CTF trivia

Ok, as an icing to the cake for those massive afterthought sessions, I'll write some curious details about "Cosmic time foundation" - more like trivia, things that only I know about ... until after this blog post you know about them, too. Simple facts that might expand the listening experience on some levels - or then not - it depends on person(ality) I guess. Some details are also very personal, you'll be able to see what I mean as you read on. And I have to say; I thought this wouldn't be as long post but ... see what happened.

The oldest song in the album is ... "Cosmic scale cloning" - that song's riffs were created during the so-called labor day (1st May) in 2011. Only 2-3 weeks after the release of debut album in April 2011. And the riffs were not created at home, but instead in the wilderness, far away from civilization, playing with an acoustic guitar which neck is badly twisted, too (I no longer have that guitar, it was the fist ever real guitar I received as gift around mid'1980s when I was a kid). I didn't even save the riffs to my phone like I usually did in such cases but the riffs sticked my mind ever since. Made the early demo sketch during the same weekend as I returned home from the wilderness.

The second oldest song in the album is ... "Atom model emit" - This song's riffs were created in August 2011. The screechy main riff idea was born from listening to Incantation. Incantation has inspired me a lot ever since early 1990s, but not necessarily this doom metal project though. Ok, about the other songs "ages" so to speak; "Dissolian energy foundation" and "Rewriting pnagraph law" date back to 2012-2013.

The "happy sounding song" that I was wondering in the blog earlier this year, first whether it could be doom metal material or not, then suddenly it made perfect sense - in a sad way though - namely "M-Light formation" ... I came up with the riffs in Autumn 2014. Ever since I was wondering that it's not M4D material, or is it. I was actually thinking it could be a start for some all different metal'lish project with one (or few) friends but for some reason that didn't make sense either. Then some dramatic happened, not in 2014 but only in early 2016; a death in the family, not my family but very close anyway. Little girl died suddenly. A girl I saw just some days before she was gone. Girl who was pure light and joy, no matter what was happening around her. I remembered the "too happy riffs" after the initial shock and sadness had passed and suddenly it made sense: Those happy riffs depict her to me. Girl who was pure light and joy. Think about the song title? Yeah. It's a musical obituary for someone special. Tribute, more than obituary. Both the music and the lyrics, even the vocal style reflects all that.

The newest song in the album is ... "Leaving the giant molecular clouds". That song was made last and also very fast. Even that it's not fast, ha! It's a different song from the others, musically, and there's a reason for that: It's a song purely inspired by Godflesh, as I've been fan of Godflesh since their debut album. The other two new songs which were created last summer and don't base to any past years' riff demos are "Star birth machine" and "Nebula wisdom". Out of these three, "star" was composed and recorded first, then came the little rocker "nebula" and like said, "leaving" was crafted as the last piece.

Originally the opening song of the album was going to be ... "Cosmic scale cloning", simply as it was the oldest song, ancient monster and it also felt so debut albumish to me. At first it made perfect sense, just because it felt so debut albumish ... so it was at the opening song slot for a long time, but there were few things that made me swap its' place with "Star birth machine". The biggest reason was that it started to feel like too similar opening song stylistically if compared to opening song of debut album ("Another species falls"). It's not necessarily so similar, but both are long, slow, brooding songs. Another equally big reason was, that as I had composed "Star birth machine" and the longer time passed and I listened to that "star" song, I started to feel more and more like "this song so deserves to be the opening song!" ... that combined with the fact, that it's also very different song compared to "Cosmic scale cloning" (or debut album's opening song, too) ... suddenly I was 100% sure about the swapping and looking back that was exactly the right thing to do.

Originally the closing song of the album was going to be ... "M-Light formation". You see, here's another trivia bit for you (something I haven't mentioned anywhere before I think); debut album's closing song ("the silent galaxies") is another musical obituary, even if it's an obituary for a cat, not a human being. So, at first I was thinking that it would be logical that CTF album would close with the musical obituary like debut album did, right? What changed that original idea, was the mood of "M-Light formation". Unlike debut album's closing song, it isn't brooding, gloomy song - it could be debated to some extent, whether it's even a doomy song. Well it is, kind of, but it's ... different. The mood is not doom - see the irony while thinking the band's name? That song has no real doomy mood, it's doom metal executed intentionally in a sort of joyful mood, even if it has a sad background story based on real life. Joy, yes, because like said the girl was pure joy. Doom, because she no longer walks the earth. Instead ... she's somewhere travelling in the space, take a look at the lyrics and you might see the symbolism, some of it anyway (I won't explain all the hints). So you can see the problem I was facing ... if you could call it a problem: I wanted the closing song to be doomy, brooding, something mysterious. The song that was composed as last piece, became the perfect last piece also for the album. And the way the soundscapes end after the actual music is gone, it's also ... perfect. The album has ended, time to wake up from the M4D dimension. The lyrics connect to many of the other songs on the album, as well.

About the "Rewriting pnagraph law" song: Originally when I composed this song, I / we didn't have cats living with us. Nowadays we have two cats (british shorthair breed) and the other one of them was reacting to this song notably. It became evident when I was preparing, practicing and recording the song ... because our cat called Sofia was meowing according to riffs and clearly came to me, listening to the riffs. When I stopped playing, she was like "why?" and went away. I restarted playing, she came fast back and settled into sphinx position, listening carefully and looking as I was playing the riffs. As this song of course didn't have a name back then, I started to call this song "Sofia's song" because Sofia seemed to like it so much. Even cats enjoy doom! ;)

About the space / ambient soundscapes on the album: I had a vision about what kind of "space soundscapes" I want to get for the album early on. I kept thinking about it during the early summer already, knowing that some day during the summer it will happen and so it did: It was July 17th, a very hot and beautiful summer day when I recorded all the darkest spacy soundscapes outdoors in the neighborhood. I didn't have anything planned, I simply went walking outdoors and recorded both nature sounds and some chosen city sounds. Machinery sounds as well as animal sounds. And funnily as I kept having problems with recording just sound (did sound tests few days before the chosen date) I didn't record just sound but I shot videos outdoors and at home I separated the sound from the videos, post processed the soundscapes and that's what ended up on the album. At that point I knew it's the first stage of "space sounds" - I thought I'd also record some crazy sounds with guitar and/or bass and use them combined with the outdoor sounds. That's what happened, too. Most of the space soundscapes audible in the album are the outdoor soundscapes though. The most audible guitar "space sound" recording is perhaps the ending of "Nebula wisdom" where you can hear strange accelerating'like sound of ... something. That's me playing some guitar, not aliens roaming in forgotten space station, ha! What I did not plan though, was the third ambient soundscape recording session. It was about following intuition, once again: I went and recorded some machinery soundscapes also at home, and these three ambient soundscape recording sessions form everything that ended up finally into the album.

Oh, almost forgot; it's worth mentioning that the bell sounds you can hear at certain key moments during the CTF album ... it's not just some freeware sounds fetched online or stuff like that. It's genuine singing bowls: I bought three singing bowls during last winter and I had a feeling I'll play them for some music project. I didn't think about M4D then, but during the ambient sound creating process I realized the singing bowl sounds would also expand the soundscapes nicely. So ... singing bowl recording sessions could be labeled as the fourth ambient recording session. The points and songs the bowls are used (not just hitting sound) is not random at all, either. They have certain meaning and the most obvious one is the way the album / last song ends. If you know anything about yoga and/or meditation, about different states of mind, you'll understand why the album ends the way it does.

