Studio diary: day 18 (last)

At last. Finally. About fucking time. This sessions for this album are over. Done. Finished. Last Friday I went to Daniel's to do the last vocals for "Seattle Girl" and then overdub a few crazy effects on it and "Vertigo". And that was it, no more, no less. After 18 sessions the winter has gone, springtime is fighting its way and this little band has recorded eleven lovely tunes for your pleasure.

Now the fun part begins. We'll be shipping the raw tracks to Almería, Spain, where our good friend and yet great engineer Gonzalo Ramos is going to mix and polish them to their final shape. I hope this album won't take as long as they usually need in this band, but I guess somewhere around the end of summer we might have it ready to ship. Well, that if we find a decent title for it. Yes, silly as it may seem, we haven't found the right name for the baby. Proposals are welcome.

It's been a pleasure taking down notes of the recording and sharing them with you. It will be a an even greater pleasure if you like the record. Until then, good night and good luck.

Stone

Songs recorded (Mar 26):

Seattle Girl: vocals, percussion

Vertigo: effects

Studio diary: day 17

Damn, almost forgot to write this entry. My head is filled with a zillion things right now. Like for example, how the fuck we're gonna call this album, but that's another story and will be told on another occasion.

Anyway, short Friday morning session at D&S Studio with Daniel still tweaking knobs and that. Daniel insisted on starting at 10, anything else was officially against the Geneva Convention, so he said. For me that was a rather late start, with small kids waking you up at 6.30 o 7 there was a gap in between, but I accepted anyway. And so we found ourselves singing the first song of the day at five past 10, "The Wounds Inside". Went pretty good, not too much to bitch about, this one is rather confortable to sing (unlike "Cosmonaut" or "Eye In The Sky", more on that one later). Main vocals and harmonies were finished before 11 and we took a break to try some crazy percussion shit on it, but I'm still not too sure about it. As usual, we'll leave that to the mixing stage (old musician's joke).

"Don't Lose Your Head" was next on the list, and also went by like a hurricane, finished before I could really start enjoying it. As there are no harmonies on it (wow, novelty) we could dive straight into our cover, "Eye In The Sky". As I said, officially a bitch to sing, full of low tones and funny modulations, and, more importantly, silly lyrics to sing, with too many words on a line. I should have thought about that before choosing it, fuck it, now I'm lumped with a throat- and tongue-breaker.

It took me almost one and a half hours to get it decently right, by which time it was already time to go. I was rather relieved to have finished that one. But this afternoon I have what will probably be the last vocals session (just "Seattle Girl" is missing) and we can take a listen to all the other ones and decide if anything has to be fixed. Well, not if, but what has to be fixed. Did I say already that I hate recording vocals? Still no good-looking girl or fucking ugly dude around that want the job? The pay is miserable and you travel a lot, think about it...

More about today's session later in the, erm, week I guess. I'm getting lazy with this diary, and on top of it, we've received many a complaint on why it's not in Spanish. So I'll have to translate it one of these day's into Cervantes' mother tongue in order to keep my people happy. And no, before someone else frowns, I'm not going to do a German version as well, sorry. I'll leave that to Timo, hehe.

St

Songs recorded (Mar 19):

The Wounds Inside: vocals, percussion

Don't Lose Your Head: vocals

Eye In The Sky: vocals

Studio diary: day 16

More work done on vocals and shit. For the first time since we started recording this album, I've been able to see the floor of the parking lot of the studio. Until now, it was covered in snow. Looks like springtime is here to stay. About fucking time, I must say!

Timo was there already when I arrived, with his double-bass (the Oma) waiting to be recorded for "Vertigo". It's the first time we try to put such a huge shit on a record, and Daniel made a great job of getting the sound right. It booms and sounds huge, as it should. The idea came a few years ago, when we played an acoustic show at the Berlin Hard Rock Café, with Tobi banging some cajón and Timo slapping his double-bass. I think it was the very first time we even played "Vertigo" live, and it sounded really cool with the long bass howl played with the arch. So when looking for strange sounds to add, Timo remembered the whale and there you go, we have Moby Dick on tape, friends.

I managed to get a pretty quick finished vocals version of "One Another", the oh-so-brand-new song. But all the time I saved with that one I completely wasted on "Cosmonaut", which is, as for now, the official "Bitch To Sing" song on the album. I mean, the lines are pretty easy and no big jumps in the melody or whatever, but I don't know if it was my throat or what, but I couldn't get it right to save my life. Every day I loathe recording vocals more and more. All the fun of doing guitar tracks dissipates when having to do vocals. Any good singers out there who want the job? I'd be more than happy to... Anyway, we managed to finish the bloody "Cosmonaut", but I guess I'll have to redo some bits next time.

