SWITCHBLADE - "S/T 2009" - COMPLETED

The 5th installment in the Switchblade album series is now 100% done. The mix was wrapped up late, late tuesday night at my own Tri-Lamb Studios and was mastered the very next day by Magnus Lindberg @ Tonteknik, Umeå, Sweden.

But that's not all, folks. There's actually a whole day of fun-packed excitement I haven't reported (it was a hectic day).
This past saturday we re-entered Studio Gröndahl to record the last few overdubs; Hammond & piano - the fairy dust sprinkles, so to speak.
Not much to report though, it all went pretty smooth and we were outta there in just a few hours. On the leslie cabinet I threw a pair of MD421's on the horns, a R121 on the bottom and a UM70 for the "complete picture"/room ambience. The piano was captured with a RCA 77-DX, R121 & UM70 with everything going through API 3124+ pres. I was going for a pretty gritty, eerie sound and mission accomplished.



This self titled (well, of course) gargantuan beast of an album, which consists of three tracks generous in length, will be released 09/09/09 on Trust No One Recordings.
It will tear your head off and spit down the severed spine filled hole, I shit you not. The material is top notch, the production is excellent (if I may say so myself) and the mastering injected it with the extra shot of rabies needed to completely set it off.

SWITCHBLADE - "S/T 2009" Studio report, day 6

Semi-slow on the updates, I know.
Anyway, day 6 - the last day of tracking - was spent doing vocals and Anders nailed the whole album in just one day. That's a pretty strong effort if you ask me. A solid performance as well. We also did a few extra guitar overdubs, eerie harmony type stuff.
One thing I haven't mentioned which isn't all that common, is that since the album was not recorded to a click track, in order to do guitar dubs with ease (which can be really hard when the music is at such a slow tempo), the basic tracking at Gröndahl was filmed and then later synced to the audio in Pro Tools so Johan could simply watch the performance at Gröndahl and play along to that, providing both a better vibe as well as being time efficient as hell.
Those hi-tech kids and their gadgets...

The plan was to rest for a few days before starting the mix process, but that plan lasted about 2 hours from when I got home.

To be continued.


As previously stated, weird surroundings outside Version Studio.

SWITCHBLADE - "S/T 2009" Studio report, day 4-5

Recordings have resumed - this time at Version Studio to do guitar overdubs/vocals/bells n' whistles/etc.

Arrived at the studio yesterday early afternoon and after a few hours of setting up, we were rolling. First up was guitars which we tracked with an assortment of highly classified microphones going into my beautiful API A2D preamp. Johan utilizes 2 heads (Orange/Sunn) and 2 cabs (Matamp/Sunn) so it's quite a rich, thick tone. I don't wanna toot my own horn too early on, but at this point the guitar sound isn't heavy, it's beyond heavy. It's a very brown sound.

Anyway, today we finished all "heavy guitar" overdubs and just before calling it a day we started trying out vocals.
I'm afraid that's about as exciting as it gets right now.


Interesting surroundings outside Version Studio.

SWITCHBLADE - "S/T 2009" Studio report, day 3

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10:13

Last day of basic tracks @ Gröndahl. Got to bed at 2am yesterday/today and the alarm clock went off at 8am. Metal.
Right now we're sipping the morning cup o' joe and gearing up to start tracking what will be the opening track on the album.
If time permits we'll also track a mostly guitar based interlude that'll tie together track #2 and #3. If not, we'll track the whole thing at Version Studio.

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11:27

After a slow start we've now started recording the albums opening track.

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21:52

We've now evacuated Studio Gröndahl. All basic tracks have been recorded. We resume recording this coming friday (in 5 days, that is) for guitar overdubs & vocals.

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SWITCHBLADE - "S/T 2009" Studio report, day 1-2

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14:28

Alright, a few quick words as we're right in the middle of recording. Got up at 6:30am yesterday (I seriously haven't been up that early since bebop was the latest craze) and jumped in the car and arrived at Studio Gröndahl at 8am. Started setting up and sometime around early evening the first takes dished out. We got to bed sometime around 1am so it was about a 17hr work day. Far out. Heavy. Intense. You get the idea.

For the gear nerd I can say that the studio has a real schmoergasboard of exotic/fabulous/vintage mics, mic pres, outboard. To get your saliva glands working overtime I can inform you that mics for drums include Neumann U47FET/M149 Tube, Coles 4038, Gefell UM70, Royer R121, RCA DX77 among the usual suspects such as Sennheiser MD421, Electro-Voice RE20, etc going into Neve 1081, API 3124, Chandler TG2, Trident & Spectra Sonics mic pres.
Guitars are rocking Royer R121's, MD421's, etc and bass is being picked up by SM7 and MD421.

So far the basic tracks for 1 of 3 tracks has been done (perhaps another one as this current take of track #2 is sounding pretty good so far).

Lunch break.

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20:21

Right now recording a section that, if it were any slower or heavier, it'd be standing still.

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01:43

...And we're done for the day. The basic tracks for 2 of 3 tracks are now completely done.

SWITCHBLADE recordings begin.

Oh yes, tomorrow me and the lads enter the fabulous Studio Gröndahl to record the fifth installment in the SWITCHBLADE album series. The first three days will be spent recording the basic tracks; drums, bass, guitar. On May 1st we'll enter Version Studio to record overdubs (more guitars, vocals and miscellaneous bells n' whistles). After that we'll take a week or two off to clear our heads and then it's back to Studio Gröndahl for the final mix. OOOOH YEAH.

KAUSAL - "In Dead Cities"

Oh yeah, I almost forgot: I recently (just last week) completed the mix of the upcoming debut album "In Dead Cities" by Stockholm post-rockers KAUSAL (featuring members of A SWARM OF THE SUN, COME SLEEP & LIBRAH). The album was recorded in Stockholm at Version Studio and I did the mix at my own Tri-Lamb Studios. The album will be out as a digital release on Version Studio Records within the next few months.

SWITCHBLADE - "S/T 2009"

Yes, here it is - the spectacular update I was promising.
I am very pleased to announce that I have been hired to record & mix the 5th album by Swedens premiere bitterness squadron; SWITCHBLADE.

Recordings will commence on April 24th at one of Swedens finest recording facilities; Studio Gröndahl.
The release date is set for September 9th, 2009 on Trust No One Recordings.

It is going to be one devastatingly bleak, bitter & heavy record.

Don't worry, it's coming

Updates have been few and far apart, but I promise you, there's an update of major sweetness on the way.
Stay tuned and stay in school.