anata
07-02-2008, 03:05 AM
Here's the latest news on the recording of the new (yet untitled) Anata album. Below Fredrik Schälin and Henrik Drake tells a bit about the recording method, the new gear and the tracking of guitars and bass. If you missed out on Conny Pettersson's drum recording diary, just click the following link:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=25630536&blogID=396386807
Fredrik's greetings:
"Why waste money in the studio, let's buy their equipment instead!"
On the previous album, we chose to record only clean, lined guitar tracks. We did this in order to make up the final sound later, in a process called re-amping. Although the sound may have ended up a bit too mellow on that album, the recording technique is ingenious. And since we always throw the studio guys out anyway (and do all the tracking ourselves), we thought this time we should instead set up a temporary recording unit at my place. So we bought the Motu 2408 sound card we had previously used in Studiomega, set some computers and pre-amps up and started recording.
http://www.anata.se/images/studio_FS1.jpg
This time I play my rather new Schecter Hellraiser C-1, and it truly has got everything I desire in a guitar; a solid mahogany body, a 24 frets set-in neck with perfect access, EMG active 81/85, a stable fixed bridge with string-through-body design for extra sustain and what more… It's got a really fat sound and I even love the look of it! And as usual we use D'Addario 0.012-0.052 and tune in C sharp.
At the moment we're recording a song called 'Greed conquers all', a very demanding one that when rehearsed has left me screaming for the last two years. It's the first song that I wrote for this album and it has truly taken quite some time to master it. We're looking forward to post some excerpts from this one (or other) as soon as possible.
http://www.anata.se/images/studio_FS2.jpg
All in all: with Conny's precise, lightning-fast drumming and Henrik's groovy bass lines, all I can say is that this sounds nothing less than fantastic! It's already clear that this will be the most aggressive album to date in the band's history.
Stay tuned…
Recording update - Henrik:
Before we started to track the bass lines I and Fredrik have been experimenting with the equipment in order to get the highest bass recording quality; soundwise, tunewise etc. This is because I want this to be the best ANATA recording ever; regarding the bass sound, and overall, and also so that the recording will proceed as smoothly as possible. I have tried out different basses, string brands and string sizes. Finally I decided to go with a GHS 0.115-0.050 set on a Warwick bass with neck through body design (courtesy of J. Sjunnesson) in order to achieve high sustain and stable tuning on all frets, which was a slight problem when we recorded some pre-production demo tracks with my Ibanez using thinner strings.
http://www.anata.se/images/studio_HD1.jpg
The bass is recorded through an MXR-pedal, as on the last albums. Although it has been a bit demanding to play on a totally different bass than the one I'm used to (heavier body, different body shape and particularly broader and thicker neck), recording has so far been working out smoothly and the parts put on tape so far sound very promising and convincing. I record bass once drums and guitars are recorded on each track. It is very enjoyable to track the bass after the very impressive drums and the tight and solid guitar performance.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=25630536&blogID=396386807
Fredrik's greetings:
"Why waste money in the studio, let's buy their equipment instead!"
On the previous album, we chose to record only clean, lined guitar tracks. We did this in order to make up the final sound later, in a process called re-amping. Although the sound may have ended up a bit too mellow on that album, the recording technique is ingenious. And since we always throw the studio guys out anyway (and do all the tracking ourselves), we thought this time we should instead set up a temporary recording unit at my place. So we bought the Motu 2408 sound card we had previously used in Studiomega, set some computers and pre-amps up and started recording.
http://www.anata.se/images/studio_FS1.jpg
This time I play my rather new Schecter Hellraiser C-1, and it truly has got everything I desire in a guitar; a solid mahogany body, a 24 frets set-in neck with perfect access, EMG active 81/85, a stable fixed bridge with string-through-body design for extra sustain and what more… It's got a really fat sound and I even love the look of it! And as usual we use D'Addario 0.012-0.052 and tune in C sharp.
At the moment we're recording a song called 'Greed conquers all', a very demanding one that when rehearsed has left me screaming for the last two years. It's the first song that I wrote for this album and it has truly taken quite some time to master it. We're looking forward to post some excerpts from this one (or other) as soon as possible.
http://www.anata.se/images/studio_FS2.jpg
All in all: with Conny's precise, lightning-fast drumming and Henrik's groovy bass lines, all I can say is that this sounds nothing less than fantastic! It's already clear that this will be the most aggressive album to date in the band's history.
Stay tuned…
Recording update - Henrik:
Before we started to track the bass lines I and Fredrik have been experimenting with the equipment in order to get the highest bass recording quality; soundwise, tunewise etc. This is because I want this to be the best ANATA recording ever; regarding the bass sound, and overall, and also so that the recording will proceed as smoothly as possible. I have tried out different basses, string brands and string sizes. Finally I decided to go with a GHS 0.115-0.050 set on a Warwick bass with neck through body design (courtesy of J. Sjunnesson) in order to achieve high sustain and stable tuning on all frets, which was a slight problem when we recorded some pre-production demo tracks with my Ibanez using thinner strings.
http://www.anata.se/images/studio_HD1.jpg
The bass is recorded through an MXR-pedal, as on the last albums. Although it has been a bit demanding to play on a totally different bass than the one I'm used to (heavier body, different body shape and particularly broader and thicker neck), recording has so far been working out smoothly and the parts put on tape so far sound very promising and convincing. I record bass once drums and guitars are recorded on each track. It is very enjoyable to track the bass after the very impressive drums and the tight and solid guitar performance.