By the time we were finishing (or rather the songs was finishing us), our happy-go-lucky and newly hip-hop fan drummer Tobi arrived with some percussion shit for a few songs and some herbal spices to make some tea and lighten up the atmosphere, helped by a video of the new EU Commisioner of Energy Günter Oettinger fighting with the English language. What a laugh, dude... Tobi recorded some shaker and tambourione on "Twelve Years" (which, at this point, already sounds very nice) and then some more shaking things on "Talking To Nobody". His right arm was almost stiff by the end of it, but such a great drummer and single as he is he didn't let us down and got it perfectly. Nearly.

St

Songs recorded (Mar 17)

One Another: vocals

Vertigo: double-bass

Cosmonaut: vocals

Twelve Years: percussion

Talking To Nobody: percussion

Studio diary: day 15

Friday afternoon session to get more vocals done and more songs completed. Directly after arriving (and while eating some not-so-healthy food from the gas station next door), I sat on my recording chair in the fishbowl, put on the headphones and started right away with "Vertigo". Between takes, a mouthful of whatever I was eating and drinking a little bit of water, and off again until every word was sung correctly and the vocal harmonies were ready as well.

After the vocals were done, we tried to finish the other bits still pending, like sound effects, percussion and those kind of things you might not hear clearly on the records but which can give the song some interesting edges. There was a shaker for one verse and there is some sound effect for the choruses, but unfortunately, the MIDI keyboard was feeling kind of moody and decided to freeze the system every time we plugged it in. So after a few "fucks" and "motherfucks" and the likes, we just left the shit for a better occasion and concentrated on a small guitar lick that was missing from last time. There are always such bits that you forget to remember while tracking guitars that later pop in your brain at 3 in the morning and you just go "Shit, there is still a guitar part I did not record last week" or something like that. I keep a small piece of paper where I write down all those bits that I remember later, a sort of "To do" list that comes quite handy. And thus I took out the Telecaster and played just eight bars in the choruses, no more, no less, but as important all the same. Timo has to record a very cool part for the song as well, it's gonna be another "90-track festival song"...

With "Vertigo" finished save for the keyboard bit, we concentrated on "Talking To Nobody", which was easier to get done. After some discussions with Daniel on the use of British or American accents in certain parts (which can make a phrase sound like a Tennessee truck driver or an affected Lord from the isles) we were done with it, too. I also tried some percussion on the choruses, but a shaker sounded just not right, so once again more stuff left for the next time, maybe Tobi can bring in some crazy percussion shit from the shop, ahem...

Although we were ready to wrap it up i said "fuck it" and tried one last song before going home. "At least try, if it sounds bad, we'll leave it, but let me try at least, let's see how my throat does". And ramdomly picked "Twelve Years", which was OK, as it is possibilby the only song on the record with no vocal harmonies at all, just a main vocal and that's it. Yes, folks, sometimes I can manage to keep it simple too. Being a short song and a rather easy one to sing, we were done in less than half an hour, and so, with three songs completed in three and a half hours we shut the light, closed the doors and went home.

St

Songs recorded (Mar 12)

Vertigo: vocals, percussion, guitar licks

Talking To Nobody: vocals, percussion

Twelve Years: Vocals

Studio diary: day 14

Short Friday afternoon session to finish Jorge's solos before he returned to Spain on Saturday morning. He had prepared everything well this time, so it was mainly a matter of finding the right amp sound and reamping the tracks accordingly until it was marked as perfect.

We are slowly getting an awful lot of tracks, almost more than the last record alltogether. "Cosmonaut" has already over 70 and the vocals are yet to come. It's gonna be a lot of fun for Gonzalo, the mixer, I tell you. Sometimes you can get lost amidst so many colorful blocks of sound on the monitors, and I'm beginning to forget what has been already recorded and what is still missing. Thanks god I always have a piece of paper and a pen to write down exactly what we've been doing, otherwise this could be called "The Chaos Sessions" (hmm, nice title for the album, I'll write it down on the list, too).

After finishing with all the guitar parts (by now) of the record, we still had time to do some vocals, this time less rushed and more seriously than last time. "Ink" was the chose one, not exactly an easy tune to sing/scream, but I think we got it really fine. Tired of standing all the time while doing vocals and getting tired during the playbacks, I decided I'd try recording them sitting. Not what you'd call academically correct, but it suits me just fine. I feel more confortable singing while sitting than standing, and that's how I've always recorded my vocals for the demos at home, which I feel always sound better than on record later.

