Sunday September 19th (day 14)

1. Thursday.

Well, as a briefing on last week from my perspective, my Thursday was filled with work, soundcheck at Tavastia, work again, company party, Finntroll gig and then that Marduk gig. Needless to say, I was a bit worried about how in the name of Gods I can manage all this without fucking something up, but luckily the producer in me guided me through this hell of a schedule.

2. Friday.

As a result, I had a rather unpleasant workday on Friday at the office, but luckily it was later compensated by carrying large instrument to the studio, badmouthing Ville´s vocals and drinking ten beers. You know, strictly for medicational purposes only. Then again, I don´t remember when was the last time I have laughed so much than we did collectively on friday. Combining demo vocal takes, a collective horrible hangover/ tiredness and beer is a godly mixture sometimes for what it comes to numerous hysterical rolling- on- the- floor- laughter seizures, bad wooden- leg- jokes and sheer mistakes on the vocal lines.

Note to self: Next time avoiding using the word "Pedo" on the lyrics in order to avoid this.

3. Saturday.

I felt much better on Saturday, so we ended up doing keyboards for two songs as Ville already wrote. At 8 PM, we decided it was a marvellous idea to drive all four (!!) cars home and organize a split- taxi- ride back to studio for all of the car- owners in order to....yep, you guessed it- drink beer! While the other guys were too busy composing some bad acoustic Irish music and drinking that beer, I spent a couple of hours in the studio booth still polishing the stuff and playing like it was 1997 (yes, insert a bad synth- BM- joke here, please). At 23 I was ready to throw the keyboards out of the window and we decided to spend more time in drinking. A wise choice, I must say.
We spent the rest of the evening listening to bad music and FAGO KVLT BANDS, some going to sauna, all drinking beer and various other alcoholic beverages such as Koskenkorva. Of course raw, you silly. We´re vikings and ÄIJÄ. HEVI! VITTU! JEE MEITSI! 666!

4. Sunday.

So, about that Sunday. This time for real, I swear.

It started well.

Sender: *hidden for protecting random Antifa attacks*
Received: 4:52 AM

ÄIJÄmeininki! Kossua! PS. En tule studiolle klo 11. No problem.
PPS. Jukalla on avaimet.
PPPS. Sieg Heil!

That particular SMS didn´t luckily wake me up, as I crawled from the bed at 9:30, ready to get to the studio. But as you can judge yourself, some people had apparently drank booze until 5 AM, so after a quick call- up- round we decided it would be best for everyone that we´re starting the day a bit later than usual, which still got even more fucked up and we ended up starting 13:00. How professional!

After working for a couple of hours, we got some visitors from a Finnish pop...erm, goth... ERMMM. *snicker*. band. They had a party in the next room´s studio. Fuck no, I thought and squeezed my car keys even tighter in my pocket. While some other guys decided to crack some beers open, I was enjoying my Gatorade.

(Meanwhile, Ville was busy trying to update our public image into a more futuristic one and I tried desperately to re- design Mitja´s guitar FX box.)

We got some more songs recorded and even had some time for some serious experimenting. Funeral Church Organ = Viking. Right? Well, at least it´s fucking FUNERAL DOOM.
After goofing around with the synths for 7 hours, we finally had everything we needed and were ready to party....I mean going home. Which I did by my trusty car, thus avoiding the temptation of getting plastered with old friends but propably saving my upcoming marriage. :D

I´m too old for this. Luckily I can´t drink anything alcoholic until the next weekend when we have the choir- recordings. *grabs tighter on his C- vitamined juice bottle at the office*

And guess what, dear diary? I decided to use the Moogs, Burzums (!!) and Mellotrons from the demo versions after all. I´d say that was propably 4-5 hours wasted on keyboard tracks that were played at the studio but never will be used after all. Well, no- one will propably give shit about that, but I can sleep better knowing that the keyboards sound exactly how they should. :)

Over and out,

H



PS: One of the best lines ever done in a song, "Sateenkaari päättyi nakkikioskille" (Leevi and the Leavings: "Pohjois- Karjala", 1986) got even more melancholic and wretched when seemingly, our rainbow ended in...yes, it ended into a pile of emptied beer cans.

