Studio Report, Guitar - Day 1 (Pieter)

Ok, time to test out some amps.

Next to the WARP we had several other amps at our disposal,
so we tried to mix and match those to get the sound we were looking for. We decided to use the Marshall combined with the WARP.

Only one more thing left to do (besides recording the album :-p),
choose the AXE

Again, we had several options such as Hamer, Jackson, Ibanez (and some other exotic things), but I went for the Gibson which gave me a fat but compact sound.

Some tuning ... and ready to roll.

We took our time testing out the amps and guitars, so it was already late in the afternoon that day when we started recording.
I only recorded a couple of songs to get started and get acquainted with the studio.

A lot of work to be done ...

Studio Report, Guitar - Pre-recording

Before starting the recording we had a little shopping to do

We had a few ideas about possible amps before entering the store, but since we were there, why not check them all

We tried Engl, Mesa Boogie, Marshall, Crate, ... but ended up liking the sound of the Hughes and Kettner WARP the most.

Not only does it look evil ... it sounds evil as well
A warm heavy sound without becoming too "muddy".
It will make a good companion for my Marshall amp, so we hope :)

And boy, is this thing loud !!
I've learned this the hard way by cranking it up too loud at home when plugging in my guitar. A headache for the evening, but hey :p

Off to the studio to take it for a spin ...

Studio Report, Bass - Recording

After creating the sound we could kick off with the recording.

The purpose was that the bass would fill the music in a way never provoking, never coming in the spotlights
but adding a lot of deepness to the rest of the music.

That is why several pieces were simplified because one note sounded a lot fuller than a combination of notes.
I hope that this idea will work out.

Let's wait and see (hear) what the rest of the band will ad to the puzzle ...

Studio Report, Bass - Pre-recording

The first day we went to the studio was to create a sound which would match the bombastic drumsound of our friend Bru.

To obtain this goal, we went shopping at Key Music where we found what we were looking for.

What do you think our choice was? We went for the Ampeg sound of course. But unlike most musicians, we made a combination of a basic amp with a 6x10 speaker cabinet.

We thought this made a perfect combination to create a warm boosting sound, a bit like a French Mistral, warm, strong and above all, refreshing.

Studio Report - Drums, Day 5

Ooooh yeah, I'm on the roll! A few last drum-tracks, very easy and smooth... aaaand cut!

After nailing the drums on tape we moved on to the percussion parts.

My favorite drum-store supplied me with a big 29" Timpali and a giant gong.

Again we pursued the best recording possible and we moved the giant timpali into a small room with hard-reflecting walls and a dozen microphones. At this point we re-invented the meaning for the word BOMBASTIC. Some parts of the album are recorded with 6 different timpali-parts on top of each other.

Smack in the gong-parts with that and my piece of the pie is a wrap.

... these last few days were MAXIMUM ROCK & ROLL.

Or as Nick from studio Midas said: Lets maximum rock !

Studio Report - Drums, Day 4

A new recording day after a good night sleep, let's hit those skins with the sticks!

Today we recorded the more difficult songs. Up-tempo, a few nice double-bass parts, some polyrhythmics and a massive load of potential "bone breaking" grooves.
This is where my drum-pedagogue's advice came in. Using the J.P. Komack rudiment techniques, the Bruno Meeus groove skills and the Dom Famularo hard hitting "spaghetti-arms"- power... man I'm having a ball!