MOURNING BELOVETH

Studio Diary

A Murderous Circus

This is an account of the time we spent at Studio E in Germany recording our 3rd album.

1/11/04
Today is the Day of Mourning in the national German church calendar. What a suitable day to begin our recording. No studio today though as The Vision Bleak played Paris last night and only got home early this morning. Tom from Grau picked us up in the airport yesterday and drove us the many miles to our destination, Mellrichstadt, a pleasant little town bang slap in the middle of the infamous beer nation of Bavaria-Home of the staple diet of beer and Bratfurst. We might just fit in here. Sorted out the sleeping arrangements and made our beds. We settled in last night with a few drinks and the usual Irish mayhem ensued to the delight of the family living underneath us I guess.

2/11/04
The buzzer nearly fell off the wall this morning with its constant ringing. 'Can't be for us….who knows we are here?....answer it…. No….fuck it…….' Eventually the door opened and in walked Markus Stock. We made our acquaintance and set off down the road for the studio. Hmmm…. must answer that doorbell in future. Down at the studio we met up with Tobias of TVB and who also works in the studio. A very nice studio too, approx. 4 times the size of Academy and loads of room to relax in.
Tim laid down the drums for 3 tracks today. Nice going for ole scutchface. The live room has a nice vibe to it and I reckon it will just be the snare and kicks that will need some triggering. Brian and Frank are both laying down the guide guitar tracks between them. Some riffs are eventually decided on being finished now that everyone can hear what each other is playing. The rehearsal room can be too loud to hear anyone other than yourself.

3/11/04
All well rested and fed today. We found a petrol station/shop to keep our bellies happy and our livers lubricated. Had a few words of caution from the neighbours today. Can't talk too loud on the balcony it seems while having a smoke.
German tv consists of a lot of the same shit at home + a lot of American crap. The election results looms and I wonder who will win? Seems the worlds epicentre is focused on Washington DC at the moment.
Got all the drums finished today-Now Tim can relax for the next week . Not bad for an oule fella
' There's no time to lose…….' again and again and again and again………

4/11/04
Brian started his distorted guitar parts today and completed 3 tracks in all. The guitars are being recorded using both a 5150 and a JCM 800 for a bit of difference in sound in the doubled layers. This will really thicken up things in the mix later on.
Tom rang today to see how we were getting on and to give us some news about the pending gig in Murrhardt this coming Saturday. They are going to hire us a car and I will be behind the wheel!!!! Ohh lovely Autobahn here I come!!!!!!

5/11/04
Brian finished his distorted parts today-What a professional!! His new Gibson SG sounds great and will provide plenty of crunch in the mix.
Got the car today meh heh heh.

6/11/04
Markus arrived up at the flat this morning with directions and a map to Murrhardt. I'ts 250 Km so it should take me about an hour. Brian has elected himself as co-driver for the trip. We drove past Wurzburg on the way- Where are those death shivers coming from????
We got to the venue about 4 hours early, which was nice. I rang Tom, Jochen(M.O.D) and Armin from Manus Mortis to find out what was going on. Armin came by soon after to meet us and let us into the venue. We went to a Greek restaurant for some grub then. I had a reindeer steak, which tasted very festive indeed. The gig was the local youth centre called JUZE. 70 people paid in to the gig, about 100 there in all. It was cool to see Mirror of Deception again and the local guys Manus Mortis played a storming set as a warm up for the doomed gathering. Outside were some young ladies and their male friends who entertained us with their drunken warblings brought on by their homemade German wine. We played a very loose set tonight consisting of Words, Part 1,Mountains, All Hope, Narcisstic and In Mourning my Days as an encore to a great reception and a cool atmosphere. We stayed around for a while afterwards and got pissed/stoned with a very pissed Tom Grau and the local lightweights. Thanks to the Manus Mortis guys too for letting us stay in their house that night. Cheers to Armin, Juven and Talle. Got a great nights sleep on their couch.

7/11/04
Sunday morning and we all got up early for first mass. Today we prayed for less happiness and ample amounts of satanic abuse. We left without any monetary offerings except for a substantial boat rope moored up at the water font. Meh heh heh.
Took it a bit easy driving back today much to the lads delight. They still don't trust my driving skills.

