With a one week perspective, it's almost like you have to ask yourself...what happened? The first two months of 2012 has without a doubt been the most intense in my life. Of course it's not an ideal situation to record under a tight deadline, nevertheless it's something you have to handle. Guess we'll have the answer to that specific question in about a month from now, regardless if we want it or not. Once again this is a very honest recording, where you can really hear, sense, feel, I mean almost smell the…Read more
Viewing: Studio Reports - View all posts
Studio report nr.8 (The year of the dragon)
To say the schedule's been tight lately, would be a vast understatement. On top of that, corrupt files and missing solos that eventually ended up in 13 hours of troubleshooting yesterday. When things like this occur during your first day of mixing, you really need to remind yourself that music is fun. Nevertheless, here we are Tomas Bodin (sound engineer) and me mixing the new HFMC opus "POWERPLAY" and let me tell you, we really grabbed the bull by the horn. We started with the "epic" of the album, "The…Read more
Studio report nr.7 (Double speed)
It actually hit us like a bomb, when we (Tomas Bodin and me, both very occupied with the upcoming HFMC record as well as the opus "Crime Of The Century") realized the plan, The Flower Kings recordlabel Inside Out/Century Media, has for The Kings in the nearest future. The deadline for the master is 120303. Considering the fact that we started the recording at 120123, that's the world record right there, when it comes to producing a Flower Kings album. I spent all of yesterday at the "Cosmic Lodge" (nice to…Read more
Studio report nr.6 (Special brew)
On "FuturePast" I was very keen on using my voice in as many different ways as possible, trying to avoid sounding the same all the time. Everything to try to please you listeners of course! On this recording the word of the day has been "GO FOR IT!" By that I mean, when the song requires I've been giving it all I've got...meaning less control but on the other hand, more attitude. Frankly I'm happy with most of it, while I'm still trying to get used to some of my vocal contributions. What I do know though…Read more
Studio report nr. 5 (Rocking Reckless again)
As I've been doing lots of vocals lately, I've come to realize myself that the lyrics to some of the songs are more personal than I thought in the first place. Except for songs like "Venice CA", "Waves" (which are very personal and positive) and "The world keeps turning", I guess the lyrics are a bit darker this time, dealing with war, religion and other "serious" topics. As I've had a pretty turbulent year, maybe I chose to write about those things because it somehow reflected what I've been going through…Read more
Studio report nr.4 (The storm)
Music is such a powerful thing! When I was younger, I thought by now I would have lost my passion for music. During this weekend I've learnt that my passion for music is even stronger than before. There were moments during this session that moved me in a way I've never experienced before. Just as I said, music is a powerful thing!
In the middle of the "storm" we managed to get a whole lotta work done. Tomas is very fast and effective in the studio and since I like to be very well prepared myself, we moved…Read more
In the middle of the "storm" we managed to get a whole lotta work done. Tomas is very fast and effective in the studio and since I like to be very well prepared myself, we moved…Read more
Studio report nr.III (The somewhat smaller guy on the second floor)
I must have been "dizzy" last night. I really don't know if I should laugh or cry? In studio report nr. II yesterday, I mentioned I could go on for "ages" in the studio 20 years ago, of course I meant 30 years ago. It's hillarious for Christ's sake! However just as I stated yesterday, that's certainly not the case nowadays. Anyway, we've now completed recording the backing tracks. During these 3 days we've been working on 8 songs and I have to say we've been a lot more careful this time compared to the…Read more
Studio report nr.II (Lying down feeding with the doubles)
It's very common that you're in a more relaxed mood as soon as you've done your first day in the studio. That's what it was like today but it's a good feeling though. It's just that you have to remind the lads and even yourself sometimes, to play with the kind of "energy" the song requires (the older you get, the ears gets more and more tired). I have to confess, even your head gets tired faster nowadays. 20 years ago you could record for 15 hours in a row before someone reminded you that maybe it's time…Read more
Studio report nr.I (The earthquake)
It's in fact walking distance from where I live to Big Jambo Studios. It's almost surreal to live that close to a nice studio like this. At 10 o clock sharp all the members of HFMC, sound engineer Jouni Niemi and Tomas Bodin entered the doors and within 5 minutes the "vibe" was there. To you who've met the band, I guess you know what I'm talking about. It's actually hard to describe but it's a kind of "lose and funky feeling", with a giant laugh just around the corner most of the time. After the compulsory…Read more
Studio Report No. 14 (April 15, 2010)
The funny thing is that the mixes gets better and better, at least that what it feels like. In this process you do small adjustments along the way, which constantly improves the sound. Because of this fact we had to go back and take a look at the early mixes and "tweak" up the sound a little here and there. Last night we (almost) finished the song "Only my blood", which means that we've now mixed the 4 "epics" on the album (even if they're not even close to "Garden of dreams"=1 hour!, or some of the other…Read more
Studio Report No. 13 (February 15, 2010)
Last week I finished the vocals and we're now lifting in the solos and the percussion and preparing for the mix. Since my voice will be the only one you'll hear on the album, it's been very important to me to use it in as many different ways as possible, so that it won't get "static". It's the same with the harmonies. I've been very keen to find the "right" expression and sound to those as well. Even though I've mostly made all the vocals in the morning, starting at 9.00 o clock and as most of the musicians…Read more
Studio Report No. 12 (December 15, 2009)
