He's done it. This time he's really done it. Rob has smashed the all-time high (for us anyway) speed recoding record.

We're talking 66 minutes of 12-string duelling in like half a day. Congrats and way ya' go, dude!
Rest of us, standing in awe, like somany times before!

[Webster: "awe" - an overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration; "he stared over the edge with a feeling of awe"]

Yup,

This is gonna be great. Robert is enjoying the drum & base lines together with Micke.


But, something is missing, there needs to be a Moog in there. Not a simulation, but a real one! Fetching one from storage, only to reccon that it's bloody impossible to add a "Auto Trigger" since the drums are already recorded and there's a sligt deviation no matter how we turn the knobs. No problem, Drummerboy to the rescue!


Last but not least, keyboard slave Alex shows off the vintage device that, with lot's of contact spray sounds pretty convincing. Er, Thanks Bob!

Personally, I think this was one of the sweatiest days ever. Laying up that naked piano on top of that solid foundation of rock, turned out to be an ordeal. Luckily, our honorable composer was more than eager to offer his services ;-)


It this it?... well, er, yes, but it goes something like this...



Oh, starting to get the hang of it. Wonder if Rob is pleased of if he's too tired to come back in again... Hey, where did Micke go? Hello! Hello...?


Ahhh, alone at last!

Yup, that's pretty much it for Janne & Thomas! What a crew, with finesse, attitude and groove. Three days of hard work, while a wee bit easier for Rob and myself,as we could pretty much play whatever since it wouldn't wind up on tape. Some guitar solos would be worth saving, I tell you - perhaps Micke did press 'record' after all. Even Hendrix would've approved even as no guitars were manhandled or burnt during the course of the events.



Our dedicated, personal photographer stopped by and froze some time in his great b/w shots. He's got a keen eye for catching light, even in the dim conditions of our recording studio in Täby. With any luck, you'll find some pics on the album sleeve.


Mr Henrik Jonsson, Maze of Time's especially appointed photographer.

Been looking at LP records today, actually at the definitions.
They weren't called vinyl until the 1980-ies, to distinguish the LP from the CD.

The analogue record was first marketed in 1895, overtaking from the engraved cylinder previously used as a recording medium. The first 20 years, rubber dominated and after which the shellac record (secret from the incect Coccus lacca, found in Thailand + cotton fibres) was the most popular substrate for making the 78 rpm disc (Swedish stenkaka, transl. "stonecake")

After the WWII, a number of formats used a vinyl substrate allowing slower speeds with better sound quality, noteworthy the 7" 45 rpm single and the 12" (30.5 cm) LP with 33,3 rpm. Other formats included:
>The 12" 45 rpm Maxi Single
>A 10" version of the LP disc
>A 10" 45 rpm EP format
>Small, 7" 33 rpm discs
>16,7 rpm format for spoken voice only
>Various other 12" and 10" picture discs & shaped discs

One source told me of the usage of vinyl records to capture video for playback using a modified turntable, yup and there is even a patent pending...

Read more on vinyl records

Guys, gals, friends,
Prowd as I regularly am to be a member of this fine band, today we really outdid ourselves in style and good practice. In addition to being marvelous, we actually signed the final version of the contract, delay courtesy of the Swedish Postal Service that sucks bigtime for not delivering in the first place.

One of the true heroes of this day, and yesterday is Micke, the sound technician/mixer/coffeemaker/friend, so today's blogpic is his! He sure does make those drums show up nicely on tape!



Looking forward to Day 3, which will come around on Saturday. Five tracks down, two to go for the rhythm section. Way ya go, lads!

A

We're on a roll, entering the maze as rugged journeymen of music. After the first day of recording with Micke, we've sorted out the drum sounds, and base sounds great too. Setting up stuff always takes longer than you'd want it to, but Micke knows his stuff and Anders Tibbling (our artistic coach) also has a keen ear for these sort of things. Working with professionals is a real treat.


