Studio Update #5

Studio Update #5

Things have been awfully quiet on the blogging front for a while....which isnt as weird as one might think. The reason why I have just been automatically posting stuff is because I have been terribly busy.

My wife left for the states two weeks ago mumbling around at SxSW and San Francisco which left me with three kids and an awful amount of mixing to do. So I tried to focus on eating, sleeping and working....a bit of reading not a lot of writing. This last month or so Ive finished reading Donna Tartts the secret history and a Biography about Roald Dahl.

So maybe I should do I slight bounce around the bands that are currently active.

Kaukasus. We are just about wrapping up the cover and are working on promo material. The first single "lift the memory" will be out on the 7th of march.

Anima Morte. Are bouncing in and out of the studio recording a lot of cool stuff...they have been in Örebro recording Guitars and bass so everything seems to be on the move. We will continue on Thursday.

Vak. Will enter the studio to start recording their debutalbum. A full band recording which I am really looking forward to. The stuff the studio was built for. 

Owl and a half: Im thinking of doing a fairly simple digital release of the debutalbum "the complete Johnny Cash discography". If there sufficient interest Ill make a small batch of real ones.

...in these murky waters: the Optigan/chamberlin/Mellotron/Orchestron album. So far I think I have mixed 8 tracks...which means that of the original batch I have two left...but in the meanwhile I have written and recorded four new tracks that I probably want on the album.

A first taste of the album

Necromonkey: We are currently rehearsing for our upcoming gigs. This last sunday we rehearsed with the remarkable guitarist Einar Baldursson who will be joining us for the next two gigs.

16th April at Stampen

3rd of May at Bryggarsalen

Akaba: Giles Martin is currently mixing the final tracks at Abbey Road. 

Now playing: ...In these murky waters - Ophelia

Video of the day 12th of February 2014

Stephen Hawking in zero gravity. Look at that smile!

So smart and still no gravity. Makes you think.

Yesterday I posted a video from the Carl Hasselrot sessions recording the wonderful Juno 106. This is a synth that I havent used too much but Im using it more and more.

This little film is from the latest Akaba sessions. Roth Händle veteran Tobias Ljungkvist doing his thing and trying to sneak in a pitchbend. A messy one too.

Today Ill be mixing another track for the all Optigan/Mellotron/Chamberlin/Orchestron album. 

Its a really fun track with a slight Tim Burton edge to it.

I Think.

Tobias wrestling a oily Pez.  

That sounds a lot more interesting than the truth right?

Tobias punching a nun in the face. OMG! OMG! OMG!

A bit too violent but still pretty happening.

Stephen Hawkings last shave

Now...thats just sad, isnt it?

Necromonkey - A glimpse of possible endings

Necromonkey - A glimpse of possible endings

It is finally here.

Our second album. We are very happy with it. David and I discussed what track we should post as a teaser and we realized that all of the tracks represent the album and none of them do.

The tracklisting is as follows...

1. There seems to be knife stains in your blood

2. The sheltering waters

3. The counterfeit pedestrian

4. Glimpse

5. The worst is behind us

The album was recorded at Roth Händle V.

Track 2 was mixed by Kristian Holmgren.

Mastered by Christopher Cline.

Cover by Henning Lindahl.

As a sort of teaser we posted the second track, the sheltering waters on soundcloud.

Track 2 of the new album

The sheltering waters (6:30)

Electric Guitars, Baritone Guitar, Maas-Rowe Vibra Chime, Vibraphones, 

Glockenspiels, Mini Moog, Hammond and Crumar Organs, Teaspoon,

Yamaha DX-100, Yamaha SY-1, Drummachines, Drums and Percussion, Persephone.

Rob Martino: Chapman Stick

This song is very odd for us....see if you can spot why.

Here are a couple of videos from the sessions for the sheltering waters.

A very early session idea from the sheltering waters

David recording the Piano Part

A chamberlin solo female voice part that didnt make it

We have already started sending out the disc to the people who have preordered but also to magazines and reviewers. If you would want a copy of the album you are very welcome to do so by emailing us at Necromonkeyness@gmail.com

We have another 3 or 4 albums coming up that are pretty much finished. 

Our ambition is to release atleast one album per year.

Now playing: 

Fake plastic trees - Radiohead

The street - Harry Partch

Video of the day 8th of February 2014

An easy way to encourage and develop randomness is to be lazy. In this little video Im using the same effects on several different overdubs. It wasnt what I was planning to do but it turned out to be really interesting in the end. 

