How many producers did DSABH have?

[SIRJARVIS01]

There's about 10 plus tracks on that album and they ALL sound remarkably different down to the mixing. Did this album have production issues?

[DarkSecret666]

Ville has said, that it was horrible when they were making DSABH. For starters HIM wanted the album to be recorded in Finland, because after the long Razorblade tour everybody wanted to sleep in their own beds and just go to Finnvox Studios in Helsinki which is located near their homes. The demo sessions for DSABH were held at Petrax Studios, Hollola, Finland during Autumn 2000. The demos were produced by T.T. Oksala. According to Ville, T.T. was the only producer in Finland who understood something about heavy sounds. The band fell in love with the results so much that they wanted to keep them for the actual record. The tape was even mastered. But then the record company (BMG) didn't like the idea of putting an old man like T.T. as the producer, so they had to hire some expensive guys instead. Then they were in the studio with some random guys, that they didn't even want to be in the studio. Mige had said, that he is leaving the band if even a noise was changed. Then they hired the 1st other producer, Kevin Shirley from New York. He had done bands like Bon Jovi and Aerosmith before. His job was to think what could be added to the tapes and invent some new elements to the music. And guess what, Mige was fucking angry When HIM was doing RR with John Fryer, he wanted to keep good vibes in the studio and so on, but apparently Kevin was one hell of a bossman. Ville admits, that Kevin had some good ideas also. The band liked "Heartache Every Moment" very much, but it was missing something. The lyrics in the chorus were nothing but singing "Heartache Every Moment" all the time, so Kevin wanted Ville to add some more lyrics to the part. It worked, and the song is Ville's favorite song on the album. "Pretending" and "Please Don't Let It Go" were recorded again with Kevin. Ville says that "Pretending" didn't even sound like an own song anymore. But Kevin was a nice guy outside the studio, so the guys were hanging out with him in bars in Helsinki. The fun part is that Kevin learned a couple of Finnish words, "yksi, kaksi, kolme" which means "one, two, three" and "Koskenkorva" which is a Finnish Vodka, and also "Vittu" which means "Fuck!". The album was finally recorded. John Fryer is also mentioned as some producer on the album, but I don't know the story of that. But in the end Deep Shadows had 5 mixing guys: Chris Lord-Alge, John Fryer, Randy Staub, Kevin Shirley and Ville in "Love You Like I Do". And 3 producers: T.T Oksala, Kevin Shirley and John Fryer.

[SIRJARVIS01]

Ville has said, that it was horrible when they were making DSABH. For starters HIM wanted the album to be recorded in Finland, because after the long Razorblade tour everybody wanted to sleep in their own beds and just go to Finnvox Studios in Helsinki which is located near their homes. The demo sessions for DSABH were held at Petrax Studios, Hollola, Finland during Autumn 2000. The demos were produced by T.T. Oksala. According to Ville, T.T. was the only producer in Finland who understood something about heavy sounds. The band fell in love with the results so much that they wanted to keep them for the actual record. The tape was even mastered. But then the record company (BMG) didn't like the idea of putting an old man like T.T. as the producer, so they had to hire some expensive guys instead. Then they were in the studio with some random guys, that they didn't even want to be in the studio. Mige had said, that he is leaving the band if even a noise was changed. Then they hired the 1st other producer, Kevin Shirley from New York. He had done bands like Bon Jovi and Aerosmith before. His job was to think what could be added to the tapes and invent some new elements to the music. And guess what, Mige was fucking angry When HIM was doing RR with John Fryer, he wanted to keep good vibes in the studio and so on, but apparently Kevin was one hell of a bossman. Ville admits, that Kevin had some good ideas also. The band liked "Heartache Every Moment" very much, but it was missing something. The lyrics in the chorus were nothing but singing "Heartache Every Moment" all the time, so Kevin wanted Ville to add some more lyrics to the part. It worked, and the song is Ville's favorite song on the album. "Pretending" and "Please Don't Let It Go" were recorded again with Kevin. Ville says that "Pretending" didn't even sound like an own song anymore. But Kevin was a nice guy outside the studio, so the guys were hanging out with him in bars in Helsinki. The fun part is that Kevin learned a couple of Finnish words, "yksi, kaksi, kolme" which means "one, two, three" and "Koskenkorva" which is a Finnish Vodka, and also "Vittu" which means "Fuck!". The album was finally recorded. John Fryer is also mentioned as some producer on the album, but I don't know the story of that. But in the end Deep Shadows had 5 mixing guys: Chris Lord-Alge, John Fryer, Randy Staub, Kevin Shirley and Ville in "Love You Like I Do". And 3 producers: T.T Oksala, Kevin Shirley and John Fryer.