8/11/04
We started into Frank's heavy guitar parts today. Everything is going to schedule so far and we should get on to the clean guitar parts tomorrow all going well. The songs are settling well in the rough mix already with just the drums and the rough guitars. Starting to sound like an album, and a different kind of album too……..
Heading off to the pub with Darren and Tim in a few moments. We are meeting Tobias down there for a pool exhibition.

9/11/04
Woke up to a white landscape today accompanied by a sick head. No real hangover of course with the naturally brewed beer but sick nonetheless. Pure fucking winter doom. Glad I brought my longjohns and triple-insulated underpants along with my balaclava and oven mittens.
No sign of Tobias yet today! Must be away in a ditch somewhere licking his wounds after the thrashing he got in pool last night. The gauntlet was thrown down and burnt last night. It was a nice break though down the pub, fair play to Herr Constantz. We gave him a good lesson in bastardised queens English too in case he ever makes it to Ireland. The wideo of the joat playing a jibson. Alles Tot!!!

10/11/04
Got the clean guitars wrapped up today and started on the bass. The spinal column of the whole album meh heh! We used a Behringer the same as my own for the clean bass and a SansAmp for the dirty parts, which should cut through the mix with a nice enough bite. My fingerstyle proved too clacky in the mix so it was back to using a .73 for this album again.
More stories of Bethlehem and Empyrium today from Markus. Bethlehem recorded their last 2 albums here, much to our delight. As much as Academy had its own nostalgia and good memories, Klangschmeide Studio E has its own special qualities and history.
Today is a holiday of sorts in Germany. Apparently in some parts parties begin at 11:11am and women have the right to cut off a mans tie below the neck????????.

11/11/04
Brian and Tim are heading home today. It's a pity they couldn't stay until the end but anyway. We'll soldier on. I finished the bass today with just a few small bits to fill in later once the lead guitars are done. Frank is starting those as I write this page. Darren is still working on the lyrics with not much left to write he claims hmmm???
Most of the snow has melted away at this stage but it's still as cold as fuck.

12/11/04
Got a message from Brian and Tim to say they arrive back home safely after all the 'worry' and placing of bets as to where they would finally end up. Tonight we sat around watching tv with the sound off and listening to cd's.
I am in my element these last few evenings as there are loads of WW 2 documentaries and old movies every night, some in English with German subtitles and those without I can make out what's going on. I was under the impression there was this huge underlying guilt thing in the German psyche and the phrase ' Don't mention the war' wasn't just a joke but seems the new generation are happy to take a look back through history which is a good thing.
And then there is channel 11 for late night trouser acrobatics.

13/11/04
Up out of bed and down to the studio early today for once. Frank finishes off his leads while Darren heads off to the shop to get something to loosen up his throat and get our breakfast. We had some discussions together last night about the album title and put a few more ideas on the table. More pulling of teeth today as regards the recording is going. Some songs are getting quite painful to deal with. The Death song-'Yet Everything' was renamed the ' pulling teeth song' today. It's been a complete bastard to record, mix and finish off this track
There is a brutal stink of cigarette smoke in the studio this morning and even the unbooted feet cannot mask the smell. I think the pub is on the cards again tonight since the weekend beckons once more.
If today was Friday we'd worry as the session has gone very well so far. Darren is nearly finished his growling parts at this early stage. Frank is off somewhere eating a beehive I reckon. His cold has crept all the way to his face by now and hopefully will dissipate before his vocal turn comes. Tim is at home in work and I reckon Brian is still on his back asleep midfart and turnover. Darren's new vocal phrasing and new gnarly type growling is sounding well. This album is sound more and more interesting. I can see a major shift already in the dynamics and present sound.

14/11/04
Sunday.
Late rising again today. Missed mass again this morning. Fuck, how will we go home to our holy Ireland with less holiness inside us…. With sick heads, sore ears and raspy throats the 3 of us surfaced and sank again without trace throughout the day. A long fucking day it was too. We went down to the bar grill for dinner today. Why didn't we discover this place sooner? Big fucking portions and a huge taste to boot! I left the other 2 gits there chewing their cud as I sauntered off to the pub with my book and the anticipation of some gin to loosen my gut only to discover the pub was closed for the day. What to do? Bought a couple of bottles of Smirnoff ice ( bleaugh, terrible shite) and had a few solitary smokes on the side of a hill outside town. Got very cold after a while so it was back to base. Tonight we came up with the album title.