So the lesson is simple....leave everything plugged in and you will be fine. 

Leaving everything as it is.

Video of the day 29th of January 2014

Im sorry I havent written anything here for a while but there has been a lot of things going on. My wife turned 40 on Saturday so we had a big party in the studio which meant that there was a lot of cleaning to be done before and after. 

Todays video is from the sessions for the Opium Cartels second album Ardor.

One year ago. To the day.

I dont think it survived to the mix but its still an interesting idea.

Kaoss padded Glockenspiels for the Opium Cartel

Now Playing: Bad street - Twin Sister

Video of the day 20th January 2014

This is a blast from the past...Kryztof Antkowiak recording Benny Anderssons Yamaha GX-1. 

Kryz was a former childstar from Poland (see picture) and wanted to reboot his career.
So we recorded an album and then he got involved with a manager
and everything ground to a halt. This was in 2008. 

Its a really cool album though.

The Yamaha GX-1 was on loan from Abbas Benny Andersson. 

It now resides (or sleeps) at Riksmixningsverket. It apparently needs a lot of love.

Kryz recording the Yamaha GX-1

Video of the day 19th of January 2014

One thing that I find to be very interesting is how we are fooled into believing that the more difficult and complex things are....they must by default be better. Here is a remarkably simple percussion idea from my dear friend Henrik Olsson.
We share the drum duties in our Krautband Walrus. I love this...simple and very inspiring.

I have since this video was made built a tree of bowls that we use live with Necromonkey and it will be making its album debut with Kaukasus.

This video was shot in 2012 during the Änglagård sessions for that pesky third album.

The kitchen gamelan

Video of the day 17th of January 2014

This has been my workstation over the last week. The M4000D Mellotron....a wonderful workhorse.

The Korg MS-10 Simple and sublime...and then the CR-78. Probably my favorite drummachine. 

With these three instruments I can do a lot of stuff and I have been working with these three instruments for a week now. I cheated with some electric guitar yesterday,

That is why is sort of funny that my Video of the day is of none of these. 

Instead it features the non random random tone generator.

Or as i like to call it. NRRTG

Have a great Friday.

Violent kids need random tones. Fact

Have a great day?

I like BOTH deluxe rhythms and to create my own beats...maybe this is for me!

On my way home from dropping off my daughter to school I went into a little shop in the subway where they have sandwiches, magazines, candy....and stuff. In front of me in the line there is a man around 45 - 50 years old. Well taken care off. He's one of those guys who shaves the face.

I walked in in the middle of the conversation. They guy behind the counter seemed kind of upset. 

So the shaved face guy asked. 

- "How are you? "

-" Not too great.. " The man replies.

-" I just found out that my house and car and all my belongings in Bagdad were blown up last night by a stray missile. Everything I own is gone"

There is a uncomfortable silence and then the man shines up and to ease the mans pain says.

" Well...Whatcha gonna do? Have a great day!" 

NP: Kaukasus - Mixes

How a spanish guitar saved my day

A Mellotron model M300.

Yesterday was a good day. Occasionally difficult and messy but good. As a birthday gift I received an expansion card for my digital Mellotron the M4000D. I own several Mellotrons and Chamberlins so the M4000D is mainly for live work but as I have 100 new sounds to work with I have had it hooked, miked and ready to go. The 100 sounds include a bunch of farly odd sounds like Roxy Musics special effects and Black Sabbaths choirs.

If you dont know the Mellotron is a tape replay instrument from 60s. It plays snippets of sounds from pre recorded tape. Some of the most famous sounds are strings (King Crimsons starless), Flutes ( The Beatles Strawberry fields forever), the 8 voice choir (Radioheads exit music for a film) and the Cello (Oasis wonderwall).

Yesterday I started playing with a sound from the M300, the spanish guitar and it was mesmerizing. The sound is crooked and wobbly but it had something really special about it. Im not even sure if you could hear that it was a spanish guitar if I didnt tell you.

I wrote a song on the sound and then added some other Mellotron parts. I had loads of other things to do but I just felt it was important to follow that first initial idea and record so that it wouldnt disappear. Now I have it more or less finished. It works as an instrumental piece but could also work with vocals.

Remove the head, unless it is to be used for taxidermy purposes. Most taxidermy projects require a different, more difficult method of skinning, but that method is not the focus of this article.

Another thing that was really great was also that we received a remix of a Akaba track from Emanuel Lundgren (Im from Barcelona) which was really great. Usually when people do remixes they are fairly respectful but this was just pretty bananas from the start which is fun and refreshing. Sometimes you dont want to get what you ordered.

