jan 21 2006
And then it is time for the last recordings for Talisman: Esther Ladiges comes to contribute her part. She had already done some songs, but we had the idea that we could get more from some of the songs. And for Dawn I had written an extra verse, so that had to be recorded also.
We took it easy and worked very relaxed and we were able to lift both 'Dawn' and 'The Raven and the Stone' to a higher level. Both sonically and in performance an improvement compared to the first 'takes'. Catharina we left as it was. We just could not enhance what Esther had done there in the first recording, so much emotion and a certain darkness that we could not re-create, so we left it as was.
After that we added some backingvocals in The Abyss in addition to some of Michaels lines: very sensual!
And that marks the end for the recordings: time to start on the mixing of the album and try to find a recordcompany taht is willing to take the risk of releasing this album... to be continued
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jan 15 2006
And then it is time for Michael Hos to step up to the microphone again. It is time to revisit a couple of songs and to have a go at Talisman Revisited for the first time. We made some minor adjustments to Non Nobis and The Abyss. Esspecially the last song gained a lot of strength now Michael was more familiar with the song.
Than it is time for the closing song of the CD: Revisited. It is a duet with Maaike an finaly it has become a real duet now that the male vocals have been recorded. Beautyful lines with a warm and sensuel atmosphere. Just as planned..
Michael is not only a singer but also a graphic designer, so we had a look at the artwork for the booklet. He added some comments and took some of it home with him to work on. The artwork will look great!
Michael: Thanks!
jan 11 2006
The first recording day in 2006. The cello is scheduled for today. Round 11:00 I find a small girl with a large cello at my front door, Linde Faber is here to contribute her part to Talisman.
Today we have to record different parts: some theme’s, but also a complete cello solo. One of the most important aspects will be the character of the instrument. And that won’t be much of a problem: she brought a 120 year old cello!
We start with The Crimson Puppeteer, not completely satisfied we move on to the Intermezzo. Here the Cello is the core business, it is one long cello solo. After that Catharina en Revisited are handled very well. After Cortez we have another go at The Crimson Puppeteer, and this time everything works out just fine. It was obvious a cause of getting to know each other and for Linde to get familiar with the recording location (and me ofcourse ;-).
She added a nice extra to the songs, a beautiful acoustic edge.
And what an energy: she didn’t have time to eat, a cup of coffee would do, she just wanted to play. And that’s what she did!
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dec 16 2005
Time for a new face to enter the studio. Through my work as a live soundengineer I got in contact with the band Ulysses and their singer Michael Hos. He loves Rock Opera's and is a big fan of Ayreon and Jeff Wayne's War of the World. He said he would like to give it a try and participate in my little project.
We started with The Abyss and Non Nobis. For these songs I had not yet any 'real' singers, just my own vocals as a guide. It was very important to get a good impression, espesiccally for Non Nobis because I still was not convinced wether it would make it on the CD the way it was until today. But rest assured, it will make it! Michael sang some very good part. With a voice sometimes full and warm, and the next moment real hardrock-like power, full of emotion and very diverse.
After that we had a go at Legend, Gerton had already laid down some vocals for this song, but we (Gerton and I) both had the idea that it was not what we were looking for. As if his voice didn't fit the song.
Michael sang a very convincing impression of a 'Highlander', with some parts I had to look twice at my singer, because it sounded like Daniel Gildenlow from Pain Of Salvation stood in front of the microfone! Just listen to this small section from Legend!
We are very happy! Michael wil return to redo some parts when we have grown accustomed to the tracks and he wil do them again even better!
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dec 3 2005
It has been quiet for a while, everyone has been very busy with other things, but at last it is time again to do something: we have to record a choir, in january we'll record Cello, and in December I will start working with an extra (new) singer.
But first the choir: for Non Nobins we need a couple of Latin vocals. But where do we find a choir? So we go to Opmeer, to the recordingroom of Peter Boer, there we will meet with Martijn Bos (also on Grand Piano) and Emile Boellaard (also on drums) and Esther Ladiges (vocals) and myself, so that is 5 voices. Double everything a couple of times and you end up with 20 voices, and there is your choir! Here is a small example of our Gregorian Choir
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3 okt 2005
And again it was time for another contribution by Peter, this time he played the double bass parts for the Intermezzo. It is a song with a more classical sound. It is the song that will lead us to the era of Catharina.
