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.