15/11/04
This is it! The last Monday of the last week in Studio E. It's all to do this week. Frank's vocals got off to a shaky start but after warming up he flew through his parts.
We began to mix.
Straight away there is a noticeable drift away from our previous albums in terms of sound. Now it was more in your face instead of coming up from behind the base of your neck. It's still got the doom but with plenty of added viciousness'.
We mixed The Apocalypse Machine(Epic) today. Darren and myself spent a whole hour talking to Markus about food and how we love it so much. We have a good few things in common as far as culinary skills go and what our taste buds take immense pleasure in. I think Darren has invented a new national dish with his Bratfurst and soup Supreme.

16/11/04
Today we mixed Part 1 and Elemental Nausea (Tense). Part 1 now sounds like it was intended. It's got a much richer sound with lots more dynamics and colours.
For our break today Markus brought us down to the local Kebab house. Apparently this is where Bethlehem went everyday such was their delight for the Turkish meat leftovers. This kebab house uses veal and turkey in its meals, very nice too.
I'm getting a dose of the cabin fever I think. Listening to the same vocal diarrhoea gets to ya after a while, maybe it's always been the same but this is how my grey matter is at the moment. We are all doing very well nonetheless.
A new gauntlet has been slapped down once again for another pool exhibition by Tobias for Thursday! We got word of a gig in Norway today from a contact of Darren's . It should be nice to play in the country of our previous record label.

17/11/04
A bit of a late start today but it's cool. Some time to wake up properly and smell the coffee. The Crashing Wave (Les Miserables) went through the mix today with nice results. Tobias seems very eager for revenge -' I will get my rewenge'- in the pool stakes today the poor chap. Might be generous and let him win a game for international relations and all that.

18/11/04
We mixed the 'March of Death' (Life) track today along with Riff Picky, which is still unnamed. I am glad to finally get to use the sample concept that is now the end part of the MoD song. I had the idea during the recording sessions for Dust but only now has it come to fruition. I hope it works for the album now.
We've totally finished mixing today. Everything has been going so well to plan that we have to hold our breath and say nothing more until we get it all mastered tomorrow. These last 3 weeks have flown by so quick that I wonder how a band can manage 3 months and think the same?? Everything is sounding great. It's a new step as regards the overall sound for MB. Markus is happy with things and a sense of relief is slowly creeping over all of us.
Tonight we will live it up in the pub methinks.

19/11/04
Last night was a lot of fun in the pub. ' You fuckers are in this pub fucking 3 times and you know more people than I do in the years I have been here' exclaimed Markus this morning. Its true but isn't that the spirit of the Irish? We made some cool friends in the time we were there and hails go out to Schweinfurt, Sven and all the bar staff. It's customary in this pub to shell out B.52 cocktails at the end of the night courtesy of the bar staff. I don't think they will forget us in a hurry. We were the last to leave every night as is customary at home too. Why should it be any different?
Ah yes the pool challenge. Darren and myself provided the side to go up against our worried German challengers. We got worried when we were a pathetic 4/1 down but triumphed with a 5/4 win against our pretenders to the throne, Markus and Tobias. This was to be the first final in the Pool Metal Championship.
So the mastering began today without a hitch. But why did I think of even speaking too soon. The 7 songs in total reached just over 90 minutes. The album songs were at 74 minutes but only 74 could fit on a cd it seems. A hurried and worried call to Prophecy HQ alleviated our fears and the album was going to pressed on an 80 minute cd. Tom arrived down to Mellrichstadt in the afternoon. He was a bit lost again I think as he met us coming out of the Bar grill after a sumptious feed of crispy fried feta cheese with toast and side salad. A good recommendation Herr Stock!
He seemed pleased with the final result and also his friend Laura from Chile who had just arrived in Germany that day was pleased to spend a full day in a studio with us cunts. They came back to the house with us for a coffee and a chat. After they left my cabin fever peaked. I put on the album-1st mistake, I thought the bass was all out of tune, severe paranoia ensued and an hour or so of total mental torment was had. Won't be doing that again…..
A trouble free 3 weeks yes…….. the cd length was one thing, then the last 20 seconds of the first and last album track went missing!!! Markus was going to re-master it some other day but we had had enough and all was not lost. It could be recovered and done at a later stage. Everyone was completely fucked and tired. Time to close up shop and retire. A good result for all on board and money well spent.

A Murderous Circus was ready for curtains up.