As you can hear below we delivered some really nice lines this past weekend. Sadly Johannes got sick but me and Jacob had a great time. It´s quite challenging to sing three days straight and I actually didn´t think it would work out as well as it did. But we started every recording session by putting it all in the hands of the Lord and I´m sure that he carried us.
We´ve been talking, planning and rehearsing for the CD but it´s so hard to believe it actually will be made untill your in the studio. After this past weekend it feels real and I´m really looking forward to hear the final mix, I hope you are too.
3/30/2009
Smooth tenors
The past weekend was recording weekend for the tenors. They did 17 songs in three days!!! It started with a nightmare, because on friday Johannes woke up with the flu for the first time in ten years, so our tenor trio was now a tenor duet. Luckily Jacob and Jakob always deliver good singing, which you can hear in this video clip. Johannes will record his part later, but I am not sure if he can live up to the quality you hear in this clip.
3/26/2009
Thoughts after recording
So, this is my first commentary in a blog ever, tada!
I'm one of the altos and as you probably know we've started recorded the last couple of weeks! It's exciting going into the studio and see how the songs we've rehearsed for a while now actually sounds when we record it, even though it's a bit hard to get "the big picture" when you only hear us, the altos, without the other harmonies... It's so much fun making the CD but also frustrating sometimes when you feel you can't get it right. Luckely it's a nice, loving atmosphere amongst us so we can laugh at our own mistakes and mishaps. In it all, we now and then have to stop and remind ourselves of what we're singing. It's easy to get lost in the "technical" side of the singing and forget what the lyrics is about. And it's so cool to feel the difference after we'd stopped and prayed for a bit and then tried one of the songs again.
God is good! He's all the inspiration.
I'm one of the altos and as you probably know we've started recorded the last couple of weeks! It's exciting going into the studio and see how the songs we've rehearsed for a while now actually sounds when we record it, even though it's a bit hard to get "the big picture" when you only hear us, the altos, without the other harmonies... It's so much fun making the CD but also frustrating sometimes when you feel you can't get it right. Luckely it's a nice, loving atmosphere amongst us so we can laugh at our own mistakes and mishaps. In it all, we now and then have to stop and remind ourselves of what we're singing. It's easy to get lost in the "technical" side of the singing and forget what the lyrics is about. And it's so cool to feel the difference after we'd stopped and prayed for a bit and then tried one of the songs again.
God is good! He's all the inspiration.
3/25/2009
Transformation
One thing we have been laughing about, and sometimes been scared about, is the thought of putting certain video takes from our rehearsals and recordings on the Internet. On this blog you can see some examples, which we chose to put on here even if it's just us playing around with a groove or a melody. It might not show the best side of us, but we think it's fun to share parts of our fellowship this way. Of course there are other clips that we under no circumstances want to put on the Internet, even if you paid us all the money in the world. As we were talking about this the other day, and laughing about certain video clips of ourselves, I started thinking about sound files I made when I presented my songs to Praise Unit. The way I have worked when I presented a new song is I have recorded a keyboard, a bass, and a drum loop, and then sang the melody of the song on top of that. Then I emailed this to Praise Unit along with the sheets, so that everybody could learn it on their own. When I recorded the song I had no intention to make a good production, because the purpose was just to give everybody an idea of where we are going with the song. It sounds... well... not so good. Or maybe terible is a better word. Or laughable or something like that. So one part of me is just terrified that these files would start spreading over the Internet. But then there's another side of me that listen to it, and then listen to how it sounds when Praise Unit performs it, and I realize what a unique musical transformation I have the privilige to experience. The song turns into something which is not just descent, but gives great pleasure to my ears. And I see a little bit of the greatness of God in this. I say to myself... "if you can use anything Lord, you can use me"!
3/23/2009
Recording session tonight!
Once again the altos will spend the evening, and perhaps part of the night, in the studio recording. As you might have understood most of the album will be recorded like this, one part at a time, and it's actuallty really hard to be the first ones out! Especially when you're not singing the melody, cause sometimes the alto's or the tenor's parts (and sometimes the soprano's as well!) don't make any sense if they're brought out of the context of the harmony... But when it's all put together I think the result will be brilliant! Or at least that is what we all hope for!
Please keep us in your prayers tonight!
Please keep us in your prayers tonight!
3/21/2009
A dream....