Thank you for the info. I noticed when I was listening to the bonus tracks that some of the songs (In love and lonely, love you like I do) have a bit of a RR vibe. Heartache every moment was one of the first songs when I can hear a bit of polishing on villes vocals that transitioned from the more raspy razor blade romance techniques. So far, has any other album had any sort of changed like this?

[616]

they were even forced by the BMG to go to London (i think it was London) to make the fucking album cover with some expensive photographer, like they did not have any in Finland. Yeah they hate the album. yeah we know that, the album sounds differently, poppy and whatnot, but its still one of their best in my opinion and one of my most favorites. I think demos from Hollola tapes are great. heavy and T.T. was great and did a fucking amazing job, but i still dont see any fucking reason why they did not reissued the Hollola tapes , the T.T. version, it would have been much better idea than XX Two decades....

[SIRJARVIS01]

That whole album is really really well written on my honest opinion. Plus, the way the hollola tapes sound are a perfect if not better follow up to razoblade romance. Hell, I think that sound would've been perfect on any HIM album.

[DarkSecret666]

they were even forced by the BMG to go to London (i think it was London) to make the fucking album cover with some expensive photographer, like they did not have any in Finland. Yeah they hate the album. yeah we know that, the album sounds differently, poppy and whatnot, but its still one of their best in my opinion and one of my most favorites. I think demos from Hollola tapes are great. heavy and T.T. was great and did a fucking amazing job, but i still dont see any fucking reason why they did not reissued the Hollola tapes , the T.T. version, it would have been much better idea than XX Two decades....

Yeah they already had that purple album cover done, but the guys on BMG England had said that Finnish guys are bad at making album covers. Then Ville flew to London to be photographed by John "Rankin" Waddell at his photostudio. Ville was there for 4 hours, but he was impressed by their professional work. They removed a pimple from Ville's chin Ville said that the album cover was the most expensive Finnish album cover ever done, but gladly HIM didn't have to pay anything.

[DarkSecret666]

Ville has said, that it was horrible when they were making DSABH. For starters HIM wanted the album to be recorded in Finland, because after the long Razorblade tour everybody wanted to sleep in their own beds and just go to Finnvox Studios in Helsinki which is located near their homes. The demo sessions for DSABH were held at Petrax Studios, Hollola, Finland during Autumn 2000. The demos were produced by T.T. Oksala. According to Ville, T.T. was the only producer in Finland who understood something about heavy sounds. The band fell in love with the results so much that they wanted to keep them for the actual record. The tape was even mastered. But then the record company (BMG) didn't like the idea of putting an old man like T.T. as the producer, so they had to hire some expensive guys instead. Then they were in the studio with some random guys, that they didn't even want to be in the studio. Mige had said, that he is leaving the band if even a noise was changed. Then they hired the 1st other producer, Kevin Shirley from New York. He had done bands like Bon Jovi and Aerosmith before. His job was to think what could be added to the tapes and invent some new elements to the music. And guess what, Mige was fucking angry When HIM was doing RR with John Fryer, he wanted to keep good vibes in the studio and so on, but apparently Kevin was one hell of a bossman. Ville admits, that Kevin had some good ideas also. The band liked "Heartache Every Moment" very much, but it was missing something. The lyrics in the chorus were nothing but singing "Heartache Every Moment" all the time, so Kevin wanted Ville to add some more lyrics to the part. It worked, and the song is Ville's favorite song on the album. "Pretending" and "Please Don't Let It Go" were recorded again with Kevin. Ville says that "Pretending" didn't even sound like an own song anymore. But Kevin was a nice guy outside the studio, so the guys were hanging out with him in bars in Helsinki. The fun part is that Kevin learned a couple of Finnish words, "yksi, kaksi, kolme" which means "one, two, three" and "Koskenkorva" which is a Finnish Vodka, and also "Vittu" which means "Fuck!". The album was finally recorded. John Fryer is also mentioned as some producer on the album, but I don't know the story of that. But in the end Deep Shadows had 5 mixing guys: Chris Lord-Alge, John Fryer, Randy Staub, Kevin Shirley and Ville in "Love You Like I Do". And 3 producers: T.T Oksala, Kevin Shirley and John Fryer.

