Studio week 5

Monday 28.10. Studio Day 20:

Morning train and straight to work. We're really starting to get close on this one. Spent the day noodeling with the keyboards, played the last Hammond lick and worked on some piano stuff. Tony sang another song and Tommy arrived in the evening :-)

Tuesday 29.10. Studio Day 21:

Business as usual until we got a visitor. Jordan from France is on a mission, he's walking to Kemi from France...unbeliavable...he's been walking since the beginning of June and now he arrived here to say hello and have a few beers, he still has a couple of weeks to walk the rest of the way to Kemi but I think he'll make it. In the evening we watched The Dictator again....funny shit :-) 

Wednesday 30.10 Studio Day 22:

Started the day by playing a unisono that Elias came up with, fucking hell it was tricky. Still has a solo and some random stuff to play today and then tomorrow I'll be going home and I have no clue wether I'll be back or when I will, I'll be home for next week at least....

cheers,

Henkka 

What I ate today part 16: salad...just kidding I had a steak...

What I ate today part 17: Burger of the week ;-)

Just found this on my phone, what the fuck ?

Friday 25.10. Studio Day 19:

Today was a Hammond day, I played all the organs except one "gospel" lick that I'll have to do next week. Other than that we're just missing a couple of solos, acoustic guitars, backing vox and lead vocals for two tracks...oh, and the bass of course. So if all goes well we can wrap up the recordings next week and then move on to the mixing. Anyways, now I'm on the train going home for the weekend. On Monday we'll be back !!

cheers,

Henkka

Thursday 24.10. Studio Day 18:

In the morning there was some re-amping done before the singing resumed. Last night I had another listening session in the mastering room with studio co-owner Masi, so the first half of the day was a bit slow on my part. Needless to say, I didn't play any solos last night.Once back to normal, I played some more keyboard tracks for one song, that I just realized was going a bit in the wrong way so to speak. Much better now :-) I also did the keyboard solo for the Japan Bonus track...and used Elias Dime-wah pedal. I might have taken it a bit too far but whatta hell, someone's got to got to the edge anyway. It probably felt more crazy than it actually was...or than it actually sounds. Tommy wanted me to play some "really big" keys on the end of the bonus track, so I did and it worked really well, the tracks probably will end up on the song. Anyways, time to watch a movie and get to sleep, so I can do some hours of work tomorrow before we head home for the weekend. I'll post this when I wake up....maybe...

cheers,

Henkka

Wednesday 23.10. Studio Day 17:

Managed to watch a movie in the evening (to which Tony had written some songs), In the morning we finished up re-amping the clean guitars and started with the leads. We've also been putting the keyboard tracks into the songs at the same time so everything is coming along quite nicely. After lunch we continued with the re-amping for a while and then it was Tony's time to step up and start singing the "epic" song. Btw, Masi is here to produce and record the vocals (he's been here since last week) but just today I managed to take a pic of him...while waiting for our late lunch. Tonight we're gonna go to the sauna and afterwards it's probably time for me to play some solos...or at least give it a shot.

cheers,

Henkka

Masi, the producer from Hell(sinki).

What I ate today part 15: the first pizza of the week...

Tuesday 22.10. Studio Day 16:

Today we started to re-amp the clean guitars (via a borrowed Roland JC-120), and also put some keyboard tracks in the projects, I think we'll continue with those tomorrow. In the evening Tony continued his singing effort. We have had some mice showing up and trying to steal our food, so today we bought some traps and managed to kill two of them, let's see if there's more to come or not. And yes we do have some cats here but won't let them into the studio, when someone(s) are allergic to cats. Anyway, that's what's up here, Elias actually started the day by playing the last two distorted guitar tracks using a Marshall for a change ;-) I'll try to make somekinda update at the end of the week about where we're right now...

cheers,

Henkka

What I ate today part 14: Beefkettle or something, with mashed potatoes...

The drinklist @ the cafe

It's not a real album without some Marshall.

The Jazz Chorus in the corner....

Pasi @lunch...

Tommy @ lunch

Monday 21.10. Studio Day 15:

Happy birthday to me :-) Anyways, got on the train just after 11, actually almost

missed it , but because of my excellent driving skills we managed to get to the station

on time (...being late because of my "not so great" scheduling skills). Got to Kokkola ok,

late lunch (is it actually lunch anymore when it's around 1600?)....and then it was off to the studio. We got some work done, personally I just took it easy. Until tomorrow...

..actually I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who sent e-mails and congrats. Thanks a lot !! 

cheers,

Henkka

What I ate today, part 13: believe it or not, the first burger for me during these sessions...

Elias changing strings on the gold top for the "rock" song on the album...