Last night I had a really wierd dream. I dreamt that it was time to record the tenor vocals for our CD. We went to the "studio", but when we got there there were just three microphones hanging from a tree in a small forest. And there were also a bunch of teenagers running around there. Anyway, we were about to start the recording and we just heard the voice of Joakim giving us directions from the control room which were somewhere else. Even though the kids were running around giving us a hard time we started. And when the music started I didn´t recognize the song but i figured it was just a new intro that I hadn´t heard before. But all of a sudden the other guys started singing something I´d never heard before. It was really weird. I don´t know what it means, maybe that I´m nervous about the recording....
Well, hopefully it will work out a little better than in my dream.....
Please continue to keep our work in your prayers. Thanks!
/ Jakob
Well, hopefully it will work out a little better than in my dream.....
Please continue to keep our work in your prayers. Thanks!
/ Jakob
The recording process
Hi!
Some people have told us they want to know a little more about the recording process and the making of the songs on "The Mission Field". I have written a few of the songs, and I can tell you a little bit about the process. Most of my songs start with some kind of drum or bass groove, but others start with a vocal phrase or an idea about the lyrics. Then I'll do some kind of demo version of the song. Sometimes I get one or two of the singers to record demo vocals so that the rest of the singers and musicians have something to listen to when learning the song. I often change my songs a few times, which can be a bit confusing for the singers.. :-) The most tricky part is the lyrics. I have a message about Jesus that I want to share, but I also want it to sound good. And it's hard, because English ain't my fist language.
On Joakim's songs, he often gives me some kind of demo recording, and then I'll start from that. I often try to find out what can be done with the arrangement. Sometimes it's already perfect, but sometimes I or someone else get a new idea about the sound or the rhythmic arrangement, and we'll start working from that. We all like to try all kinds of crazy ideas and grooves. Sometimes it's brilliant and sometimes it's worthless. But you'll never know until you've tried. And it's hard, because we want a lot of different people to like the CD, which means we can't just do one kind of songs or one kind of style.
When it comes to the recording process, this CD is quite different from our last CD from 2006, "Whole". When we recorded Whole, we were in a huge studio for two weeks, day and night. And we recorded most of the instruments together at once. Then the whole choir came to the studio and recorded the vocals together. This upcoming CD is totally different. We have chosen to do it in another way. Last week we recorded the drums, as you know. That was the first real recording in this project. Before that we only had programmed demo drums and other demo instruments. The next step will be to start recording bass, guitars, keyboards, vocals (which already is in progress..) and lots of other things like strings, horns, loops, sound effects and speech. As I mentioned before, we decided not to record the singers all at once. We wanted to use better mics than on the "Whole" CD, which led us to tracking sopranos, altos and tenors separately. I think the sound on this upcoming CD is going to be nice.
The final step will be mixing and mastering the CD. There are lots of other aspects of this project that I could mention, but I think this is about it for now. God bless you!
/Tobias
Some people have told us they want to know a little more about the recording process and the making of the songs on "The Mission Field". I have written a few of the songs, and I can tell you a little bit about the process. Most of my songs start with some kind of drum or bass groove, but others start with a vocal phrase or an idea about the lyrics. Then I'll do some kind of demo version of the song. Sometimes I get one or two of the singers to record demo vocals so that the rest of the singers and musicians have something to listen to when learning the song. I often change my songs a few times, which can be a bit confusing for the singers.. :-) The most tricky part is the lyrics. I have a message about Jesus that I want to share, but I also want it to sound good. And it's hard, because English ain't my fist language.
On Joakim's songs, he often gives me some kind of demo recording, and then I'll start from that. I often try to find out what can be done with the arrangement. Sometimes it's already perfect, but sometimes I or someone else get a new idea about the sound or the rhythmic arrangement, and we'll start working from that. We all like to try all kinds of crazy ideas and grooves. Sometimes it's brilliant and sometimes it's worthless. But you'll never know until you've tried. And it's hard, because we want a lot of different people to like the CD, which means we can't just do one kind of songs or one kind of style.