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jul 16 2005
And than its time for another round of vocals. This time it is Gerton Leijdekker who steps up to the microphone. I have 4 songs planned for him. Today we have time to tackle 2 songs: ‘The Crimson Puppeteer’ and ‘Legend / The Wall’.He sings the ‘Puppeteer’ very well, the sound of his voice suits the character of the song, he portrays a very convincing ‘Judas’ : anger, disappointment, full of doubt, almost like a theatre or opera.
As far as Legend is concerned, we will have to have another go at that song, for we might get more out of that song than we have done now.
This guy runs on coffee! His way of lubricating his vocal cords.
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feb 2 2005
Today Peter Boer delivered his first contribution to the recordings. He gave me the Stick tracks for Dawn. The Stick is a strange instrument, it is combination between a guitar and a bassguitar. It has got more of a percussive sound and feel to it.
Together with some overdrive sounds from the stick it sets the mood perfectly for the dreamy, dark karakter in Dawn.
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feb 19/20 2005
This weekend it was Martijn Bos' time to step onto the stage. We agreed to meet at 'Muziekschool Gerard Boedijn' in Hoorn, where we would record a grand piano and (if possible) a harpsicord or a spinet.
The piano was not in a perfect condition, but it was not something that Martijn could not fix with a pitch fork and a tuningdevice, so we kept tuning here in regular intervals (no pun :-) and all worked out very wel.
The result is very good, in all the tracks you can hear Martijn's own distinct character. Some tracks were more difficult than others (read: The Crimson Puppeteer), but in the end, these also gave way. We recorded the grand piano with 4 microfones, 2 at close range and 2 more distant. During the mix this will allow us to choose between a studioreverb or the accoustics of the actual room, to place the piano proper in the mix.
At the end of the second day we tried to record a spinet also, it took a while because we could get it in tune. That actually took us over an hour, but finally we could hit the record button. The classical intermezzo is now really starting to sound like a classical intermezzo, complete with old instruments, almost like a 18th century chamber orcestra!
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dec 21 2004
And suddenly a CD was dropped in my mailbox with the remaining guitar tracks recorded by Gerton. The last 4 songs. And as I suspected the tracks were good, it took some time to get used to some parts, but in the end it is all good. Except for Cortez, because what Gerton did there, has lifted the song to a new higher level. It has been one favourite song of mine, but after Maaike did her part and Gerton's contribution the song has become GREAT, I think it is the best on the album. Beautiful solos and lots of accoustic guitar to enhance the Spanish feel of the song.
You just wait until you hear it......
dec 16 2004
Today it was reprise time for Maaike. Last time we were able to get a clear picture of where Revisited was heading, but because we didn't have enough time, we were not sure about Cortez. We also had our doubts wether the song suited Maaike. So this time we set out change lyrics, shaped melodie lines. And ended up with something suiting her voice better, creating a tension between the 'smallness' of the voice and the 'big sounding' rest of the song.
All the doubts the I (we) had with this song are gone! This is going to be a great song!
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16 okt 2004
Also Gerben Klazinga has done first contribution to this album: he played a beautiful hammond solo on the song 'The raven & the Stone'. Brilliant track, and it was not an easy part to play a solo on, but of course he managed!
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Sept 28 2004
And suddenly things start to move fast: Gerton recorded the guitartracks for the first 5 songs, and send them to me. That makes a big difference! I already recorded the heavy rythm tracks myself, but Gerton's are much better. The big enhancement is in the solos and the more atmosferical parts, which are just great!
It is getting more clear where we are heading, part of the keyboards for those songs have been recorded aswel, because we are getting a better picture of the soundscape on each song. Esspecially on those songs where Esther already put down some vocal tracks. The other songs still feature my 'guide-vocals' and we will have to wait for the other singers to make that picture complete.
I think this is going to be a pretty nice record...
July 12 2004
I just finished some of my recordings, I recorded the bass guitar tracks. Maybe not everything will make it on the final album, but for now it is good. Maybe later on I will re-record some tracks when the other parts are done, to make some room here and their or to fill up some empty spaces.