Of course, this time I forgot the lyrics sheet once again, so it was "mole time" again, with my trying to read very small letters on a phone screen while pressing my eyes so hard to read that I probably looked like a Chinese with constipation...

Anyway, now it will be vocals time for the next session, let's see if I can manage to finish at least two full songs each time and get this bloody record finished once and for all, I want it to be out there as soon as possible, as I hope you want too.

Cheers,

St

Songs recorded (Feb 26)

Instead: guitar

Cosmonaut: guitar

Eye In The Sky: guitar

Ink: vocals

Studio diary: day 13

A very short Saturday afternoon session, just three hours. So here's an accordingly short diary entry. Jorge basically finished his rhythm guitar parts for "Cosmonaut" and "Instead" in the blink of an eye, and he also played a memorable solo for the first one, the solo for "Instead" still waiting to be eaten, chewed and puked on tape.

We also tried a few curious sound effects for the intro of "Cosmonaut", involving Jorge and myself playing on the same guitar. Well, thanks god we can afford a guitar each, otherwise it can get quite busy on the fretboard at times.

Without really having mentally prepared myself for it, I found myself singing the first song, "Instead". Jorge needs my vocals to play the solo accordingly, so it was my turn to deliver the goods in order to keep the flow. I didn't even have my lyrics sheet at hand, so I had to fumble through my mobile phone to find an early draft of the lyrics I had saved there once. Not exactly the best way to sing when you have to squeeze your eyes to read stupid tiny-written words on a tiny screen. I'm not exactly the kind of guy known for remembering his own lyrics, so it was a funny sight indeed…

The clock was ticking and we had just about 40 minutes left before leaving, so it was a hit & run vocals recording,

main and harmonies. I'm not too sure if I will have to redo them again, I was completely off-guard and cold, but we'll have to listen back next week. At least our guitar hero can now hear how the melody goes and record his mind-blowing solo. I think you will love it, I do.

St

Songs recorded (Feb 20)

Cosmonaut: guitars

Instead: guitars, vocals

Studio diary: day 12

Jorge arrived in Berlin the day before to start tracking his guitar parts today. After the formal introductions to Daniel, the studio, the chairs and all the living organisms in the studio, we went head-first into recording mode, starting with "Don't Lose Your Head". Jorge did some clean and dirty rhythm parts. The funy thing is that, recording with almost the same guitar as me (a Les Paul) and exactly the same amp settings, it sounds completely different to my tracks. That goes to show, tone is in the fingers, and no two persons can ever sound exactly the same. It's one of those things you discuss a lot in internet guitar forums, but only after seeing it first-hand do you really notice how true that is. Of course, that's something no guitar, amp or effect manufacturer will ever admit. Even if you buy Slash's signature guitar and Slash's signature amp you will never sound like the guy, but you might have lost a few coins on the way...

Anyway, shortly after starting tracking clean guitars on "The Wounds Inside", Timo popped in with his closest fanclub members to say hi and listen to what we had donde the week before. He nodded his in approval, so it couldn't have been that bad. Recording the songs took a wee more time than the one before, mainly some harmonics simply didn't want to come out the correct way and the wah pedal cracked, but after switching it the parts were ready to be marked as "good" and saved in the hard disk.

"Seattle Girl" was next on the to-do list and it almost took no time at all. Jorge had prepared his parts well. Well, except the ones he hadn't prepared well, but those were really the minority. Mainly it was my fault for changing accents here and there and forgetting to tell him beforehand, but nothing that could not be fixed on the spot.

And before really noticing it, Timo was off again and a little later, Tobi arrived as well, also to see if we had done our homework. He seemed to like it to, always a good sign. We were recording "Ink", and I must repeat it, that song is fucking killer. I bet your life that you won't be able to keep your head still when you hear it, believe me. Even in the more controlled, relaxed and mostly clinical environment of a recording session, that songs always makes everyone's feet tap and everyone's head nod. And all that after listening to it for the five hundred billionth time. It's a little special thing, that tune.

Jorge was finished for the day and he had done more songs than we expected, being the first day and that, so just before wrapping up and going home he had a try at his mega solo on "Instead", which he almost nailed a few times, but always almost. I mean, I would kill to play a solo like that, but still we all knew he could do it better, and so we left it there for the next session in a few days' time. Ah, this is slowly getting shape...