Thank you for the info. I noticed when I was listening to the bonus tracks that some of the songs (In love and lonely, love you like I do) have a bit of a RR vibe. Heartache every moment was one of the first songs when I can hear a bit of polishing on villes vocals that transitioned from the more raspy razor blade romance techniques. So far, has any other album had any sort of changed like this?

You're welcome I think any of the albums haven't changed too much from their original vision.

[666WTLOnVinylFTW]

The Deep Shadows demos were fine but I expected more out of them after them playing the original version of Please Don't Let It Go live and Bam talking them up to be epic on his radio show. Heavier and faster like the original version of Beautiful.

[SIRJARVIS01]

I feel the exact same way about dark light

The Deep Shadows demos were fine but I expected more out of them after them playing the original version of Please Don't Let It Go live and Bam talking them up to be epic on his radio show. Heavier and faster like the original version of Beautiful.

[SIRJARVIS01]

Ville has said, that it was horrible when they were making DSABH. For starters HIM wanted the album to be recorded in Finland, because after the long Razorblade tour everybody wanted to sleep in their own beds and just go to Finnvox Studios in Helsinki which is located near their homes. The demo sessions for DSABH were held at Petrax Studios, Hollola, Finland during Autumn 2000. The demos were produced by T.T. Oksala. According to Ville, T.T. was the only producer in Finland who understood something about heavy sounds. The band fell in love with the results so much that they wanted to keep them for the actual record. The tape was even mastered. But then the record company (BMG) didn't like the idea of putting an old man like T.T. as the producer, so they had to hire some expensive guys instead. Then they were in the studio with some random guys, that they didn't even want to be in the studio. Mige had said, that he is leaving the band if even a noise was changed. Then they hired the 1st other producer, Kevin Shirley from New York. He had done bands like Bon Jovi and Aerosmith before. His job was to think what could be added to the tapes and invent some new elements to the music. And guess what, Mige was fucking angry When HIM was doing RR with John Fryer, he wanted to keep good vibes in the studio and so on, but apparently Kevin was one hell of a bossman. Ville admits, that Kevin had some good ideas also. The band liked "Heartache Every Moment" very much, but it was missing something. The lyrics in the chorus were nothing but singing "Heartache Every Moment" all the time, so Kevin wanted Ville to add some more lyrics to the part. It worked, and the song is Ville's favorite song on the album. "Pretending" and "Please Don't Let It Go" were recorded again with Kevin. Ville says that "Pretending" didn't even sound like an own song anymore. But Kevin was a nice guy outside the studio, so the guys were hanging out with him in bars in Helsinki. The fun part is that Kevin learned a couple of Finnish words, "yksi, kaksi, kolme" which means "one, two, three" and "Koskenkorva" which is a Finnish Vodka, and also "Vittu" which means "Fuck!". The album was finally recorded. John Fryer is also mentioned as some producer on the album, but I don't know the story of that. But in the end Deep Shadows had 5 mixing guys: Chris Lord-Alge, John Fryer, Randy Staub, Kevin Shirley and Ville in "Love You Like I Do". And 3 producers: T.T Oksala, Kevin Shirley and John Fryer.