Today Ill be recording keyboards for a Heavy Metal album. Interesting indeed. As far as I can tell here will be no Spanish guitar on that one. 

NP: John Coltrane & Duke Ellington

We cant all be Vivian Maier or Memories of Gösta

A while back a good friend of mine posted a picture on facebook of a band he was working with. It was a pretty bad picture. The band were loading in their van before going to a show in the south of sweden. It was in November or March which in Sweden means that there are no colours left. Its all black and white or faded tired colours.

The band looked like young bands do. Illfitting clothes and a general mish mash of stuff. The cases and bags looked like a mix of brand new and inherited.

I have no Idea what band it was. It wasnt really important. 

Someone wrote a comment "Great Picture!"

I wrote "Horrible Picture....but wait 5 years and it will be a good picture. Wait 20 years and it will be a great picture....wait 40 years and it will be in a gallery"

Because that is how time, sentimentality and nostalgia works. We see old super 8 films of our parents and we think everyone looks cool, great cars etc but we have no perception of how the future will treat our time.....but most likely in the same way.

So the lesson is to take a picture (and no...you dont have to post it on face book. The picture doesnt care). Its really interesting how ones memory flies back to the moment when it was taken. You think you know but you really dont.

So....I obviously LOVED this. I am not much for clicking on links but if you havent heard the story I envy you as its remarkable...and no it doesnt end with a girl showing her tits by accident or kittens in a box.

The life and work of Vivian Mayer

In a very small way.....as in very small....or not at all. This is sort of how my Youtube page works for me. Its a visual diary. Il make a crappy little film and then Ill post it. Some people will comment on them. I will reply. If you call me an asshole Ill even reply twice. 

"Thanks for the kind comment, Rock on Dude!"

The comments are often really nice and I have become friends with people who wrote me often. 

The thing is that when I look at the films( ...which I seldom do) Im surprised about how much I remember about the situation and the mood. Everything comes rushing back.

So as an excursion in modern Roth Händle history from the 6th of January. Here is a film from 2011 recorded at Pelikan Studios in Vinsta. Yep...that would be Sorterargatan. Working on Gösta Berlings sagas album Glue Works.

2011 - Cecilia Linne recording the Island intro

And the next one I found if from 2007. Thomas (EX-Änglagård, Thieves Kitchen) recording some Celeste for Swedish singer/songwriter Martin Ekman. A very odd combo....but that is how 2007 was. This was recorded in Sundbyberg...a very weird studio. But terribly cosy.

2007 - Thomas Johnsson EX-Änglagård records Celeste for Martin Ekman

So get out there....take a picture. Make a film. It doesnt matter if its good or bad. Wait for a couple of years, pull it out and it will bring you right back to that moment. I can even guarantee you that it will even look great. Cant promise anything about what you are wearing though...we might need to wait a bit longer for that....

  

Cracked knees, naked regulars and the Green Automobile.

Ive never been good at moderation. I want things to be bigger, louder and beyond. 2013 has been no different than previous years in that way. Ive smashed my head into a bunch of walls, gotten up and built new ones. Did a bunch of new things this year.

Started running. A lot. Found something terribly meditative about running 25+ km with headphones. It wasnt really about running that far. I just thought if I can run 3 I can probably run 5. If I can run 10 I can probably run 12. Took a couple of runs to realize that I had to create a specific playlist for the purpose. Running to Allen Ginsberg reading the Green Automobile will get you nowhere. 

People talk about a runners high. I never really noticed it. On some runs I had endless conversations with myself about what I was doing in the studio. Came up with solutions. Came up with some new problems as well. On other runs there was just silence.

I started reading about running and watched documentaries. Marathons and ultra marathons. One day I watched a documentary about a ultra marathon runner. He was talking about running thru the pain.

Later that night I had been running for 20 km when my knee started hurting. So I thought. I should run thru the pain. Also...20 km is nothing, 21,5 is a half marathon, right? So I kept on running.

The next day I couldnt walk at all. The x-rays showed later that I cracked the bone in my left knee by running too far. Moderation, right?

