Teque's Very Unprofessional Studio Diary - Tunnelvision's 2nd album
Diabolic Engineers of Sonic Mayhem: Nino Laurenne & Teque
Special Sonic Guest Star: Tapio Pennanen

.:2002.05.02:.
Installed Apogee AD-8000 converter (r0cks!!).
Added Korg TR-Rack for temporary synth backgrounds.
Setting up the drum mics:
Bassdrums - 2 x Shure Beta52
Snare Top - Shure SM57
Snare Bottom - Sennheiser K6
Toms - 4 x Shure Beta56
Octopans - 2 x Shure Beta56
HiHat - AKG C566EB
Ride - Shure SM81
Crash - AKG C1000S
Overheads - 2 x Shure SM81
Ambience - Neumann U89i

Ever so nice soundcheck, no problems there.
Nino set up the levels and EQs with rock solid precision.
Mirka played the drum parts for 'Calling'
It's always a pleasure to record a professional musician.

.:2002.05.03:.
Mirka played the drum parts for 'Lightning', 'Long Voyage Back',
'Time of the Hunters Moon' and 'Wait and See'.

Vili came to the studio to cheer up Mirka and later on Mr. Waara
joined us secretly filming what was happening in the control room.

.:2002.05.04:.
Just another day of normal drum recording at the studio.
Drum tracks for 'Don Juan's Triumph', 'While the World Awaits'
and ever so hard 'Parasites' recorded. Vili also came to the studio
to check out the hard groovin' feeling.

Only 2 songs without drums left! Now I could go and have 'few' beers
in some of my favourite bars. Man, what a night it turned out to be... =)

.:2002.05.05:.
With severe hangover I recorded drums for 'Ribbon of Tears' and
'Silence'. After that we listened all songs with Mirka and made a few
edits here and there.

.:2002.05.06:.
Set up recording levels and patching for keyboards so Vili could now
easily record himself the keyboard parts whenever he had the time.
Some of the keyboard tracks for 'Calling' and 'Don Juan's Triumph'
recorded.

Later on Juhani 'Guru' Malmberg came to the studio. Almost right after that
Thunderstone started rehearsing their set. Power metal is nice, but I just had
to go and get something to eat...

When the thunderboys left, Juhani and I started working on the guitar sound.
No matter how much we tweaked the Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier it just
didn't sound good enough. Triaxis with Simul-Class 2:90 power amp won
hands down. Damn what a sound...

.:2002.05.07:.
Nino, Juhani and I set up the guitar gear in the isolation booth.
The gear we ended up using:
Mesa/Boogie Triaxis - the mother of all preamps
TC Electronic G-Major - for noise gating
Mesa/Boogie Simul-Class 2:90 - one damn good power amp
a 4x12 cabinet that has been at the studio for ages...
Shure SM57 - the usual...
Focusrite ISA 220 - little brother of the mic preamp (ISA430)

Rhythm guitar tracks for 'Silence', 'Parasites' and
'Long Voyage Back' done. All 7 string stuff so far =).

HEAVY, just the way I like it!

From the smell at the isolation booth I could tell the amps
had been punished nicely ;-)

Later all the other Thunderstone guys came for another night
of rehearsing. Meanwhile I had fun editing the guitar tracks,
removing all unwanted scratches and noises.

.:2002.05.08:.
The day of the rhythm guitar. We recorded tracks for 'Lightning'
'Calling', 'Don Juan's Triumph' and 'While the World Awaits'

And some additional rhythm tracks for 'Long Voyage Back'

Finally all rhythm guitar tracks recorded!

.:2002.05.09:.
The day of the additional guitar trakcs, the fun stuff! =)

Some very nice shredding recorded for 'Long Voyage Back',
'While the World Awaits' and Don Juan's Triumph

Again we had to break for 2 hours of Thunderstone rehearsal

Vili also came to record keyboard parts for While the World Awaits

.:2002.05.10:.
Recorded additional guitars for 'Don Juan's Triumph' and 'Silence'.

Then Thunderstone once again came to rehearse at the studio.
Best of luck to them for saturdays's gig!

But, Juhani and I decided to go for a 'few' beers...

Vili was tough and recorded some keyboard parts for 'Don Juan's Triumph'
and 'Silence'

.:2002.05.11:.
With a mild hangover it was time for some guitar solos.
We recorded solos for 'Lightning', 'Time of the Hunters Moon' and
'Long Voyage Back'

Later that night we went to check out Thunderstone live at Nosturi.
Thanks to the guys for NOT remembering to put our names on the list.
Well, we got in anyway and saw the last few songs they played.
Much better than the gig at Tavastia last December.

