A BLACK MOON BROODS OVER LEMURIA

(Academy Studios)

Engineered by Mags.

In most cases the keyboards were played as a layer of two or three different Elements, mainly choirs and strings. The modules used were a Roland Sound Canvas, Proteus 2,and Korg M1. There were 3 guitar rhythm tracks. Separate tracks for solos. Bass guitar was Direct input and the drums were a mid 80s pearl export kit (No triggers on the kick drums). Vocal mic was a Neumann U87.

STARFIRE BURNING UPON THE ICE VEILED THRONE OF ULTIMA THULE

(Academy Studios)

Engineered by Mags.

The fundamental three elements were strings, brass and a choir, all played Separately on individual tracks. The instrumental pieces had even more synth elements, and were recorded together with the rest of the keyboard tracks using early ADAT Technology, comprising of SVHS Video tape, synced up to a striped analogue Apex two and a half inch reel. This time there were just two guitar tracks. Bass was direct input. The drum kit was two a late 80s pearl export kit with a premier imperial star classic kit. The cymbals were AA Sabians. Due to an error at Cacophonous at the time, the cd-rom track (which should have been invisible in CD players) sometimes stole the first track on the CD and resulted in no sound.

BATTLE MAGIC

(Academy Studios)

Engineered by Mags.

This album was also recorded the same way as Starfire with Analogue and VHS ADAT and took about a month to realise. The Bass guitar was recorded by Chris in concert pitch (Not down tuned to B) which was unorthodox for a start. We were after bass clarity at the time the sub-bass generated was generally inaudible considering the harmonic structure of each song. Again there were two guitar tracks and solo tracks. Circus Maximus was big song and the keyboards alone took about five or six days to complete. I was nervous about the main riff in this song as it was so pompous and major, but it was so catchy we just had to have it. Mags has said he would like to re-master this in his own time. If so maybe it will be available for download on this site. As we were up against time the keyboard pieces were recorded in the Roland XP-50s sequencer and a general eq was applied to the stereo output. I will one day re-visit Crystal Shards with a new recording.

THE POWER COSMIC

(Academy Studios)

Engineered by Mags.

No Bal-sagoth album is easy and this one was no exception. It was also the first that Dave and Mark played on. We decided to sit the keyboards back slightly on this one and sparingly use the brass. Another highlight for me was Marks bass solo in Calisto Rising. ..........................................................................................................

ATLANTIS ASCENDANT

(Academy Studios)

Engineered by Mags.

This was the first venture into the digital domain. The first week was plagued with problems from the synchronising of the new digital equipment. Keith (The studio owner) had bought a Yamaha O1v at the time, but it proved insufficient and he replaced it with an O2R. We still used analogue tape too. As we were coming to the end of the session I remember the studio being dismantled as Keith was re-locating and all around me was vanishing, as we were finishing off. It was like playing the piano as the Titanic was sinking. We got it done just in time. I also bought some studio gear off Keith and started to build what would become Waylands Forge. Chris used a Valve state rack-mount. The keyboard pieces were recorded in studio B by myself using an analogue Yamaha mixer and my DAW station.

THE CHTHONIC CHRONICLES

(Waylands Forge)

Engineered by J.Maudling.

As there was no time limit on this one I had the luxury of testing and trying out new sounds, and new approach. The Guitar sound was changed about five times until all parties were happy, and Dan recorded the drums using the TD-20 resident in the studio. The sound cards I was using in the DAW were two DSP Factories linked. Byron recorded his vocals at Academy and this caused immense problems when we were mixing down. For some reason the vocal level kept changing on every mix, so I had to basically guess the levels without accurate monitoring which was extremely time consuming. I managed to sort it but it was still a race to the end. Maybe it was the DSP Factories giving up the ghost. I didn't sleep for three days and was still mixing down as the Nuclear Blast (the bands current record label) courier had virtually arrived. Six score and ten oblations was the toughest track for me to write.