That's it, yeah. You can bet this blog goes into dormant mode for now. What am I doing in the meanwhile, musically speaking? Some other music projects of course. ^_^ ... I was not planning to start any other project soon after this CTF album completion, but what happened ... well, first I put up a blog for Focus Minus and thought it might be next up ... but I thought quite wrong. If you want to know what happened, you can read about it here. In any case, feel free to enjoy CTF album and have a happy holidays, too!

PS: One more thing worth hinting. While I wrote about lyrics in the afterthought session vol2, I think I didn't mention this there: If you happen to know the tales in the lyrics of Scumfusion's past few albums, you'll be able to spot different kind of cross-references to those space tales, just from different viewpoint. Places, names, characters, events ... and you might even spot cross-references to other projects like Focus Minus (even that FM has no lyrics at all), etc. ^_^

Afterthoughts, vol2

So, let's see ... continuing from where I left off yesterday, this time I'll write about how it all felt / feels from musician's point of view. Were there obstacles, or surprises, ... things worth mentioning? Yes there were.

Musically speaking, something was very obvious to me as soon as I started structuring the songs for "cosmic time foundation" in last June. I had saved melodies and riffs beginning from Spring 2011 already, continuing into Autumn 2014 and I had a rough idea about what kind of songs I would be making out of them. When it comes to tempo, they came down very much like I thought they would come, yes. But the obvious thing that kind of surprised me at first was the fact, that the "more silent / peaceful elements" in the demo material got dropped during right at the start of song structuring process. I didn't feel at all like doing / adding the peaceful elements into the songs according the early demos I had saved during past 5 years. It was about following my heart & intuition. I could feel it right from there, that this album will be more ... it's hard to put the feeling into fitting words, but you could say it felt it was going to be more "straight to the point", or perhaps "more metallic approach" in style - there wasn't going to be much if any mellow moments like there were in the debut album back in 2011. Or there would be (take "leaving the giant molecular clouds" for example) but it would be dark ambient / space soundscapes, not piano/synth etc interludes. And that's also what happened. I could have crafted mellow moments and material for the songs but it simply didn't feel fitting.

Thinking about it now afterwards, I can see one explanation why it went down like this: The oldest riff / melody ideas (and rough demos) I had done, were done under one month from when "the misery quadrant" got released (April 2011). Very soon after debut album. And the next oldest demo package was from August 2011, so it too was just some months after the debut album. So this first and primary explanation is; those oldest demos were done in the 2011 album style / mood, so of course there were ideas for mellow sections, doing the material in the same style than the material is on debut album. That was 5 years ago, and it's a long time. If I had done the songs back then, they would certainly had turned out quite differently - time is the key, as it happens to be the key in the lyrics in "cosmic time foundation", too. Not exactly a coincidence, ehh. The material wanted to come out this way at this exact point of time and that's the biggest explanation, I believe.

Well, of course there's another big factor which affects the way the material turned out: The fact that Timo dropped out from M4D in late 2014 which didn't come as a big surprise back then, really. Simply a lack of time and as he had (and still has) lots of music projects of his own, couldn't participate 100% anymore. Yes, it's a story already known. But yeah. considering that he had a major role especially with the mellow material (on debut album) that's one, if smaller reason, too. On the other hand it's worth noting that it wasn't just Timo who planned the mellow moments on debut album; it was us both - some of the mellow moments (like f.e. song "dormant") were originally planned by me, and then taken further by Timo by composing piano interludes etc.

Okay, composing mellow moments aside, another big fact is that back in 2011 Timo was handling all the synth/pianoworks, most of the ambient sounds, wrote all the lyrics, recorded bassguitars as well as real drums and also handled all the vocals. Yeah, as you can see the list of what he did is a long one. It was a strong and dedicated teamwork that resulted into "the misery quadrant" album back in 2011. We shared a strong vision of that album and I still rate that album as the best result of our teamwork sessions during the years (you know, we did 3 albums for Scumfusion together, too, and "lost constellations" is my personal favorite ouf of those - even that it was getting clear during the recording of "lost constellations" that it shall be our last teamwork together).

All this is also one reason it took me so long to really put the second album into motion: Originally I was thinking about starting to record the album in late 2014 already but as Timo's leaving got confirmed then, I had to take some time off to think about how I'll continue from there. I knew I could do it all by myself (as I have been doing one man band projects since ... ages ago already) but I needed time since I value M4D high, and I wanted to make sure I was continuing it in a way I could myself genuinely respect. I know, it is my own band project and not someone else's, but it only underlines the need to be sure about matters. I wanted to be 100% sure from art(ist)'s point of view about the art itself. So, it took notably more time than I originally imagined to get "restarted" so to speak, but the end result is something I can be proud of. Sure, it was a big work for me to do pretty much all on my own, but as it's a hobby and something I love to do - it was a smooth and pretty much a very natural process as it got started.

Okay, there's this specific thing that deserves some attention from musician's point of view and no longer technically speaking like in previous blog post: The vocals. I wasn't at all worried about anything else in the music, not about recording guitars, nor bassguitars, not a bit about the programmed drums and not even about the dark ambient / space elements. All that is something that I love to do and am inspired to do - there was nothing to worry about in any of that. What I did worry at first was the vocals. Since Timo used to be the vocalist, I didn't have to think about the vocals in past - you know, I didn't even have to think about the lyrics. Even that lyrics aren't a problem for me either, I've been writing lyrics for 20+ years by now when needed. But the vocals. Yes. Or should I say: Yikes! I am not at all a growler type vocalist myself, I've always struggled with growling and that's why I even developed some abnormal vocal styles in distant past (which partially resulted into the birth of Scumfusion amongst other things) ...

So, ... to begin with, M4D had several different vocal styles as can be heard on the 2011 debut album. Originally the idea for that debut album was to have different characters in the stories (lyrics) and different vocal styles representing different characters / sides of the parties involved in the space tales. For example robot voice for machinery / artificial intelligence, low growling for desolate mankind, high pitched "mad" screaming for a lone traveller, survivor from Lossidia, our main character in space, rather normal male clean vocal sound for ... etc. Time became the problem and in the end the lyrics / stories didn't turn into tales containing different characters / parties but different vocal styles were still used. Some of them experimental like high pitched screaming vocals which were the first of that kind that Timo ever tried. This background explains why I felt "a bit worried" about the vocals on the second album. Will I ask some musician pal help me with the main vocals? Will the main vocals be low growling or what will they be? What style would fit these new songs the best? What if I myself recorded the vocals, even if it would mean something else than growling? Should I still ask someone else to help me with the vocals, still, or not? Etc.

I took a rather long break from crafting the album as I started at new work 1st September. Actually that break came at perfect timing, it gave me some time totally away from the album and as I returned to it over 6 weeks later (after mid'October) I could both listen the material with fresh ears and confirm my thoughts with vocals. The idea of doing the main vocals myself, and also not doing it the growling way - not just because "I can't growl well enough" but probably even more because I feel there are more than enough doom death bands & material out there, slow metal and growling. Another important factor was that I had been thinking about the lyrics; I had started to feel that I want the vocals to be recorded in a way, that it would be possible to hear the lyrics to some extent at least. Not just hear growling (or screaming for that matter). So yes, I started to think about clean'ish vocals more and more, it felt like the perfect solution for the album.