Realized that I couldnt run like that anymore. Needed something else. So I started swimming. Became very weird very fast. There are some places you want to be a regular and then there are places where you want to be as anonymous as possible. Im not sure why but there is something slightly disturbing about a 38 year old man going to a place where he gets undressed and swims back and forth for two hours. I am now very familiar with a bunch of slightly overweight wrinkly people from Sollentuna.  I started building systems about laps. How I counted them. Lap 75 for instance is my birthday. I counted from 1 and upwards and backwards. Lap 58 made my think about Rickenbacker guitars. Lap 38 my father in laws birthday and our relationship. 62 The Beatles. Etc etc. Sometimes I would just space out and realize that I had counted without knowing it.   

Swimming made me think of Brian Eno a lot.

I started seeing the waves my body made as sound moving around the pool crashing into other peoples waves. Swimming became noisy when you viewed it like that.

Made videos. A bunch of them with Necromonkey. Did one with Staphan O Bell. Appeared in one with Page. I have never been as visual. Before. 

Here I am playing the Hihat...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0k1LPhLNws&feature=youtu.be

Went to New York. Met Mitch Mignano.

My main annoyances this year have been with Mobile phones and computers..they seem to cause more irritation and frustration than possibilities and joy.

Necromonkey started playing live which felt remarkable and terrifying and the same time. Played the Sweden prog fest with three fantastic musicians. Kristian Holmgren, Jesper Skarin and Åsa Carild. Kjahart did the lights. Martin filmed us..Anders helped us with the stagestuff. I love the idea of the group working together. Also this group is spectacular in that I wouldnt mind getting stuck in an elevator with anyone of them.

A little video from our first gig.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM8jJg-dhXA

We have our second album at the printers and we have just finished the first song on our third album that will probably be released in 2014 as well. The first picture at the start of the blog is the cover of our second album. 

Started reading a lot again. Read about food, wine and cooking. Read about Keith Richards and Neil Young. Douglas Coupland. Bill Buford. Nick Kent. Vaynerchuck. 

Started a bunch of new bands and album projects. 

Kaukasus is me Rhys Marsh and Ketil Einarsen. The album is a revoultion for me. The way of working with amazing musicians online and with constant communication and brainstorming has been a worldchanging thing. I have been involved in filesharing, filebouncing projects before but never as swift and easy. It also helps a lot when the music is vibrant, dynamic, dark and very much alive. 

Nacht is an album Im making with my wife. Its a conceptalbum about sleep and the music is (surprise! surprise!) very drowsy and twilighty.

ITMW...Ill keep this one under wraps. But its good. And different.

We have also started work on a new White Willow album. Me and Jacob have probably one of the longest working relationship that I still have. He has a remarkable sense of melody harmonics...my wife can always spot his stuff. Im a such a fan of him and now we have started the new album in a new way. Einar Baldursson talks often about how music is a conversation. With me and Jacob we have been mumbling for years.

When White Willow lost their drummer after the first album I wrote Jacob and said I was up for it. A while later I played on the second one.

2014 will be surprising, thats for sure. Thats how years work.

And with a bit of luck I might be able to start running again...in moderation.

Now Playing: Bibio - Silver Wilkinson One of my favorite albums of 2013.

There is a right and a wrong way and a right way.

Yesterday was my first day back in the studio after a couple of days off. I worked on the Akaba album as we have some mixdates booked with Alar Suurna and we are actually hoping to finish this album fairly soon. The song we were working on was a remake of an old track called Fake it.

The day started with me recording drums on the track. Everything was already miked and set up so it took maybe 30 - 40 minutes to get the right take. After that I did Three different treatments on the drums. I always record the AKG reverb as it sounds so luscious and then I did two treatments using the Boss digital delay to get more movement in the drumtrack. Also by panning both delay bounces you get some good headphone candy going on.

On the track we had just a very simple bass in the choruses. I couldnt actually pinpoint what sound it was. It could have been the bass or tuba sound from the Taurus pedals or possibly something very clean from the Yamaha DX-100.

The bass sound worked but it could use a bit more character so as Tobias Ljungkvist had arrived we used an old Hagström bass through a guitar amp to get more grit and attack into the sound. The sound was fairly thin but we didnt really need more bass just some framing eq-wise.

After we had recorded the bass we decided to try something different. In a previous blog I wrote about the ideas I have floating around...one of them was making an ep or an album completely based on the VCS3. Well I thought I could start by trying to record some bass on the Fake it track.

So as I dont have a keyboard for the VCS3 I decided to do it old school. First tune oscillator one, then oscillator two and then oscillator three....record the first note on the chorus and start retuning the synth for note number two and so forth. The sound was really huge and really organic.

