Random Eyes - Drum sessions 10.1 & 11.1

Random Eyes drum recording

Day one

It was really exciting day for me, as I knew that I would make my debut as a drummer of Random Eyes. The relieving factor was that I had a chance to rehearse and listen songs one week before the recording, so I kind of knew that the tracks would track down pretty easily. It also helped that the new songs are killin' so I really enjoyed the whole preproduction and couldn't wait to record the drums.

Day one started  at 8:30 am from my rehearsal place, where I picked up some equipment before heading to E-major studio in Kerava and meet our producer Tero Kinnunen (Nightwish etc.). We packed some extra walls to my car and headed to Red House Studio, where we would track the drums. We arrived to Red House at 10 am, and we loaded our gear in. First thing I noticed was a smell of fresh Coffee, so I couldn't help but drink a good cup of coffee before work. so, after a relaxing coffee break I started to assemble my setup. For this session I had following equipment:

Drums:DW Collector Series

12x9 TT

14x12 FT

22x18 BD

14x6,5 Ludwig Black Beaty snare

Cymbals:Istanbul Traditional 18" & 19" dark crashes

Istanbul Cindy Blackman signature 20" Crash

Sabian AA 21" Rock Ride

Turkish custom made 14" jazz hat

Sticks:Balbex 2B hickory sticks

Hardware: DW 5002 double pedal and DW stands

Heads: Evans Ec1 on top of toms, Clear Remo Ambassador on bottom of toms and snare, Coated Remo Emperor on snare batter, Coated Remo Powerstroke 3 on bass drum.

After I got my setup ready, I had some extra time as Tero had to assemble the miking, so I headed to kitchen to have some coffee again and chill out. Tero got ready with his setup so then it was time for a soundcheck. I took some time to tune the drums and I really liked the result. This was my first time using Black beauty instead of Kumu, and damn that drum had a great backbeat sound. I was also really satisfied with my Tom sounds and the cymbals I just got from Istanbul cymbals. After the soundcheck it was time drink some coffee again(I guess I have a hole in my stomach before age 40 if I keep on drinking coffee this much…)

Shortly after the coffee break it was time start to nail some songs. For this session we had pretty  tight schedule, as we would have just two days for recording.Here is a short description of each song in a same order I played them, named with project names.

Tell Me: One of my favorite songs definitely. This is kind of really basic pop/rock-song with a strong groove and a short guitar solo. I also dig the snaredrum beat on verses. I chose to play really simple in-your-face drums on the whole record, and that approach really fitted for this song. This one was "one and only take" song.

Kabom: Groovy song with some nice hooks and rhythmic displacements. This one was pretty hard one to play because some really unusual patterns.

Uutukainen: Straight forward song with really driving guitar riffs and drums. Also some really cheesy verses in a style of Whitesnake, Foreigner etc.

Sick Sick Sick: Fastest song on a album. It have really straight forward beats with some cool fills on toms and massive halftime chorus. Definitely one of my favorites and heck of a fun to play!

Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll: Aggressive song with some cool riffing and double bass patterns. I also really like the middle section, which includes some cool guitar solos.

Blind man: A song with good drive and some really cool hooks. The demo was originally played by me, and the song was composed to my drums which is pretty unusual way of making music but it resulted with a really cool song. There is also some really cool polyrhythmic fills on middle sections and the ending.

Dimension: A moody song with a rocking' chorus and neckbreaking middle section.

Chosen one: A rocking song with a house/techno - flavor. This song could be on eurovision, if that's a good thing ;) One of my favorites!

Megalomaniac: Best opening riff on a whole record. This is pretty groovy one with some cool syncopated beats. One of my favorite songs on a record for sure. 

Day 2

Vendetta: Aggressive song with a heavy dose of double bass and really cool slow middle section. This song always reminds me of Devin Townsend's solo material.

Light up the dark: One of the catchier song on a record. This is pretty basic rock song with some cool unison hits, bashing beats and a really catchy chorus.

Hold me: The one and only ballad on a record. This one is dedicated all the sweet girls listening us ;)

All in all the songs came down pretty easy and the session was a heck of a fun! Now we wait to record all the other instruments and maybe drink some coffee again. See ya! -Rolf