The Moog Taurus tracks are not done yet, again I will wait for the other musicians to do their part and add the bass-pedals as we need them, wether there is room for them or not ;-)
Here are two snap-shot's: on the first I am tracking the fretless parts on 'blondje'. On the second I am busy with some 'some serious wood-shedding'.
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June 24 2004
Today it was Maaike Breijman's turn to go up in front of the microfone and try the parts I had in mind for her: Cortez and Revisited. For both the songs we had to raise the scale for the song to fit her voice, but it worked out. She did Revisited very good, for Cortez there was not much time left but at least we are confidend about the pitch and we can continue recording the other instruments: first bass, and then probably cello and grand piano.
June 13 2004
Yesterday I worked with Esther Ladiges on the 3 songs I want her to sing. The recordings were very helpfull! From 1 song (Catherine) it showed that we had to raise the pitch one tone for Esther to be able to sing it more comfortable. So we had to pitch-shift the rest of the recordings, that made the whole song sound a little 'thin', but today I re-recorded the new tracks and the image became much clearer. We were afraid that the song might loose impact, but after what I tried today that should not be a problem. She tried 2 different versions, one acting as the evil-stephmother, quiet interessting :-)
We expected fewer problems from the 2 other songs (Dawn and The Raven and the Stone), at least with the pitch of the songs. It was hard work to find the right emotions in the singing and in the right places. But this is a 'work in progess'.
We intend to repeat these sessions (each a few weeks after another) until we are satisfied with what we can get out of the songs, both in a technical way and an emotional way.
May 31 2004
I just spent 3 days recording drums in the Knight Area Studio
(Gerben Klazinga) with Emile Boellaard. What I need to do
in the next day(s) is to put the right drum tracks in the
proper order. What lays behind, are 3 days of very
intense recording. But intense in a good way: relaxed,
driven, almost 10 hours a day. But the results are great!
Emile made an enormous impression on me. Driven, strong,
steady, a great tone, well balanced and power, a lot of
power!.
If Emile has set an example of what is to come for this album, expectations are high and we might be in for some surprises along the way.
I know two guys who will sleep well tonight, Emile, because he is broken and me, because I am a happy man! Emile: you're great!
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March 13 2004
Most of the writing is done. For all the songs the music and lyrics are complet. Some polishing up needs to be done on some of the songs and for 2 songs I still need to write the ending section of the songs. But first we will see if the singers that I have in mind can actually sing the songs and wether or not they fit the mood of the songs. We can then still change some things, transpose the songs or go for another singer.
The first steps towards the Artwork have been take. The Talisman itself has been visualized and for the other songs, some images are under construction.
Dec 4 2003
Sometimes you have to look back at what you’ve done and make tough decision. I was not quiet happy with the second half of Cortez. The first half was powerful and technical. The second half lacked something. So I got rid of the last bit and rewrote the last 5 minutes. Now some of the material in the first half reappears in the second half. And the mood is more dramatic. There is a sence of frustration and searching in it that fits the ‘Cortez character’. The whole song is lifted to a higher plan.
Nov 3 2003
And another song written. The piece on the Barbarian near Hadrians wall is written. Sometimes it takes weeks for a song to materialize from your head into music, sometimes it is done in a day.
Oct 25 2003
Today I went through soms songs with Peter and Esther, checking out the modification I did to some of their suggestions. I seemed it was what they wanted.
Together with Peter we checked out some parts, for the song called ‘Dawn’, that we’re intended to be played with a Stick (a mixture between a bass and a guitar) that’s tapped and as a percussive sound.
Esther will start writting some Gregorian chant, writing a new arrangement for ‘Non Nobis’, that is something you can leave to her.
May 24 2003
Writing the stories and songs for Talisman is well under way. I moved to a new home, and after that it took some 3 months to get my studio up and running again. Only then I could pick up the work on CroGenesis again. The project had been still for some 10 months, due to all kinds of different circumstances. In the meantime, the concept for Talisman was concived and some 5 songs were written, together with the lyrics that go with them.
I also got myself a guitar, ampilifier and the neccessary recording equipment that goes with it, so my demosongs will no longer just be computer and midi files, but more 'life' instruments.
I also had to upgrade the computer I work with, one reason was that it would be quite difficult to finish CryoGenesis, the other reason is that it is just lot's of fun to work with a machine that fast! With my old setup, most of the times the computer was more busy than me, I just sat round and waited...