* 2005-09-16 - UPDATE (by Hansi Cross)
Dearest You,
At this point I'm happy to announce that we are working on
a follow-up album. More about it later.
Hansi Cross
* 2003-02-19 - STUDIO REPORT Nbr. 9 (by Olov Andersson) *
We're getting there; I mean we are really getting there….
Yesterday Göran & Hansi went to the Cosmos Studios
in Stockholm to do the mastering of our upcoming Spektrum album.
The master of mastering, Mr Hoffe Stannow made sure that the
final result would sound even better. Göran called me afterwards
and he was more than pleased with the result.
During our writing and recording of the album, which we have
told you about on this page another man has been keeping busy
in another part of Stockholm. I'm talking about Stefan Polzer;
the man doing the booklet for the album. He showed me a printout
of what will become the final artwork last Friday and it's as
good as the music. He makes us look good and we make his work
sound good.
Anyway, everything has been sent to the CD manufacturing place
now and within a few weeks you will be able to hear it. Hopefully
you will enjoy listening to it as much as we have enjoyed making
it.
Later!
Olov Andersson
* 2003-02-11 - STUDIO REPORT Nbr. 8 (by Olov Andersson) *
WOW!!!
We are now on the final pages of the "SPEKTRUM - STUDIO
REPORT". Last weekend Hansi and myself added our bits and
pieces to the last song of our project and on Monday Hansi did
the final mix. The final piece is called "A Chemical Release"
and is written by Lizette and myself. With the risk of coming
across as pretentious I have to say it's another labour of love
and it sounds great. The ending of the piece is beautiful.
The remaining things to be done are mastering and pressing.
The CD should be out in the beginning of March.
Here are the tracks, in order:
Spektrum
Land Of Longing
Now
Perpetuum Mobile
The Quest
Ivory Tower
A Chemical Release
We will await your feedback.
CU! / Olov Andersson
* 2003-01-26 - STUDIO REPORT Nbr. 7 (by Olov Andersson) *
Hi!
I'm back again with a new report. The piece "Land Of Longing"
is now completed and it sounds great. During the process of
writing and recording we have referred to this piece as "our
Hit-song" and it sure has a lots of potential. The end
of the song gives me "goose-bumps" with all of us
really playing our asses off!
Lizette's vocals on the last piece ("Angry Song")
are also finished so now it is up to Hansi and myself to add
solos & stuff. Almost there!
Until next time..
Olov Andersson
* 2003-01-18 - STUDIO REPORT Nbr. 6 (by Olov Andersson) *
Hello again!
Just a quick update:
Hansi has done the mix of "Spektrum" and the mixing
of "Land Of Longing" will be next. Lizette and myself
will also begin to add the final parts of the last piece ("Angry
Song"). This means that it's
"5 down, 2 to go" now. We're getting closer to the
final product. Very exciting!
Keep checking this space for the next report!
Until next time..
Olov Andersson
* 2003-01-15 - STUDIO REPORT Nbr. 5 (by Olov Andersson) *
Hi there!
A few days ago Hansi worked his magic in front of the mixing
console and yet another track is mixed and ready. It's called
"Now" and we're very proud of it. Hansi wrote the
piece and I think it is one of his best pieces ever.
This week we expect to have the track "Spektrum" mixed
as well and we are rapidly coming closer to completing the Spektrum
album. At the same time Lizette are doing the vocals on "Land
Of Longing" and then she will begin working on the "Angry
Song" (working title).
This album has truly been a labour of love and working with
all these multi-talented musicians has been a thrill for me
personally. The result is way beyond the expectations I had
going into this project and I can assure you that I'm both thrilled
and proud to be a part of Spektrum.
The wait is almost over and remember "All good things come
to those who wait".
Keep checking this space for the next report!
Over & Out!
Olov Andersson
* 2003-01-03 - STUDIO REPORT Nbr. 4 (by Hansi Cross) *
Hi!
Göran has managed to catch a cold (poor Göran!) and
therefore I will take care of the update this time.
Since last report Lizette finished the vocals on "Now"
and "Perpetuum Mobile" and as always she did a superb
job. Olov and myself have written the lyric to the song that
was called "Poplåten" but now is titled "Land
Of Longing".
I'll summarise what is ready and what is still to be done:
Mixed and ready:
Perpetuum Mobile
The Quest
Ivory Tower
To be mixed and finished in the next couple of days:
Now
Spektrum
Still lacking vocals, guitars and solos before ready for
mix:
Land Of Longing
Still lacking vocals, guitars, solos and lyrics before ready
for mix:
A 9-minute track that has the working titles "Angry Song"
or "Olovlåten"
Our intentions was to have the album ready and released in
late January but as we've been
"catching colds" one after another it has taken a
bit longer than expected. We hope to have the album available
in late February.
Eternally yours,
Hansi Cross
* 2002-12-10 - STUDIO REPORT Nbr. 3 (by Göran Johnsson)
*
So here I am once more (where have I heard that before?) with
a short little report. Hansi has been the busiest of us during
the last week. Most of the guitars on the song that used to have
the working title "ForsCross" (new working title is
"poplåten") are finished as well as all the guitars
on "Now". Olov has recorded some more keyboards and
he and Hansi has also done some minor sound changes here and there.
