Dear legions, In a recent post you have read about the behind the scenes of making the drum recordings for the next full-length album! If you want to read about it, in case you've missed it, it is available HERE! In this post, I will take you through the vocal recordings! Vocal recordings means all my main vocals, Rikard's clean- and growl vocals + whatever harmonies and choirs we want to have for the songs! Small warning: It's a long post. Grab a tea, coffee, water - whatever you like and get cozy! ❤︎3 days were booked, and I felt we had enough of time for all the songs + choirs and harmonies! So Rikard and I went to Kungälv on Monday, January 12th to arrive on the Monday evening to settle in and prepare ourselves mentally.
HELLO BED! 🤓 Upon arrival we threw in our stuff, made our beds and settled in and then we had quite some catch up talk with Thomas who we are recording with since I haven't seen him since the recording of "We Stand United"! Always a pleasure and time went super fast. I mentally have to prepare for vocal recordings because not only do you have to deliver high quality vocals in a limited time, you have to mentally be there in the songs to also deliver more than pitch perfect notes - we always want you to feel the songs. Then I can't be a robot. I have to be in there with the songs and put out what we feel in the shape of singing. And I can tell you, the hard work with that started a week earlier. I was not in a good place by then and I couldn't figure out why I felt so miserable until it hit me - I had already started to work on the exactly that. I found myself lowered to the ground because of everything that we have been going through that has been a part of making the new songs. Don't get me wrong - it's not a sad album, but the entire album has been therapy for both Rikard and myself - like aways, but now more than ever. Since our latest full-length album "We Shall Remain" released in 2023, so much has happened in our lives, and majority of them has been very heavy. I am not looking for any pity, I simply just want to share with you the entire process - the REAL process of creating. When I realized why I felt like this, I managed to do my preparation work even better and I found how empowered I felt by these new songs myself. I felt uplifted on the Sunday, the day before the journey to Kungälv and I had this feeling of: "Let's f-ing do this, I am READY". It was a nice feeling to have mentally.
I woke up to this on Day 1. I looked over to Rikards side of the room and I got a chock: WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? 😂 Of course I asked if I could take a picture more close up so you see how scary it looks, hahaha! Rikard has this cool mask to take care of his skin - I got intrigued of course! But wow, what a look 😜
I went up early to prepare myself, eat my breakfast in peace and have proper time to warm up! Rikard did the same when he was done with his The Mask segment of the morning! Starting early this year I have also dived into documenting everything I eat to try and help myself to be more stable, feel better in general and focus on taking care of myself a bit more. I haven't, in a long time. And this was a good motivation and eye opener for me to see what food and delicious things can actually do to me. Don't get me wrong - I still enjoy some of it, but for me and how I work mentally I have also realized that I have to be a bit better in taking care of myself to not crash or feel tired and heavy all the time. Which has been the case, especially ever since Diesel died followed by Tofsa. So this morning, I started with my breakfast I keep holding on to every day; Swedish knäckebröd with tofu, a small click of mayo, black salt, banana + a coffee & water! The rest of the day I had smooth lunch and dinner planned to make sure I did my very best to maintain strength but also smooth vocal chords!
After breakfast I took all the prepared lyrics I brought with me, placed on the table and got myself a proper overview and. Where to start strategically is always the priority! I made a good plan for us, and Rikard got to let me know when he felt ready. He had quite some on his shoulders preparing for this and drum recordings, so to me it was important that I performed really well on day 1 to make sure he could focus on being in the producer chair looking at details as expressions in my performance, maybe we want this or that instead despite the demo etc. I did and always do the same with him too, and this time I also gave him some tips and tricks in vocal technique to land better on higher notes which can be a bit of a challenge when the body is already tired. With few tips he nailed it perfectly! We need to carry each other when it's needed! Nice cup too, right? ☕️ I love this studio. The studio bubble sets in pretty hard in this place because of the cozy vibe 🕯️ Despite windows, you feel you're disconnected a bit from the outside world. I also disappear quite a bit from social medias because I don't want anything to affect how I feel, work or deliver.
Hello from us on day 1!
