enough to make the bassguitar crumble nicely.

I recorded bassguitars for the third song as a test of the soundscapes and it turned out really good. This recording made me realise that now it's close to what I envisioned. Great thing, yeah! So, ... I re-recorded basslines for the first two songs in a row and result clearly improved a nod or two.

Oh, why thunderous session? Because when I started recording track three, there was thunderstorm getting closer. I recorded the first two songs while thunder and lightning gave a good atmosphere. So there you go. It was a fitting mood ... for doom! ;)

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

From guitar into bass (with a little twist but not shout)

So, I started working and tweaking the bassguitar sound yesterday afternoon. I worked several hours in a row and recorded numerous democlips, thought I got close to what seemed to fit ... continued with the same matter this morning and spent multiple hours more tweaking. As a result I got a sound that fits even better than yesterday's sound - after demoing and testing I recorded already bass for two songs and it feels pretty good to me. Very fitting.

Though here's another little twist to this tale (and another case of "plans were this, the result might be that") ... originally I thought I'd like to use distorted, crunchy sounding bass, but the sound I've settled for now anyway (haven't yet decided 100% if it's final but it could well be the base sound ... not bass sound, ha!) is something quite different than what I had in mind. Perhaps it can't be labelled as soft sounding, but it's certainly not the distorted bass sound I thought would fit the best. How come?

Well, after intensive testing this kind of sound simply seems to fit the music the most. So it's logical direction to go then. Check out the brief demonstration clip for the bassguitar sound below.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Eighternity & (individual) thoughts (patterns)


... and I thought that song#8  would take clearly more time? I thought wrong! :)

Just finished recording the guitars for the 8th one and listened the crawly track through once. It's different song, that's for sure.

What seems to be quite evident by now, I can tell - is the fact that this album will be clearly more ... about heaviness and doom metal. Emphasis on word metal. Or if not that, then ... DOOM. There are lots of beautiful melody things going on between all the heaviness and crushing beats, but there won't be such a "silent" atmospheric tracks like there were on "the misery quadrant" (for example "dormant" in that package). Did I plan it this way? Nope. I've worked the way I've always worked meaning I just let the creativity flow and the result is what it is. I don't really plan as I noticed already as a youngster that it's better not to plan in my case. I might plan something very general, like song's tempo or structure sections, but ... that's where the planning ends in my case. Flow is the word.

What do I think about the fact that this album will be more "metal" than atmospheric then? I'm really, really enjoying the moods I'm shaping here. There are still open matters, like the vocals (multiple options there) but the music itself is turning out awesomely.

Now that I got the rhytm guitars recorded, I'll start looking into bassguitar matters. And I'm starting that ... right about now.

The 7th robot wave

Just got the guitars recorded for 7th song, about 15 minutes ago. This was probably the most fun / easy / smooth song to record the guitars for and well, it's also the fastest song of the pack.

Now it's time for coffee break, and then ... I might just head into recording the 8th song's guitars which is probably bit more demanding. Definitely not hard song when it comes to riffs, not at all, but to get it played the way I really want to. It's kind of a weird song, creepy, crawly mood and ... well, if I had to use one word for it, it might be hypnotic. Not necessarily in the way you'd think first.

Monday, July 11, 2016

Magic of six

I had just begun recording the guitars for track # 6 when I got a call. About the best call in ages; Got chosen for a job which begins in September. Yeah! After the call I soon returned into recording the guitars. For a while it felt demanding as I was still shaking ... out of pure joy. Felt like I have to scream a bit, perhaps I did that too ... then I thought I'll channel the energy into powerful guitar recording and ... that's what happened.

Just listening to this song number 6 which has working title of "Sofia's theme" ( = other of our cats seems to enjoy the main melody, her name is Sofia so...) and this sounds great to me again. Actually I think of this song as the "massive subspace distortion" of this release, even that this is quite different after all.

Only two songs to go with recording rhytm guitars. After that I'll probably start tweaking the bass guitar sound and as I get the sound I like, I'll start recording the basslines. Now that I have a date for starting work, I think I have a good deadline for this M4D package as well: Get it ready before starting the work. Sounds quite realistic to me, even that there's lots of work to do since I'm doing it all alone. We'll see how it goes.

Friday, July 8, 2016

5th dimension

Well, seems that I recovered pretty quickly from the recording of 4th song's guitars ... as I just completeed recording the guitars for the 5th track. Yeah!

How's this possible? It's mainly because it went just as I thought, fifth one being rather relaxed song to record. Felt like I was smiling all the time while recording the guitars. That also tells how it's such a different case from the other songs, mood ... in some ways, then again it feels like it fits with the others in a twisted way. Well, be it this or that but the fact is that I love this song, too. How could I not? ^_^

One thing is for sure ... I won't continue recording tonight!