Then I got the idea of combining two vocals styles (as sung by me); clean, yet intentionally rather monotonic vocals and the vocal style I came up around year 2000; a style I labeled as "sewer vocals" back then - style that partially led to Scumfusion back then, too. Clean vocals would be more audible, and the "ugly" sewer vocals would be mixed more on the background. Icing on the cake came in the form of idea about recording background vocals for selected lines in selected songs with another vocalist; my wife! Who has (unlike me) been practicing singing in her youth and has in recent years wanted to get back into singing. Never recorded any vocals though, just have had clean singing as a hobby. It felt like interesting idea well worth trying even that the schedule was getting pretty tight, deadline getting closer.

In the end we succeeded pretty good, even that the vocals recording was all new thing to do for her. The tricky part is the beginning as they say, and I sure had to do my part luring her in for singing - since extreme metal music isn't exactly her style (and M4D is in some ways quite extreme). Considering the tricky starting situation with the planning of vocals, the end result is enjoyable. Some uncertainty can be sensed occasionally, perhaps (and unfortunately the lack of pop filter for vocal mic!) and that's the combination of tight schedule and someone recording vocals for the first ever time, for music style that isn't one's favorite. It was definitely what this album needed though - it gave all new edge to the material and it also gave me personally courage to sing some clean vocal parts probably most honestly I've ever sung anything in my whole life. So, not exactly a small matter in the end. I think I crossed some lines within my mind's limitations, too, when it comes to clean singing. When it comes to my own vocals, I'm mostly happy how I got the vocals recorded and there are even some moments of being extra successful: For example take the song "nebula wisdom". Listen to that song and if you didn't look into credits, you might think there's female voice doing background singing in that song, too, sure? There is not! Ha! It's all my own vocal experimentation, and you can bet I myself am the one who's most surprised with cases like this.

Okay, only one more thing to examine from musician's point of view: The lyrics. When I started writing the lyrics for "cosmic time foundation" I did have a vision about what I'm going to write, sure. I was visioning certain kind of fictional space tales, which would have a sort of believable edge to them, too, if possible. Well, believable edge ... at least for those equipped with vivid imagination. As I started writing the lyrics, things started rolling - it was bit the same than how the mellow moments were cut off from the early demos ... just the opposite way; the more I wrote, the bigger the space tales grew. From descripting one life in cosmic drama play ("m-light formation"), through tale of neighbouring planet's fall into doom ("dissolian energy foundation") ... into a interstellar machine giving birth to stars while passing by ("star birth machine") or even bigger something cloning galaxies like child's play ("cosmic scale cloning"). While the stories came and grew, it was interesting to note how time was playing a role in most of the songs. It felt so obvious that I even recorded some of the vocal lines where word "time" appears, intentionally in a more powerful way, or using multiple voices, etc. The album title came at very late stage completely out of blue and it felt as a perfect description of what those eight tales on the album form; together they form a cosmic time foundation, of course. Yeah. ^_^

Well, I guess that's more than enough afterthoughts for anyone to read - if you read this far, go and have a cup of coffee or tea to celebrate! Tomorrow I'll write still one extra thing (not even nearly as long as this, but let's say it might be interesting to some) related to this album on this blog, and then it's this one cosmic case closed.

Afterthoughts, vol1

So, ... some time has passed and the dust is starting to settle once again. Time to write some afterthoughts about "Cosmic time foundation". This will be a longer writing ... Let's start with the clearly more boring subject (huh?), namely technical viewpoint.

Am I happy about the album, how it turned out technically speaking? Actually I am quite satisfied. It could had been better in some ways, but these things are pretty much just some minor details. First of all, the lyrics were rather long and at times technical, kind of, I thought I had lots of time for recording the vocals, but I do think that I might have been able to do better vocals with more time. Not talking about the way the vocals are / sound, but simply some timings / sync details. There are some sections in some of the songs where it could had been recorded better. And the same goes with background vocals - considering it was first ever recording for her, it went well - but it was also demanding since it was all new action for her. It was a good starting point though, and promises good for the future, methinks.

Still from technical viewpoint; Afterwards I was quite annoyed by the embarrassing fact, that I didn't have a simple pop filter for my vocal microphone. Yes, ugh! ... and yeah, you can certainly hear it from listening the album, too. Even that I managed to tone down worst "xplosives" from vocals (often simply by recording again and again), but there are sections in some of the songs where it annoys me personally, listening to the album now, afterwards. You'll be able to hear "xplosives" at times, and also some other sounds that could well had been filtered out with the help of decent pop filter. Well, in past I haven't recorded vocals myself (or I have, years and years ago, but with extremely lofi style, hardly serious music projects) so yeah, another lesson learned; I will buy pop filter in the near future, you can bet on that. And it's not just about this M4D project, but naturally any project with vocals. I guess is also tells something that I even had one nightmare'ish dream about listening to the opening track of the album and being horrified about how bad the vocals sound (and also that I was singing something that I shouldn't had been singing, I was really happy when I woke up from that "nightmare"). Ha!

I also noted bit too late some minor details (still technically speaking) in the programmed drums. Or the way I programmed some of the drums. I could had done some very small things bit differently, because I didn't think some of the things through and it made mastering of the album notably more demanding & sweaty. What happened was that I used some drum samples twice at the exact same moment - thus creating a double times louder sound. I didn't think it would be problem when I was doing that, and I honestly thought I had a good reason doing that, too (getting certain kind of natural sounding impact) but in the end ... it was bit of a problem, oh yeah. The album might have ended up being mastered a nod louder if it wasn't that drum programming detail. My mistake, yeah, and another lesson learned - though at the same time it's not that serious; I do rather have an album sounding in a way oldschool in the so-called loudness department instead of trying to "win the loudness war" = make/master as loud sounding album as possible. No thanks. Perhaps this little drum programming "error" actually served me right in that way. But I will not repeat that formula in the future, though.

Okay, ... that's the technical viewpoint pretty much. Let's see, ... what viewpoint could this be called? Viewpoint of how I personally feel about the material musically speaking, how it turned out musically, etc. How it feels sort of compared to debut album musically, etc? That's what I'm writing next ... later. Perhaps already tonight, but in these coming days anyway. Stay tuned.

CTF lyrics

You'll be able to find the lyrics to "Cosmic time foundation" from many sites by now for sure, but I'll post them as one mass here, too, to make easier reading for those who are interested about them space tales.
______________

'Star birth machine'

Mass particles float in space
Remains of former settings
Radiating in circular forms
Molten system was analysed

What was once living here
Can now be seen anywhere
In this part of irregular galaxy
Solarized points of machinery

Incubation

It is coming now
Size of all planets
Can't be visualized
About to birth a star

Conservation

Particles are gathering
Former setting dissolving
Radiation to be erased
Reaching out to labor stage

It has reached this space now
Size of all former planets
It can't be visualized as
It's about to birth a star

Giant machinery humming
Measurements all completed
Setting forth the creation
Erasing the former settings

M4D - Light will bleed
M4D - Stars will seed
M4D N5E - Light will see
M4D N5E - Star will feel

New star has been created
Floating inside all new setting
Solar system taking now shape
Forming illusions to be seen

Star birth machine gave seed
No more new light shall bleed
Heading towards new doom
Under new cosmic full moon

Incubation
Conservation

'Atom model emit'

Zero time on all levels physical
Endless is the worms' name of time
Emitting invisible measurements
Tweaking space and time devices

White outbursts noise creates
Crates under dust labeled by time
Opening of third atomachigatorian
Blinding light shines and expands

Atom model emit
Atom model emit
Doom metal time
Doom metal time

Worlds being formed on spheres
Spheres being divided by three
Triangular shaped vessels crafted
Given life by future's great ancients

