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"Ring, Ring" - Hello! The early bird catches the worm. Come on in.
Today is "fabulous" guitar recording day the guys are already sweating their brains out. Let's see how far they got.
Hopefully they are opening the door. I just knocked but nobody opened. Probably too loud.
Hey Florin! Can we come in? Of course! How is it goin'? Great! Come on in.
Hello Guys (silently with an awkward wraith like voice!)
-Ok let's just let him play this part and we cut the ending of this section later. -He should leave the hands on the strings there.
I believe it is not good to be in there right now. The guys are highly focused. Let's see what Michael is up to -- I am convinced he is as monstrously focused as the others.
Micha! Hey wave for the camera!
I believe we are better advised not to stay in there.
It is so insanely loud -- it would break the camera.
Anyway we keep you updated. See you!
Basically the idea is to more or less realize our vision
of the perfect metal music that is able to cover a huge
spectrum from beautiful rock to very brutal and technical death metal.
The thought behind this is to melt all these musical styles in a way that
does not seem affected but rather as made from one piece.
This precisely is the song writing demanding we challenge ourselves with
when writing and recording music.
In addition we tried to focus more heavily on the atmosphere of the album because this is what reaches and touches people the most.
Any of our favorite records that touched us undeniably has that very special and unique atmosphere.
This means we purposely kept tracks that are not perfect and for that reason appear not too mechanical,
we did not erase feedbacks and recorded guitar effects directly from analogue devices instead of post producing them.
All in all the goal was to edit as much as necessary and at the same time as little as possible.
This also excludes resampling drums. What this approach did was to challenge every one of us to
play better and more focused and if something was not absolutely perfect it is precisely the personal, human note that defines the album
and provides it with its own very special, unique feeling, character and atmosphere.
Awesome camera work right there -- guitar recordings.
What's goin' on? By the way where the hell are the others? Why is it only us?
-Oh man -- Daniel! Crazy dude . you are rockin' this ***! -Daniel is rockin' it hard!
Like always when going to the studio we tried to do our own thing
and incorporated any style we like and want to have included in our music.
What was most important to us is that you can feel what is felt when performing the songs and that this feeling is transported on to the record.
So somehow, this "scenary" can not only be grasped in our band room or on stage but also can be experienced with the recorded versions of our material.
We purposely decided for that kind of sound because we wanted to minimize the chasm between what can be heard on the record and the way we perform live on stage.
I believe we were successful with that.
In the sense of Rock 'n' Roll we very consciously paid attention to the fact that our songs are somewhat "fleshy" and "raw" but still work and function as rock songs.
What was most crucial for that feel were the riffs used in our songs.
Of course one might wonder -- Why the hell did we do this?
Actually our main aim was to build a counter part to the very common, sterile, almost mechanically
and clinically appearing productions that are well know from the U.S. music market.
Entirely triggered drums, everything is sampled and resampled
What is most peculiar and at utmost disappointing is the fact that those bands mostly can not deliver the quality
of their records when performing live.
The albums are so highly and extensively polished in every possible and imaginable detail.
Voices are pitch corrected, guitars placed ultra precisely etc.
This of course has the effect that the music feels artifical and affected
- leaving audiences dissatisfied with the discrepancy between live and produced artist.
Therefore, our goal was to deny this issue right from the start by making us sound a lot like we sound in the band room or on stage.
This way we do not make false promises to our audience but instead deliver an authentic version of ourselves.
Further this explains why not everything on "Missgunst und Neid" is perfect but at least a very real and natural representation of us.
And that is more than just fine!
"Let me tell you something buddy!
We are now recording guitars the 'old school' way with the guitarist right besides the amp directly in the recording room.
This allows for natural feedbacks and a very evil, direct sound and feel.
"It has to be played dirty. So he better plays it mind-blowingly."
I just told the folks that Michael has to play and record right beside the box, which is going to be ultra exhausting for him.
-Anyway that doesn't matter cause there is nothing Michael can not do!
-Let me just talk!
-I am opting for us to be simply finishing the bloody guitars today!
-This time we did not record in the studio's control room but directly besides the amp which provides a completely different
sort of feeling because the guitarist is in directly interaction with the sound coming from the box instead of sitting detached in
another room in front of digital recording gear.