St

Songs recorded (Feb 16)

Don't Lose Your Head: guitar

The Wounds Inside: guitar

Seattle Girl: guitar

Ink: guitar

Instead: guitar

Studio diary: day 11

Last day recording my guitar parts. It was meant to be a short session, so without further ado, we immersed ourselves into "Talking To Nobody's" intro, the one that didn't work out last time. We decided to try a few different pedals for it, Big Muffs, Overdrives, Marshalls, but none of them really gave us what I was looking for, so after some puzzlement and head-scratching, we changed the guitar, brought out the new ES-335 and plugged it directly into the amp. And there it was, exactly what we had in mind. Sometimes the easiest path is the best one. And the 335 is a fucking great guitar, that has to be said too. She can be gentle and smooth or scream like a hysteric bitch on coke, and everything in between. Lovely.

While we were at it, I decided to re-track the dirty rhythm guitar with the 335, just to annoy the mixer later with more tracks (one guitar take more adds 4 to 5 tracks to the project), but mainly to blend different sounding guitars playing the same. The results are quite cool and broad-sounding. A wall of sound, more or less.

With "Talking" finished for now, we did the missing clean guitars and solo on "Don't Lose Your Head", which officially concluded my guitar parts. But as we still had a little time left, we listened to a few songs just to check that no more guitar work had to be done by yours truly. And of course, after a few playbacks, we decided that "One Another" needed an little bit of beefing up and did a few takes on it with the 335 at full blast through an overdrive pedal just for the sake of it.

And then finally took out the Telecaster to double some acoustic guitar parts on "Twelve Years". They blended very nicely together, so we tried the same trick again on the solo part, this time again with the 335 doubling an acoustic guitar on a darker tone.

And almost without realizing it, we were done with my guitar parts. Of course, sure as hell that after Jorge does his bits next week I'll have to redo a few details here and there, but the bulk of it is finished. Whopee! I hope the vocals go as swiftly as the guitars, I am really not looking forward to recording them. Vocals are a pain in the ass, but I guess it's a necessary evil, don't you think? And to top it all, I still have to write lyrics for 3 of the songs... fuck.

Have a nice weekend.

St

Songs recorded (Feb 12) Talking To Nobody: guitars
Don't Lose Your Head: guitars
One Another: guitars
Twelve Years: guitar

Studio diary: day 10

Yawn! Daniel and I were so tired today that we didn't even crack the usual joke on the shitty weather, we merely grumbled and nodded, completely lost for words amidst yet another full-scale blizzard. It's starting to get on everyone's nerves this snow and the damp cold, it's not funny anymore (it was at the beginning of November for about one and a half minutes, but now the novelty of a white city has worn off, it's simply annoying).

And so we found ourselves back in the cellarful of noise, ready to continue with our god-given mission of putting to tape our latest paranoias in the shape of songs. Not having had a bite for the whole day, I was starving, but the only place I could find something in Weissensee was at the gas station. Imagine what kind of junk shitty food it can be... well, it was, but at least it kept me with enough energy to record for a few hours.

We started with "Instead", tracking some crunchy guitars with the Les Paul, and finishing it with a cool effect involving an E-Bow, feedback and the pickup switch on the guitar. It looked rather ridiculous, with Daniel and me with our hands on different parts of the guitar, but it worked out pretty well. After finishing with the E-Bow and packing it again in it's bag (I'm a tidy guy, I pack up everything after I use it, at least I try), I discovered with amazement that Daniel cannot even see a piece of cloth or anything made of felt, like a tennis ball or my E-Bow bag. So it was of course mandatory to try and rub the bag on his arms and face. Boy, it was as if I was pointing him with a gun. Well, not really, he probably might not have reacted with such fear and loathing to a gun. It's funny what an amazing number of different phobias are out there...

Daniel needed a coffee after that, a I needed some more heavy guitars, so we started with "Cosmonaut", which until now, was the only one left untouched. Being both in a silent mood and focused on the duty, it took no time at all to finish all the rhythm tracks. We spent some more time looking for the right sound for my solo (which precedes Jorge's, to be recorded next week), and we tried different sounds and guitars, but it looks like the Les Paul has won again over the Tele. She's got something, that little guitar, I tell you. A Tele can cut through any mix, but the Les Paul fits like a glove, it's hard to explain. And so we were ready with "Cosmonaut" for now.

Time to change gears and go for a more pop tune, "Talking To Nobody". After a desastrous try at getting the intro harmonies right (and deciding that I still had to fucking decide once and for all what I want to play and stop wasting precious studio time on it) we focused on the rhythm tracks. The song has a steady cushion of acoustic guitars, so we tried a few sounds that could suit them without being too bland or too heavy. Which is not always easy. I finally decided to do it the harder way, let's see how it all turns out at the end...

