Part 1
Part 2

Recording the album

As usual, we recorded the drums first, in our rehearsal room. And as always, I made some mistakes that would cost me later. We used 4 microphones: 2 overheads, kick, snare. Unfortunately, I ended up having no use of the kick and snare mics, as they were blended into one track and it was impossible for me to separate afterwards (I had managed to do that on our previous album, so bear that in mind before you laugh at me :P ).

We recorded the drums in the course of two days, and it later took me some 2 weeks to edit them into a form that I’d be able to use on the album. I then recorded the rhythm guitar tracks, using a Line6 Toneport I borrowed from a friend – I did 4 rhythm tracks, 2 of them went through Revalver MkII and 2 were reamped by this really cool dude. Then I borrowed a great Fender bass from another friend, recorded it also bla bla bla.

Good times were had at the recording of flute and vocals, which took place at normalu’s (vocals, flute) house. Final recordings were done at the rehearsal room again, where we did the percussion parts. I then spent a week or so mixing the album.

Mixing is always a humbling experience: having all those options to choose from, any tiny manipulation having an effect on the sound as a whole. I think I did a good job overall – a major improvement after the last album – and I learned a lot about mixing music. I also learned all the songs by heart after going through them again and again hundreds of times. At the mastering stage I didn’t push the gain up too hard (you’ll find the tracks are a bit quieter than commercial productions) because I didn’t want to ruin the sound by accident, and also you can always turn the volume up if you want to :)

Final thoughts

It took me a couple of days to distance myself from the clinical approach of mixing and just enjoy the music with the ears of the listener – and it felt great! Hearing everything we’ve worked for finally coming to life, laughing at the in-jokes that most people will probably never get, falling asleep listening to the whole 21 minutes of ‘Greuceanu’ – these are the things that make all the work worthwhile.

As a (pretentious) music listener, I love finding music that not many people know, and enjoying special things that not many appreciate. As a musician, what could be better than make such an album myself? :D

Here it is again, hoping one or two of you will enjoy it.