Marking the beginning of time
Emitting visible measurements
Zeroes morph into endless numbers
Numbers shaping reality now

Atom model emit
Atom model emit
Time metal doom
Time metal doom

Zero time on all levels physical
Endless is the worms' name of time
Emitting invisible measurements
Tweaking space and time devices

White outbursts noise creates
Crates under dust labeled by time
Opening of third atomachigatorian
Blinding light shines and expands

'M-Light formation'

Data sealed into hidden stars by a travellord
Rays of light once hiding within cosmic night
Shapeless towers bound by one infinite might
Through distant inner glow created with sound

Central Lautrivian system was barely found
Touched by the brightest star in this constellation
Given life a vessel with its' ultimate destination
From years of light into blinding M-light so divine

Devices cloaking in space melting all memories
Joy of galaxies exploding into yellow eternity

Portal of colors formed under spacebow gates
Ancient knowledge enters the memorized soul

Timeship has chosen target and locked all cells in
Molecular shift into seventh dimension felt staged
Starting point reaching behind the ending point
Capturing the essence of just one life's formation

'Dissolian energy foundation'

No one wanted that planet's end
It was never meant to happen
Action reaction sudden devastation
Civilization fast collapsing
If only they would had foreseen the fall
Prepared for the doom that will follow

Massive bolts of the Lossidian energy
Skies were turning all bright red
Planet nearby was expecting this war
Rebelling against their space neighbours
Energy domes on the Dissolian surface
Maximum load for emergency foundation
Just in time to reflect expanding patterns
Waves of cataclysmic blast surrounding

No one ever wanted that planet's end
It was never meant to happen at all
Action reaction sudden devastation
Civilization soon collapsing
One escape pod blinking in the chaos
Only one survivor from this mighty doom

Massive bolts of the Lossidian energy
Skies were turning all bright red
Planet nearby was expecting this war
Rebelling against their space neighbours
Energy domes on the Dissolian surface
Maximum load for emergency foundation
Just in time to reflect expanding patterns
Waves of cataclysmic blast surrounding

This was the Dissolian energy foundation

'Rewriting pnagraph law'

Pnagraphial intelligence still hanging slowly growing
Under scorched black devices all forgotten inside time
Liquids freezing while in the light cold surface begins rising fast
Within deep polymorphic colors near bottomless ancient passages

Layers of time's dust and atoms waver
Reaching out for all ships passing by
Traveller docking on one nearby planet
Wanting to witness the eternal return

Through the colorless infinity horizons
Sounds washing the corners of one galaxy
Distant humming fill parts of multiverse
Invisible laws being shaped by movement

The eye on the surface is still monitoring
Lacking the structural nervous systems
Controlled by the laws of the invisiblous
Entering codes to a thing that can't exist

Unless what exists has been rewritten
Rewrite the pnagraph machination law
Unless what exists has been rewritten
Rewrite the pnagraph machination law

Pnagraphial intelligence is currently slowly decreasing
Under molten white devices none forgotten outside time
Liquids flowing systems heating dark surface now contracting
Within nine polymorphic colors under bottomless ancient passages

'Nebula wisdom'

As labium endows
So audibles mown
Until bewails mound
Within bawd emulsion
Nebula wisdom! Nebula wisdom!

As waled omnibus once knew
Winning the nobelium wads
Some cosmic mails unbowed
While the great animus bowled
Nebula wisdom! Nebula wisdom!

As labium now endows
So audibles mown slow
Towards the final resolution
Backed by flow cosmilution
Nebula wisdom! Nebula wisdom!

Nebula wisdom
Unable wisdom
Labium process
Audibles recess

'Cosmic scale cloning'

Choose lenticular galaxy 1N53A
Paint this one out of local group C
Drag and close all the data capsules
Copy the contents into nucleus cloud
Transferring systems out of space
Moving between these selected points

C.S.C.
Cosmic scale cloning

Until reaching out to the speed of light
Opening of capsules outside known time
Colorless area begins emitting light
Data capsules burst open as planned
Confirmation point has been reached
Cloned system settings all preselected

Cosmic scale cloning
Cosmic scale cloning

Moving in side of the chosen time
Cloning process demands precautions
Giant elements of data gathering
Everything that is could now be withering
Matter of clicks have to be timed right
That's why operating outside all time
Everything that was is and will ever be
Will now be anything that ever has been

Successfully completing cloning that system
Deselection of all components after the process
Where used to be black inside pure dark matter
Spiral galaxy now shining light and self-creating

C.S.C.
Cosmic scale cloning

Chose lenticular galaxy 1N53A
Painted this one out of local group C
Dragged and closed all the data capsules
Copied the contents into nucleus cloud
Transferred systems out of space
Moved between those preselected points

C.S.C.
C.S.C.

Moved in side of this chosen time
Cloning process demanded precautions
Matter of clicks had to be timed exactly right
That's why they operated outside all time
Everything that was is and will ever be
Will not be anything that ever has been

Cosmic scale cloning

'Leaving the giant molecular clouds'

Coming in
Directionless
Motionless
Emotionless
Timelessness

Going out
Somewhere
Anywhere
Elsewhere
Nowhere

Glowing red
Flashing green
Turning blue
Enter unseen
Stop

Incoming sound
No direction
No motion
No emotion
No time
Anywhere
Elsewhere
Somewhere
Inside time

Warping in
Directionless
Motionless
Emotionless
Timelessness

Warping out
Somewhere
Anywhere
Elsewhere
Nowhere

Glowing red
Flashing green
Bright blue
Enter unseen
Stop me

Doomin' thy spotify

'Cosmic time foundation' is being distributed to the online streaming services, seems to have been successfully submitted to most of the services already through cdbaby and you can find it from f.e. Spotify by now. So there are more places to stream them new scifi doom. Enjoy! :)

I'll be writing some thoughts about the album in a week or two. Technical viewpoint, composing viewpoint and things like that. Currently I'm really satisfied how the album came out and that I got it completed according to the deadline I set for it. It might sound bit harsh / primitive all in all, but in the modern world where most of the metal sounds so polished, clean and overproduced - I kind of prefer the organic vibe this album has. Autopsy of doom metal, ehh? ;)

'Cosmic time foundation' released, vol4

I got confirmation from cdbaby already several hours ago that "Cosmic time foundation" has been checked & verified and is being forwarded to streaming services around (Spotify etc). It will take from few days to two weeks that it's at the streaming services for playing - but it should appear rather soon at M4D's cdbaby page at:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mooddoom2

PS: After some time has passed and this release isn't freshly squeezed, ... or let's say shortly before Christmas ... I think I'll share some thoughts about making of this album and also some trivia bits about the songs right here in this blog. Some observations and stuff. I might also post a mention here when the new album hits Spotify.

'Cosmic time foundation' released, vol3

Now the album can be found also from Mikseri as high quality (320 kbps) mp3 files for streaming. While that service is finnish one, the link below points to english page of M4D at Mikseri.

http://bit.ly/2hdwDvm

PS: Also updated something I haven't probably updated since 2011 ... Reverbnation page, so M4D facebook page's band profile should now have two new clips and also that lyric video for "Star birth machine".

'Cosmic time foundation' released, vol2

Now the massive full album video (with visual lyrics) can be found from youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5dgDyP5EJE

Here's also the embedded thingy for the video:

'Cosmic time foundation' released, vol1

It's 0:30 am here, which means it's ... 6th December by half an hour! :)

Bandcamp is the first place you can check out the album. Fully streamable & and listenable there, of course - and with the previously mentioned cheaper-than-cheap buying option (with some extra digital things, artwork and lyrics in graphic format).