The only thing I have recorded during the last week is a tambourine
at the end of "Now" which most probably also will be
the final title of the song. So everything is there except for
the vocals and it might take a couple of days before Lizette can
do it as she managed to catch a cold. Poor Lizette!
All instruments and vocals are recorded on "Ivory Tower"
and "The Quest" (working title "The Light")
now so Hansi will get these mixed and ready this week while
Göran, Olov and Myself are in London to enjoy IQ live at
The Mean Fiddler. Poor Hansi!
That's all for now folks,
Still your friendly drummer.
Göran Johnsson
* 2002-11-29 - STUDIO REPORT Nbr. 2 (by Göran Johnsson)
*
Saturday was a good day. After a good nights sleep and two cups
of coffee I drove my Saab and picked up (in order of appearance)
Fors, Olov and Hansi. After a few laughs (and a discussion about
IQ's "Subterranea", don't ask me why) we came to the
studio, got our equipment together and started to rehearse.
After a few more laughs and some more coffee it was time to
click on the red button to record the stuff and "The beer
song" (or "Forscross") got on tape rather fast.
It sounds really great I must say. We recorded drums, bass and
some keyboards to the song. Hansi played along with us, testing
some different ideas, and he will hopefully do his guitar lines
during this week.
While I was picking up some hamburgers (real music food) Fors
recorded some missing bass tones and after a nice meal Fors
also recorded bass to Olov's song which we recorded drums and
keys to earlier in the week. It feels good to have all the basic
tracks done now so we can start thinking about how the whole
record will sound like.
As usual it was a nice atmosphere during the recording session.
No one's ego gets in the way.
Of course, we discuss tempos, melody lines and so on, but it's
always in a friendly and understanding way.
What happens next? Well, Hansi will hopefully do some guitar
work during Wednesday (the only thing that can stop him is if
he gets a lot of work at the Progress office) and Olov will
do several missing keyboard parts on Sunday. I believe that
Lizette have done some more vocal work at her home studio but
we haven't heard from her in a while (she likes to record her
parts in the middle of the night and then sleeps all day) so
frankly I don't know right now.
But whatever she comes up with for the songs it seems that it's
precisely what we want.
That's all for now folks.
Your friendly drummer
Göran Johnsson
* 2002-11-20 - STUDIO REPORT Nbr. 1 (by Göran Johnsson)
*
Well, things are moving forward. The songs are starting to take
shape and we will keep you informed of what's happening in the
studio during the process of the album. So here is for you, our
becoming listeners, our first studio report.
The album will probably contain six songs, all originals, and
most of them doesn't have a "real" name yet. However,
this is how far we have come up to date:
The song that has the working name "The light" is
almost finished. Lizette has put down her vocal parts into it
and we have started to mix the track. So apart from a few backing
vocal lines the track is almost done. "The light"
(not the final song title) is one of Olov's compositions and
is a very "happy" song. This track has gone through
some changes since the first version of this song featured Göran
Fors on lead vocals. He did a great job on it and of course
we will save the version for possible use in the future. However,
it's nice to have Lizette's vocals on it since she is by far
a better vocalist than either four of us.
"Waiting" or "Ivory tower" is the only
track that is totally completed. One of Hansi's contributions
and once intended to be a song for his own group Cross, but
neither recorded or released by them. Maybe it was a bit too
poppy for his band mates to play? This was the first song that
Lizette put her vocals on and also the first time I realized
how incredibly good this nice lady can sing. Hansi has a fine
guitar part in it and Olov plays a kind of Pink Floyd-ish solo
as well.
We also have a tune that probably will be an instrumental piece.
Lizette will however sing on it but probably without using words.
It's titled "Perpetuum mobile" and is written by myself.
I recorded it at Progress studio during my summer vacation.
Hansi liked the track and suggested that we use it in Spektrum.
So we have used my basic drum tracks and my intro keyboard part
and re-recorded the rest of the instruments. The song is soon
ready to be mixed. Lizette have some vocals to do and maybe
some solo part as well. As you might already have guessed, the
theme goes on and on to a nice climax at the end. A thanks goes
to Steve Hackett for the inspiration to this track.
Another of Olov's compositions has gone nearly halfway through
the process. Basically a real old tune from Olov's vault. Olov
and myself recorded the drums and basic keyboards last week
and we will continue with the song during the coming weekend
when Göran Fors will join us. He has some 350km to travel
each time we record him so we try to make good use of him when
he's down here in Stockholm. This will be one of the longer
songs on the album…
…which also goes for a piece with the working title "Now",
another of Hansi's contributions.
This one was originally intended for the forthcoming Cross album.
This is the song that may have the most different parts with
different passages and tempos. There will also be a keyboard
solo played by Olov but written by Hansi on it. Drums, bass,
some guitars and most of the keyboards are done so far.
Göran Fors and Hansi put together a basic idea to a song
that they presented to Olov and me during one of our sessions.
Working names are "Forscross" or "The beer song"
since we sat in the studio one evening in September and all
contributed pieces to the song while drinking beer (sorry Fors,
you drove the car that night…). We will record the basic
tracks for this during the weekend to come live in the studio
to get the right feel to it. With other words, this one needs
most working time at this stage in the recordings. Album opener?
