Long time no studio diary

Ok, so, it's been forever since we last posted about our studio progress. In fact, it's been so long, we had just finished the drum recordings. And since it's been long, we've progressed quite a bit. But of course you knew that already, since you're reading our facebook page, right? Right. Well, I thought I'd type something up in any case.

What we've mostly been dabbling in is guitars. As we're hesitant to reveal too many details about the album at this point, I'll refer to songs by their working title. We've got guitars ready for "kurozu", "lenore", "renssi", "kööri" and "ibn-qirtaiba" as well as some guitars for the intro track. At this point we're wishing we were better at playing our guitars, but also very pleased with the outcome and the sound we've managed to conjure up using the finest in awesome signal processing devices. My personal favourite is the Black Arts Toneworks Black Forest Overdrive, which I purchased just after we recorded the live at studio takes. What we've been going for is, naturally, Soviet tractors and I must say we've come pretty darn close.

 We've also managed to get some bass done. Sami got himself a Rickenbacker and the end result of said acquisition is an even doomier tone than before. He's also taken up a hobby of building himself stompboxes to further benefit the sound. Here's an illustration of one particular sound with the maestro himself plucking on a fine riff. Bass tracks are done on "lenore" and "renssi", with the rest to follow soon after.

There remains also some work for the guitars yet, plus, of course, vocals, and even some extra instruments such as keyboards (don't be scared, they won't be overwhelming) and acoustic guitars.

So, don't hold your breath yet, since while we've made good time, we're not nearly there yet. In the meantime, enjoy good beers and worship vibrations while the moomins circle ever on.

Peace, love and loud noises,
           -Henri

It's alive!

Alright, now we've got the other live cut from the drum sessions available for download. And it comes with a video! It's called "One Joyless Night" and it was originally on our first demo ep, Picturesque, Petrified.

The audio can be downloaded right here!
And the other live cut, Cœur, is here.

Outdoor activities

Swamp wolves

 Monday this week, we set foot to Kruunuvuori (located in eastern Helsinki, Finland), accompanied by the magnificent Miika Karttunen (http://www.lightpictures.fi) to take some promo pictures.

Old pic from Dec 2010

You may, or you may not, remember that Miika was the one who took our previous promo photos as well, and at the same location, even.

Well, as opposed to the snowfall last time, we were having one of the first warm days of the year. This was a welcome juxtaposition, for it aided us in our plan to confuse our audience.

In summation I'd like to urge you all to turn to Miika with your photography needs and of course drink beer and worship Satan.

Love,
        -Henri

Remember to do research before you rent a cabin online.

Oh look, a live track

Did we or did we not threaten with live tracks two weeks ago? Well, we've got one out right now and you can find it here:  http://soundcloud.com/ecwdoom/coeur-live-at-studio

I'm personally rather proud of it, seeing as it was the first time I've done a live recording. Or, well, we did have our first gig recorded, but not with such an arsenal of mics. And, frankly, we played a lot better this time around.



-Henri

The Wolves have left the studio; diary, part IV

Well now, dear readers. The Wolves left the studio less than 24 hours ago. What were we left with?

-Drum tracks for seven songs, ranging in length from roughly five minutes to a whopping fifteen minutes.


-Several mutilated drumsticks. I guess the majority of the drumsticks Niko brought into the studio were decimated.


-Very little time to sleep. Of the 56 possible hours (from Fri 4pm to Sun 12am), we spent roughly 40 hours in the studio! Bar our sleeping hours (3am-10am) the studio was constantly manned by at least three of us. Sheesh.



-All of the drum takes were done several times, in the case that our human drum machine should have done a mistake. (Well, actually, he did. Quite a few. Every now and then when he was not chopping the drumsticks into wee tiny bits (he is a lumberjack and he's okay)).


-Two studio live tracks, with video. One really slow and thick oldie goldie, reworked, and one from the new album. We were joined by three helpful gentlemen in the Sunday evening, who worked three cameras. If the videos and live takes are deemed releasable, we will treat you with a song + a video twice during the next summer!


-80-100 cups of coffee and a handful of beers consumed. Also occasional fits of pizza psychosis were witnessed.



-A promise of an excellent new full-length album full of some of the most intense and dynamic stuff we've created. But when will we record the rest of the stuff? And how? We've yet to decide, but the current consensus is that most likely the recordings will take place over the course of the next summer, starting in early June. The method of execution is still under discussion.



Keep it groovy,

Otto

Studio diary, part 3(3 1/3)

The drums are done, the drums are fucking done!

This guy is laughing.

Now for some live takes of a couple of songs, with video.

Lurve,

       Henkka

Dear studio diary, part II

It's Sunday morning and we're all a bit knackered. The coffee's alright and we'll soon go on with the drum recordings. After spending 17 hours (10 a.m. to 3 a.m.) in the studio, we got 5 tracks done yesterday, which leaves 2 more for today, followed by a couple of studio live tracks. Shouldn't take more than 28 hours, I'd say.

The spirits are high and in the future, when we release a DVD (will there even be DVDs anymore, one can only guess), we'll have some prime footage for the "Behind the scenes" extras. Today's word is "ripuliylipäällikkö", and we will. conquer. the. world.

Love,


        Henri


P.S. We'll post more when there is more to tell. Meanwhile, go listen to KEN mode, so did we.