Update from the Cold Hand Chemistry Music lab:
Week 20-24 (Day 133 -161) 1 June 2011 – 1 July 2011
What can we say? There is never a dull moment in Cold Hand Chemistry. In May we asked Fernando our producer to give you guys some insights from his perspective on our album. We had an overwhelming response to his diary post.
June was an interesting month for Cold Hand Chemistry. Our blog was used in court (we kid you not) as part of evidence. Now we know this person will be reading our blog or scanning it for his own sad amusement, I don’t know maybe looking for some sort of void to fill.
Can’t really go into too much detail, again it proves that there still are individuals out there who think being in the music industry is a quick fix for cash. The lesson here my chemist, making money is hard work. Music industry business is a long patient process and not a quick sign here and collects your cheque and bam you’re famous. You negotiate for months sometimes years to get a deal.
This album’s been coming along since 2009, and we know you all as inpatient as we are. So close but still so far. We are glad to inform you that we have decided to ease the pain of the longest waiting album in the history of music. We will be releasing a single in the next couple of weeks. We just finalising the track. Our music video is also in discussion, we will probably have more on that on our next diary post.
Happy to say we will be performing at this year’s Winterfest 11 on 30 July 2011 at the Klein Libertas Theatre Stellenbosh hosted by Metal4Africa. After months in the studio we can’t wait to get out there and just unwind and party with you guys.
July seems to be the month things will start to get together and we will keep you posted as always.
\m/
Chantel
Week 19-20 (Day 76 -132) 4 May 2011 – 30 May 2011
Hello chemists and lab rats the band asked me to write something for their studio diary, so here's a short status update and for your information and amusement I thought I would share a brief explanation of the process we used for the recording, mixing and finally the mastering of the project. Enjoy!!!
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| Fernando Perdigao |
We have, finally, reached the end of the musical production and it's all become very exciting for us to start dealing with the "serious" business aspects of now releasing the album.
We are meeting with several video directors and production companies to start producing the videos to go with some of the songs and the concepts for the sleeve design and packaging are also under discussion.
In the studio I’ve been mixing and the band has been in and out to record a couple of last minute bits & pieces which Chantel (when not at the gym) has lovingly dubbed "the tweaks".
David, Donovan, Rob and The Gunn got some rehearsal time in, after several months, and it was fun to be able to hear the boys "jam" together again rather than watching each of them painstakingly being taken through their "paces" by David and I during the recording sessions.
We recorded the album through a Allen & Heath Sabre3 recording console, some Focus Rite and a couple of custom designed pre-amps. The analogue audio signal was digitally converted onto to the drive via Apogee and Behringer converters using Pro tools software for recording and editing.
The choice was to mix through analogue circuitry rather than using the "in-the-box" approach which basically means that the digital audio signal has been mixed back on the analogue console rather than being digitally processed within the confines of the computer processors. This was done to present to you the best possible sonic reproduction.
The completed mixes will be mastered in the UK and the States, by Master Disk and from these and the local masters we will choose and finally compile the album which will be released.
It's been a real treat for me to be able to work with a great bunch of guys (and girl) that have all "worked their asses off", over the last while to bring this project to you the fans and supporters.
Rob has turned the drum area of the studio into the "saw-mill", which needs to be swept and vacuumed clear of drum-stick wood dust, each time he "panel beats" the drums.
Donovan's guitar rig so loud that extra-long cables had to be "made" to distance him from the amplifiers (for communication purposes), because if it were his choice, I am sure, he'd have been strapped to the rig.
David, “spewing" endless brilliant musical ideas and the occasional but ever consistent delivery of "cracked.com" has led the troops in battle from the front and also kept us all in "entertainment and media" for relaxation.
Geoff "The Gunn" with his methodical efficiency and constant "studio police" has been the one keeping all of us in "check" and then lastly but not in the least Chantel who has, for endless hours (sorry for pushing you so hard Chantel), worked and delivered some really amazing vocal performances and some memorable "stomach tearing" laughing moments during the long, late night sessions.
Bay side Studio has pretty much become the "home away from home" to CHC for the best part of 7 or 8 months and the "chemistry" which was created by the band is nothing short of a brilliant "body of work" that makes me extremely proud to be involved with and a touch impatient to finally be able to present to you the fans eagerly waiting out there.
We are meeting with several video directors and production companies to start producing the videos to go with some of the songs and the concepts for the sleeve design and packaging are also under discussion.
In the studio I’ve been mixing and the band has been in and out to record a couple of last minute bits & pieces which Chantel (when not at the gym) has lovingly dubbed "the tweaks".
