Sonic Pump Studios 20.11.05

Studio diary, day 1, 20.11.2005, Sonic Pump studios, Hki. The day started quite early as we had agreed to get going at 11 am so we could get all the needed gear and ourselves to the studio early enough. It was around 12 o'clock when we arrived at Sonic Pump with Mikko. A.Malinen, our soundman, arrived soon after. We loaded the gear in and Mikko went to pick up the rest of the band (Toni wasn't around as he's in Barcelona skateboarding).

The first thing I noticed when I stepped inside the studio was that it looked like a fancy hotel or something, at least to me, and made me think of HIM somehow. I chilled out 'til the other guys arrived and then I went to set up the drums. Malinen set up the mics and then we waited for the hungover soundengineer/studioexpert Nino to arrive.

Soon everything was set up end ready for me to go bang the drums one by one as the studioguy was turning and pressing all kinds of weird buttons and stuff to make them sound right. I felt weird sitting there with Mikko and Sampo looking at me, and Nino and Malinen speaking to me through the headphones, afterall it was my first time in a studio. The guys in the control room knew what they were doing though and the sounds were soon set.

It was time to start laying down the first drumtracks. We started with the two songs that felt most familiar to me so I wouldn't feel all too nervous and then went on for the rest of the tracks. Mikko and Antti-Ville took turns playing demoguitars for the record and Sampo played bass.

In three hours I had laid down some sort of drumtrack for every song and it was time to take a break and listen to them. Most of the tracks were allright, some were not, so I'd have to go and play some more. I played for a couple of more hours and after each take listened to Malinen and the other band members judging if it was ok or not.

I felt weird and tired when we had finally recorded and listened to the last tracks and went to watch Metallicas Some Kind of Monster to chill out. It made me feel good, at least it hadn't taken me a year to lay down the tracks for the record and we didn't need a psychiatrist in the studio either.

My part is now done, next sunday it's time for the rest of the band to start stressing out.

-Niila