* goes looking for coffee * ...

Fourth song's guitars recorded

Phew. The fourth one, seemingly simple song (well, it is, really) but it was surprisingly demanding to get the guitars recorded. Took about 3-4 hours to get it done. This song is hardly even one minute longer piece than yesterday's work, so it's not that much longer - but it's the certain melodic passages and stuff that demanded more time and dedication.

What really matters is the end result and I'm satisfied. I just listened the bounce with drums and guitars only, as usual, and it's enjoyable piece. Very atmospheric. Very ... doomy, of course. :)

That was tiresome recording session anyway. Gotta see when I'll continue with the next song. It should be quite different case though, as it's one of the shorter / faster songs.

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Is it 3rd rock from the sun?

After I came back home from a job interview and enjoyed some (damn) good coffee & light refreshments, I started recording the final guitars for the third song. This time it took about 2-3 hours to complete the guitars. Not just because this song is longer, but also because this one has more melodies and guitar harmonies. How did this one make me feel? I think I was grinning widely towards the end of the session. Recording went great and the song is just awesome ... it also has "the most brutal" section any M:D song has ever had. Yeah! Brief death/doom moment. If you heard just that part, you'd think the song is like that ... while in reality the song is soooo different than the "brutal" section. And so that this wouldn't be just writing about it, how it would feel - check out the short democlip below, and get a glimpse of doom fury. The sounds are altered quite a lot from what they are in reality, just so that this wouldn't ruin the actual material when it's ready someday. It's just drums and guitars in this demo, nothing else.

Short democlip from the 3rd song under works:



PS: This 3rd song is also a song which will get a special guest intro section. I originally was going to play the intro myself as a combination of guitar and spacy sounds, but I've asked one pal to do it in a special way. Or be a part of making the intro, delivering the guitar part but in a different way. We'll see what happens.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Second set of guitars completed

Just finished recording the next song's rhytm guitars. Much faster job (took only about 1-2 hours) and less sweaty task compared to yesterday, since this one is twice shorter song. But don't even think it's speed metal or something. Might be slower overall, hah!

I've recorded all the final guitars using the massive new plectrum I got only 2 days ago. Feels very fitting for this kind of music. Massive tool for massive soundscapes. ;) ... some riffs contain the sound of plectrum itself, intentionally playing it in a certain kind of way. Gotta see how it works out with bassguitar recorded - if it's good it's gonna stay that way. I have a feeling it might serve me great.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

First set of guitars tracked down

Got the first song's final rhytm guitars recorded today. Sweaty task, but also enjoyable. It can be surprisingly hard to play so slow, especially for such a grindfreak that I have always been. It would be so easy to start going faster, faster ... but instead I'll go slower and slower.

I also went through the drums of the song and tweaked some sounds there, as well. Noticed something needing a fix and got it sorted out. Then adjusted a good demo volume level for just drums + guitars mix, and listening to the song just like that ...

How does it make me feel? Awesome. ^_^

Great to go on from here. Recording all the rhytm guitars for the rest 7 songs is not one day's task, but it depends on inspiration - could well be done already during this week, we'll see.

And as you can see in the pic below, I had a helping paw with the recording, too. Thankfully she wasn't handling the knobs and stuff. Just listening to the soundscapes ... see the tempo effect. ;)


Turning knobs

During past two weeks I've done some occasional soundtests, to make sure I've got the guitar sound I'm using for the final recording. To put the long story short; yes, I've got it. :) Today I got the confirmation after one more test. The guitar sounds pretty much the way I want it to sound right now and with the current equipment. It looks like I'm going to have more sound tweaking ahead with bassguitar sound, as I'm not at all sure if I got the kind of sound I'd want to have, yet.

I've also done some software drumtests - more work there as well, as I no longer have bandmate to handle that deparment. But it looks like I'm getting into the kind of sounds I envision for this material. I've got also some neat ideas for recording some otherwordly space sounds for the material ... but that's not the thing currently under works.

The next thing is ... going back to guitars. I'm going to start recording the final guitars for the songs now. Right after this blog post actually, sitting here with guitar on my lap. No idea how long it takes overall though, as my primary task in real life is intensive jobhunting on a daily basis. Another thing is, that the timing seems to be going nicely; just yesterday I received a little package from abroad, containing ... a single plectrum. Huh? Well, it's not just any standard plectrum, but custom made and quite a big one. Based on one day of jammin' every now and then, it feels like the best plectrum I've ever had (I've never been much a plectrum player but who knows now) ... see the picture below.