David, Donovan, Rob and The Gunn got some rehearsal time in, after several months, and it was fun to be able to hear the boys "jam" together again rather than watching each of them painstakingly being taken through their "paces" by David and I during the recording sessions.
We recorded the album through a Allen & Heath Sabre3 recording console, some Focus Rite and a couple of custom designed pre-amps. The analogue audio signal was digitally converted onto to the drive via Apogee and Behringer converters using Pro tools software for recording and editing.
The choice was to mix through analogue circuitry rather than using the "in-the-box" approach which basically means that the digital audio signal has been mixed back on the analogue console rather than being digitally processed within the confines of the computer processors. This was done to present to you the best possible sonic reproduction.
The completed mixes will be mastered in the UK and the States, by Master Disk and from these and the local masters we will choose and finally compile the album which will be released.
It's been a real treat for me to be able to work with a great bunch of guys (and girl) that have all "worked their asses off", over the last while to bring this project to you the fans and supporters.
Rob has turned the drum area of the studio into the "saw-mill", which needs to be swept and vacuumed clear of drum-stick wood dust, each time he "panel beats" the drums.
Donovan's guitar rig so loud that extra-long cables had to be "made" to distance him from the amplifiers (for communication purposes), because if it were his choice, I am sure, he'd have been strapped to the rig.
David, “spewing" endless brilliant musical ideas and the occasional but ever consistent delivery of "cracked.com" has led the troops in battle from the front and also kept us all in "entertainment and media" for relaxation.
Geoff "The Gunn" with his methodical efficiency and constant "studio police" has been the one keeping all of us in "check" and then lastly but not in the least Chantel who has, for endless hours (sorry for pushing you so hard Chantel), worked and delivered some really amazing vocal performances and some memorable "stomach tearing" laughing moments during the long, late night sessions.
Bay side Studio has pretty much become the "home away from home" to CHC for the best part of 7 or 8 months and the "chemistry" which was created by the band is nothing short of a brilliant "body of work" that makes me extremely proud to be involved with and a touch impatient to finally be able to present to you the fans eagerly waiting out there.
Keep Rockin'
Fernando Perdigao
Week 13 & 18 (Day 76 -113) 15 March 2011 – 03 May 2011
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| Rob, Ferando and our friend Pierre (bassist for Trust Undone) after listening to our tracks 22 April 2011. |
Gosh, I fell behind on our diary updates.
I am happy to report that we are now 90% done. I only need to do some vocal fixes on some tracks and some harmonies that we missed and possibly vocals on the closing track of the album. We are still in two minds if we going to add vocals on this track or leave it as an instrumental. Slowly but surely the mixing is starting to take shape and there are only small instrumental fixes and adjustments still needed.
We know it took a very long time to get to this stage of our album. We have faith that the long wait and the way we went about recording this Album will reap rewards. As they say “it’s not the destination that matters but the journey” and boy what a ride this was and still is. This album been in the making since 2009 and we have come a long way. All we can say is the end is near and we almost ready to reveal it to the world.
Week 11 & 12 (Day 66 - 75) 14 March 2011 – 24 March 2011
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| Gee my jou tien rand! |
I have been working around the clock to get the vocal tracks down. Things are speeding up quickly as we nearing the end of making this album. Every night when I leave the studio I feel like taking a clip of the track I was working on and posting it online for all to hear. I know the tracks are far from finished but they just sound so good to me.
This is the first time I am recording my growls. Singing in studio is easy; you get so used to hearing your voice on playback that you don’t get shy anymore. Growling on the other hand is something else and something I need to get used to do in studio.
At first I did not know what to think when I heard my growls on playback. I had to run and call Robert our drummer to listen. Fernando’s response was, “can you belief that this voice comes out of there?” pointing at me. The amount of times I cursed in my takes “for F--- sakes, you ma se p----“I started to sound like that Yolandi Visser chick from “Die Antwoord”. (I think we should do a remix of all the takes of me cursing and give it to “Die Antwoord “for their next album.)
I could not belief that the years of focusing on this vocal technique finally paid off. (Thank you Zen of Screaming and Melissa Cross and Thank you Gareth Houghting for introducing it to me)
I am not going to lie; recording growls is not that easy as some bands make it out to be on their DVD’s. Yes Angela Gassow, I am talking to you. It’s darn hard work.
Anyway 5 tracks to go and then the final stages begin.
Let us know if you want to hear a track of our album by voting on our poll.
Chantel
CHC VoxWeek 10 (Day 59 - 65) 6 March 2011 – 13 March 2011
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| Geoff (CHC bass) & Donny (CHC Guitar) |
Another week of intense recording has gone by and the task of updating the blog has fallen upon me this week.