Saturday September 18th (day 13)

Keyboard wizardry and magick!

Today was the day. We were ready to unleash Henri all around the control room with his keyboards. Of course, we had to be a bit cautious, all the time.

We started with an official comparison (as approved by Tekniikan Maailma) on sleighs, moogs and burzums. Henri and Markus both had their keyboards, and we used sounds from both depending on where they fit the best. Henri also played some timpani, and Markus played some church bells.

We were left finished with songs #1 and #3, and then went to the sauna.

You see, even the most hard working musicians have to relax at times.

- Ville

Link of the day: www.necrocockworld.com

Friday September 17th (day 12)

Today we drank beer. And some Koskenkorva.

The day began with me and Mitja recording some cool guitars which will not be used on this album.

Henri and Markus entered the studio around 5pm, and Jukka a bit later, each of them lamenting over their hangovers. Sniff. Hear the world's smallest violin play just for you. Who told you to drink that much last night?

Oh yeah, it was me.

Or someone else.

We listened to Mitja's guitar solo and it was, well... interesting. We also listened to Marko's ethnic percussive add-ons. They involved some drums, but also keychains and bare male stomachs.

Most of the evening was spent with vocal arrangements, as I watched Henri throwing half of my ideas to the trash bin and making me do some of the demo vocals again. Now it sounds a lot better than if I did it just by myself, you know, even the most genius make mistakes some times.

And the vocals? I'm just talking about demos here. They will be recorded later on in the middle of the forest, in a location that will never be revealed to the public. Or even to ourselves.

Life just got a great deal more exciting.

- Ville

Thursday September 16th (day 11)

Day Eleven. Not that band though. Time is flying!

I started the day around 9am, when I came to the studio all by myself (such peace of mind!) to record my demo vocals. Now we have at least *something* in place of every verse and chorus, so Henri will have his chance tomorrow to see if some arrangements are to be changed. He'll probably throw all my ideas to the garbage bin anyway, hah!

Seriously folks, I think it sounds massive. We seem to have a lot more vocals here than what we're used to. That of course means a lot more lyrics and helluva lot more torture. More about that later.

Whatever, I am now sauna fresh and anxious to get back into the control room to hear what Mitja recorded for his guitar solo. Meanwhile, Marko is bulding his set of percussives for some supercool ethnic overdubs. Anxious to hear that as well.

As Spede once said, "it's time to take my beer". In a couple of hours we'll hit the road to see Finntroll (where Henri is playing as well) and later on, Marduk (where Henri will be attending as a background drinker).

Sorry, but I have to pick a new album from my iPod.

- Ville

Wednesday September 15th (day 10)

So.

The bass was originally recorded using the clean signal only, because we decided to leave the search for THE bass sound for a later stage, ie. when we would have more time to focus on that. We found THE sound on Sunday and left home happy.

Today we re(v)amped the bass through, eh... a guitar amp and a guitar cabinet, to achieve THE sound we were looking for. It is, in a word, crushing. In more familiar terms, it could sound something like a broken bulldozer. We love it.

Now the drums, the bass and all the rhythm guitars are in order and we're listening to how it sounds.

Mitja is waiting to record his guitar solo, while I am also waiting to record my demo takes for the vocals. You see, I still have to figure out a few vocal arrangements and hence I will record everything at least once to hear how it actually will sound like. Mitja also has to compose his solo first. We won't linger here for too long, but if you don't hear of us after this, don't call the police yet as we will surely continue tomorrow.

- Ville

Sunday September 12th (Day 9)

Today we used acid.

That of course consequences seeing an alien pussy.

These dudes know how to rock.

This guy we hired him only to watch tv. Thank u Spinefarm!

Finally some meaningful photo.

Matrix. Fail.

With this piece of shit we're going to mix the album.

An organic guitar player. Yes it's that hot inside!

As you can see, Marko paid a visit to the studio with his camera. We also re-recorded some rhythm guitars (again), so those should be done with by now. Found the perfect bass sound and will start with reamping that shit on Wednesday. More about that later.

Good night!

- Ville

Saturday September 11th (day 8)

UUUUUHHHH, what a day.

The mixing console works again, but the air condition isn´t.

