Litttle travelling

Hello Friends,

Hope all is well with u guys. I thought to write few words from this fancy hotelroom that they book for us rockstars although I dont see any stars in this room. :)
First of all thank you from my heart for my birthday greetings. That truly overwhelmed me since my schedule has been really crazy for the past few weeks with negotations for the upcoming Symfonia tour,
promotours, interviews, birthdays  aaaaargggh!!! :)

Anyway all well in this camp and we hope to give you some news soon about the tourdates .

Greetings from sunny Hamburg!        Cheers,Timo

PS. I include some pics I took on my way here. Dont take them too seriously. Or take them too seriously.
I just love photography :)

VOCAL RECORDINGS FROM THE FORESTS OF SWEDEN

Hello all and happy new year!

Me and Andre have been here in the middle of a Swedish forest for a week recording vocals.

We rented a cabin which is at a top of a hill with an amazing view. If the drumming studio was

in the middle of nowhere then this one is in the middle of that nowhere.

Things are going smooth, we got a great vocal sound. Had to put some blankets on the wall to treat

the place acoustically a bit.

The cabin is slightly haunted, the owner told us that a man named Hans died here 80 years ago and can

sometimes be seen around. So far we haven't seen him.

Things got off to a bit difficult start because Andre has been singing with a certain piece of art right next 

to him since he left Angra. It is a famous painting by Salvador Dali called "Madonna of Port Lligat".

So we had to Fedex that from Sao Paulo for him and that took some time. Andre is a massive Dali fan 

so I understand this completely.

Also he wants 2 cactuses and 2 other any kind of plants on the floor next to him where he is singing.

Days are filled with writing and rewriting lyrics and recording vocals in a very nice atmosphere.

Listening to Beethoven and analyzing it. We both are big fans.

The album is taking shape in a very nice way..

     Sunny greetings from the forest, Timo & Andre

GUITAR RECORDINGS UPDATE

Hey you all, greetings from the studio. I've been burning my fingers with the songs. I just noticed that I haven't been outside since 5 days. Been completely locked in the studio :) Didn't even notice that until I started to feel a bit weird. It's -20 Celsius outside and very windy.
I am experimenting with lots of different amps and equipment combinations as you can see from the pics.
It's been a lot fun recording these guitars alone here without any disturbance.
In the pics you can also see the glamorous rockstar bed in which I am sleeping every night. No sex, drugs but rock'n'roll yes :)


     Cheers, Timo

LITTLE HOLIDAY GIFT FOR YOU: SMALL DOCUMENTARY WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO

Check it out from our YouTube Channel. Later today you can watch also from Symfonia
Website as HD Versions.
Hope you like it :)

http://www.youtube.com/user/SymfoniaMusic?feature=mhum#p/a/u/1/3PqHN4ALWE8

http://www.youtube.com/user/SymfoniaMusic?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/zVBPtdJhVdU

GUITAR RECORDINGS IN HELSINKI

Started to record guitars today at Redhouse Studio in Helsinki.
The only thing that was missing was that I noticed I did not have an amplifier!
As it is a few hard to record anything without an amplifier and since I don't have
my ENGLs anymore, I was obviously facing a problem.

The studio owner and a fellow Beatles fan Esa Yli-Jaskari was and has been more than
helpful in everything. He arranged me the same amp I used for the recordings of the Destiny
album: Laney VH 100. It took 10 minute to get a great sound and I finished 4 songs already today.
There will be lot of guitars on this album so I think I will spend almost 2 weeks for the recordings (like with Trinity album).

It is the first time in my life I will be recording on the 24th of December and that feels...kind of liberating.
Everybody seem to think I'm sad because of "missing the XMas", but I could not be happier about how this record is turning out to be. The new guitar S7 feels wonderful and easy to play.

As always, I keep you updated how things are going and we have a little XMas present for you next week
on our web page www.symfonia.fi so don't forget to check the page. Some band members are also discussing about various of topics in Symfonia Forum. Why not register, you won't be killed :) (It's moderated though).

After the guitars I will fly to Sweden to spend 2 weeks with Andre Matos recording vocals and guess what, I will miss the 31st as well :) So carry on, eh? :)

It's 3am in the morning in snowy Helsinki. Time to get some sleep. Over and out.

           Cheers, Timo

Bass Recordings Completed

Today Friday we just finished all the bass guitars for the entire album. Fixed a couple of things but

it's working really well. There is one song that is 11 minutes long on the album ( the title track) and Jari 

has a bass solo in that song. That was the thing we recorded last today.

I just took him to the airport for his flight home.

The studio where we recorded the bass will be used for our rehearsals for the show at Finnish

Metal Expo in February, we'll rehearse there for a week. Let's see what songs we will play but

I think I speak for everyone in the band when I say that the energy we feel for that show is already

a huge one. We have a plan to film and record that show so everyone will be able to see how Symfonia

sounds and looks like live.

The remaining things, guitars, keys, vocals and some extra stuff will be recorded in the next 4 weeks.

Andre Matos is writing melodies and lyrics in this very moment and one of these days I'll catch a plane to

Sweden to record the vocals.

So all well here, happy trails to everyone and thanks for your support already now.

    Cheers, Timo

End of day 2 Bass recordings

18 minutes past midnight, just finished for today. Jari "why do I have to follow the kick drum" Kainulainen has recorded bass for 8 songs already. We will finish the rest of the songs tomorrow. The sauna is on, now we get naked (me, Jari and Chopin's ghost who lives in this studio) and hit the sauna. Not literally.
Uli "Ali the one way pilot"Kusch just sent us a mail. He is fishing in Narvik (attach a picture he sent). He is going for the big one. Not just anyone.

           Lots of greetings, J & T