It's been a long and a painstaking process, but my word! I can honestly say that this will be THE album to come out of SA. Dave and Fernando are doing amazing work on the production side. Although some of the songs are 3 years old, they sound unbelievably fresh with new ideas just popping randomly out of Dave’s head. The man's got musical diarrhea!!! Very scary brain that.
I went in a couple of weeks ago to lay down my bass tracks. We got the fattest Bass sound ever. I'm very, very happy with the outcome so far. Donny did some more overdubs and the guitar is face melting. Dave did the long hours with some amazing keyboard sounds. Rob went in and just punished the poor Tama and Zildjins. He actually cracked one of his titanium crashes. Jikes!!!
Now the hard work lies ahead for Chantel. Vocals are not an easy task. Unlike guitars that can just be restrung and played, vocals take time to warm up to lay down that killer take. Good luck Telly.
Fernando has been so patient. He really is a master at work. I am really proud to have his name on our cd cover.
Now if the tracking sounds this good, imagine the end result (Goosebumps)!!!
Geoff Gunn
Bass
Week 8 and 9 (Day 45 - 58) 15 February – 6 March 2011
What did Cold Hand Chemistry do the past couple of weeks? I can say with all honesty, I don’t know… I know that David and Fernando were working fiercely on the arrangements and orchestrations. Robert went in and did all the drums except on two songs due to arrangement fixes on the last two tracks. Donny and Geoff went back to fix some guitar and bass tracks. That’s pretty much all I can say about the past couple of weeks. Now the pressure is on me and I happen to come down with the flue. I do feel much better now but I could have done with some vocal exercises and a serious gym routine to up my vocal performance. The best I can do for now is to listen to our rough tracks over and over and over again till I breathe the lyrics and every note of each song.I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks to get the vocals down and working with Fernando. We still working on a teaser it just need some vocals before we can share it with you all.
Patience is the ability to count down before you blast off. ~Author Unknown
Chantel
CHC Vox
Week 6 and 7 (Day 25 - 44) 28 January – 14 February 2011
Time is nothing when you in a studio. It feels like yesterday we updated this blog, when I counted the days it was 20 days later.
The main focus the past couple of weeks was our Orchestration and music arrangements. Fernando and David have been working around the clock to get each song perfect. Each member also laid down their final tracks on most of the songs. Robert will be working on the final drum tracks and David will do his percussion bits in this coming week. Tonight I will be getting 3 complete songs to listen to and rehears my vocal bits.
I get the feeling that there will be call backs to redo or recreate some pieces of music once Fernando starts mastering and mixing the tracks. He’s a super perfectionist when it comes to his work. After all he’s got some big albums and music behind his name. All I know is this is going to be something to listen to. We are bursting with excitement with every piece of music that’s added to this album. We can’t wait to have a sneak peak available soon.
Chantel
CHC Vox
Week 4 and 5 (Day 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24) 15 – 27 January 2011
Two very interesting weeks have passed and we were so consumed by the album we almost forgot about updating you guys on our progress.
After five weeks of hard work we finally have all ten track templates down. I still need to complete vocal guides on three tracks though, which will happen over the next week. But the guys have already started the hard work of putting their official stamp on the finished templates. We’re also busy with our publishing and distribution arrangements and its going super well I must say.
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| Donny, Geoff, Chantel, Fernando, David & Robert - Cold Hand Chemistry |
The excitement and enthusiasm is so overwhelming at times it’s hard to explain. Four years of hard work and two years dedicated to the album is finally coming to the point of completion. It is such a humbling experience working with an internationally recognize producer and engineer Fernando Pardigao. I mean here’s the guy that recorded some serious artist during his career with many awards behind his name. When you read the list of international artist he’s worked with like Crowded House, Ice Cube, Jennifer Rush, Joe Cocker, Midnight Oil, UB 40 and Sting, not to mention South African greats like Ballyhoo, Claire Johnston, Dirty Skirtz, E Void, Henry Ate (Karma), Jimmy 12”, Juluka / Johnny Clegg, Just Jinger, Mango Groove, Perezm, PJ Powers and Sugar Drive to name a few. You can’t help but to stand in awe at how humble and amazing he is.
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Fernando Perdigao |
Working with him in the studio is really the best experience in the world. I personally don’t enjoy recording, I am more of a performing artist than a studio artist. Once I take the microphone and Fernando presses that record button, I forget sometimes that I am singing in a studio. He makes it that comfortable and natural. I have been in studios before and can honestly say what a pleasure. “This is going to be one serious record” he would say and he laughs at anything even my weak attempt at humour.
I guess you all gather from this post that Cold Hand Chemistry salutes him for his dedication, enthusiasm, passion and faith in our work. Dude, you are not just our producer, engineer and manager but one hell of a guy. Thank you for believing in us and our project.