It got really hot in the control room already yesterday, but today we reached 37c!!!

I played rest of the songs today but when Henri came to check out what we´ve done, he found heaps of mistakes and wrong riffs, due to the fact that we couldn´t concentrate anymore in the heat. 10 hours in the heat was too much.

Apart from those minor problems, everything goes smoothly.

I need a beer.

BTW,

Ville is eating chicken nuggets that look really disgusting!

They can´t make leather jackets out of chicken skin, so they put it in a form of a nugget/food?

Friday September 10th (day 7)

The sound is still there, worry not. You see, the most ultimate group of studio magicians, which includes Jukka (engineer), Mitja (guitar player) and me (janitor), never pussies out. The guitar sounds as violent as a drunken executioner and that's the way we like it, aha.

Mitja already recorded song #7 and after checking out some details he's ready to start with another one, while I'm having lunch. Which, quoting Henri, really has enough chili for me to see through time! You see, there's no use for common sense in Moonsorrow sessions, in anything.

- Ville

Yesterday we went through ENGL, Peavey, Fractal Audio Axe FX and Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier to find the best, ugliest and most buzzing sound. We finally found the right attitude from Mesa Boogie, an amp that i´ve never liked before.

It´s now 4 pm and i´ve played half of the songs.

But suddenly the mixing console made a loud snapping sound and we lost all the functions in it.

Nearest maintenance for such thing is in Germany or something.

So i think we must quit for today.

FUKK

Mitja

Hurrah!

Nino, the grand master of the Sonic Pump empire came to the studio, despite his aching hangover and fixed the console in 4 minutes and 20 seconds.

Mitja finished his take for song #5 and now we're re-recording over some mistakes ("mis-take" as in its literal meaning), while Henri's Harley Davidson is anxiously waiting outside to get started. You see, even producers can't have their beers before they've driven their bikes home.

Meanwhile, I can.

- Ville

Thursday September 9th (day 6)

Either I have become worse player or the new songs are absolutely, horribly, misanthropically hard for the guitar department. Then again, I´m pretty sure that the "ok, having four different progressions of a chord within 2 seconds while using at least four or five strings simultaneously" had something to with it, though.

And now some interesting facts:

In Moonsorrow, I split all the rhythm guitar arrangements in a way that most of the time, there´s pretty much "one 12- stringed electric guitar" playing in the songs instead of two 6- stringed guitars playing the exact same stuff. And as the parts are divided in a quite late period, I (as I have originally composed, arranged and played them to the demos, having then been playing and rehearsing all the parts for some time) have some seriously hard time sometimes to remember what was my part again and what is Mitja going to play later.

It´s a bit double- edged sword who has it harder, me or Mitja as while I´m stuck with too much information and also being the worse guitar player of us two, he´s stuck with unknown songs, riffs and goddamn chord progressions to figure out. :D

So! After some time, I actually managed to pull the riffs out within reasonable time limit, and we were ready to start adding some serious feedbacks. Which of course meant that I played quite a many parts of the album again while standing in a small cabin with a HUUUUGE guitar amp blowing in a 110 dB volume onto my face. Luckily I had ear protection, except for that one time. Now what did you say again?

As I had now performed my rhythm- guitar- duties. (Don´t get me started what´s still left... :< ) Mitja´s guitar sound was almost there when we left the studio yesterday. Let´s see if that screechy, midd-ly swirling noise of chaos is still there when I return to the studio after work or have the guys pussied out.

Speaking of which, gotta get to the office.
Laters,

The Fat Bastard.

Wednesday September 8th (day 5)

So, we arrived to Sonic Pump Studios this morning to start with the guitar tracks. The first thing we found out was that there is no more smoking inside the building anymore! And, just outside the front door there is a road construction with some angry construction men.

However, one other Finnish artist WAS allowed to smoke inside. Actually, even inside the recording booth. But that's another story. We're quite not as far with our careers than him anyway.

And we're not far with the recordings either. As I said, we're just starting with the guitars. After some technical annoyance we got ready to experiment with the guitar sound switching cabinets and mics and whatnot. I guess it went smoothly, because I took the option to go to the sauna and let the guitar players (both of them) and the engineer decide about the sound. What could I possibly say about it anyway? I'm just the bassist, remember! And I hate guitar playing. In my opinion, it's useless pastime.

