In this blog post, I'd like to tell you some of the things we have changed in the recording process. Even if it took us more time, We wanted to focus on quality instead of speed and we used new equipment for our recording process.
The recording process
We all have heard it. Public life was almost dead when we wanted to start our recording schedule. We tried to make the process just like it was for "Insomnia": Songwriting, rehearsal, producing, rehearsal and play the finished song. As it was impossible to make that much rehearsals, everything was very tight. How did we change the process?
Well, we had some fragments of the songs, some songs were even written before we have started. In December, Roman and Julian sat together in the studio and startet producing the songs. That happened through recording the riffs and arrange them to a song. Afterwards the lyrics were adapted to the new song structure.
To make it short: On "Insomnia" all songs were used to be recorded after we were able to play them. On "Sadness" our songs were more constructed. We had to record the drums just after a rehearsal where we just played one song. So in the extreme case of few songs, Michael had to record the drum lines after playing the song 5 times. This is a hard task and he did a great job!
Technical differences
We have used three instead of two guitar/bass lines. That gives us more options for the room effects. Also it makes the lines sound much thicker and more powerful. We tracked every line with two inputs simultanously - one via amp head and one digital. That gives the warmth of our beloved tube amps and the flexibility of the digital line. On "Insomnia" all of Julians guitar lines were digital, while Roman had both, tube amp and digital lines.
Julian and Roman both used different guitars than on Insomnia. Roman played his lines with his new Hagstrom guitar, while Julian used his Balaguer Hyperion 7.
Also Roman did upgrade his studio equipment with a ribbon microphone. This may sound like a quite weird move. Still Julians voice sound pretty warm and dry on the new mic. It also seems a bit darker, deeper and less "clinical". It's hard to describe, but you will see. All vocals were tracked with the old and the new mic simultanously to be more flexible in the stereo room.
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