When it comes to the recording process, this CD is quite different from our last CD from 2006, "Whole". When we recorded Whole, we were in a huge studio for two weeks, day and night. And we recorded most of the instruments together at once. Then the whole choir came to the studio and recorded the vocals together. This upcoming CD is totally different. We have chosen to do it in another way. Last week we recorded the drums, as you know. That was the first real recording in this project. Before that we only had programmed demo drums and other demo instruments. The next step will be to start recording bass, guitars, keyboards, vocals (which already is in progress..) and lots of other things like strings, horns, loops, sound effects and speech. As I mentioned before, we decided not to record the singers all at once. We wanted to use better mics than on the "Whole" CD, which led us to tracking sopranos, altos and tenors separately. I think the sound on this upcoming CD is going to be nice.
The final step will be mixing and mastering the CD. There are lots of other aspects of this project that I could mention, but I think this is about it for now. God bless you!
/Tobias
Vocal recording
Yesterday we recorded the first vocal parts for the CD. First out were Maria, Sara and Felicia. We wanted to record five songs on one night, but we only did three until we were to tired to continue. This is going to take a lot of time, but it's worth every minute. We had a lot of fun though. Check out this video.. :-)
The next recording session will be on Monday night. Until then I'll keep on editing the drum tracks. Right now I've done five songs out of sixteen. On some of the songs I've tried different drum sounds by overdubbing the acoustic drums with other samples. I'll do my best to find some nice sounds for your ears. I hope you'll like it...
Blessings!
3/19/2009
Vocals
Today we start recording choir parts for "the Mission Field". I can't believe that we actually seem to be on schedule still. Since we live in different cities and everyone is involved in so many different musical projects it seemed like a too crazy adventure to get this CD done this spring. But so far we're on track. One thing to work on right now is the decision of how many songs to put on the CD. Five songs? Or twenty-five songs? Or something in between?
3/18/2009
A quite nice way to rehearse
This past weekend we had rehearsals both saturday and sunday. And we couldn´t be where we usually are so we had to find an other solution. We ended up in Kristians 3 room apartment. I thought it would be hard to sit back in a sofa and sing the high tenor notes but it was really nice. We had a nice relaxed time and we did get a lot of work done. And Kristian was a really good host serving us coffee and "vaniljlängd". Just hope he won´t be evicted from all the noise. The next day we met at Felicias place instead, maybe this should be the new way of rehearsing so we get to go home to everyone in the group?
Well, here´s some pictures from the two days.
Blessings
/Jakob
3/16/2009
Blog readers from many different countries
We in Praise Unit are proud to say that we have had readers from many different countries on our new blog! It's great for us to see that people all over the world is following Praise Unit in the making of the new CD "The Mission Field". So far we've had visitors from Sweden, Spain, Germany, Norway, France, United States, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Finland, Netherlands, Singapore, Brunei etc.
Flensburg.... Västerås... Oslo... Madrid... Milan... Los Angeles... Please send us a comment and tell us where YOU are from!
Flensburg.... Västerås... Oslo... Madrid... Milan... Los Angeles... Please send us a comment and tell us where YOU are from!
Thoughts after one week of recording...
Tobias have written some reports from the past week's recordings, which I myself like to read a lot. To me the recording of "the Mission Field" is an adventure in so many ways. It's a lot like sowing seeds without knowing what kinds of flowers will grow from the seeds you plant. Because even though we have started recording we are not yet sure about how we will actually finish the songs. The great thing about it though is that every singer and every musician is putting all of his or her talent into this, and if we all have the same goal, see the same mission field to our inner vision, we will not only love it while we work with it, but also enjoy the feeling of content once the record starts spinning on our turn tables (or starts rotating under the laser beam to use a more updated language).
Tobias is laying a foundation on all the songs in his studio, and then we use that to work our way through the production. Kristian is planning on playing on a burning grand piano which of course makes no sense at all, but hey... it worked for Jimi Hendrix.
Some of the lyrics for the songs were finished in the past week, and when I read them through I can see that am influenced by things I am going through right now. I have reasons to think about what I value in life, what is really important and what things are up to me to decide. I like to share thoughts like this in my songs, because I know we all go through times when need to stop and think about what is really important. There are also songs that just praise Jesus with no holding back. Because no matter what I go through I always come back to that there is nothing like standing before my creator and just praise him for how he lifted me up when I thought I was too deep to get up.
Tobias is laying a foundation on all the songs in his studio, and then we use that to work our way through the production. Kristian is planning on playing on a burning grand piano which of course makes no sense at all, but hey... it worked for Jimi Hendrix.