And then it was time for a few beers again ;-)

.:2002.05.12:.
The 2nd day of guitar heroism.
First we recorded guitar solos for 'Calling', 'Wait and See',
'Silence' and 'While the World Awaits'. Then some additional guitars
for 'Calling'. Then the clean sounds and solo for 'Ribbon of Tears'
Very productive day at the studio.

.:2002.05.13:.
The 3rd day of guitar heroism.
Solos for 'Don Juan's Triumph' and 'Lightning' came first. Then we decided
to record the solo for 'Silence' again with some changes. And then we
started working on the 2nd solo for 'While the World Awaits'

.:2002.05.14:.
The final day of guitar heroism.
First we recorded the 2nd solo for 'While the World Awaits' and then
the only remaining solo for 'Parasites'. All guitar tracks were now done!

.:2002.05.15:.
A whole day dedicated to keyboards. Vili played some keyboard parts for
'Calling', 'Silence' and 'Don Juan's Triumph'

.:2002.05.16:.
During the day Vili played most of the keyboard parts for 'While the World Awaits'.
In the evening Lauri came to record some groove bass tracks. Tapio Pennanen came to
set up the bass gear check the sound. Antti Warman also popped by to check how things
were going

12 hours later bass tracks for 'Calling', 'Silence', 'Wait and See', 'Lightning', 'Parasites',
'Don Juan's Triumph', Time of the Hunters Moon' and 'While the World Awaits'
were done

.:2002.05.17:.
A day off!
In the evening it was time for a small house warming party at Fathammer's new office.

.:2002.05.18:.
Another day off!!
A whole day dedicated to a lovely hangover.
How come it's the free booze that always gives you the worst hangover...

.:2002.05.19:.
I brought home the hard disk from the studio and edited guitar and bass tracks of 'Calling',
'Silence', 'Lightning', 'Don Juan's Triumph', 'Parasites' and 'Time of the Hunters Moon'
No more unwanted noises.

.:2002.05.20:.
And now for the vocals. After very relaxing Thunderstone PR trip to Paris Nino came to
handle the vocal recording. Rode NTV tube mic with Focusrite ISA 220 used for the vocals.
I had to leave early, but I updated Nino about the project and soon after I had left they
were already recording vocals for 'Calling'. Couple of hours later Nino called me and said
that he had to leave too. Luckily Vili had also come to watch the recording and he took over
the recording. After all vocals for 'Calling' were done Marko left and Vili stayed to record
keyboard parts for various songs.

.:2002.05.21:.
In the morning Vili was back to record keyboards. He sure loves to be there ;-)
Nino, Marko and I took the afternoon shift and started recording vocals for 'Silence'
After we had recorded verses and first chorus part Marko just wasn't in the right mood
anymore and we called it quits. Well, Nino and I went for a beer.

.:2002.05.22:.
Nino and Marko recorded part of the vocals for 'Parasites'

.:2002.05.23:.
Once again Sir Vili took the dayshift to record his keyboard parts for various songs.
Lauri and I took the nightshift recording bass tracks for 'Ribbon of Tears' and
'Long Voyage Back'. We also re-recorded some bass parts for 'Time of the Hunter's Moon'
After that I went for a few beers with good company...

.:2002.05.24:.
Vili and I went to record keyboard solo for 'Long Voyage Back. A couple hours later Marko joined us.
Soon after that Antti Warman came to pick up Vili for Craydawn rehearsals. After it was nice and quiet
again we started recorded vocals with Marko. Many hours later we had recorded vocal parts for
'Silence', 'Parasites', 'Lightning', 'Ribbon of Tears'

.:2002.05.25:.
In the morning I edited guitar and bass tracks for 'Wait and See' and 'While the World Awaits'.
In the evening we recorded all vocals for 'Time of the Hunter's Moon'

.:2002.05.26:.
Yet another day of recording vocals. This time we recorded all vocals for 'Don Juan's Triumph'.
Well almost all of them... We forgot one additional vocal track.

.:2002.05.27:.
Vili spent the morning recording organ parts for all songs. Later Marko and I hit the studio
and recored all vocals tracks for 'Wait and See'. Timo Kotipelto popped by to check the feeling
at the studio.

.:2002.05.28:.
We recorded more vocals for 'Long Voyage Back' and 'While the World Awaits'

.:2002.05.29:.
Vili had the whole day for recording even more keyboard parts for various songs.

.:2002.05.30:.
Yet another day for keyboards and vocals. Dayshift for Vili and nightshift for Marko and me.
Rest of the vocals for 'Lightning' now recorded.

.:2002.06.06:.
Mixing session with Samu Oittinen at Fantom Studios, Tampere starts.

.:2002.06.17:.
The album is mastered by Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studios, Helsinki.