But for me it had a completely different worth. It sort of connects to those first pioneers of Electronic Music who worked with tape and very few and primitive possibilities. So where other people might feel that it is archaic I get a certain kind of rush to do it like this. Also using the VCS3 as a tonal instrument and not just as an effect unit feels very cool.

So when I posted the picture on line I wasnt really prepared for the onslaught about how very very very important it is to have a keyboard for the VCS3. And how very very very bad it is to use it as a signal generator.

This sort of woke a question with me....is there actually people out there who seriously think there still is a right or a wrong way to record things? And how does that actually realate to this song and this bassline? Im very happy that people take the time to write....at all. But it surprised me that people were so opinionated about this.

Old rare equipment seems to stir up a lot of emotions in people. There seems to be a consensus that there is a right or a wrong way. I feel quite puzzled by this absolute way of thinking. I tend to think more about songs and lyrics and atmospheres. Thats my job. If other people want to view them as museuem pieces they are very welcome to do so...I have albums to record.

The rest of the day moved on fast and fun. For the verses we added a Cembalo ostinato pattern that pushed the track in a completely new direction. I did a treatment on it using the Zvex lofi loop junky which made it sound like a warped 78 rpm record but it was a bit too much so we used it on the outro instead. This will tie into the other tracks on the album that have more of a sample cut and paste feel.

The last thing we did was to work on the middle eight which had a very simple Fender Rhodes line...It needed a bit more atmosphere and colour so we treated that thru the RE-501 tape echo. Mine isnt feeling too great and is incredibly wobbly which gives the sound an almost Sigur ros haunting quality. Feedback heaven with ghosts making out around it.

After we were done with Fake it we started working on a track called Åsas sång (working title). We started by bouncing between sounds on the Mellotron M4000D but it just felt stale and boring. The Chamberlin Cello is a remarkable sound but it feels like its tooo nice and tooo great so we decided to turn it off and then Tobias had the idea of using the Roth Händle Pipe Organ instead.

And four takes later we had a remarkable very solemn sounding track. The basic background was a live take of Åsa singing and Tobias on the grand piano so very little was needed....and the pipe organ hit the spot.

Working with Tobias is always a pleasure. He is fast, positive and very sensitive to the music we are working on. Always great discussions (not only about the Music we are working on) which pushes Everything forward and gives everything more depth and understanding.

Tomorrow we will continue trying to finish some more tracks. Its gonna be fun fun fun.

John Doyle with Kenny Håkansson

Had a remarkable night with my friend Per Styregård who is one of Swedens best food and wine journalists. Always great conversation, great drinks and food for thought.

I thought I could share with you a little clip from the Kenny Håkansson sessions. John Doyle from Magazine doing his thing....and a pacing Kenny in the kitchen.

John Doyle doing his thing on the toms...

A new beginning

So its apparently time...again. Back in the old days of the Roth Händle studio I had a webpage. It was voted the worst webpage online due the amounts of scrolling and windows you had to open. I have to agree. It was a mess...nowadays the webpage has been overtaken by some guy who seems to think cheap insurance is the way to go. But atleast it was something. Now there is no webpage just a fairly active facebookpage and a twitter account that sort of twitches and moves in a fairly random fashion.

The studio on the other hand is very much alive.

By a weird clash of calendars I ended up spending a lot of time in the Swedish countryside this summer. It was terribly nice being with my kids and all but what it meant was that I for the first time in a long while had the opportunity to think about what I am up to. And it forced to make some radical changes and decisions.

I decided to focus more on projects that I was directly involved in as a writer and not as an overdub musician. I wanted to have a bigger part in the artistic direction of the projects I was involved in...and I also decided to cut back on touring with other artists. By making my mind up things started to change. Im still an overdubpuppet by more on my terms and by that with more passion. I have forced myself to become more social musically and have started a lot of projects that will come into fruition next year.

This past year has been terribly active. And next year seems to go into overdrive.

These are some of the artists that have graced the studio in 2013.

Necromonkey, Akaba, Kenny Håkansson, Walrus, Kaukasus, Paul Sumner (UK), Velasco (Ita), Ingrannagi della valle, Nacht, In these murky waters, Paradox, Carl Hasselrot, Zorg, White Willow (Nor), Emma Nordenstam, Molesome, Kinski Pop, My god damn Territory, Staphan O Bell, Page, The Opium Cartel (Nor)....and more.

If you have ideas that you think belong at Roth Händle studios....drop me a line at

Rothhandlestudios@gmail.com

Have a great christmas and thanks for stopping by....