Spleen Arcana » The Field Where She Died

First orders begin shipping

Julien — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:50:22 +0000

I’m glad to tell you that the first CDs orders have been shipped this week. As you may know, I’m quite alone on this ship, so it will take me some days to send everything but the shipping has started on tuesday to UK, USA, Canada, Holland, France of course, and you should receive your copy very soon. Feel free to contact me if there’s any problem or a too long delay.

Order your copy directly from the Online Shop

Thanks for your interest!!

TFWSD arrived on march 6th

Julien — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 09:26:49 +0000

I finally received The Field Where She Died yesterday from Germany. 20 boxes of 25 copies which will be available in the shop today. The album – artwork and printing – looks really great and sounds better than the mp3 version for sure!

It will be available in the Shop today!

Not so far from the end

Julien — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:47:58 +0000

Yes! I work on The Field Where She Died for ages! I can’t even remember when I started this first album. I’ll probably write something about how it begun and how things happened (would you find this interesting somehow?) but to be short, it’s a huge project for me because I started from nothing but the songs. Hum it’s probably the most important thing but I admit that some years ago, I really didn’t know how I could record some music. I didn’t have any gear at the moment anyway. So as you may guess, it took me some months (years?) to get ready for recording or just to find where the “record button” was located in my software… Anyway, it looks like the end is not so far now as this first album is nearly finished! I hope that it will be available before the end of 2008. And maybe the end is just the beginning. (just below a short sample of the last song from TFWSD)

Recording some mandolin

Julien — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:42:16 +0000

I received a new instrument yesterday: A Portuguese mandolin! I love how new instruments smells the wood so good! Made of a solid spruce top, maple sides, back and neck, it sounds how I imagined it, it gives this warm “serenade” atmosphere…

So yesterday and this morning was dedicated to mandolin. I had in mind for ages that adding a mandolin part to the final of “A Kind Of Heaven” would be interesting, so I recorded this part yesterday (using my Oktava MK012 mic).

And I couldn’t help myself to play some of this new toy on “The Root Of All Evil Part I”. I’d like to make this song sounds more “ethnic”, adding mandolin and bohdran or even some flute… Well… I can’t wait to record it anyway!

Listening to a first mix

Julien — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:11:04 +0000

As the recording goes well, I’m working a bit on the mix, even if some vocal parts need to be recorded again. It’s more about having an idea of the whole picture. So I burnt a first mastered cd with all the songs. As you can see on the picture above (sorry for how it’s written), there’s some stuffs to change, and the overall sound still need to be improved but I’m really glad about the drums and the dynamics.

But there’s still a choice to make between an album which sounds quite loud, but less dynamic and more compressed (that’s why some albums are tiring to listen to), and an album which sounds less loud but with all its dynamics preserved, which breathes. But I feel that I’m too much into 70′s music to take the loudness path… And the most important is that it’s your freedom to bring up the volume of the music you’re listening if you want to.

But I’d love to know your opinion about it!

Digital chaos

Julien — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 11:32:22 +0000

I thought that it could arrive at any time but somehow, I didn’t think too much about it. My audio computer was showing its weaknesses the last fews weeks and now it seems that it’s my system hard drive which is broken. So I just ordered a new and better one (Samsung F1 – 250 Go/16 Mo) and I take this “chance” to add some memory (Corsair), 2 Go instead of 1 Go. I think that it will be really useful because of all the tracks I record in my Samplitude projects and all the effects I apply. I just hope that it will work again and better than ever. The album is nearly finnished and I can’t wait to send it for pressing!

Switching to a new artifact

Julien — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:14:09 +0000

My new sequencer has arrived yesterday, the long waited Samplitude Pro, version 9. Not the latest version (10) but the deal was too good for this Samp 9 and I’m not really into being always up to date, updating everything to the latest version. Old school in a way.

So I installed today this new artifact, switching from Music Studio, and after the registering and activation stuffs (not as complex as I thought!), I worked on “The Missing Piece”. The software seems to be more stable than Music Studio, and everything looks better. But what surprises me the most is the sound. If Music Studio 2008 is supposed to run with the same audio engine as Samplitude, I can compare now and I can hear some differences for sure! I don’t know where it comes from but it’s a reality (reality from my ears maybe, but what do you think?). I have to get used to it, find the right settings, and then go on with my vocals recording. All in all, this new weapon is really welcome in my home studio!

Singing in the rain

Julien — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:59:24 +0000

Some news about the recording, just to let you know that I’m working on my vocal parts actually. I spend hours and hours on recording vocals and the song “Trample on Me” is nearly done. By the way, it may be available here soon, I hope so.

I need to record again the last guitar solo which is not in tune and I’m sure that you’ll prefer it in tune, isn’t it? I changed a bit the end of the song because I was not sure about the minimoog solo. I changed it for a final piano melody, with guitar overdub, and it seems to sound more epic.

I plan this song to be mastered in a professional studio and then used for promotion. I still think this one is a good reflection of the whole album and Spleen Arcana’s music.

More to come soon…

Fender Bassman 70 to repair

Julien — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:39:49 +0000

I can’t really escape from this reality! I have to bring my Fender Bassman 70 to at tube amp tech to see what’s wrong with it at the moment. I changed the preamp tubes, which were quite old it seems, for Tung Sol model (picture), the sound is even better but the problem remains, a volume drop and some disturbing noise…

I have an idea about it: It’s probably the power tubes which need to be changed. We can’t forget that this amp is soon 27 years old. So I will take it with me during my trip to Paris this week-end and it won’t be as easy as it seems. Do you know how loud is an old full tube head? Too heavy but it’s the price to pay for this beautiful fenderish clean sound.

My rythm guitar parts are recorded and I’m working on guitar solos. I found the sound which is basically my BYOC Large Beaver and a modded MXR Dyna Comp. This combo works really great, above all with a Strat! So I have to wait for my amp to be repaired, brand new, to last during another 30 years! I hope that it’s a tube problem and not something that could be much more expensive to repair. Hum… Shit happens, even more during recording music!

“Time has come…” – Bass and vocals

Julien — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:36:30 +0000

I recorded some bass guitar for “A Kind Of Heaven” which is not the easiest song to record indeed. But I’m quite satisfied with the result and I found the bass sound I was looking for, for months!! It suits really well with the kick drum and we can clearly hear both of them which is not always the case.

I tried some vocals parts too but it’s more about working lines than anything, but I’m more confident than before, I remember the first A Kind Of Heaven” demo, it was really different…