Thingfish
Trooper
"Iron Maiden Recording Diary - April 29, 2006 *
Greetings - winging my way to Germany to go and see the last show in Joe Bonamassa's European tour in Lorsch, Germany tonight. Had another very productive week with Maiden, and some hedonistic nights out with long-time Maiden photographer, Ross Halfin, but that's another story!!
Mixed another two songs this week - the first (and #8 on the album) is one of my favorite mixes so far, it's almost 10 minutes long and sounds huge and very cinematic and I am very happy with it. The lads came in and 'Arry says that's the way he thinks Maiden should sound - and wished he could remix some older material - but I think older stuff is to be celebrated because of it's chronological perspective, and should be left alone! Wing Commander Biggles rushed in on Monday to pick up a CD, as he was piloting a commercial flight to India later that day and wanted to listen to some mixes, and got back on Wednesday after a visit to the Taj Mahal and is ecstatic about the album's sound. I'm sure all you anoraks out there will find plenty of stuff to keep the bulletin boards and forums on fire for a while to come!!!
Adrian was in and played a killer solo over Song #9, sounding a little like Trevor Rabin meets Pat Thrall - with an octave divider - and then finished off with some kinda theramin sounding histrionics, over the solo section reserved for Janick - but it sounded so great, and Janick was away with his family, so we're decided to keep it!! Hope Jan doesn't mind............
Landing now - more later!
* Thursday, May 4 *
This will, in fact, be the last recording diary, as I finish the final mix today! And I love the album. Bruce was in again on Monday to do the last vocal track, which is so high, only dogs can hear it - and then we painstakingly compiled the early verses - as Steve has a very particular thing he wanted to hear on the vocals. Maiden do-all-chap Dave Pattenden came to the studio to do a recce for new Maiden pix with the photographer - Adrian called in to see how things were coming along - Davey's wife emailed me about their flat in London where I'm holed up (although no word from Davey, who's work on this record is stellar!), and on Tuesday, as I entered the studio I was suprised by the sight of Nicko in neon pyjamas, just landed from Florida, who embraced me very warmly (well, you could if you would, old boy - shouldn't you!). I love that man, but not as much as he loves me! It's true! Haha! 0h, that's an "in" joke, sorry! * To stop him talking, so I could work, I stuck my iPod into Nicko's ears, and played him the final mixes. He was very impressed, and so we sent our assistant Alex out to get Nicko his own iPod (which they no doubt put on the recording budget so now I'll never recoup!), and I dumped the Maiden tracks onto his iPod, along with some Alison Krauss and Miles Davis, before he went to see the Queen review, We Will Rock You, for the umpteenth time! There's no accounting for taste, really! After that, Wing Commander Biggles cycled in on his bike to pick up a CD before flying a sortie to Sierra Leone, as 'Arry looked over gigs for his gorgeous and talented daughter Lauren, who's becoming a star in her own right! Must be in the jeans.. er .. genes! Check her out at www.myspace.com/laurenharrisuk * So, it's like a bustling train station in there!
Jan was in on Tuesday, and we started the long and laborious process of overdubbing guitars onto the last song on the album. It's a lengthy process, because it's a song that he has written a lot of the music for, and has demo'd it with a very straight drum machine program, and not at all like the skip and galloping that Nicko and 'Arry have played on the track - and so we had to find the middle ground between the versions, which is ultimately how Iron Maiden sound! There are also layers af acoustic guitars - 6 and 12 strings - and after the lead solo Jan added late last night, all we have to add today are a few keyboard washes and then I'll finish the mix! Album done!!! And the title is............... I don't bloody know, and if I did, I couldn't tell you anyway, could I? Tomorrow I'll get the B side mixes started and then next week, I'll be mixing some surround sound live material for later use - before i head off to Barcelona on the weekend or the Formula 1 race, and then back to California.
And so, that's it folks - hope you've enjoyed the little I've managed to write for you on our studio shenanigans - and I hope you love the album, as much as I've loved being part of it again! See you at a show sometime - come up 'n say hi!!