We'll see if the album appears at CDbaby during 6th December, too or not. I'll be adding the album into Mikseri for streaming as well, and I just finished a massive video edit ... going to put the full album into youtube as visual lyrics video. It was easily one of the most timetaking video edits I've done for any of my music projects so far ... mainly because this album has quite a load of lyrics and I had to time/sync each line for each song in that video. 56 minutes long video, with long space tales. Yeah!

I'll be making more blog posts as I get the album into other online services.

Oh, and here's the album coverart (click to open them in larger size) to spicy thy imagination. ;)

Album being submitted to online distros

I'm currently submitting the album in the selected services; just got cdbaby finished already but it won't be at least until tomorrow before it appears there. Next up is bandcamp, I think. Those two will have option for buying the album (with a huge price of 2 $, ha!) in digital format. Unfortunately cdbaby doesn't support adding extra material to albums but I think bandcamp supported it - so I'll be able to submit back cover of the album there and also the graphic lyrics package (in pdf format).

Elsewhere the album will be of course freely streamable from start to finish, like f.e. Youtube and Mikseri. And as cdbaby gets the package inspected etc, it will start going to streaming services as well, like Spotify.

Ok, here's the tracklist with the final track lengths ...

Star birth machine (lyric video)

Here's the promised clip for the opening song of the album ... enjoy!

... and oh yes, the album title is 'Cosmic time foundation'. Grand enough? :)

Two of thy masters, and the 2nd one made it through

By taking full day's rest yesterday, I've recuperated from the nasty disease so well that ... I'm glad to state that the release is about to be unleased. Yeah!

First master version I crafted, contained some very small problems, so after fixing those (hardly half an hour task) I got the 2nd master and yes, that's the final master version. Listened it once through during this afternoon and that's what the final version shall be. But as it's only 4th December today, I have 1-2 days time to still listen and feel how it is. The feeling is, anyway, that I've given all that I can to this release and there's nothing to be fixed. Nothing's perfect, but for me this comes very close to that, especially musically speaking.

... and oh, I've already had time to craft a taste of things to come. I've been making a lyric video during this afternoon and it's coming out nicely. Aiming to get it into youtube tonight so prepare to experience the first bit of new scifi doom! 

^_^

Good news. Bad news.

Good news first: Got the very final extra vocal lines recorded yesterday evening and it came out in a way I hoped. Even better; I went and started doing mastering tasks and got major task done - It was almost midnight when I went to bed grinning and thinking how this will get finished easily for 6th December release.

Bad news then: As I went sleeping yesterday evening, I wasn't long in bed as I felt like ... perhaps I have to visit the toilet yet, strange feeling. (I don't usually go to toilet that late). Stomach bug hit and was started then. Ouch. I could hardly sleep during last night, I felt so bad. Slept perhaps 3-4 hours. And the whole saturday has been spent both laying in bed and visiting the toilet. Often. The worst could be over already, I sure hope so ... so that I could finish the project in time. Another sad matter was, that I simply had to miss a concert I had promised to go with my wife.

A sad, sad day. But sometimes it's like this, life can surprise you. In many ways.

The word "possibly"

What do you know, ... In my previous post I expressed how I felt that most the tweaking is now done. Well, so I felt then. There was only that one song remaining ... I didn't have time to write about this yesterday evening, but yes, yesterday evening was the third tweaking eve. :)

Or let's say it was more about finetuning, while with tweaking I mean more audible changes all in all. So, what happened yesterday was that first I listened all the songs through, and made few notes while at it. To my surprise I had notes for 4 songs. So, into the work then ... these were rather small things that possibly only I care about, but it felt good to get them all done. It just took all evening long, but I got them all sorted out in the end.

Bit funnily I did not have time for the only song that I previously thought would need my attention. Well, I did say that I have to be careful about that song especially ... perhaps that explains how I felt with listening to it (more than once) yesterday: It didn't feel like it would certainly need some extra work, the way I thought earlier. But I did make a note about having to possibly expand one vocal part in a way; something that I will have to try out either tonight or tomorrow, friday evening. But that really should be all then. I feel confident about this, since I actually had time to listen the whole album from start to finish as final point yesterday and it felt all excellent to me now. I haven't had such a sensation with these scrutiny listening sessions yet, until now, and I think it's a great sign.

More later, possibly just one song inspection & experimentation and that's it ...

Final tweaking sessions almost ended ... possibly, yes!

Could it really be? Yes, it could. Quite surprising, but ...

Well, it was full tweaking evening tonight again, like yesterday. The result is almost identical, at least when looking at what I got done; 3 songs fully completed. Well, almost. The last one is a song that I like so much that I feel that I have to be extra careful with that ... so that might need one night sleep over it and returning to it for a while. But ... here's the catch: You'd think I have now 2 songs remaining, for tight scrutiny and detailed tweaking?

Guess what? I don't have. It's because the last two ones were dead easy cases, the only ones that went like this: I listened to the vocals alone, followed them precisely while at it and didn't find anything to be tweaked. Not even a bit. Nothing. Zero! And the funny thing is, that the other one of these two songs is the fastest song in the package, containing weird lines, sung fast, and with different voices / styles, too.

So, ... like the subject line states: This is possibly the final tweaking session, for now. How about that? There's only that one song that still needs some inspection and possibly minor tweaking. Nothing major, but perhaps something for getting it extra shiny. One thing is for sure, once again: Next up is ... listening sessions. Next few evenings shall pass with listening and checking how it all feels now.

Schedule is looking really good, that has to be said, too.

Final tweaking sessions started

This evening felt like ... as if I just finished second job for the day. Huh! But that's quite descriptive for the amount of tweaking & listening session I did tonight.

Spent the whole evening doing the final tweaks. I started going through the songs in working order (sidenote; which is not the order the songs appear on album) and I got 3 songs pretty much 100% completed. Two songs which were worked first took the most time. Third song took clearly less time, unsurprisingly - as the third song is one of the last songs I've worked with and it has been tweaked notably further. Exactly the opposite with the second song I worked with tonight - one of the first songs that got vocals recorded so there were clearly more tweaking to be done. And tweaked it was, much more than I thought ... no wonder it was a long evening tonight.

So, the art of tweaking shall continue tomorrow evening. Five songs to be completely checked (and tweaked as needed) from start to finish (from vocals point of view mainly). It could well take only lets say ... two more evening sessions like this one and then I'm quite far with the package, indeed.

PS: If you have too much time on your hands, count how many times I used the word "tweak" in this post. Ha ha ha ... and I shall not tweak this text afterwards! Tweaking the music is more than enough.

Day of soundworks

I've listened the package few times today, as background music, in a relaxing way just to see if something catches my attention. Nothing major was spotted. After watching last two episodes of Game Of Thrones season 6, I went into looking some of the songs again and did some minor vocal tweakings. Got some things sorted.

Then later during the evening I finally received something I've been hoping & waiting for a long time. The certain intro one good friend thought he could contribute if he has time & inspiration for it. It took quite some time, yes, but time is not the key if compared to the fact that the intro is here! I listened to the clip and instantly liked it ... I knew already while listening to the clip, that as I combine certain space soundscapes as created by me; it shall turn out very nice, different intro to this one song. So I worked about 1-2 hours on the intro and built the spacescapes around it and got it all done late tonight. Really dig the result and the friend who submitted the intro, seemed to enjoy the final intro.