Labyrinth situated on the island of Norsten

Then there was the issue of the clicks, or er..uh...cowbells, of rimshots from a drummachine. Well, whatever they were they didn't work for us. Thomas had a stressfull time trying to keepå up with the relentless strive of the QY10 and got more sweaty for every take. In the end, we cancelled it out. Relying on drummerboy's inner clock, we set the drum & baselines in for two tracks in the equal amount of hours. Praize for the young man from Heby - great stuff Jan Banan too.

Rob said he had popcorn in his bloodstream today, and the others - myself included - were full of anticipating to get going. So tomorrow Sunday, is another big day where we hope to get as far as setting most of the drums. Sure, it would be great if we could set all the drums in one weekend, but rather get it right than rush it. Unfortunately, we are unable to reviel what is cooking in the Täby studio, 'cause it would spoil the suspension for the result after the final mixdown. But no doubt we got something special here, both with telltales to what we listen to ourselves and yet parts and voicings never heard before, a kind of unique melange based on Robert's creative idea.

Tomorrow, JP from ArtPerformance will come check us out. I can just imagine he too will get all psyked up from what we have in store for this album. It's been two years since we began toying with the embryo for this album, and sometimes you can't see your own brainchild grow, since you deal with it each and every week. Then meeting someone saying 'oh, how she has grown since I last saw her'. Well, there you go - it takes fresh eared stranger to know whether there is something in there or not.

/A

That's it for Sollentuna, someone behind a desk in a gray suit kicked us out, one months notice. Therefore, today's pic serves two purposes. Memorabilia of the last year's rehearsal location, where so much sweat, anguish and joy has stuck to the walls, but also celebrating our last rehearsal before we start our recording sessions. "No more tricks, the time has come. Standing there, naked, under the sun"

// posted by Maze of time @ 00:52

Yes!

After dealing with number of technical issues, in turn easily explained with a number of three-letter abbrivations and permutations thereof, our home page is up again. So we can once again welcome you to [www.mazeoftime.com] where you'll find a brief description of what we are up to can be consumed, along with Maze of Time's custom wallpaper, courtesy of pixeltrixter Bjarne Heuser, and short samples for your cell phone as well as some full tracks from our orignal demotape.


"The Seven Sisters" as seen by Bjarne Heuser.

Well, on one sunny afternoon, this reporter guy calls us up and asks all sorts of questions, such as if rock was the last frontiere for us "mature" musicians who just wouldn't quit their adolecent garage band in time, and watch cable instead like everyone else. I kind of answered "Yes, I guess that's pretty much it." But in retrospect, the entire jazz scene is full with old dudes who go on playing better and better for every year that passes..

But he was ok that guy and didn't give us a hard time, said liked progressive himself, even though the network rarely allowed him to play tracks longer than six minutes... Perhaps the 5.38 of Queen's 'Bohemian Rapsody' was the candidate for their all-time long-play record. Anyway, they faded after about 6.30 and missed the twirling ending.

Anyway, you can check out the traces from out visit on their site at yle.fi (more Swedish lessons).

Well, er, it's a crude demo version anyway, with some artifacts, noteworthy the lined-in guitars, midi-triggered drum kit , and the mother all analog band echoes which is generously utilized throughout - all recorded on a state-of-the-art 1'' tape player from the good ol' days. Seems like having the year 1972 calling from afar, seeking us, needing us, wanting, longing - carry on with your dreams, that's what it's all about.

Having a break, after two stiff hours at Vintergatan (the Milky Way) where the band rehearses. We've just heard that all the bands were given one month's notice to clear out their gear, which sucks, since we were told at first that we had another six months to go. So, after we finished recording we're on the hunt again for somewhere to do our thing. So, if any of you local guys hear of anywhere for us to hang out - we're downright interested in relocating later this summer.

And now a special treat for the fans out there, a close-up on the mastermind himself, Mr Edman smiling cruedly like so many times before. It's actually his birthday today, which he chose to share with his progressive crew.

Rob doesn't look a day older than 25, right?

Then to top things off for this evening, an image from the ferry home to my island. The solitude, fresh air and Swedish archipelago in springtime really gets to you.

A source of inspiration - no doubt - Vaxholm by night.