So, I went to the sauna and I'm still on that path. Very refreshing. It clearly sounds like they're already recording something. I might check it out later.

- Ville

Monday September 6th

Otari strikes back!

This retard has a genious hairdresser.

Retardo Pagano

Sometimes engineers look very clever too.

Artsy Faggot here ladies and gentlemen!

Today we haven't been doing absolutely anything sane.

Sunday September 5th (day 4)

Good ol' Otari was exhumed and abused to achieve the natural shit sound for the drums 'n bass.

Yay!

We also nailed song #3 yesterday, so the future is looking really bright now. You see, we'll exit Finnvox after today and continue with guitars on Wednesday. That'll happen in another location, which will be revealed in due time.

Today, we're playing mostly SLOW music.

- Ville

Vice Captain's log, 13:11. Technical problems / keyboard retardation.

- Ville

Yo hobos!

It's me again. Everything that had to be done from my part and from the part of the drummer is done. Killer drumming and killer bass lines, as I said. And also "some" bass slides, which we took the most time with. "Why", you ask. Because!

Now we're waiting for the tape engineer to set everything in place. As Mitja clearly hinted, we ARE using some kvlt old-school analog methods for the drums.

The title of the album will be "Funeral Retardation" and it will be really slow.

- Ville

Saturday September 4th (day 3)

Aye.

We had to re-record everything. And with everything I mean everything.

We now have a new full take for song #1, including the drums and the bass, and admittedly the performance is a lot "sharper" than yesterday. Going to continue with maybe #5 or some other, depends on the drummer and his mood.

Having gone through all this hassle I guarantee it's gonna be a killer album with killer drumming and killer bass lines!

I'm off for a cigarette and then some more playing. After all, playing is what we came here for. Mitja will probably keep you up to date with the proceedings of the day later on.

- Ville

Henri came to the studio with his 5 year old son (still four for a couple of months! ^^ - H ), a very promising drummer and engineer.

We made sure that everything sounded better than yesterday, so Marko and Ville moved on to the song number #5.

I left the studio early to practice at home.

Studio rule number one:

Don´t let guitar players plug or unplug anything in the studio.

When i left today, i managed to unplug the power cable of headphone monitors...

Link of the day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8CtWUY7nvg

Mitja

Friday September 3rd (day 2)

Everything was a piece of cake today!

We came to the studio at 10am sharp, as usual, and started the day with some coffee and listening to yesterday's test takes (we didn't manage to record anything that useful yesterday, but spent the time exploring different drum solutions).

Before the end of the day we now have two full takes for songs #1 and #5, including both the drums and the bass. The overproducer just walked in and started nitpicking about how this and that is out of place, so we have to see if there is something to re-record tomorrow. Nah, it's only rock'n'roll, as he just said. We'll see.

It would be time to go home right now so I would make it to see the football match between Finland and Moldova. More postings tomorrow.

- Ville

RIP L.M.

Thursday September 2nd (day 1)

We got to the legendary Finnvox studios this morning and set up the drums.

We are working at the B-studio which is the biggest room of the studio complex, in order to achieve the biggest possible drum sound.

And with big i mean organic, naturally large, no silicon implanted/software manipulated modern day metal sound, but something bombastic, yet living. No pun intended.

Ville will play bass at the same time with Marko since we want to have a real interaction with drums and bass this time.

I assume that bass will have a strong role on this album anyway.

Ville is changing strings to his bass, and when he´s done, we´re ready to put something to tape.

Yes you read right we´ll record on tape!

Over and out.

Mitja

Wednesday September 1st (day 0)

Yo Mofos!

We started rehearsing for the studio with drum messiah Marko Tarvonen. We drank two cups of coffee and played for 2 or 3 hours before the bass amp exploded. We got halfway through to the last song anyway, so we packed the drums and got ready for the studio.

Excitement!

- Ville

www.moonsorrow.com

In the studio!

Here you'll be able to follow the recording process of the 6th Moonsorrow full-lenght album. Keep checking back for updates!