9-20.9.2006 – Drums / JukkaOn Saturday 9.9.2006, we gathered together after approximately two months long demo recording break. Schedule included traditional acts like setting up the instruments and talking bullshit. But we also managed to play through a couple of songs. On Sunday we didn’t play at all since we had something else to do...
From Monday to Wednesday we went through the new songs and made the final changes to them. It’s really rewarding to notice that making a demo really helps with certain things. Some things that sounded really good when we made the demo needed to be completely re-arranged. So even though making a demo from the new songs sometimes feels like a waste of time, it’s the only way to be able to notice that certain things that sound great to you are complete nonsense. Luckily at this point we can still change them.
On Thursday morning Ewo picked me up from the hotel and our journey to Petrax Studios started. Tuomas stayed in Helsinki to take part to a release party of a new Donald Duck book called ”Rokkikukot”. I and Ewo picked up the drums from our rehearsal place and headed toward Hollola. As you can see and especially hear from one of our video blogs, the journey was once again full of stupid and meaningless small talk. But we had a lot of fun and that’s all that matters. After getting to Petrax Studios we took our equipments in and Ewo headed back to Helsinki to join Tuomas in Donald Duck book’s release party. Kai Hahto (Wintersun), who we had an honour to get to take care of tuning drums, arrived in the evening.
On Friday morning we set up the drums with Mr. Hahto and he started to search for the desired sound. At the noon Mr. Karmila, Tuomas and Mr. TeeCee arrived and we made the last changes in drum sounds. The desired sound was found surprisingly easily and great thanks for it goes to Mr. Hahto. More than ever we paid attention to the sounds since real sounds are planned to be used more than ever in a final mix. Let’s see how it turns out to be. At the end of a day we recorded one nice song and headed to sauna.
When the first beams of sun lit Saturday morning, we started the first actual recording day. Quick sound checks confirmed that no big changes in sounds needed to be done and we started to go through the first songs. The first song was a low tempo song which could be used as background music for a North-African sightseeing. This song is not that difficult to play but because of the low tempo we needed to make sure that the beat was running smoothly. A second song recorded was a 14 minutes ”mammoth” in which parts change from a basic beat to extremely heavy ”Pantera” kind of riff blast. But the changes between the different parts worked really well, so recording a song was a piece of cake. Then we recorded a song which had a ”demo” name ”Woods” which comes from traditional Finnish tunes which this song has. Last one for the day was new album’s cover song. This time the cover song is not originally a ”real” song but more like a great piece of art which has one of the most beautiful themes ever made. Original song doesn’t have any lyrics but we added them and without forgetting the original atmosphere of the tune tried to turn it into a ”real” song.
At the end of a day everybody agreed that we could be really happy for the result of the day. We reserved 10 days for the drum recordings because we definitely don’t want to do anything in a hurry. But even though we didn’t work for long today (4-5 hours) we got 4 songs recorded (including one 14 minutes monster), so we were really happy.
We started to work on Sunday being still satisfied from previous day’s results. First in line was a song which is build around Marco’s great riff and Tuomas’s awesome chorus. In a C-part of this song we changed the traditional 16th note double bass drum beat to a bit more interesting 16th note double bass drum/snare beat. Not that difficult beat to play but definitely more interesting. Then we recorded a song made by Emppu which includes strong old school heavy influences. Especially the C-part before the last chorus includes quite nice blast. Third song was a song which is probably the straightest of the songs going to the new album and it has quite a strong hit potential. We ended the day by recording a ballad which doesn’t have that much drum parts so it was an easy job for me.
Again being extremely satisfied for the results of the day we decided to try to make recording a bit more challenging by getting a hangover for the next day. Emppu came to visit us and after we’d gone to sauna, checked out the new Dream Theater DVD and raised a few glasses we already had a wanted challenge on our way. But the challenge hunt didn’t end yet. It continued until the early hours and included recording session for a great blues song. Song is well recorded and some day it will probably be released for people to hear but probably it won’t end up being in our next album...
Monday morning came after well slept 4 hours. Sand in my mouth and feeling numb I tried to get myself started. But even before opening my eyes I was sure our search for a challenge had been successful. Pro is always a pro!!!
The start of the recordings was delayed since the other guys also had problems getting themselves started. Eventually we dragged ourselves into the studio and recorded three songs. First one was maybe the simplest song in the new album which in all its simplicity works extremely well. Second song recorded has a bit of the same mood as Wish I Had An Angel has. Last song for the day of suffering was a potential first single for the next album. This song has great bass drum rhythms both in verses and in C-part and somehow it succeeds to bluff its listener to think it’s an easy song even though it’s actually one of the most difficult ones on the new album.
Since we really didn’t feel like partying we went to sleep to be able to give 100% for the last recording day.
On Tuesday morning we woke up with a smile in our faces knowing that there were only two more songs to be recorded and after that… PARTY! We started by recording a calm ballad in which we needed to focus on getting the beat running smoothly because tempo is really slow. When playing beat on a slow tempo, the beat easily sounds unsteady which makes the whole song to sound unsteady. We succeeded really well, and after a little break it was time to take over the last song. It was a song which in Nightwish-scale is extremely fast and goes on the very limits of player’s abilities. After being sure this song was well recorded it was time to party. First we took a fast trip to the nearest liquer store and then went to sauna. In the early hours we again recorded some great stuff which might be released someday, somehow.
On Wednesday morning we packed our cars, said goodbyes and started our trip back home feeling tired but at the same time really happy and satisfied. We had drums recorded for another album of a band which has no commercial potential what so ever. Things could be worse.
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