Rikard grabbed some relaxing tea to prepare for the day but also to try and make his neck muscles relax! If you have tense muscles around your neck it directly affects your singing. It worked! 💪
I settled in my recording space. This microphone is an AKG C12VR. First time we used it was for "Dancing In Hell" if I don't recall wrong, or maybe even the EP "All shall Burn". Either way, it was a perfect match for my vocals. Back then I recall you could find it for approx. 2000€/$, second hand, and new it was around 5000€/$. It was a goal I certainly had to have this microphone myself one day. I also recall seeing Floor Jansen buying the same one and it suits her so very well! Then covid hit properly, and I recall it was up at 10 000€/$ new... 😂 What the actual hell, haha. Now it has landed on 7500€/$ new but honestly.. that ain't worth it. I just hope I one day can manage to buy it second hand for a reasonable amount. But until then I am deeply grateful that Thomas has one to provide for our recordings! It's not only an insanely good microphone, it also looks incredible with the deep forest green and gold/brass details. Phew, it's a beauty. Just a bit of extra nerd info, haha.
The A-16 thing you saw to the right in the previous picture is a small mixer where I can adjust the music, click, my vocals, my reverb etc myself so I hear what I want and need to hear! Love it, I had such great sound and heard everything the way I wanted to. I wish I could always have the same sound, then I could sing for hours and hours in a row 😂
Also, the microphone Rikard used on "We Stand United" was used once again. It is THE microphone that Till Lindemann used for the recordings of their album "Rosenrot". Some real german germs in there for Rikard to inhale and create magic with! And more nerdy stuff is this btw:
This is a compressor from the brand Focusrite. But it is also THE compressor that has been used on all of Rammstein's albums. Yes, all of them until now. How cool ain't that?
And when Thomas and Rikard recorded some choir vocals I had the honor to record them, and I couldn't help myself wanting to take a selfie with THE mixer table that was previously owned by Lucas Arts... I mean.. AIN'T THAT COOL?! Holy 😂
Hello from my corner! And how we do it for a nice flow during the days is to record one song - listen, are we satisfied or should something be adjusted - then we move on to the next one. I felt we could take our time with the 3 days booked, which for me felt like luxury. Usually we've pushed through 1-2 days - but this time it was so appreciated to have some more time to really dive into the songs even more.
POV from Rikards evening routine in the studio! After day 1 in the studio we went to an ICA store nearby and I noticed he felt like having something nice to treat himself. A bunch of coca-cola and dark chocolate later accompanied by rewatching Stranger Things he seemed to be at ease and happy! So happy for him having chocolate... 😂 I kept to a Cola Zero and a brown banana.. 🤓And one other thing we also kept to is to take showers. After a long day of focus it is so refreshing with a warm shower, to both take care of your vocal chords but also to unwind and refresh yourself before bed. It's like on tour - the showers you get may be very short, but wow how important they are for the mind!
We managed basically half of the songs on day 1, rest of the half on day 2 and on the last day, day 3 we recorded harmonies, details, and CHOIRS! In this photo you see the rig in the BIG hall ready for Thomas and Rikard to record some very epic choirs!
Rikard gave it all to take this photo for you! So much that he is actually facing the wrong direction and not the microphones 😂 All jokes aside! It went well and these choirs get so epic. You may have heard them before in songs like "We Stand United" and "We Are Legion" 😏What we also did on the last day to summarize it all was to listen through all the songs after each other to see if we were happy with the takes and everything in whole.. and oh my, what an emotional ride THAT was. Jesus christ. Last song I notice how I was letting go, I was done recording and the songs are 100% recorded and I just let the tears out. What an important album this is.
Side note if you're into recording vocals too and maybe wonder what the hell one does when it comes to food and not ruin a good warm up! For a day in the studio where I don't want to eat and chew something for lunch to maintain my vocals properly, but still need nutrition - this was the best solution for me! So darn good.. how I wish I was sponsored, haha. It is a great go-to even on tours if food is messed up and you still need something! Either way, until then I treat myself now and then with this goodie when needed!
On day 2 this incredible guy came by once again to capture us when in the making! Hannes, drummer of Sabaton, is not only a talented drummer - he is also a fantastic photographer. I am so deeply grateful for what he did for us, and I wanted to round of this novel with a gathering of his great photos he took of the vocal recordings. On top of that, Hannes and I went outside for 15 mins for some more photos I will share with you in a post soon.All following photos from this point is taken by Hannes Van Dahl 📸
Thank you Hannes. Thank you Thomas. Thank YOU for being here reading this making all of this possible ❤︎With love,Madeleine