If you guys want to know more about “HOTMIX” Fernando you can visit his Fan Page here.
Chantel
CHC Vox
Week 3 (Day 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14) 7 - 14 January 2011
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| Robert Fick - Drums |
So far we managed to finish 8 song templates for our album. Dave also added 2 more songs for us to work on. The process are really take allot of time to perfect. Every bit of energy we have left after a long day, we put into the album at BaySide studio at night. I can only say this, if our album templates sounds this good, I really can’t wait to hear what the real deal will sound like. What stands out for me at this stage is how fat the drums are sounding. Robert really did a kick ass job with all our tracks so far. Fernando as always is just a gem to work with and a genius behind the desk.
We also decided to take it easy the past weekend. We did plan to work but it was very clear that rest was urgently needed. It also gave time for us to spend some time with our friends and family and celebrate Geoff Gunn’s birthday with a nice traditional South African braai.
This week we will be working harder than ever and will keep you posted.
Chantel
CHC VoxWeek 2 (Day 6,7,8 and 9) 3 - 6 January 2011
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| David |
Well it seems like it’s my turn to grab the mic from Chantel and share some of my thoughts on the recording of our long-overdue album. I hope you enjoy the improved spelling and grammar (you’re welcome) as we take some time to discuss the process thus far.
I’m sure for those of you who are aware of our humble outfit pre-2010, there may be a slight hint of skepticism regarding the arrival of an album that has been promised since 2008 by a band sounding and visibly resembling us about as much as Justin Bieber resembles the Sons of Anarchy… we are very much set in our new flesh and philosophy and this is something I hope will reflect upon the disc (or media download? Whatever) once you hear it.
We have always been ambitious in terms of what we would eventually like our sound to be like. After about five years of enduring comparisons to Evanescence ( which we alternatively consider flattery though more often misrepresentative) we have speculated on the possibilities that we may not indeed aspire to imitate our influences as directly –an impossibility considering the range of influences each member carries with them.
“So…ok great, what about the album then?”
Well if you had the foresight to skip the first three paragraphs (you probably should have) we will take a quick look at our progress to date.
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| Geoff working with Dave |
This being the third foray into the studio with my having to consider the pre-production past –“let’s just tape us playing and add reverb till it’s done”, we are fairly determined that this time we should approach this monster from a different angle. While I may be psychologically sky-diving through a perpetual cloud of symphonic mind f*ck, it was decided that maybe we start by laying the ambient sound-scapes down as a foundation (or template if you will) and load the heavy machinery on top of that.
This turned out to be a fascinating experiment and the possibilities for sonic manipulation is starting to mirror the lofty ideals we have had for this record years past. As I’m sure any studio-heads reading this might understand, while it is far safer to record and produce what is little more than a live performance (with a ton of polish to make up for the absence of tequila-driven intensity), the countless options for sonic manipulation available within a sound studio are staggering and often criminally under-used. Now, we are hoping not to disappoint any purists who are only prepared to engage in our album as long as it remains a carbon-copy of our live material but, y’know , that’s what our shows are for, right? We are still very open to the idea of expanding our sound in the live setting as our resources will allow and we hope that the broader sound of this album will reflect that.
The team is hard at work dropping their skills on the pads as we speak and we are moving at a furious rate. We will keep you posted as the next stage begins.
David
CHC Keyboard and Percussion
Week 1 (Day 2,3,4 & 5) 27 – 30 December 2010
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| Fernando, Geoff & David |
5 day’s in and things are going well in the studio. Most of the templates are almost done and the boys did a super job over the holiday season. The commitment shows when you get woken up early in the morning on your holiday with everybody ready for action.
Here is the link to our studio gallery we will be updating as things happen.
Chantel
CHC Vox
Day 1 - 21 December 2010
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| David - going crazy! |
We’ve been busy working and planning our album at the studio for some weeks now. Last night was our official day 1 in the studio. Fernando was pretty much just getting things ready “engineering wise” which goes right over my head most of the time. Honestly there are way too many buttons and stuff I don’t know how Producers/ Engineers do it. Just lead me to the microphone and let me sing please.
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| Robert - getting tings ready. |
Robert and David got started on finalizing the scratches on the songs we will record first, while I decided it’s best to have a beer and watch some stand-up comedy by Simon Amstell, which by the way I never knew was gay (talk about breaking my heart). I did start on our SAMRO documentation, then got bored filling it in half way just as the beer started kicking in.
Well that was day one at the studio, not much exciting news to report on. I guess holiday mode is slowing everyone down this week.
Chantel
CHC - Vox