With the rhythm guitars and a few licks here and there finished, it was solo time. It's a really simple melodic solo (well, as usual, I'm not exactly a shredder) and tried a funny combination of double-tracked solos, with the Tele and the Les Paul again fighting to be number one. Who won? You'll probably have to check it for yourselves when the album comes out. Here's a clue: we still don't know either. I'll leave it to the mixer, let him surprise me.

Somehow without noticing it, it was already time to go, and we were both glad it was so. We were starting to get too tired to be focused on what you're doing, so it's better to leave it and come back again the next day with a fresh pair of ears and a few new jokes in the pocket.

St

Songs recorded (Feb 10)
Instead: guitars
Cosmonaut: guitars
Talking To Nobody: guitars

Studio diary: day 9

With the bass tracks finished the day before, it was again guitar-time. Thanks god. I was anxious to play some crunchy riffs at full volume!

We arrived early on in the afternoon and started playing around with an old Laney 100-watt head from David, Daniel's partner in the studio, plugged into a 4x12" Crate box. Very nice overdriven sounds without sounding too dirty. Perfect for the day's first song, "Don't Lose Your Head".

After setting the amp and the mics it took no time at all to get the parts done. Timo was there too and we tried several different intros, but decided that keeping it clean would be the best, at least until we think about something else to start with...

"Ink" was next on my personal list, and being one of (if not the) favourite songs on the bunch, I spent some time getting just the right sound for it, a dirty, in-yer-face, heavy kind of sound. I think I found one that suited the song well, so we went into recording mode. Funnily, for this song I needed to feel the air moving and the blast coming out of the amps, so I left the coziness of the controol room for the dark, loud and definitely more RnR recording room. With me, the best way to record stuff like that is loud, very loud. Extremely loud if possible. So, armed with the Les Paul and the headphones I did a few takes, which I fucking loved. A great, great feeling. Unfortunately, when in "blow-your-brains-out mode", you tend not to be as precise in your playing as you should, and some details tend to be overheard. So after listening to the playbacks, I had to concede and accept that maybe I play much better and might need less takes when in the control room. OK, less power, but more precision. At least I had my headphones to turn up the shit to deafening levels without actually making the other guys deaf in the process.

With "Ink" in the can (in the hard disks rather) and a huge silly grin on my face, our 80's cover needed some love, too, and so we tracked some angry guitars on "Eye In The Sky" (or as Timo calls it, "Ei Im Himmel"). We used my brand new Telecaster for the first time, and must admit that it blended really well with the thick sound of the Les Paul. A lovely combination, indeed. So much did we like the result that we tried it again in "Vertigo", with the Tele on the spotlight during the verses and the Les Paul in the choruses. So much for the "one guitar, one amp" approach. We reverted our own rules once again, haha.

Now a little break until next week, where we'll be doing more guitars, and (hopefully/hopefully not, I can't decide) some vocals. Thanks for watching. FrogTV will be back next week.

St

Songs recorded (Feb 3):

Don't Lose Your Head: guitars

Ink: guitars

Eye In The Sky: guitars

Vertigo: guitars

Studio diary: day 8

Greetings, people of the Earth! We come in peace (but are quite loud).

Having found a tiny gap in Timo's overbooked agenda, we gathered yesterday in the studio to continue tracking bass lines (you know, that mighty "Broummm!" you can sometimes hear on our records). Getting there was not easy at all, Berlin looked yesterday more like Stalingrad than ever, with a heavy snow blizzard and almost no visibility at all. Grrrreat! I think we should call this album "Snow", "Siberia" or rather "White Shit" or something like that... hmm, I sorta like "White Shit", I'll write it down on my list of possible titles.

And so a little later, while Daniel and I were testing a new Telecaster to use later on, Timo arrived looking like Star Wars' Emperor Palpatine, black robes, hooded and mumbling somthing about shit weather and fucking traffic... our lovely bass player was finally there!

Daniel had set up everything beforehand, so it was a quick start, which was good, there were lot of songs to do. We started off with "Twelve Years" and as usual, the first one of the session is always the trickiest one, especially if your fingers are cold. After a few takes (and gives) we were all satisfied with the result and could move on to the next ones, "Don't Lose Your Head", "Instead" (where the subtle difference between a minor and major chord led to some discussions on the right way to approach the bass lines) and "Vertigo", all of them done pretty quickly otherwise.