Thursday 17.10. Studio Day 14:

So, today we had the first snow here at the studio. Appeareantly at home it's around -10 degrees celsius but no snow yet. The winter is coming. Today I played some piano stuff and Tony is still singing. In a few we're going for lunch and then home for the weekend. The sessions will resume on Monday with all the dudes in the house.We're getting closer !! I think it that we can start mixing at the beginning of November if not earlier....jiiihaaa !!!

cheers,

Henkka

Here's something for the weekend (unfortunately in Finnish only):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUvk3gkzOlc

...and a couple of pics:

The morning view from our window....

Unfortunately the flowers died :-(

...and the first mystery footprints.....

Wednesday 16.10. Studio Day 13:

Spent most of the day online, working. Upcoming tours, sendin out stuff, like this:

http://www.sonataarctica.info/site07/index.php?s=3&l=uk

sorting out other things...like you can now reach pasi@sonataarctica.info , I think

it should be up and running ;-) Managed to take a few pics, including my lunch

more than halfway through...almost too late. I also watched this which was great:

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/guns-n-roses-guitarist-bumblefoot-footage-of-copenhagen-guitar-show-clinic/

After Tony was done with what will probably be the first single, I started working 

on the piano parts for the epic 10min album closer, need to get back to that in the

morning. Until tomorrow, which will be the last studioday this week.

cheers,

Henkka

For the Leads I brought back my (bad) Karma....

The M3 getting a well earned rest on top of Elias guitar cabinet.

What I ate today part 12: ???

Tuesday 15.10. Studio Day 12:

Started the day by going through the keyboard tracks, making minor adjustments. Elias managed to blast through another song before lunch. Today I even remembered to take a pick of my.....pizza...tadaa !! We also brought back the empty beer cans to the grocery store and from the pic of the receipt, you can see the amount. (if you can, appeareantly the censorship stuck upon this pick. At the moment Pasi is bringin Elias to the trainstation and Tony is singing. I took a short break and soon I'll be back and start noodeling some piano stuff or search for the lead sound for this album, I don't know yet. Maybe we could do some sauna stuff tonight...or tomorrow....who knows ;-)

cheers,

Henkka

What I ate today part 11: oh my god yet another pizza !!

The mystery receipt...

Monday 14.10. Studio Day 11:

Started the day with the trainride to Kokkola. Tired as hell :-) Forgot to take a pic of my lunch on Friday....I did eat something....whatever. Ok so what do we have left, bass, vocals, acoustic guitars, hammond...some keyboards + solos and additional guitar and keyboar overdubs. I don't see how we're gonna waste too much time on these but we'll see about that. At the moment I'm still in the train and in a hour or so we'll be in Kokkola, pick up Elias & Masi and head for the woods....we'll probably have lunch first and then it's time to get to it. I'll try to write some more later tonight after I've done an interview for the Silent Voices album and hopefully can watch some NHL as well.

Break.

Got my late lunch, did some work, listened to Tony mess around with some new software,

got back to playing keyboards, did the interview. Well, I also got my Korg Karma back when Masi our vocal producer arrived...and later I managed to play the basic tracks to another track, I'll have to go through some piano stuff tomorrow. Tony did sing the lead vox for one song tonight and I also got to watch the Bruins-Detroit game so all in all a good day, despite being a bit tired...even so that I'll post this tomorrow in the morning.Goodnight.

cheers,

Henkka

edit: found some pics but none of my lunch from last night (it was mashed potatoes and a steak...I'll try to remember to get back to it today).

Something essential for the vocal recordings :-)

Finnish landscape from the trainwindow part 1

part 2

part 3

Friday 11.10 Studio Day 10:

Last night we somehow ended up in the mastering room again, listening to music. Basically it ment that the morning was really slow and then it was time for a quick shower, lunch and heading home. Our spirits remain high and next week Tony will start doing the vocals while I attack the Hammond. Weekend brake.

cheers from the train,

Henkka

Thursday 10.10 Studio Day 9:

Today started off with Elias tracking more rythm guitars, meanwhile I watched the Jason Becker movie and caught up on the NHL highlights. After a late lunch the work continued and in the evening I went through some more keyboard stuff. At the moment I've played the basic keyboards for most of the songs, still have the Hammond work to do as well as the solo stuff and maybe some additional tracks. All the drums are done as well as most of the rythm guitars, if we keep this pace up, I would guess that we can start mixing in the beginning of November. No previous SA album that I've been involved in has run this smoothly, right from the start of the rehersals up until now. Keep your thumbs up that we'll keep going this way.

cheers,

Henkka

All those great pieces of equimpent ;-)

Elias corner, close up.

What I ate today part 9.

The "scoreboard" is starting to fill up...

Tony's temporary singing booth...

Wednesday 9.10 Studio Day 8:

So...after Elias was done for the day with his rythm guitars, Pasi was stuck editing in the controlroom, I continued working on the keys and actually managed to finish a couple of more songs. Elias later setup his laptop to work on some additional tracks.... at some point we called it an early night, finished before 0900, went to the sauna and watched the "Never Make it Home" movie. Truly incredible, inspiring and touching...I'm running out of adjectives here, if you haven't seen it, you should...right now !!

