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Greetings from perhaps the most interesting studio currently available at Finland!

 

 

As you may already know, I have been working on my debut EP, arisTotal for The Fair Attempts for quite some while now. No, I haven’t really talked about it out loud to the public since all my solo project so far, or how it has been during the year 2018, I’ve been working out to find that long sought red line, that butt crack of an sunrise to shine upon the proverbial eyes of my mind to set it to and feel comfortable to step towards to.

It’s electronica or what they started to define as EDM at North America around 2010’s. You know, electronic instruments and especially drumbeats done in a way that it fits not only the dance floors but other avenues as well. I still identify the core of my project as industrial rock though. It’s just that the combination of these really fit to what I am sharing with you.

So I set out to compose 5 songs plus one remix as a bonus track, making the EP 6 tracks in total. Couple of days ago I returned from Astral Studio where I went to master the whole EP. This studio simply rocks in its functionality and atmosphere. Lauri Heikkilä is a true professional, handled my visit and my requirements very well and even made fairly good cups of coffee. You should know, I am picky about my coffee.

What I specifically liked about the studio was the main control room for how well the frequency response is established and how well the stereo field can be observed. Very impressed with the work that must have been behind the building of that room. Had a blast digging out the dirt and, ehm… adding different kind of dirt with various tape distortion techniques..

 

Good control room, professional and friendly staff, homey atmosphere and whatnot aside, what really makes this studio unique is it’s location. While not at the centrum of Tampere, but near its outskirts, they established their whole business to, what must be some kind of old train service station. The building itself reeks of history with its red tile layout and architecture from way back when. It is hilarious that there is active railroad but meters away from the building itself and time and time again you can see trains go by. I guess the actual recording rooms are well enough isolated to block the incoming sound of traffic but I found this setup hilariously unique and very neat at the same time. Just imagine listening to your track as you hear a riser kicking in building up towards the end of the rhythm and in comes the train. The split second thought of “Wait a minute, I didn’t add that kind of sound there now did I?” and the hilarious realization seeing the train flow by from the window of your control room.

I had a blast, I am so looking forward to visit back again in future and I wish you all the very BEST!