"One Another" almost drove Timo crazy, because it's so new we all still don't know the song structure that well, which means that it's either a complete perfect take or punching in can become a drag ("Where the fuck am I? Second verse? First half of the second bridge? Where do we come from? Where a re we going? Is there life out there?") You can imagine...

Thanks god we are blessed to have Daniel around to tell us stories about his life as an engineer, which I can tell you, made us laugh like hysterical hyenas for minutes and minutes. Something along the lines of setting up mics the wrong way, trying to get the perfect mic sound out of an unmic'ed source... hilarious. He could write a book. Maybe he should. As long as the word "Schminke" is in, of course...

Anyway, we still had two songs to go and little time, so we put on our focused faces and went straight into "Talking To Nobody", which Timo really nailed. Left was only "Eye In The Sky", with Timo's spotlight moment, so we had to really get that one nicely on tape. Which, after a few tries we did. And before we'd noticed it, it was half past nine, and time to wrap up and go home. Well, before getting home we still had to battle our way through Stalingrad's streets, which is not always easy when it's dark, icy and on top of that you can't see shit because you're short-sighted. A truly amazing combination, indeed.

But we managed to finish all the bass parts and now we can focus exclusively on more guitar work. Of course, after a few days we'll hear out a thing here and there that might need fixing, but that's just detail work. Timo did a great job yesterday, now he can sit back and laugh at me while I try to get my guitar parts right. Damm.

St

Songs recorded (Feb 2):
Twelve Years: bass
Don't Lose Your Head: bass
Instead: bass
Vertigo: bass
One Another: bass
Talking To Nobody: bass
Eye In The Sky: bass

Studio diary: day 7

More guitar work today. Daniel & I decided to take it a little bit mellower and started setting up the amps and mics for cleaner guitar sounds (yes, folks, we have that, too!) We first tried a Fender Twin Reverb that was left in the studio from a previous session, and although it sounded beautiful, its tubes were so fucked up that it was plain unusable for recording. It was like having an iron lung working full throttle behind the guitar sound. A pity, could have been fun to use. And so we stuck to our trustworthy and versatile Classic 50 and its open back to pick up the chimey sound at its best.

Continuing with the pendulum theme throughout the sessions, we're doing something different from last time around. While for Not Completely Clean I used a bloody lot of different amps and boxes, this time we're doing like we did on Allergic, that is, sticking more to a certain amp sound but tweaking it differently for each take so that, although it actually sounds different every time, you can still recognize its "(am)personality" (sorry for the bad pun). Yes, we do have different pedals, speakers and configurations, but I must admit that it is somewhat relaxing to know how your sound will be without spending a lot of time trying different amps, with its share of mic-placing, cable-laying, eternal knob-tweaking, etc. It's more a plug'n play situation, spend more time playing and less time fumbling around. We'll certainly be doing some experiments, of course, but we'll try to keep them at a normal level. We're here to put to tape (hard disk) a few songs, if you want to experiment, go and try LSD at home.

Starting with "Ink" as my hands were still pretty numb from the cold wasn't exactly a good idea, and it took me too many takes to get the arpeggiated bits right. I should really stop writing parts that are too complicated for me to get right... what a shame. After what seemed forever we had it and turned the attention to "Eye In The Sky" and "The Wounds Inside", which were tweaked, recorded and double-tracked in the blink of an eye in comparison.

"Instead" was again a little more technical, but was finished surprisingly fast. Same with "Vertigo" and its chimey harmonics. To finish the session, we dove into the newest song of the pack, "One Another" (or as Timo calls it, "Uno, Otro"). That one was written on the spot at the last band rehearsal before going into the studio, and it still has no lyrics at all, and I bet my ass that Timo & Tobi cannot remember shit about the song, haha! We tried to build a wall of sound by layering several guitar tracks played very clean, and I must say I was amazed by how heavy it sounded without a bit of distortion on it. I'm especially looking forward to the finished version of this one. Probably because, unlike all the others, I don't have the faintest idea of what I want it to be like. We're deciding as we go along. Normally I come into the studio with a very clear vision of what I want for each song, how I'd like it to sound like, but not with this one. It's still a complete mystery to me, and by extension, to everyone else. Surprise, surprise.

And with more tracks finished than I'd expected, we decided to call it a day (night, rather), as it was already late and I had other very important things to get done (like writing this, for example, haha). We'll continue next week with dirrrrty guitars, which are more fun to do.

Happy weekend, don't freeze your balls out there.