So, ... now pretty much all that is left, is still about vocals: I shall listen, listen, listen ... and listen the material during the coming week, and still possibly record tiny vocalbits and pieces for certain moments in the songs. While doing that, I can make sure all the vocals are "as acceptable as possible". Or should I say "as close to my vision as possible". That's more like it. Then I'll have to craft the final master version of the album - that shouldn't be more than 1-2 days job in this case, that's how I feel (and I'm basing that estimate on doing mastering experiments during this recording journey, every now and then).

6th December isn't that far away ... the date I'm aiming for release date. Actually it's only about 1½ weeks away. Still, it feels very realistic that 6th December shall be the date of release. I'm quite confident about that. I've thought already about a month ago, that the weekend of 3rd/4th December shall be the finalizing weekend. I've even taken day off from work on 5th December, so ...

Background vocals, vol4

Phew, a long saturday evening session just got completed. Exhausting one, since it was the most demanding one out of these background vocal sessions. What might be easy for me to sing, since I've written the lyrics and arranged them according to how I see fit - it's not necessarily easy for someone else to sing them. That combined with the fact that I've created words all of my own, for describing the events in these space tales. What happens, is that the other fella ends up asking "how do you pronounce this word, what's this word!?" ... "well, I pronounce it like this, and yes, like this because as this word didn't exist before I came up with it, I am pretty much the one to define how to pronounce it or whatt?" ... "huh, ok!" ... so, yeah. :)

Tonight's session included two songs. Both of the songs got their "background" vocals recorded and the result is very good, expanding the music in the way I thought it would. Now I'll do some vocal tweaking (tomorrow) and then I'll start doing the very final things for the music. There's light at the end of this space tunnel, finally. Yes!

Black is the space on thy black fridays

Something good about the manic black friday event advertising going on everywhere. Most of the offers feel like total "blaah!" for me, actually I've felt like that about everything I've seen. Until now ... black friday offer at CDbaby, 50% off from digital album distribution. Gotcha! Bought one instantly, you can guess for what. Yeah. :) Excellent way for spreading the one and only scifi doom message, based on past experiences.

Oh ok, I spotted something worth mentioning when it comes to this so-called black friday: Pretty good sales at Steam, it seems. Noted that many titles (if not all) on my personal wishlist were on sale. I think I gotta grab at least that latest Deus Ex ... for times after completing this M4D album. Before that, no gaming allowed. ^_^

Background vocals, vol3

Phew! Massive phew. The third background vocals session was clearly the most demanding one so far. Not surprising, considering  the song in question ... we started working on it already yesterday as planned, but didn't achieve what I wanted then. So, ... we continued tonight. And taking a night's break was worth it.

Now the result is awesome. I'd go as far as saying it's now even better than what I had originally envisioned. The song feels like it got all new life with the background vocals, so ... yeah!

Two more songs to go with background vocals. Until next time ... zap!

Background vocals, vol2

Went into next song on the list tonight, and even that this song has clearly more background vocals, it took notably less time than yesterday's session. So, we got the background vocals recorded nicely and it feels like they could well be the final ones in this case. That's how it feels currently.

I think the background vocal sessions will be all completed during this week, if we'll be able to work with this rate, one song per evening. Not all the songs will have extra background vocals, you see.

PS: Listened yesterday's session as the last thing for the evening and it feels very fitting after one night rest and with fresh ears.

Background vocals, vol1

Tonight marked the first background vocals session. At first there were some problems reaching the type of sound / singing according to my vision, but in the end the results were pretty good. Not necessarily the final background vocals yet, for this one song, but definitely a promising start indeed. Really happy anyway that I managed to start experimenting with the background vocals already tonight. It's good to continue from this point during the coming days (read; evenings).

Taking massive steps

Once again I can say I'm really, really satisfied ... with these things I've done during past few days. This weekend proved to be definitely important one in this sense. More important than what I thought beforehand. And I didn't even get into recording the additional vocals with another vocalist ... ! So what makes me so satisfied then? Expect a long update now ... perhaps longest update ever with M4D.

First of all; I listened the package through few times early saturday morning and during saturday afternoon I did yet another set of finetuning (them vocals of mine, yes). I also listened the package properly thinking about guitarsolos, and to my genuine surprise I got the feeling that I might not be recording not even one solo (or not even something faintly resembling a solo). It seems to me that the space / ambient soundscapes I have crafted into the songs work like solos would work in traditional heavy metal. If I would feel some song(s) would benefit from some guitarsolo, I would record some, but as I'm feeling the exactly opposite now, ... no point recording forced solos. And I just finished listening the package once again just some 10 minutes ago, and this feeling of "no need for guitarsolos" was even stronger. I gotta still feel about the matter, but currently it looks like the idea of guitarsolos shall be dropped from this release.

But the great thing about this listening session I just completed; for the first time I didn't hear anything needing fixing in the vocals! Nothing at all. Yeah! It means that recording the additional background vocals shall happen soon, perhaps during the coming week already, some evening sessions. I think the additional vocals shouldn't demand lots of time, but we'll see what happens.

Then the surprising element; I hadn't planned doing any graphics this weekend, but like I was recently saying - usually when I get the idea for graphics, it happens fast and intuitively. That's exactly what happened around midday, during this sunday. I got the vision for front cover, remembered certain photographs of mine and started working on it. While working intensively on the front cover I got the idea for expanding it in a certain way to the back cover too ... and in the end I got both the front cover and back cover (CD jewel case size) 100% completed. Yeah! And even this is not the end of creativity burst ... while working on the front cover, I suddenly got the idea for the album title. I liked it so much that I pretty much replaced the album title I have been thinking about lately. The new album title not just fits the space tales perfectly, but it also connects to the certain songs and it even connects to certain reoccurring theme on this album. Which seems to be ... time. Not necessarily in the way you'd think first, though.

Did you think that was all? Nope! I looked through the lyrics set I have had as working version and thought to look into creating a good looking lyrics package in PDF form (not jewel case size, but simply A4 sized monster). So I did. First I created graphics reflecting the debut album in a way, but with this new album's color theme - then used the picture as A4 sized background for creating a PDF file out of lyrics. Looks pretty good, and I even checked it's "error free" by following the lyrics during latest album listening/checking session I did. No errors there. 15 pages long creation, which I will plant into digital album sites as bonus material, where it's possible (f.e. CDbaby).

So, I've got good reason to feel really satisfied indeed, don'tcha think so? ^_^

More vocals both recorded & finetuned

Tonight was a good one as I got lots of things done. Way more than I thought beforehand. Not only I worked through the longest song ("cosmic scale cloning") but I sorted out some vocalbits and pieces in two other songs, as well. 3-4 hours went fast. Really satisfied with the results, too. Didn't have time to listen the complete package tonight, not surprising. Well, I think I'll listen the whole package tomorrow evening ...

... I have a feeling that the extra vocal recording sessions could well happen during the weekend already. Still haven't felt like listening the songs with seeking possible guitarsolo spots. So, there are those two big things to be done. Then there's of course album coverart which I haven't even started yet (but if things go as they usually do, with graphics - the idea suddenly comes and I progress really fast with it).

Oh, and I'm still waiting for the intro from one friend. Supposedly getting it within a week, but that's not slowing down any of the work mentioned above.

Them names

Haven't had time to properly listen through the whole package tonight, but based on few individual track listenings I'm happy with the fixing session I did yesterday. Unfortunately I didn't have time to work on the final song's vocals tonight, but perhaps tomorrow evening.