We've been working quite intensively in the studio recently and a lot of things has been done. It's funny though, the more you record, the more you realize it seems to be left to do. Some things (especially when it comes to sounds) works out just fine, while other sounds can take hours to find. I know all this but I somehow seems to avoid that fact. Actually I feel a little bit sorry for Kjell, since he had everything left to do (except for the Hammond) after the session we did week 21. For the moment now…Read more
Studio Report No. 11 (October 14, 2009)
Lately I've been spending some time at Petrus studio, laying down some vocals. I've done lead on a couple of the songs and I've also done some background vocals. Kjell has been very busy in his studio, since he had to rerecord some of the stuff because of a computer breakdown, or if it was the program he's working in, I'm not sure? However I did get some of the missing files because he was able to cheat the computer, he managed to get in through the backdoor so to speak. Of the 6 songs he's been working on…Read more
Studio Report No. 10 (August 28, 2009)
Another week has come to an end, I'm sitting here with a glass of Jameson trying to find out what the hell happened. First of all, Kjell is up and running in his studio and he's really on to something, Thomsson has fixed the bass on a couple of songs and me and Petrus has "cleaned up" the songs (get rid of stuff you don't need, like guiding vocals etc). I have been torturing Anton for hours and hours with him playing 6 and 12-string acoustic guitar. He will contribute with this on "The Ultimate Thrill" and…Read more
Studio Report No. 9 (August 21, 2009)
Today I woke up with mixed feelings. Now I've actually done all my guitar parts for the album. It's been quite a job. I've never played so much on an album before, acoustic guitars, electric rythmguitars, lot's of harmony playing (my parts) and some slide. I've used 5 guitars and 3 amps in order to try to get it right. Hopefully I've achieved what I was supposed to do. The studio session yesterday did'nt turn out a success though. The idea was to record mandolin and 12-string acoustic guitar with Anton, but…Read more
Studio Report No. 8 (August 14, 2009)
To tell you the truth, I almost freaked out! Since week 21, I've spent 2 days in the studio with my acoustic guitars. Petrus (the sound engineer) has been on tour with Uppsala Stadsteater and then on vacation. It's the same story with Anton and Kjell, they've been touring, gigging and been on holiday. Yesterday we kickstarted the recording again. I did some guitar overdubbs, some "twin lead" harmony guitar (my parts) and changed some of the "clean" guitars. Don't ask me from which planet mr. Lindsjö comes…Read more
Studio Report No. 7 (June 25, 2009)
2 days of acoustic guitars. Jesus what a session! I did'nt realize how much of that, it actually was/is in the music. At the same time I'm really glad it is that way, because all of the songs are written on an acoustic. So therefore it feels natural, to have it quite prominent in the recorded music as well. This time around we recorded at Petrus studio at home. We tried some different places in his house but we ended up in the kitchen. When it comes to sound, Petrus is more accurate than me, which I'm very…Read more
Studio Report No. 6 (May 25, 2009)
I came back to my house late sunday evening, that means I've been home for 3 days now. How do I feel? What are my impressions of the studio session? First of all I must admit I was quite nervous before the recording. I mean you never know, even though the lads in the band are quite experienced, as soon as you got your headphones on and the record button is pushed, it's very easy to get stiff. You don't dare to play the stuff you've been doing when you've been rehearsing, you lose the power and it sounds…Read more
Studio Report No. 5 (May 24, 2009)
I'm sorry we're in a hurry, we have to finish everything today. The keyword for these 5 days have been "First we prog, then we blog, then we grog! (swedish for vodka and soda, in this case "Smulgubbe", it actually tastes terrific. Ask Kjell, next time you see him. The highlight during the recording for me personally, was when Thomsson all of a sudden started to moonwalk when we recorded "It's only my blood". Now I'm gonna leave you with the one and only Kjellvete:
Blisters on my fingers after an exhausting…Read more
Blisters on my fingers after an exhausting…Read more
Studio Report No. 4 (May 23, 2009)
Good evening good morning or whatever. We just got back to the hotel again and personally I feel at least a little bit more alert today. I think what got to me yesterday was the fact that no sleep, 1000 practical things to take care of before the recording and the fact that this is it, now it "HAS" to happen, all of sudden got to me. The songs we worked on today was "Ultimate thrill", "It's only my blood" and "Above". The hardest one to record during this short session, was definitely "It's only my blood"…Read more
Studio Report No. 3 (May 22, 2009)
Holy mother of Christ, tonight I'm dead! It's been a VERY long but rewarding day. Today we've worked on 3 songs, one of them beeing "Piece of the sky", that's the monster on the record. The other 2 we did was "Everyday" and "Fallen empire". Tonight I feel I don't have anything more to say, I've spent all my energy in the studio today. So now I think it's time for me to present to you; Thomsson:
Well....first I have to say this journey with HFMC has been so fantastic "nice" from the very start in october…Read more
Well....first I have to say this journey with HFMC has been so fantastic "nice" from the very start in october…Read more
Studio Report No. 2 (May 21, 2009)
First of all I have to thank Thomssons wife Camilla, for bringing us a beautiful basket full of first class cheeses, red wine, peanuts and other snacks. Thank you for your concern. On the musical front, I can only say finally or at last (actually I can't find a proper word for "äntligen") however today we started to play. Half an hour ago, the last chord of "The world has a heart too" faded out and now we're back at the hotel. Today we recorded the foundation for 3 songs. The first song we recorded was "I…Read more
Studio Report No. 1 (May 20, 2009)
Good evening or good morning or whatever. Me and the guys just got back to the hotel. It's been a long day but the guys level of energy is still something like 5 kids just before opening their christmas presents. Just to calm everyone down a bit, I ordered the guys a little nightcap, a 14 year old single malt called "Scapa". If you drink that together with a good swedish beer, for instance why not a "Smålands" or as tonight an "Arboga", the taste you get in your mouth is like an explosion "of love", or I…Read more