Video of the day 18th of March

Little boxes with Chilton Talentmaker

Chilton to Introduce New Organ: The TalentMaker A new optical organ called the TalentMaker will be introduced at the NAMM Show according to F. Roy Chilton, president of the Chilton Corporation, Torrance, California. The new instrument has 24 chord buttons, 37 keys and has such features as instantaneous electronic speed and pitch change, slide balance control, 12′ speaker, 24 Watts of power and vinyl grain wood cabinet according to Chilton. Anticipated retail is about $395.00. “The TalentMaker is a quality musical instrument built by one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of electronic musical instruments, The Galanti Electronics Group, with eight factories located in Italy and Ireland”, said Chilton. The TalentMaker operates on special optical discs featuring a “Triple Track” (patent applied for) process which produces a clear, wide range tone according to Chilton. Chilton, a veteran in the music industry, was formerly president of Thomas Organ, Magna Electronics and Optigan Corporation. The Chilton Corporation is a subsidiary of General Electro Music and the new instrument will be displayed in Space 27A, B&H.

Studio update #3

Studio update #3

Apparently the first batch of Necromonkey CDs have reached the US shores which makes me very happy. Its taking alot longer than we hoped for to get the discs over there so we appreciate your patience. If you want to order one please drop us a line at Necromonkeyness@gmail.com

Today we recorded vocals on the Akaba track Riflegun. Åsa is very convinced the title is gonna stay...Im not too sure. It really is a pleasure working on this album. We have been at it for some time but it still feels very fresh and Im also under the illusion that we know what is going on thematically.

After Åsa left I started mixing track 6 for the ...in these murky waters album today. This track is based around the Optigan disc Banjo sing a long which is a weirder one. Not so much weird but I have very little in my life that connects to finger picking banjos.

Ripping apart Optigan Banjos

As I am working on the album I try really hard to make it as interesting as possible. Sometimes it is about breaking up the arrangement or shifting the focus. In this video Im doing a treatment on the Banjos...where Im pitching it down and puling it thru some effects. When its played at the right speed it sounds a lot more....interesting....I think.

The thing is by doing this I started getting other Ideas and added some Mellotron Timpanis and all of a sudden everything changed.

Video of the day 15th of February 2014

Video of the day is from yesterday. 

Mellotron Bees. Mellotron Bees. Mellotron Bees.

Its very short and slightly manic because my phone is in such terrible shape so it dies on me constantly. I think it has something to do with the deep crack on the backside.

This means that I try to film as fast as possible.

The sweet sound of bees.

I hope you like it. And yes. 

The whole running out of gas thing was true. Good day!

We came from the ocean

The echo chamber at Abbey Road.

Yesterday was a good day. I did a mix on the second track "we came from the ocean" on Friday and felt very pleased with it. Than I came home and listened and realized it needed a lot of work. It wasnt a problem with the track itself but I listened to the first track I had mixed and when I listened to "we came from the ocean" I realized I needed to push everything a bit further.

I really like working that way. Trying to build every song differently so that when you hear the album its entirety it wont become boring or flat. Its very easy to resort to standard solutions...Doubletracked Mellotron 3 violins with the Chamberlin Cello playing bass sounds amazing. Its a sure thing. But if you do it on every track...it will become flat very quickly.

So on this new track I wanted to create different atmosphere in the choruses and used the Mk 1 mandolins as the driving chords with doubletracked Orchestron Celloes as the bass. To get a stronger percussive element I added M400 Timpani hits. The choruses fell into place verk quickly. A lot of atmosphere but the problem obviously meant that the verses needed some attention.

As all of the instruments are either Mellotron, chamberlin, optigan or Orchestron I feel a lot of affection for them. I have issues with messing with them too much which is a bit weird. I destroy drums on a daily basis but Mellotron....? Never!

One big thing that is great with these instruments is that they command attention. They move tempo and pitch wise. Your ear cant really trust them.

Its about creating a world where you as the listener is lured into the idea that everything is ok.

One way of creating such a world is by using reverbs to tie everything together. My main reverb is a big Akg spring reverb that has easily paid for it self. It is lush and silky. By using the same reverb on everything you create an artificial room where the sounds blend. On this album I will be experimenting with several reverb units to create specific rooms for all of the tracks.

My favorite reverb was at my old studio in Sundbyberg. Next to my studio there was an empty garage...and I got to use it as a echo chamber. A echo chamber is quite simply an empty room whe you place a speaker and a microphone and you record the echo. It was really amazing. If you are curious to hear it check out the tarantula waltz album.

Well anyway I have listened to the mix at home and it sounds....good which means that tomorrow Ill be starting the next mix. It actually feels great.