Then something inspiring, kind of ... for the first ever time with this album, I named the current working/listening tracks just to see how the song titles "look" in a playlist. I like what I see, and the vibes I get from the titles. Oh yeah. Interested to see? Well, here goes!

... and some signals were detected

Went through seven out of eight songs tonight. Listened them carefully with headphones and yes, noticed things that I wanted to fix. And I "fixed" them on the fly, re-recording some tiny bits and pieces here and there. It's funny how suddenly you notice something that sounds like a clear error, yet it's not really error but still something that demands to be fixed. There was one such case tonight. Pretty happy with tonight's work, only one song remains for working tomorrow evening; the longest one. Oh yeah, and what was I fixing again? Vocalworks, of course.

After tomorrow's last vocalwork fixin' session will come few "whole package listening sessions", checking how it feels then - and while doing that, checking also if there would be room for some guitarsolos or something else, perhaps.

Listening ... for signals

Didn't record any extra vocals during the weekend, but instead listened the whole package in its' current form through few times. And it was good to do just that, since I spotted at least something needing fixing in the vocals. I shall record some lines again during this coming week and see that I get it all sounding the way I want it to. Perhaps getting into recording the additional vocals (not my own voice) next weekend.

I'm still not sure if I'll craft some guitarsolos for some of the songs, I guess we'll see about that in coming two weeks or so.

Big part of weekend went kind of into enjoying some live music. Saw 5 bands, most notably Pentagram and shot video set of all the bands. Only two bands' video set is already at youtube. In case if you want to check out some live stuff at youtube, here's my playlist for bands I've seen live.

Vocals recording, vol8 (and then some)

Finished recording the vocals for last song about an hour ago. Turned out really good again if you ask me (and why wouldn't you ask, huh). Listened the result once only, and then went straight into checking all the songs through in Reaper - checking and finetuning all the songs' vocal volume levels, and made all new bounces for each song.

So, ... now I have the first vocal demo package. And now I'll listen the package through few times to see how it works and if there is anything to fix in the so-called basic vocals. If there is, I'll try to do the fixes during the coming weekend - and if there isn't, I might start recording the expanded vocal lines.

I've started to feel that I'll get this package ready for releasing in December. I definitely want to get it finished before christmas. And I think I'm now aiming for a release date like ... 6th December. It would feel great to get it released on Finland's independence day. Yeah.

PS: Getting some nice inspiration tomorrow evening as I'm going to see Pentagram and some other bands. Mmmmm.

Vocals recording, vol7

Just finished tonight's vocal recording session. Let's begin this by putting initial feelings here instead of ending this blog post with it: How do I feel right now? I'm feeling amazing! So, yes - you can get the idea how tonight's recording session went. ^_^

Tonight's song under work was (and is) massive one. The longest one (11 minutes or so) and I knew beforehand what to expect - work. Simply because the lyrics are quite long, I've written some tricky words for me to spell (remember, I'm finnish, english is not my native language) and it's a long song. At the same time I was excited to get working with exactly this song and these lyrics. Because I remember how I felt when I first wrote these lyrics and then arranged them with the music. Even that I did arranging "mentally" (singing in my mind only) I was grinning as I noticed there were some magical sections. Sections where the music and the lyrics make an awesome mixture ...

... and as I dived into recording the vocals, I could sense that magic there. I thought this will turn out "pretty good & enjoyable". Then, as I got the song finished (about half an hour ago) and bounced a demo of it, went listening and expecting "pretty good", I almost started laughing! Because it felt so damn great to me, not just "pretty good" or anything like that. There's this certain ... let's say space doom magic in there. Ha! Like that wasn't enough, I followed my intuition once again (when I was recording the vocals) and again sort of mini repeat verses were born on the fly. And I have an idea for expanding them bit more sonically speaking as I get these initial vocals recorded first.

There! :)

Vocals recording, vol6

Another evening, another vocals recording session completed. Yeah!

This time I thought this track could be rather sweaty task, but it turned out to be quite easy instead. The explanation for this, I think, is the reason that this particular song has stuck to my mind with its' oddly fun repeat verse since its' creation. As I went through the song first before recording, I noticed that the arrangements I made late last summer were pretty much perfect. I didn't have to any fixes at all, just straight into recording from there. And ...

... the recording went smoothly. As with the other songs, I recorded layered vocals. Yet this is also one of the songs where some more vocals shall be recorded later, that's the idea anyway. Perhaps even already next weekend if time permits and the initial vocal recording have already been completed.

Two more songs to go, recording vocals. I have feeling they will be more demanding ones to work with. But I've been wrong in past, so who knows? One song per evening seems to be go amount to work with.

Vocals recording, vol5

Recorded vocals for next song on the list tonight. Bit funnily as I thought beforehand that this one should be rather easy task, not time consuming at all ... this turned out to be more demanding in some odd ways. It was hard to get the kind of emotionless, monotonic sound and approach needed. But in the end it seems I succeeded crafting the base vocal tracks for this song. While I say "next track" and this being number five on working list, it's not song number five on the album. :)

Three songs remaining, if this goes on like this I might be quite far next weekend already.

Vocals recording, vol4

Another evening session of vocals recording got completed about half an hour ago. Yeah. As I got home from work, I suddenly got an idea for making a little twist to the song's vocals I recorded yesterday - a sort of mini verse, and I went on recording it first and trying how it goes. As usual with following intuition, it worked awesomely! Yesterday I had a feeling like the song would need something more, but I didn't know what it was. Then today ... the idea came and I knew instantly that it will fill the void. So it did, too.

Then I went looking into the song I started working late yesterday - it's longer song and the lyrics are quite long, too. I thought it would take lots of time to get the vocals recorded but ... well, it wasn't more than some 2+ hours which isn't much at all. Considering I sang & recorded the lyrics twice, with two different vocal styles. And with a little surprising twist in the vocal style, too ... came out surprisingly good, methinks.

Now half the songs already have vocals recorded and as I've done small fixes here and there - these might well turn out to be the final vocals, too. That's how it starts to seem to me now. Feels good, especially considering that I'm recording the main vocals myself. This project is quite a massive project for one man project, yes, sure, but I'm not complaining. Not even a bit! ^_^

PS: Recently I played 2 song demos (containing vocals) to a good friend to see how he reacts to both the music and especially to the vocals. I didn't quite know what to expect, really. He was "very positively" surprised by the vocals - liking the sound of my voice, and he said that it's definitely very different sounding combination (layered vocals), unique to some extent. And fitting for space tales. Ha! Not bad reaction there. :) But the main thing is - as always - that I myself love what I do. Everything else is bonus.

Vocals exp...recording, vol3

Continued working with the vocals tonight. It's no longer feeling like I'd be experimenting with recording the vocals, as I found a working combination of layered vocals. Result is quite fitting considering the space theme of M4D - at the same time you could say it has some distant reminders of how the vocals were in past, but at the same time you could say it's quite different than how it used to be back in 2011. So far I've been recording the vocals alone, but I have a plan of adding yet extra layer of vocals ... for certain moments / points in the songs. You could call it Celtic Frost influence, but it still should be quite different, too. :)

I got vocals recorded for one new song tonight. I also re-recorded partially one of the other songs with vocals from past sessions. Now three songs have vocals. I still don't know if these will be the final vocals, but it's a good start for "getting there" ... trying to kind of combine traditional doom metal vocal style, and sort of doom/death vocal style. Mix in some Cynic influence (vocoders) ... yes, sounds like quite a soup. And then there's the idea of additional layer of vocals ... Huh. We'll see, we'll see ...