Some of the lyrics for the songs were finished in the past week, and when I read them through I can see that am influenced by things I am going through right now. I have reasons to think about what I value in life, what is really important and what things are up to me to decide. I like to share thoughts like this in my songs, because I know we all go through times when need to stop and think about what is really important. There are also songs that just praise Jesus with no holding back. Because no matter what I go through I always come back to that there is nothing like standing before my creator and just praise him for how he lifted me up when I thought I was too deep to get up.
What happened to the bomb?
Information travels at the speed of lightning these days. Just a few minutes after I had spoken to the newspaper about the supposed bomb that was placed just across the street from our recording studio last friday, me, Tobias and Andreas started getting phone calls from people who were worried about our situation. Once we could confirm that there was nothing to fear I started getting phone calls from all my funny friends who simply assume that I do anything to promote the new Praise Unit CD. It's true that I tried to get the newspapers to write about the ideology behind "the Mission Field", the complexity of the songs, how the new sound compares to the sound on "Whole", what guest artists we will have and so on. But unfortunately they only wanted to write about the bomb situation. Isn't newspapers just too boring sometimes?If you understand swedish you can read what one of the newspapers wrote here:
http://www.na.se/artikel.asp?intId=1460844
I just heard what was really in the "bomb" package. It was an ink cartridge. This means that either it was a harmless package or there's a conspiracy of evil men who are going to take over the world by using printers and xerox machines. Only time will tell.
Well, I praise the Lord that I live in a country where the closest thing to a bomb I have ever seen was an ink cartridge, and I can make jokes about stuff that are dead serious in other parts of the world.
http://www.na.se/artikel.asp?intId=1460844
I just heard what was really in the "bomb" package. It was an ink cartridge. This means that either it was a harmless package or there's a conspiracy of evil men who are going to take over the world by using printers and xerox machines. Only time will tell.
Well, I praise the Lord that I live in a country where the closest thing to a bomb I have ever seen was an ink cartridge, and I can make jokes about stuff that are dead serious in other parts of the world.
3/15/2009
All the drums are recorded!
Hi!
Yesterday we finished the drum recordings. We did 16 songs this week! Andreas did a great job. We'll see if all the songs are good enough for the CD, but I think so. Today we had a rehearsal with the singers. It sounded great, and it was very nice to meet everyone again. After the rehearsal I went to my production studio and listened to some of the drum recordings. Whaaao, the drum sound was better than I thought. Tight and focused. I would have liked to have a larger room on some of the songs, but Johnnes will take care of that when mixing the CD. This is going to be nice friends! Tomorrow I'll have a day off, but on Tuesday I'll start editing the drum takes. I guess I will have to work with it at least a whole week, but I'm looking forward to it. On Thursday we might start recording some of the singers, the altos. We won't record all the singers at once, because we don't have that many mics that are good enough.
Good night!
Yesterday we finished the drum recordings. We did 16 songs this week! Andreas did a great job. We'll see if all the songs are good enough for the CD, but I think so. Today we had a rehearsal with the singers. It sounded great, and it was very nice to meet everyone again. After the rehearsal I went to my production studio and listened to some of the drum recordings. Whaaao, the drum sound was better than I thought. Tight and focused. I would have liked to have a larger room on some of the songs, but Johnnes will take care of that when mixing the CD. This is going to be nice friends! Tomorrow I'll have a day off, but on Tuesday I'll start editing the drum takes. I guess I will have to work with it at least a whole week, but I'm looking forward to it. On Thursday we might start recording some of the singers, the altos. We won't record all the singers at once, because we don't have that many mics that are good enough.
Good night!
3/14/2009
One more song..
This is me, Kristian and Andreas recording a nice groove we worked on today. Don't try this at home.. :-)
That's it for today. Tomorrow is our last day in the drum studio. Three more songs to do.
Blessings
That's it for today. Tomorrow is our last day in the drum studio. Three more songs to do.
Blessings
Bomb outside the studio!
Hi friends!
Today we had some real action outside the studio. We were down in the studio recording a song and Joakim was just about to arrive. Then he called us and told us that there were lots of Police cars outside the studio and that they might need to evacuate the building, because they had found a bag containing something that could be a bomb. Joakim couldn't get in and we couldn't get out. Ironically, we were just recording a song called "Get Out!".
Eventually, Joakim managed to get in and we met him at the door and did this little video clip:
This is where the bomb is:
Right after taking that picture, two policemen came running against me, shouting: GET INTO THE BUILDING, GET BACK INTO THE BUILDING! We almost ran into the house again and down to the safe studio. Pheeew!
