DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 17/18

Dear diary,

Sorry for not posting the last two days, but the second I got back home (= you relax) the cold I've been fighting the last week struck out in full bloom and I got sick as a dog with really high fever, nausea & pretty bad muscle pains.

Recordings resume monday, so please check back then.

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 16

This man is sex personified.

Dear diary,

You'll never guess what we did today? We recorded guitars & vocals! Yes, it's true! We now have a total of 5 whole days left to complete EVERYTHING and there's tons of work left to be done, so things are gonna get hectic to say the least.
We've also discovered that the bass is slightly out of tune on one track (which you don't really notice until you start putting guitars on top of it), which means it needs to be redone, which means time will be lost setting everything up to try and get the same sound as we had before (believe me, it's not just to set everything up and think "Yeah, the mics were kinda standing like this". When you're close-micing a cabinet every milimeter and slightest angle of the mic changes the sound). Then of course there's the actual playing & recording.

For various reasons we're taking a break during the weekend and I think it'll do everyone good cause right now everybody's pretty pooped. You're just mentally exhausted from all the hard work. So hopefully we'll resume monday morning with the new found strength needed to pull some late shifts the last few days.


This sounded exactly as how it looks; interesting.
Believe it or not, there's actually thought behind this setup.

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 15

Dear diary,

Todays entry will be quite short as I have a cold that just won't quit. Feel like complete poo every other day only to feel almost back to normal the next. Up and down, up and down.. quite irritating I must say.
Anyway, the day went as follows; Did guitars. Did vocals. Ate salad. Insulted each other with extreme profanities (as we always do). Spoke to each other in fake german accent. All the regular everyday studio stuff.
The guitars for Exoskeleton Pt.II and the drum/bass-less track are now completely done, and I think they're done for a third yet untitled track too. The vocals for said untitled track are also pretty much done I think.

Tomorrow: More guitars & vocals! Yaaaay!

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 14

Captain's Log, stardate 23.9, rounded off to the... nearest decimal point. We've... traveled back in time to save an ancient species from... total annihilation. SO FAR... no... signs of aquatic life, but I'm GOING to find it. If I have to tear this universe another black hole, I'm going to find it. I've... GOT TO, MISTER!

Finished up (almost) all the guitars for Exoskeleton Pt. II and the intro (we seem to be stuck on those two songs) and that was pretty much it.
We actually re-did all of Fredrik's Fender guit overdubs as we weren't really that happy with the sound (after many hours in the studio your judgement isn't at it's best), and I'm glad we did cause we managed to get a sound that instantly made me and Tommi look up at each other with big happy loving smiles.

Also hooked up one of Bengt's toys - a Fender amp and a really old beat up Pearl cabinet with just a 12" driver in it for some other flava and it sounds suprisingly good.
It's also funny how ones preference can change so heavily over the years. 10 years ago the sound of a Big Muff made everybody go "Yaaaay!", now it's 9 times out of 10 "Nay!". We've tried it many many times during these sessions but each time we skip on it.. I think it's been used like maybe one time or something, and I don't think it'll get much more use either. Just too much mud and flabby low end for my taste.

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 13

Dear diary,

Recorded vocals for the albums intro and guits & vox for a so far untitled drum & bass-less track (all other tracks are 100% drum & bass techno music - we do everything for the kids). Vocal-wise there's definetely a whole lot more harmonies going on than in the past. If you're heard Exoskeleton Pt. II you know what I mean, but don't worry, I think the majority of tracks will have the patented balls out Yoda vocal stylings of mister Fredrik Nordin intact. So it's not all just for ze girls.

The whole weekend has gone by at a pretty moderate tempo, managed to get a respectable amount of work done without getting stress-induced ulcers. Yay!
Tomorrow we're starting with the fun stuff guits - meaning harmonies, solos and allround weird overdubs and after lunch it's vocal time again.