Thank you for the info. I noticed when I was listening to the bonus tracks that some of the songs (In love and lonely, love you like I do) have a bit of a RR vibe. Heartache every moment was one of the first songs when I can hear a bit of polishing on villes vocals that transitioned from the more raspy razor blade romance techniques. So far, has any other album had any sort of changed like this?

You're welcome I think any of the albums haven't changed too much from their original vision.

This could explain why he bashed the songs at the Rock am ring 2001 show almost like he was embarrassed

[616]

i love how they changed the versions later on tour in 2001 they did TRSNFRMNT version of Pretending, which is fucking perfect, or how they sounded in 2002 .... or 2003 version of Lose you tonight with the great solo
on tour they sounded more like close to their idea of how the songs were supposed to sound
We always get the product of the band + label ..... exactly as it happened with DSBH, it was all supposed to sound heavy and different, but label said no and we got the final result as it was released...... I wish the guys just went on their own, doing their own fucking thing, not listening to the label opinions and dont even look on how it is radio friendly, just doing 100% HIM "product". I was expecting that from ToT, but i dont know the backround, still ToT underrated and not appriciated well by the fans, i still consider it as a very solid record, very HIM-like, but for me it is like unfinished tale... something is missing on ToT, you know what i mean?

[DarkSecret666]

i love how they changed the versions later on tour in 2001 they did TRSNFRMNT version of Pretending, which is fucking perfect, or how they sounded in 2002 .... or 2003 version of Lose you tonight with the great solo
on tour they sounded more like close to their idea of how the songs were supposed to sound
We always get the product of the band + label ..... exactly as it happened with DSBH, it was all supposed to sound heavy and different, but label said no and we got the final result as it was released...... I wish the guys just went on their own, doing their own fucking thing, not listening to the label opinions and dont even look on how it is radio friendly, just doing 100% HIM "product". I was expecting that from ToT, but i dont know the backround, still ToT underrated and not appriciated well by the fans, i still consider it as a very solid record, very HIM-like, but for me it is like unfinished tale... something is missing on ToT, you know what i mean?

I think that Tears On Tape is a very OK album. For me there isn't a bad song on it. But yeah it's missing something. They could have added one or two more actual songs to it. Maybe there are too much instrumental parts, but I think they're cool in their own way.

[616]

nah, i know what it misses.... remember how Screamworks ended? with Foreboding sense..... it was so fucking experimental for HIM, it was just amazing and everyone loves it. It was something that added "that something" to Screamworks.... I miss some experiment on ToT :-D maybe they experimented with those instrumentals and the fact that the last songs are just one song cut in few as Kiss the void is just the continue of WLSTD. Maybe if they only skipped the first instrumental Unleash the red and swaped it with No Love and instead of No Love they added some nice acoustic, electronic like Foreboding sense, it would have been much more interesting

[SIRJARVIS01]

In joy and sorrow could have used a guitar solo or outro

[666WTLOnVinylFTW]

From the demos that we have, what they ended up releasing as Deep Shadows doesn't sound all that different to me than what they originally intended it to be. It's still that sort of earthy, pot smoking days of the band album, or at least it's always felt like that to me. Touched up around the edges and polished up, sure, but not too radically different from their original vision of what it should be. The heaviest song from the time period, Again, didn't even make the proper album but the demo sounds very close to the finished version.

[616]

ohh..... Again, that is one fucking great song, i am still mad that it is not the proper album track ....it could be singkle too, its better than Close to the Flame. I wonder how Dont close your hard made it to the album ... 
Again is one of the DSBH tracks that to me sounds like it was an ancestor to Dark Light album somehow, i dont know how, dont ask me why but if Again was on Dark Light i would say yeah thats the pretty nice DL song.

Thulsa Doom version - demo? Their idea of album? Or remix? OR WTH? because those are fucking heavy!

[SIRJARVIS01]

The whole Vinnfox Relics sound should be exactly how every album after LM should have sounded. I don't see why Ville just won't put out a HUGE deserving box set with these old relics.