Almost there!

So after 3 solid weeks off all nighters and hard work the album is done except vocals! The mixes are basically done and I have to say this sounds amazing, Jeff understood and added some great things to our music so I cant wait to get this album out there, as a band, this is clearly the strongest album we have done, it contains some of the most beautiful and heavy work we have done. So now we have a month off to refine the vocals and go over the mixes for fine tuning in the first week of feb, we truely have a special record on our hands and we cant wait to share it with you! We have to thank everyone who is involved at this point, Paul for his all night pro-tooling, Jeff of course for his vision and attention to detail, Angus for keeping Jeff in vodka & Kenny for always keeping a tuned guitar in my hands and tending to almost every other musical need we had... not to mention being a great house mate and great cook, kenny I owe you many dinners! So now we take it easy for a few weeks and then get this album finished! cant wait! be sure to check back at the start of Feb! For now we hope you all have a great xmas! - Mark

Mixing

Ok, so as you all know we are tracking vocals in Feb and tweeking the final mixes then also, so the last few days have been getting the basic mixes together, this is quite an involved process, we go through each track tweek th eq's add any additional instruments and over dubs and sort out the large amount of keyboard parts supplied by our keyboard player Maria which of course she tracked in Finland. We have only 2 tracks to go and this process will be done! The idea is that we let these ruff mixes (which believe me are not ruff by anys standards) and then give them a month to settle and come in and refine everything. Vocals Jeff and myself will workshop vocal melodies tomorrow, I have of course written them but the idea of having a producer is of course outside input so Jeff and myself plan to refine these ideas, focuse on the hooks and just get the best possible result we can! Its all sounds really great at the moment, huge sound, yet very spacious, we cant wait to share this with you all! - Mark

The Darkness has set in....

Ok - Saturday has come... the darkness is rolling in over Byron Bay... major thunder and lightening storm, and I blame the darkness that is being created in the studio.

At the moment I think we have 4 or 5 songs mixed to a point that is working, and when Mark comes back in Feb to do the vocals, the finishing touches will be added.

I must say at the moment, the album is sounding awesome - Dark and Heavy with an amazing "Bonhamesque" sound to the drums pounding underneath. This would have to be one of the only recordings I've done, that I am so very happy with.... it's gonna be good people.... very very good.

Delerium & Desire

So we are moving forward now, sorting through keyboards parts, refining mixes and adding the occasional overdub and its sounds great, we basically finihed a song yesterday called 'Delerium & Desire', its everything The Eternal is and more, I'm really pleased with the outcome, so until monday we will going through this pattern with all the songs working the Jeff Martin hours of 2pm till 5am:) It seems to work well. After monday it seems we I will return start of Feb to do vocals but all music will be in the bag, we have accomplished so much in the last two weeks, I can put it down to having a great team and also that we reheased our asses off and we were tighter than I have ever heard us, but anyway, its 1pm so i gotta go get ready for another all nighter! - Rock! - Mark

Studio fever

Paul is no longer allowed to move from his seat




Another beautiful day in Byron Bay today and we are locking ourselves in a small dark room again to roll out the remaining acoustics and keyboard parts. With all the leads done including some absolutely blinding solos from Mark and a few little gems from the big man himself, everything is really coming together. Now it's all about the colours and layers that make Eternal records what they are.

Paul and Mark have been busy loading in the various keyboard parts care of our Finnish friend Maria Ilmoniemi which are being mixed and chopped and changed with various Keyboard/Piano parts that Jeff is contributing. Acoustic layers are being placed carefully within the mix giving it all a very organic sound.

It's about this stage of course that we are all suffering from a bit of studio fever. Insanity and ridiculousness is pretty much all we capable of at the moment. It is only going to get worse for the next few days also because the days are getting longer and the average finishing time is creeping towards 5am every night. Tomorrow I will be leaving the boys to go back to Melbourne, back to work and back to normality, at least for a little while. Thanks to everyone who has been reading these blogs and I like the rest of you ill be looking forward to hearing all about how the session wraps up. We have done so much great work so far so I assure you this album will be something special and the boys and I can't wait to hear it.

Dave

Guitars, guitars & more guitars!!

Its been a few days since our last blog but we have been doing hectic 14-15 hour days so forgive us! Well everything is coming along well, its shaping up to be a very different album for the band, in some ways our heaviest and rawest but in some ways very much our most rock album, Jeff has been amazing with his attention to detail and seems to be able to create every jimmy page guitar sound on demand:) For you guys and girls out there that care about the technical details, I have tracked most of the rhythm guitars on my gibson les paul through the classic supro amp and a mesa, I have used a telecaster for most of the lead work, either through the supro or a marshall with a 'big muff' pedal. I will be finished my guitar parts on monday & then Jeff with go through and add some additional parts himself on his collection of guitars!

At this stage looks like we will track vocals in January as we really need to make sure they are right, so this week will be finishing the music and mixing. Jeff and myself will then spend some time refining the lyrics and melodies.

So its sunday right now, our first much needed day off, we have been going usually from around 12pm till 4am everyday, so today we cruised around byron bay with jeffs guitar tech kenny who is also staying in the house with us, he is a great fellow and already we love him dearly. A nice afternoon at th ebeach then the pool, now dinner then rest up for work again tomorrow. No rest for the wicked it seems:) - Mark

Kelson keeps it moving

We are nearly at the end of day 7 and the rhythm guitars are nearly all finished. Today was spent hammering out layers of Mesa and Marshall guitar tones over the already rich rhythm sections that have been laid down already. The studio has been inhabited by Mark, Jeff and the boys for many hours now, and the fruits of their labour are tasting pretty sweet. It seems all of the months of practice and hard work in the rehearsal room has paid off with Mark nutting out super tight guitar tracks at a inhuman rate. All we can do now is rest for the days of lead, acoustics, keys and vocals that are due to be laid down in the next few days.

The rest of the boys have been making the most of the weather and beautiful surroundings that Byron Bay has to offer. This truely is an amazing setting to work in and the album that is unfolding is a reflection of this. Thanks for everyones kind words and encouragement, we are all in this together and we couldn't do it without your support.

Dave and the rest of the boys