St

Songs recorded (Jan 21):

Ink: electric guitars

Eye In The Sky: electric guitars

The Wounds Inside: electric guitars

Instead: electric guitars

Vertigo: electric guitars

One Another: electric guitars

Studio diary: day 6

Coming back from the warmth of the sun in Gran Canaria, it is very hard to return to Berlin 's coldest winter in years. Everything is white, it's freezing and the whole city is an ice hockey field. You have to be watching your step all the time and treading slowly. It looks like an expanded version of Monty Python's silly walks.Anyway, here I am again, and ready to return to work.

Yesterday Daniel and I started tracking electric guitars while we wait for Timo to come round next week or so to finish basses. First stop was the froggy HQ, where yours truly was lumped with heavy amps, flight cases and such to be loaded into the froggy mobile and froggy taken to the froggy studio. Yes, my froggy back was froggy fucked after that.

Most of the session time was spent setting up the amps and the microphones, checking distances, cables, signals and all that crap I could easily live without. I brought a lot of pedals and my new R0 Les Paul, which I must say, sounds like a fucking bell. Biased opinion, there you go.

This time around, I chose to record in the control room instead of the recording room, as I have always done. Although you don't get your hair combed back with noise as you'd have recording right in front of the amps, it makes tracking much easier, as you can speak to the tech directly and watch everything on the monitor (no more tape machines these days) and don't feel so isolated. On the other hand, if you need to teweak the amp's settings, someone has always to go in and try and listen back, and tweak again... I'll just try a little more to see if it's more confortable or not.

We started with the crunchy rhythm guitars for "Seattle Girl", we double-tracked them (as I do with mostly all my guitar parts, makes a bigger, fatter, meaner sound... and well, it also helps disguise the mistakes, haha!), and then did some clean parts for the middle and final sections. Came out pretty well, but I must admit it took me more takes than expected. It's always like that with me on the first day of recording, until I loosen up a bit. At first I can't play at all, later I still can't play but make a lot of noise. While recording, Daniel & I have to keep in mind that Jorge is going to record some overdubs later, so I have to restrain myself from tracking endless parts, something I tend to do.

As it was quite late already, we took a try at the faster middle part in "The Wounds Inside", which took less than its predecessor. The always reliable Classic 50 was put in evil mode, the horns were raised and froggymetal was made. I'm looking forward to the finished song, it's quite a schizophrenic tune, a sort of musical Jekyll & Hyde. A bit like me, I guess...

Around half past late we turned out the lights, closed the door and let the beast sleep until this afternoon, when we'll return to our personal Church of Noise . Until then, take care with the ice out there.

Stone

Songs recorded (Jan 20):

Seattle Girl: electric guitars

The Wounds Inside: electric guitars

3 conciertos 3 en 26 horas

Los días 8 y 9 de enero de 2010, una nueva y eventual formación de Frogcircus infligió tres conciertos en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Habiendo dado ya un par de años conciertos acústicos en fechas navideñas en La Guarida (en la playa de Las Canteras), decidimos este año redescubrir la electricidad y, de la mano de Eulalio, que nos consiguió en tiempo récord estos bolos y alguno más que hubimos de rechazar, nos pusimos a ello.

Empecemos por el principio. No, no voy a hablar del Big Bang, no tan por el principio. Allá voy: Después de dos ensayos con Miguelo y Andrés, antes de que llegara Stone, llegó Stone y ensayamos otro par de veces antes de lanzarnos al escenario.

Miguelo, viejo miembro y aún así, amigo de Frogcircus, es un consumado baterista. Ha tocado muchas veces y en varios países (bueno, en tres) con la banda.

Andrés, en cambio, es un consumado bajista. Multiinstrumentista, más bien. Él es el nuevo en la banda, pero como ya lleva tiempo tocando con Miguelo (en Los Coquillos), hay una gran complicidad musical entre los dos. Y siempre facilita las cosas que el batería y el bajista se conozcan y hayan tocado juntos frecuentemente (y aún así... se aprecien) porque, para que vamos a engañarnos, suelen ser mentes muy elementales y a veces tardan en entrar en sincronía. Pero no es el caso ¿Eh? Estos dos pedazos de músicos son cualquier cosa menos los típicos baterista (Andrés) y bajista (Miguelo).

Aclarado este punto, seguiré con la exposición de los hechos, sin aportar ni obviar nada. Lo juro. Bueno, mejor no.

Esos pocos ensayos fueron suficientes (más nos valía) para hacernos sentir seguros de nuestras posibilidades de conseguir emborracharnos cobrando. ¡Tres veces!