And lastly, if all goes as planned, a very special guest will appear on the album laying down vocals. I don't wanna say too much, but it's definetely on the same "Yaaaay!"-level as when we had Troy Sanders of Mastodon doing vocals on "Until Man Exists No More" from the "Through The Eyes Of Heathens" album...

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 12

Dear diary,

Started laying down vocals today and first up was Exoskeleton Pt. II, a track you may or may not have heard on the DOZER / BRAIN POLICE tour split EP released last year. We finished about 90% of the song, all that remains is the shouty-esque lead on the choruses. And the Neumann U87 did not disappoint, the vocals sounded velvety smoooooth. Not a sign of sibilance or harshness in sight. It's gonna work baaaajoooodifooly!

All in all it was a pretty relaxed day, took it pretty easy with the vocals as you don't want your vocalist to blow his voice out on the first day. Had a nice relaxing lunch spent eating burgers and ice cream (in combination, of course) and we headed home pretty early so I got to spend the day with my lovely wife who's visiting for the weekend and Tommi I think went fishing (which, as we all know, is code for in-depth studies on the physics of the brown gold).

Sorry about the lack of pictures, we simply forgot to snap any. You know they'd all just be of metal pup anyway, so...

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 11

Dear diary,



Today was a pretty slow day. It's friday so you're automatically in chill out and don't stress-mode. Finished up the basic rhythm guitars for all the songs, then Fredrik swinged by to start laying down his twangy Fender guits. You can see in the photo above just how happy he is. The Fender + Gibson combo is a real winner. You get the thick fullness from the Gibson and the attack and actual string sound from the Fender. It's baaaaajoooodifooool!
And for me it's happy day 2000 as my wife is coming to visit me for the weekend here in Borlänge, so it's yeeeeeeee-haw! in camp Karl Daniel Lidén right now. She's also bringing the U87 mic from Stockholm, so tomorrow we will starting recording vocals.

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 10

Dear diary,



Since today was almost exactly like yesterday we decided to pique your interest with another video. To be played at maximum volume.
We now only have 2 songs left when it comes to basic rhythm guitars, then on saturday Fredrik will start laying down vocals.

I can snitch the schedule to you as it looks now. The recordings will continue for 2 more weeks, then I have til mid-July to deliver a 100% ready mix whilst at the same time working my regular full time day job. It's going to be tight. Re-eally tight. Where the mastering will be done is still undecided, but we're leaning toward a special little place who has produced some excellent sounding albums.
The album (I think) will be released in October on Small Stone Records and a European tour will follow in November, if I'm not mistaken. There you have it. The latest scoop.

Ta-ta for now, children.


PS. It's now possible to add comments to this blog without registering with blogspot! Yay! DS

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 09

Diary dearest,

Guitars, guitars and more guitars. That's what we recorded today. The only thing really new from yesterday is that I've discovered that the chair I'm sitting in while recording gives me a pretty hefty cameltoe. The incline of the seat makes me slide down little by little, and after about an hour or so I got a cameltoe that puts many to shame.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot - we found a Neumann U87! Yeeeeee-haw! It's exactly what I want for Fredrik's vocals, though I have to say it's still a gamble - I haven't tried the U87 on Fredrik's voice before and he does have a pretty "special" voice that's difficult to find the perfect mic for. That being said, the U87 is still pretty neutral so I think it'll do a nice job of capturing his luscious voice without adding or subtracting too much. I think it's a pretty safe bet. After all, it's done the trick for about a zillion vocalist for maaa-any many years.
Either way it'll definetely outperform the Neumann TLM 103 - the only other option we would've been stuck with if we hadn't scored us a U87, and that one I definetely do not like on Fredrik's vocals.


Tommi's girlfriend dropped by to say hello.

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 08

If the above video is on the fritz, go here: http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=34570629

Dear diary,

Continued laying down guitars today aaand... that's pretty much it.
We're about half way done with the basic rhythm guitars, then it's time to start changing up the sound - trying different mics, amps, cabs, etc to give each track it's own little flava; from melancholic slide guitars á la Soundtrack Of Our Lives to ultra distorted screeching (no, not that guy from Saved By The Bell) guits, and everything in between.