I also started recording bit different vocals for next song tonight - gotta continue with that in next session.

One thing is certain, though: This thing is progressing. Again.

Vocals experiment, vol2

Continued with the vocals experimentation tonight. With some good results! First I went and sang & recorded the song I tried experimenting yesterday - re-recorded the other channels vocals completely and the result turned out so much better. Now it feels it's approaching the vision I'm having for that song ...

Then I went and started looking other song's lyrics - noticed that I had to write some more lyrics for that song, mainly crafting a weird repeat verse of sorts and then the story returns to certain key point. Felt bit surprising that I had to twist so much more lyrics for the rather short song, but that's how it went ... so be it.

As I got the lyrics fully finished for that other song, I recorded all the lyrics for that song, channel 1. Clean(ish) vocals. Yes! Or should I say yikes? Following the intuition here. Then I went and recorded all the lyrics again, channel 2 - in all different style than yesterday. Combining the two styles the result is kind of surprising. In a good way.

That's not enough though, since I have an idea for getting yet another channel / layer of vocals for that second experiment, but I won't be doing that tonight. Simply because I need my voice to be in good state for tomorrow at my job. :) ... there's also a certain kind of simplistic choir idea for some vocal parts, in some of the songs - gotta see how it goes, lots of things to experiment. Seems that the long break from this project gave all new fire for continuing it and heading to the final stages of this album creating.

Vocals experiment, vol1

Spent some three hours tonight experimenting with recording vocals. A humble beginning of sorts, but it turned out rather interesting and even promising. Recorded one song's vocals twice - different vocals for two channels. Certainly not straight vocals in the traditional doom metal sense, ... but it feels fitting to experiment with scifi doom metal project, ha!

I don't know yet if these vocals shall be final ones for this song, quite probably not, but now I have a real clue about where I'm heading with the vocals. Gotta give these ears rest for one day and tomorrow evening I'll continue with the experiments. As I get the ball rolling, I think it will all go rather smoothly then. Hope so, anyway!

Mentally advancing

I had over 5 weeks complete break from not even touching the new material, mainly thanks to having started at new job. Yesterday I returned to the material as I listened it all through once. While listening, I noted how this unplanned (but kind of predictable) break came into perfect place: Now I could listen it all with fresh ears and with bit more objective mindset.

How did it feel now then? Well, first of all I didn't notice anything I would want to fix, but everything felt very smooth. Bit coarse, but in a good way. Still, smooth, flowing and very enjoyable to me. Time seems to flow fast even that it's about one hour long set. Good sign to me personally.

I should be getting the one guest intro from friend in the coming week or two, too. That's the only musical thing clearly still missing, from one specific song. I also have a feeling that as the vocals have been recorded, there might be place for some guitarsolo or two, here and there. We'll see how it goes. I still certainly aim to get this package finished during 2016.

Last set of lyrics completed

Just finished creating (and also arranging) the lyrics for the last remaining song. Came out really good and it makes me grin to think that it's not just a space tale but it's connected to some earlier space tales ... not necessarily by M4D but cross references in a Stephen King style. Not referencing to the King's tales of course, but you know. Some will spot the references, some will not.

Gotta see when it's fitting time to start do some vocal recording. Starting at new work tomorrow, so I no longer have all days free for M4D. But anyway, once again progress is evident. Shaping nicely.

Back from the (space) trip

Came back from the trip abroad already late last monday, but have been otherwise occupied. Well, finally continued working with M4D today with writing lyrics and things went good: Finished and finetuned lyrics for two songs and also got rough arrangements done for them as well. So now only one song needs lyrics anymore and that's it.

More lyrics completed, again

Just finished writing new set of lyrics. This time it's related to massive things that can be identifical to each other, without acknowledging (the confusion master) the existence of each other at all - yet the both have the same grand source of origin. Was that clear enough? Yeah, thought so. ^_^

Well, now there's only one more song without lyrics, and two lyrics need to be arranged, too. Don't know if I'll work more on lyrics today or not, but in any case there will be one week long break from M4D for now. Little trip ahead. Not space trip though, but who knows how it'll inspire, ...

More lyrics completed + Trailer is online

Just finished writing one cosmic tale (of rather large proportions) more. I even did the arrangements pretty much on the fly while writing - listening to the song while writing and finetuning lyrics according to the music. Two more songs need lyrics anymore and one song's lyrics need to be arranged.

But let's get to the real matter - the trailer is here. Enjoy!  ^_^

Another listening session(s) & trailer under work

Early this morning I did new bounces of all the eight songs and listened them twice through in peace. To get the feeling how they feel now with what I think will be the final drums (like stated yesterday). Sounds really enjoyable, I'm satisfied, yes. Well, I thought I'd go into working with lyrics then, but suddenly I got the idea to start crafting the trailer (which I've been thinking for weeks already, certain idea for trailer) and I followed the intuition right there.

I spent the whole day working with the trailer which grew into monstrous space oddity of sorts. It contains also some ambient soundscapes which will not be on the album itself but it gives bit different feel to trailer and ... well, a trailer is a trailer. My video editing software is rendering the full hd version of the trailer as I write this, but I think it'll go into youtube tomorrow at earliest. It's a piece with multiple (emphasis on multiple!) video clips layered on top of each other etc. Probably the heaviest trailer I've ever done for my projects from processor's point of view ... well, it's certainly also musically heaviest trailer I've done so far.

I have a feeling I'll work with lyrics tomorrow as it's friday and the trailer might well go online tomorrow - if that happens, I'll announce it here.

Finetuning beats' sound

I haven't yet continued with writing the rest tales, but instead I've spent some day or two tweaking the drums' levels, listening, tweaking, listening again, tweaking again ... etc. It paid off as tonight I got into point where I can say that now the overall sound of drums is good. Clearly was good to have a break (before these tweaking sessions) from listening the tunes so that I could finish the tweaking in a satisfying way.

Soundwise speaking the material is now pretty much completed - just lacking the vocals of course ... and possible some guitar solos in case if there's space for them. Gotta see how it goes only after lyrics are completed, vocals fully arranged and recorded. If there will be any solos, they will be recorded as the very last thing. Yeah.

I think having a little break from writing lyrics will help me crafting the missing pieces. Though there will be a full week long break from any of this during next week ... but one week feels like nothing considering it's way over 5 years since debut album came out, ha!

As the final point, here's a quickie screenshot of one song within studio software, part of the song in a partial view - just to show that some songs do contain bit more "space elements" and in multiple layers, too. Some songs have minimal space elements, then there are songs like this. See the sh... errr ... pic with your own eyes.

Written into forms

Took a few days break from it all and today has been really productive day when it comes to lyrics. Lost count of how many / what exactly I worked on today, since I touched bit everything here and there but ... the main thing is that currently I have lyrics completed for five songs already. Yeah! Only three more songs need lyrics. And it feels just exciting to be able to craft some more tales. Song titles so far are also something that make me grin. Each of the five lyrics have already final titles to them.

And it's not just that but I've also listened the certain songs with arrangements in my mind - and yeah, I've done preliminary arrangements for pretty much all the five songs' lyrics, too. Feels really good, once again. The lyrics deal with more or less matters related to science fiction, space, science, time, space travel, ... tales varying from not too wide scale into kind of gigantic scale, depending on viewpoint. There are also little connections to some other projects I've done ... evident to me, but not at all necessary to other people.

It's like one ancient album title goes: Another perfect day.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.