The Manhattan Trio: Recording 3 New Songs

On May 1st, Merlin re-entered the dragon to record three more songs for The Manhattan Project (the codename of our next album). This time, Deathsong, Murder at Babylon and the new A Game of Domino During The Cointelpro were in line. The location was the same as where we recorded Write Riot Right a mere month earlier; Harry’s Gym Recordingstudios with Bjarne. We upped the ante and decided to spend 4 days there this time. 4 days well spent.

Day 1: Murderdrums



After a parade in our honour in town, Mags and his flu took to the drum set. Mags had just put a fever behind him the day before, but that could only be noticed in his closer-to-death-by-the-minute presence, and certainly not his drumming. Both Deathsong and Murder at Babylon got a boost and we could already sense that these songs were about to see a slight change in personality for the better. Raw energy with a little drop of poison. A few hours into the proceedings we already had all the drum tracks in place. And Magnus was thankfully still alive. Quite possibly the best drum tracks ever to include a wire and a bottle of seltzer.

Day 2: Horror Groove



On the second day, we continued laying the bricks by starting to record the bass. To get a warm sound, as well as a bass with a distinct personality, we ran Carl through two amps; our newly purchased Fender Twin Reverb Custom 15″ amp, named “Masterman” for bottom, and an Ampeg amp for tone. Which is the opposite rig that most bands would use, but it gave us the feel we were looking for. We also put up a wall between the amps and a pinch of gain on there to provide the bass with a voice of its own. By 4pm, we had everything on bass recorded and could actually start on guitars. Deathsong was the first in line, and we nearly finished that song. The rest had to wait till day 3.

Day 3: Six Deadly Strings



With the guitars well underway, we commenced the six string sessions on the third day, with Martin and I; Shah, throwing the guitar duties back and forth. Martin’s rig was a Double Dragon setup (running the guitar through two amps) with an Orange Tiny Terror + Orange cab and a Fender Super Chorus amp, and I played through Masterman; our new Fender Twin Reverb amp. This created two very contrasting sound, with the Double Dragon rig providing the punch and Masterman providing and accentuating the tone. This time around, we also used a Deucetone Rat Pedal for an extra kick and the Radio Havana (see a previous blog entry for details) for a more shady experience. The goal was to give each song a different texture, and I think we achieved that.



On the 3rd day I also recorded a little Wurlitzer track on Deathsong, Carl and Mags recorded some fletless bass action on Murder at Babylon and we started the vocals.

Day 4: Vocal Schizophrenia

The last day mainly consisted of wrapping up the vocals and seeing it all fall into place. With a certain master plan, we set out on a musical vocal journey which consisted of depressed gnomes, a scarecrow, a talking stomach, whispers in reverse and a herd of sheep in falsetto-induced euphoria. In addition to that, there were tambourines, grand pianos and some other percussion, all made to sound like they were being played from the bottom of the sea. Or nothing like it. You be the judge.

We plan to mix the three songs at end of May, so you’ll have to wait until then to hear the fruits of our loom. Until then, you can check out some of the millions of video clips we recorded during our endeavours, resting peacefully on our YouTube account, or check out our Twitter account for all the updates we made during the 4 days, plus more updates in the future. See you on the dark side.