Once again we decided to use the Mesa Rectifier which is the perfect amp for us.
It is an awesome studio amplifier for recordings and does exactly what we need.
The sound this time around is probably even rawer and more brute compared to
what can be heard on "Replace Your Face".
The fact that we use a rock amp that's is crancked up all the way to max and is played hard,
is giving the record what it needs.
Studio day three!
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!
The sound like on previous records is very powerful.
Analogue effects were directly attached to the amp have been "tightly plugged" and recorded clearly right from the amp.
*** all ya! You are not going on my nerves with this any longer. Especially not you over there!
Above all I believe it I worth mentioning that the guitar sound is more human because it has been recorded directly
besides the box and therefore forced us guitarists to directly interact with the sound if you want to put it that way.
We made use of an immense diversity of riffs from rock to evil "face-smashing" metal riffings that are
accompanied by blazing blast beats.
Moreover, the album sounds more natural than the previous records because we left a certain amount of
"uncleanliness" in the recordings in order to give it a not too sterile but rather individual and original note.
Tobi: "Go! Don't always shoot footage while I 'm eating the people must believe I 'm always eating!"
Daniel: "Hold on we have to act that again!"
Daniel: "Don't you always shoot footage of me while I 'm eating the people must believe I 'm always eating."
Tobi: "Wow that was so not rehearsed."
Tobi: "Always pushing the camera microphone into someone's nozzle -- great!"
Tobi: "What's crackin' Marky Mark?" Mark: "Well, I believe we are continuing with guitar recordings!"
Tobi: "You heard the man guys -- we are continuing with guitar recordings!" Michael: "Really? Well, go ahead!"
Tobi: "Guitars continued!" Florin: "How far have the guitar tracks come so far?"
Tobi: It is going pretty well Florin. So far we have recorded five songs and are now doing some polishing and fine tuning."
Florin: "Wow! Sounds awesome. Are we still on schedule? According to the google entries we still have Monday is that right? Are we still here on Monday?"
Tobi: "Well we could come to the studio and record if we have to on Monday." Florin: "Ok." Tobi: "Yeah that's the plan." Florin: "Alright -- cool."
Tobi: "But we are so incredibly fast and ahead of schedule!"
Regarding the previous records there is definitely a difference to be felt because we tried to
remain closer to the core of what placenta actually is.
We were very cautious to make the record more human.
Florin: "Aaaaaaaand Coffee!"
That is why we tried to maintain the album as raw as possible and refused to over edit and over produce our music.
"Cookies! Only one at a time! It is important to meter and dispose food!"
When you play and record music together for such a long period of time the individual demands regarding
the own creations grows naturally. I believe at no other time than now has it been
tougher to record music that is honest and direct.
These tracks are very close to the things we do on stage when we are on tour.
Tobi:"I'm awesome am I not? I am the camera guy!
Our play style could be described and understood as a form of worshipping our idols and heroes.
Mark:"Precisely that high pitched note was a little off!"
Something that has never happened in Placenta's band history before is that we recorded that beautiful 80's cliché rock solo.
I feel this time we stuffed it in there perfectly which makes us very proud!
Tobi: "Which makes especially you very proud!" Daniel: "Especially I am very proud of it!"
Tobi: "You could also mention that "I ... never ... I am no solo guitarist.!" Daniel: "No, I wont say that!"
The Ablum is called "Missgunst und Neid" (Distrust And Envy) which are two words with highly negative connotations
and when we look into our inner depths nobody could claim to be free from these feelings.
Everyone has felt distrust or envy at one point or another.
Distrust and envy are to be encountered very often. Especially in the music business these feelings are not seldom to be experienced.
It can be felt from each of us and one has to be honest and admit that these emotions or feelings are sometimes maybe even felt towards other musicians.
This is what often and most probably can be experienced in the band room where it is dusty,
space is limited and you are very detached from large stage performances and what not.
Instead you are locked inside your dark little chamber with a pencil in front of you
thinking and rethinking about things that have happened in your life.
This includes of course personal wishes which all together is supposed to be reflected by the songs on the record and the disc's cover.
"Missgunst Und Neid" is what you feel deep down inside locked in you personal little chamber.
I can do that better!
Yeah the cue was messed up from my side a little!