100% posing - no actual recording took place during the capture of this photo.

BTW, there's a few unposted photos in the pics section of my MySpace profile if you're interested; http://www.myspace.com/karldanielliden.

Time for apple pie.

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 07

Dear diary,

I know I said I'd post another vid today, but there were no golden Kodak moments today. Tomorrow I'll post one even if it's of paint drying.

Started with guitars today and nailed the sound pretty quickly. It actually sounded really good first time we pushed up the faders, but since we (okay, mostly I) just couldn't leave it alone we had to tweak it and put up a few more mics.
Ended up with 4 mics on the cab; Revox 3500, Fat Head ribbon, Shure SM57 and a vintage Sennheiser mic of unknown model (I could google for it, but I'm tired from sitting on my ass all day).
So far I'm very happy with how everything sounds. I'm especially happy of how everything just fits together. The drums, bass & guitars all have their own place and there's very little of them cancelling each other out.. but yeah, only done 2 rhythm guitars so far, so there's plenty of time for that to change when all zillion overdubs are in place.

We've also had a really weird thing happen. We first noticed it when we were recording the bass, and today it was back. Right in the middle of recording the sound went from crisp to pretty dull, or well, not dull, but dull-ER.
First we just thought it was a tired battery in the distortion pedals or the preamps acting up after getting too hot, but as always it's the absolute last thing you check - the cables. The cable going from the the control room to the guitar amp. So I'm glad we found the error and hopefully we're rid of that fault forever (fingers crossed).

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 06 (Never trust a smiling gädda)

You wanted video - I bring you video (and why it's rotated 90° counter clockwise I have no idea what so ever. Deal with it).
It's a shorty, but a goodie. I'm afraid Johan is the quiet shy type, so you'll just have to enjoy his rockin' backside (and what a nice backside it is).
In the clip you'll hear a short snippet of one of the new t00nz. One of my personal favorites, actually. Good stuff indeed!

We finished the last of the bass today and quit for the day quite early. Not really much more to say I'm afraid.. oh yeah, we had thai food for lunch.
And.. hmm.. sorry. I'm drawing a blank here.

Tomorrow we start laying down the mad bad guitarz, yo. The goal is to have an ultra-saturated, fat, heavy sound that makes you feel like you've just had a ten course meal once you hear it. We'll see if we manage to pull it off.

And oh yeah, on a serious/desperate note (this is mostly directed towards the swedish folks reading this), we're in need of a Neumann U87 post haste, so if you own one or know someone who is willing to rent it out, do not hesitate to contact me asap.



"Jambalaaayyya!"

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 05

Dear diary,






















Mr. Ampeg cabinet with his friends Revox 3500, Shure Beta52 & SM57.
I really hate to admit it, but the SM57 which I normally despise actually
sounded quite good in combo with the other two.


Today we nailed the bass sound. I'm glad we didn't just settle but took our time to get it right. It sounds so evil it's not even funny..
if you were to drain Satan of all his evil, it still wouldn't come even close to the evilness of this bass sound. That's how evil it is. So lock up your kids/wife/pets/vintage collectable lp's cause it's definetely dangerous to be exposed to the sound of this bass.
Okay, I might be exaggerating a bit, but you get the idea.






















Johan trying to look bad-ass, but not really pulling it off.



I'd say we're about 60-70% done with the bass. We actually got most of the songs done today, but we're gonna listen through 'em tomorrow and decide what parts needs just a little bit of different flava, so it's not just satan 666 all over the place.
You need the soft girly stuff too.
The stuff you can dance to.




Rock n' roll slippers. It's how the pro's do it.

And oh yeah, I almost forgot, when we got back from lunch an all too familiar smell that reeked of gear turned to a crisp reached our noses, but upon closer inspection it all SEEMED to be okay (knock on wood).. so yeah, we'll see.. it'll probably go up in flames when we turn it on tomorrow.



