Then we kept on recording. We did four songs today! Isn't that good?
This is Andreas laying down the beat on the "Get Out!" song (check out the hi-hat, it is made of two 17" crashes... BIG hats!):
Today we had some real action outside the studio. We were down in the studio recording a song and Joakim was just about to arrive. Then he called us and told us that there were lots of Police cars outside the studio and that they might need to evacuate the building, because they had found a bag containing something that could be a bomb. Joakim couldn't get in and we couldn't get out. Ironically, we were just recording a song called "Get Out!".
Eventually, Joakim managed to get in and we met him at the door and did this little video clip:
This is where the bomb is:
Right after taking that picture, two policemen came running against me, shouting: GET INTO THE BUILDING, GET BACK INTO THE BUILDING! We almost ran into the house again and down to the safe studio. Pheeew!
Then we kept on recording. We did four songs today! Isn't that good?
This is Andreas laying down the beat on the "Get Out!" song (check out the hi-hat, it is made of two 17" crashes... BIG hats!):
3/13/2009
Early morning
Hello again!
It is early morning, and I'm in a hurry. Our recording session starts at 8:00 today. Tomorrow is our last day in the drum studio. We better get things done now...
Yesterday, Andreas and I were in the studio for 14 hours. We recorded four of Joakim's songs. One song ended up with a nice latin beat. It wasn't that easy... At first it sounded terrible. We almost wanted to stop playing music. It was that bad. Finally, we realized it was the computer. Everything that was recorded was played back with 50 milliseconds delay. After rebooting the system, it sounded great!! Check out the video.
Today we need to do at least three or four songs. This is hard work, but we always have a very, very nice time in the studio. I'll get back to you later.
It is early morning, and I'm in a hurry. Our recording session starts at 8:00 today. Tomorrow is our last day in the drum studio. We better get things done now...
Yesterday, Andreas and I were in the studio for 14 hours. We recorded four of Joakim's songs. One song ended up with a nice latin beat. It wasn't that easy... At first it sounded terrible. We almost wanted to stop playing music. It was that bad. Finally, we realized it was the computer. Everything that was recorded was played back with 50 milliseconds delay. After rebooting the system, it sounded great!! Check out the video.
Today we need to do at least three or four songs. This is hard work, but we always have a very, very nice time in the studio. I'll get back to you later.
3/11/2009
Drum recording
Hi!
This week, we are recording the drums for our upcoming CD. We are in a very small studio in a church in Stockholm. This is because we want to have a really tight and controlled drum sound on most of the songs. Yesterday we recorded four of my songs and today we recorded one of Joakim's songs, and a short interlude that might fit in somewhere between the songs on the CD. This is gonna be great!! We also talked about the rest of Joakim's songs, so that we can start recording them tomorrow. Phew, we have a lot of work to do. Still at least ten more songs to track... Check out the video from our session. Andreas still keeps his gospel chops up to date! :)
Blessings, Tobias
This week, we are recording the drums for our upcoming CD. We are in a very small studio in a church in Stockholm. This is because we want to have a really tight and controlled drum sound on most of the songs. Yesterday we recorded four of my songs and today we recorded one of Joakim's songs, and a short interlude that might fit in somewhere between the songs on the CD. This is gonna be great!! We also talked about the rest of Joakim's songs, so that we can start recording them tomorrow. Phew, we have a lot of work to do. Still at least ten more songs to track... Check out the video from our session. Andreas still keeps his gospel chops up to date! :)
Blessings, Tobias
Just a picture
I just wanted to post a picture from our rehearsal in Örebro yesterday. We are the Örebro part of the singers.
God bless
3/10/2009
The recording has started.........
This week has Andreas and Tobbe started to record the drums, nice and slowly "the Mission Field" starts to take form. I don´t know how they are doing but I will tell them to give all of us a update here on the blog. Tonight we have a rehearsal in Örebro with the singers. For those of you who don´t know, we live in two different citys in Sweden, Stockholm and Örebro. And those of us living in Örebro meet for rehearsals here and those of us living in Stockholm meet for rehearsals there. And then all of us meet more seldom and sing together. So tonight it´s just us Örebro people. Lets see how that works out.......
/ Jakob
/ Jakob
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