Regarding the vocals we actually realized that the majority of our singing has a very steady and natural flow to itself.
Somehow, in some parts we managed to generate a certain rap feel which leads to a very interesting and ideal flow of words and melodies.
Sometimes Sven shouted rap lyrics leading to a completely different aesthetic of vocals and singing compared to our prior works.
May I just remark, that it is darker, because...
Axel G. from BerlinMusicTV unfortunately broke the lights.
And he is pretending that if one light bulb is broken, there is no difference to be seen.
I am having this interview in my native tongue -- namely German and we were extremely excited
about recording an ablum featuring German lyrics, because we master this language more than any other.
The demand and challenge is not only to create variety for ones self but to eventually reach a broader audience
which can be traced back to the fact that metal is very commonly reduced to instruments and instrumentalism in a way.
This is extremely crucial in a genre were above all lyrics are often shouted, screamed and modified in ways
that makes it from the root very difficult to understand. Asking people about lyrics in a musical style with
those features it is no surprise that the responses are often times very sad and in order to counter act
these tendencies we wanted to at least make the lyrics clearer by using our mother tongue.
In addition to that shouting and screaming in German is very different from its English counterparts which leads back to
the larger overall concept of the album's sound. Namely to narrow the chasm between singing and shouting
as well as to avoid the discrepancies between recorded and live performance of the artist.
Sven: "I don't drink that!" Florin: "What do you mean -- I don't drink that?"
Sven: "I don't like it." Florin: "But it is arabica!"
German as our native language gives us the opportunity to express ourselves more freely and better.
Puns are easier to use and are probably better understood by the audience which is sometimes really hard to do in other language than your own.
We hope that some of the puns are better received in German and that a larger audience can actually get them.
As a matter of fact we are feeling more comfortable by using our native tongue because this is the tool we think with every day.
Suddenly there is nothing like a "protective" second language or English "wall" and you not artifically detach yourself from the words you are saying.
With your native tongue everything feels a little bit more mandatory and you have to stand behind the things your spell out.
That is why in your mother tongue you do not tend to hide behind words but have to mean them and stand in for them.
Primarily our lyrics are supposed to be entertaining, funny, enjoyable and maybe a bit sad as well.
The second part is always awesome but I am having trouble with the first one.
Tobi: "Daniel good morning! Daniel: "Leave me alone I am eating."
Tobi: "You are always eating!
Tobi: For how long is that supposed to last for the first hour? Come on guys let's go inside and check out what is going on.
"Hey Placenta cleaning up their mess."
Sven: "Yes the drums are a wrap and now we continue with the guitars. Well I don't know -- I'd rather say the drums are crap!"
Florin "Doesn't work, everything is scrap!"
"Drumming is not exhausting for Tobias Stein." Tobi: "No, no I knew what to expect and therefore practiced my *** off!"
Tobi: "Easy now , easy!"
The only track on the album that has not been produced in the studio but in our band room is sticking out of
the record as it seems, but it is ..."
What Michael actually intended to say is that "Collage à Trois" is supposed to represent the album's mood.
It is a solely analogue sound collage expressing the interaction of human beings, guitars amd analogue effects.
Michael: "I like it a lot! Matches the season!"
Sven: "I love the integrated boots."
Sven: "I feel you can record more clearly with that Rock N Roll Bunny -- Suit."
"Seeing it that way nothing much in terms of play technique and play style has changed!"
Daniel: "I hope you are not allergic to rabbits!"
Sven: "Come on do a sweep picking!"
Daniel: "He said a sweep dude!"
Florin: "That's all I've got! Can't get any stronger than that. 114 strings -- houses have been built with these!"
Florin: "Very important his foot board." Michael: "Originally I wanted to record while sitting in a comfy chair!" Florin: "Well, mark my words even when playing live Michael uses his foot board!"
Michael: "Please stop by now!!" Flo: "No" This has to go this way!"
Michael: "If i should get the click right, it has to go straight into my brains!"
Florin: "That'S Bachirou Salou. Is he white? What kind of racist *** is that?"
Tobi: I proudly present our newest child! That's how it looks. I can not open it because this one is sealed.
Tobi: "Why does the record look like wood?" Sven: "Well we had no more cash,for aesthetic plastic.