Llegamos pues a la primera de las tres citas; El Pub Rockola. Que sencillo es todo cuando el responsable del local es como Oliver Flick, el responsable del local. Todo facilidades y buen rollo. Altamente recomendable.

Probamos sonido satisfactoriamente y decidimos esperar hasta la hora del concierto y tocar.

El bolo estuvo muy bien, sobre todo para ser el primero. La gente estuvo de nuestra parte y entre cervezas, chupitos y chupetones, terminamos para satisfacción del público. No, con la satisfacción del público.

Bebimos, nos congratulamos, nos juramos amor eterno y nos largamos en bastante buen estado, que al día siguiente teníamos doblete. En La Guarida, a las 17.35.46, y en el Nasdaq, más o menos a las doce y pico de la noche.

La Guarida es ya un habitual bolo frogcirquero, como saben los que nos aguantan. Allí también todo son facilidades. Además, tocar a principios de enero, en la playa, al aire libre y con una temperatura ideal, no en vano Las Palmas de Gran Canaria goza del mejor clima del mundo, solo puede definirse de una manera: ¡Impostisable! ¡La Guarida forever! ¡Gracias, amigos!

Reuniose allí un heterogéneo grupo de habituales y de paseantes, además de los simpatizantes. Fue una fiesta. En palabras de uno de los que no se pierden ninguno de los bolos del lugar (no quiero decir quién): "Es el mejog conciegtó que he visto en La Guaguidá".

Ya se notaba la progresión respecto al día anterior. La siguiente y última actuación prometía, sí...

Así que tuvimos que retirarnos, eso sí, gloriosamente y por nuestros propios medios, para la prueba de sonido del Nasdaq. Fuimos gratamente sorprendidos por el despliegue de simpatía, cordialidad y equipo técnico y humano con que nos encontramos. Las fotos no se oyen, pero en ellas se aprecia que se toman su trabajo muy en serio. Parece que el sitio es enorme y en realidad es un club de tamaño medio, pero los focos consiguen ese efecto.

Allí, ya con buenos monitores, buena microfonía, buena iluminación y un suministro constante y directo al escenario de cerveza, jaegermeister de ese que bebe Stone y todo lo que pudiéramos pedir, culminamos y después terminamos la fiesta para alegría y después... lo contrario de la alegría de los presentes. Sonidazo, jolgorio general y... esa sensación de fin de "gira" que tienes cuando todo ha salido bien y sabes que no sabes cuando volverá a pasar algo así. Que pena, es el destino que se burla de mi (Que Pena. Palmera).

Me recordaron estos días a la meteórica progresión de los primeros bolos de Frogcircus en Berlín. También fueron tres y también casi seguidos. La formación era casi la misma que estos días. Solo cambiaba el bajista, que aquellos tiempos era nuestro querido Miguel, bajista, bastión y humorista a partes iguales al que echamos... de menos y al que recordamos con... con la parte del cerebro que se dedica a recordar las... cosas. Y... sí, amigos, también con la parte del corazón que se dedica a esas... cosas. Hermano ¿Do estás?.

No nos pongamos sentimentales, que no va a colar, y sigamos. No puedo cerrar esta crónica sin hacer referencia al excelente trabajo coral llevado a cabo por Miguelo y Andrés (incluso yo hice algún coro). Es algo realmente importante en una banda con canciones tan... que les vienen bien los coros, jeje.

Ahora sí que puedo cerrar la crónica, pero no antes de decir que... sin la lluvia de lencería a que nos tienen habituadas nuestras amigas y aún así simpatizantes de Frogcircus en Berlín, no es lo mismo. Un abrazo enorme para ellas. Bueno, vale, también echamos de menos los gayumbos térmicos extra-large con que nos obsequió Juancho aquella única y memorable vez en que se decidió a hacer la colada. Que recuerdos. Sniff.

Y nada más. Bueno, sí. He de dar las gracias a todos y cada uno de los que hicieron posibles estos inolvidables días de vino y rosas. No, de rocanrol y otros tópicos. Sin olvidar a los hados del destino que permitieron reunirse, seguramente no por última vez, a esta nueva y alternativa versión isleña de Frogcircus.

Solo puedo decir... ¡Arriscombel!

Gracias Stone, Miguelo, Andrés, Eulalio, Ángel (por los documentos gráficos que algún día ayudarán a constatar la evolución de mi calvicie), a todos los responsables y personal de las salas, a todos los que fueron a vernos, a los que no fueron (me refiero a las fuerzas del orden, por no ir, a los demás que no fueron, no) y a... a... en fin.

Continuará.

Jorge.