Today in the morning we added another cubicle to the mayhem. The day was spent

with me & Elias at our own places and Tony in his singing booth....and of course Pasi

had the biggest place to work. Check 'em out at:

https://twitter.com/SonataKemi

Another gem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUc5pDTQBeg  

Tony's catching up with the tourdocumentaries....

I managed to get a lot done today as did the other dudes so now it's time to check out

the NW movie....finally.

cheers,

Henkka

Elias is tweeting because we made him do it !

What I ate today part 8: A chicken tortilla with salad instead of freedom fries.

Pasi still working, the dude is crazy.

Tony, still eating with his cap on ;-)

Tuesday 8.10 Studio Day 7:

Last night I managed to put in a few hours on one of the potential single songs, started today by listening through it. There's still some work to be done on that one as well as some sound-replacement stuff. Tommy made some nice breakfast (yeah, another run at eggs and sausages) and it was time for me to enjoy the hightlights of last nights Rangers game...and as someone predicted in the comments, they beat LA on the road. Nice :-) .. and of course the last goal was a bit weird. Also enjoyed the Oilers comeback against the Devils.

Meanwhile, Pasi and Elias started to track guitars downstairs. The guitar sound is fucking awesome !!!  By lunch the rythm guitars for 3 songs were done and afterwards, as in: at the moment...they're tracking more guitars. Speaking of which, another song is ready so I better go downstairs and check it through with the boys.

cheers,

Henkka

Newsflash of the day (just to clarify Pasis tweet):

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/swino-is-dead-boozy-feral-pig-who-found-fame-after-getting-drunk-on-stolen-beer-and-starting-a-fight-with-an-innocent-cow-dies-in-car-accident-8864047.html

Look how much beer "some other bands" have left behind...

What I ate today part 7a - my pizza

Part 7b: Tommy's burger...

Part 7c: Tony's chicken plate, properly displayed and all ;-)

Monday 7.10 Studio Day 6:

Jumped in the car just around 0900 to drive down to KokkoL.A. , managed to pick up Tony & Tommy on the way. We took turns driving and it didn't seem too long before we arrived, but not before picking up some wine from the local Alko. Upon arrival, Elias and Tero (yeah, a special guest appereance at the sessions) were already at the studio. We all went out for a late lunch before resuming work. First off was a short drum thing with another drumkit....from there we started to work on the guitar setup and getting the sounds right, spent the whole evening (actually Elias and Pasi did) tuning the guitar stuff. Tomorrow will be a guitar day to remember. At some point Elias filmed me explaining my studio rig...it turned out a bit dark but then again we're doing heavy metal so why not ? 

Btw as it was Monday, it was once again time for the "grillilautanen" for lunch but I think I better change that for next week. Gotta run down and check out where the guitar sound

is heading ;-)

cheers,

Henkka

Elias receiving a mystery package to help him do the guitars ;-)

What I ate today part 6: The return of the Evil Grill Plate

Friday 4.10. Studio Day 5:

Started the day by watching last nights NHL highlights, unfortunately NYR lost, good that they still have 81 games to figure it out. Once we got up from bed, it was time to listen through all the songs just to make sure there were no stuff that needed to be changed, of course there was some minor details to tweak.... Elias also got another amp shipped in this morning, the legendary Mesa/Boogie Mark 2 C+ (thanks Ari ! ). We're also gonna get another Engl cabinet for next week when it's time to start tracking some guitars. As for now I'm pretty much done with 5 songs on the keys (missing one piano track and some Hammond). All the other drum-stuff is done except a short bit which will be played with another set. Apart from the computer meltdown on Wednesday, everything is running really smooth and it might even look that we'll be done ahead of schedule....or not, you never know with these things. Untl next week.

cheers,

Henkka

And this is....another Mesa/Boogie...

The smaller kit, not really ready yet.

What I ate today part 5. (was too hungry and almost forgot to take the pic, however this used

to be a chicken fillet...which was very good I might add.)

Thursday 3.10. Studio Day 4:

Last night Pasi got the computer up and running and I managed to pick up Elias and Tony from the trainstation. After another great breakfast by Tommy (sorry, no pic), the drumrecordings resumed. Last night me & Elias joined Masi (the other owner of the studio) in the mastering room, listening to music and it went on kinda late so it took awhile to get into the groove in the morning. Nevertheless, after lunch Tommy played the final 2 songs for the album and then I had some time to play some more keyboards before we warmed up the sauna again. I think this album will turn out really great :-)

Tomorrow we'll put in some more hours before it's time to go home for the weekend.

cheers,

Henkka

Enjoying analog compression ;-)

The "fläppitaulu" showing that the drums are almost done.

Elias enjoying the new songs.

The brain that freezed over.

The legendary SSL-desk from Polar Studios....and a couple of screens.

What I ate today part 4, more pizza.

...and yeah I ate everything but the crust.