Happy Tom(mi).

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 04

Dear diary,

Today we entered Rockhouse Studios in our hometown Borlänge to continue the recordings of "Beyond Colossal".
First up - bass. The day (or well, evening-night) was spent trying to get a decent bass sound, but we failed miserably so we'll continue bashing our heads against the wall tomorrow. "Yay!"
We actually tried the exact same set-up as we used on the Exoskeleton Pt. I & II recording, but instead of gold we were for some strange reason served a big bowl of poo.
I've always thought bass is one of the hardest things to record. Getting that thick deep (yet firm) low end and a good tight fuzzy distorted midrange that cuts through without everything just ending up a big gooey... goo... is a bitch.
So yeah, more tinkering with that tomorrow.

And yes, I will try to be a bit better with the whole posting photos bit.

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 03

Last day of recordings at Studios 301 (sniffle, sniffle).
Started off listening through all the material to see if anything
needed to be re-recorded but fortunately it was all good, baby.
Proceeded to overdub the toms on some songs just to emphasize
and make it sound even more powerful (or well, that's the idea anyway).

To give you an idea of how it's sounding so far I can only say
that it's quite Albini-esque. Then you decide if that's good or bad.
I think it's good. Really good. Excellent, actually. Really excellent.
We ended up with around 20 mics or so on the drums, six of them being just for ambience.

So now it's time to go from the posh Studios 301 to one that is...
not quite as posh.
Guitars/bass/vocals will be done at the good old Rockhouse Studio
in our hometown Borlänge. For those of you keeping score you'll recognise that it's the same studio as the first two Dozer albums was recorded in.
What will be different is that I am bringing a bit more posh gear
(API preamp & a quite nice selection of mics) to keep the rest of the recording of the same high level of quality as Studios 301 provided.
I'm basically gonna bypass the entire studios electronics, so it should turn out good.

Last but not least, big thanks to the staff at Studios 301, especially studio manager Ian Agate!

There won't be any updates tomorrow as we don't start recording until friday, so check back then.


So for now, stay in school.
//Daniel

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 02

Dear diary,

Today we recorded drums. Good bye.


























No, just kidding.
We started off an hour later than planned as we awaited the arrival
of Olle and his new happy ride cymbal.
The day ended up exceeding our expectations - all drums are now
recorded (we think/hope).
All that remains is to listen through the material tomorrow
with a fresh pair of ears and decide if any re-takes are required.
We're also gonna do some tom overdubs to get that hip sound
you hear all the kids talking about.






























The lunch break (and all over breaks for that matter) were spent
doing what men (ok, boys) do best - discussing the brown gold.
And lots of it.















Time to hit the sack (the bed that is, not the nutsack).

DOZER - "Beyond Colossal" - Day 01

Dear diary,

So, day 1 has come to a close.
We started at around 10am setting up drums and mics and after
a lengthy soundcheck actual recordings started at around 7pm,
only to come to a halt about 2 hours later when the ride cymbal
deceided to break.

The studio used is Studios 301, located in Solna, Sweden.
It has a live room that is an old converted movie theatre,
so the sound is H U G E to say the least.
The arsenal of mics is quite lovely and the console is a Neve
VR Legend, so prepare for major audial bliss.
















I'm desperatly trying to come up with something "witty" to write
but I'm so tired it's not even funny, so yeah.. no funny stuff today.
Maybe tomorrow if you're lucky.

More photos and spectacular action shots to follow tomorrow.

And so it begins..: DOZER - BEYOND COLOSSAL

Tomorrow (May 12th) the recordings of the 5th DOZER full length, tentatively titled "BEYOND COLOSSAL" begin.
The first 3 days will be spent tracking drums in Studios 301, Solna, Sweden, and then it's off to Borlänge for guitar/bass/vocals.

So be sure to check back tomorrow around midnight Swedish time (which is around 6PM US east coast time) for details and pictures of day 1.