Up The Irons!!"
:wacko:
Greetings - winging my way to Germany to go and see the last show in Joe Bonamassa's European tour in Lorsch, Germany tonight. Had another very productive week with Maiden, and some hedonistic nights out with long-time Maiden photographer, Ross Halfin, but that's another story!!
Mixed another two songs this week - the first (and #8 on the album) is one of my favorite mixes so far, it's almost 10 minutes long and sounds huge and very cinematic and I am very happy with it. The lads came in and 'Arry says that's the way he thinks Maiden should sound - and wished he could remix some older material - but I think older stuff is to be celebrated because of it's chronological perspective, and should be left alone! Wing Commander Biggles rushed in on Monday to pick up a CD, as he was piloting a commercial flight to India later that day and wanted to listen to some mixes, and got back on Wednesday after a visit to the Taj Mahal and is ecstatic about the album's sound. I'm sure all you anoraks out there will find plenty of stuff to keep the bulletin boards and forums on fire for a while to come!!!
Adrian was in and played a killer solo over Song #9, sounding a little like Trevor Rabin meets Pat Thrall - with an octave divider - and then finished off with some kinda theramin sounding histrionics, over the solo section reserved for Janick - but it sounded so great, and Janick was away with his family, so we're decided to keep it!! Hope Jan doesn't mind............
Landing now - more later!
* Thursday, May 4 *
This will, in fact, be the last recording diary, as I finish the final mix today! And I love the album. Bruce was in again on Monday to do the last vocal track, which is so high, only dogs can hear it - and then we painstakingly compiled the early verses - as Steve has a very particular thing he wanted to hear on the vocals. Maiden do-all-chap Dave Pattenden came to the studio to do a recce for new Maiden pix with the photographer - Adrian called in to see how things were coming along - Davey's wife emailed me about their flat in London where I'm holed up (although no word from Davey, who's work on this record is stellar!), and on Tuesday, as I entered the studio I was suprised by the sight of Nicko in neon pyjamas, just landed from Florida, who embraced me very warmly (well, you could if you would, old boy - shouldn't you!). I love that man, but not as much as he loves me! It's true! Haha! 0h, that's an "in" joke, sorry! * To stop him talking, so I could work, I stuck my iPod into Nicko's ears, and played him the final mixes. He was very impressed, and so we sent our assistant Alex out to get Nicko his own iPod (which they no doubt put on the recording budget so now I'll never recoup!), and I dumped the Maiden tracks onto his iPod, along with some Alison Krauss and Miles Davis, before he went to see the Queen review, We Will Rock You, for the umpteenth time! There's no accounting for taste, really! After that, Wing Commander Biggles cycled in on his bike to pick up a CD before flying a sortie to Sierra Leone, as 'Arry looked over gigs for his gorgeous and talented daughter Lauren, who's becoming a star in her own right! Must be in the jeans.. er .. genes! Check her out at www.myspace.com/laurenharrisuk * So, it's like a bustling train station in there!
Jan was in on Tuesday, and we started the long and laborious process of overdubbing guitars onto the last song on the album. It's a lengthy process, because it's a song that he has written a lot of the music for, and has demo'd it with a very straight drum machine program, and not at all like the skip and galloping that Nicko and 'Arry have played on the track - and so we had to find the middle ground between the versions, which is ultimately how Iron Maiden sound! There are also layers af acoustic guitars - 6 and 12 strings - and after the lead solo Jan added late last night, all we have to add today are a few keyboard washes and then I'll finish the mix! Album done!!! And the title is............... I don't bloody know, and if I did, I couldn't tell you anyway, could I? Tomorrow I'll get the B side mixes started and then next week, I'll be mixing some surround sound live material for later use - before i head off to Barcelona on the weekend or the Formula 1 race, and then back to California.
And so, that's it folks - hope you've enjoyed the little I've managed to write for you on our studio shenanigans - and I hope you love the album, as much as I've loved being part of it again! See you at a show sometime - come up 'n say hi!!
Up The Irons!!"
:wacko:
