News
we are in the preparations for our first joint album called “new horizons”. The lyrics are all written by me and most of the songs were written in the rough version in my home studio. The band setup for the songs is a classic rock / metal line-up, i.e. drums, bass, vocals and two guitars. Depending on the song, additional instruments are mainly synthesizers or piano. Depending on the arrangement, but also classical strings (cello, violin, etc..), if it goes a little in the symphonic metal direction. Otherwise the songs move approximately in the classical “Melodic Metal” with excerpts from “Prog, Symphonic, Neo Classic” Metal. Also the one or other ballad will be heard.
Album Cover “New Horizons” with final Tracklist !
Picture Source
The image is from Pixabay with the credit ” Free Commercial Use”, No image credit needed“. The beautiful work (background image) comes from “Steve Bidmead” from Bedfordshire. I have contacted him and asked extra permission again. Steve will also be credited as the creator of this artwork on the Availian album once it is finished and pressed. He will be sent a copy by me and a donation for the artistic work !
News 17.05.2024
Dear friends,
I am very happy to inform you that our singer Daniel will have his last session in the studio tomorrow Saturday the 18th to sing some vocal harmonies for two songs. Then all recordings will be finished and Ansgard and Nico will need about six to eight weeks for the final mix and mastering of the songs. It takes so long because they are not only working exclusively for us and also have other music projects they are working on. We will use the time as a band and do a new band photo shoot on the 26th of May so that I have material for the CD booklet. Of course I will finish it as soon as I get the photos. So it looks like we will actually have our debut album in July if everything works out. Keep your fingers crossed!
News 13.05.2023
Slowly but surely the album production is coming to an end. Today our singer Daniel was at Ansgard’s studio and sang the last main vocal melodies for the last three songs while our Dirk has now also recorded all the songs with regard to the bass melodies. Now Daniel is still at Ansgard’s on Wednesday May 15th and Saturday May 18th to record the vocal harmonies for some songs. Nevertheless, don’t expect the first final mixed / mastered versions of the last six songs before mid-July, as Ansgard and Nico are not working exclusively on the production of our album, but also have other jobs to do. Anyway, after everything I’ve experienced so far, I can only say that I don’t regret a cent or a minute of work that me and the boys have put into the album. I am a thousand percent convinced that it has paid off both musically and personally and I am proud of it.
News 06.05.2024
An amazing week
the week from April 29th to May 5th was simply incredible. i was in the studio for four days. Two days with our drummer Linus, one day with Daniel our singer and yesterday (Sunday) with our bass player Dirk. All four days were very creative and productive and we had a lot of fun. So most of the work is still with our Daniel, he has to sing the main vocal lines for three songs one more day and the harmony parts for a total of six songs in two more days. Maybe it will be four days in total (hard to estimate). And if our Dirk (bassist) makes as much progress as he did yesterday, he’ll only need one more day for the last three songs in terms of the bass lines. Since the boys have the best time at the weekend and our Ansgard is not only available for us, I assume that the complete album will be finished around mid-July. Good things take time, but I see light at the end of the tunnel and can hardly wait until July.
News 02.05.2024
Dear friends,
The drum recordings on April 29th and 30th with Linus and Ansgard our sound engineer at Spiral Music Studio were once again a very special experience. I am very proud of our drummer Linus, he drummed the last four songs of the album very brilliantly. So now our singer Daniel and our new bass player Dirk are in demand. We’ll be back in the studio on Saturday 11.05 to record vocals and on Sunday 12.05 Dirk can record bass tracks. There are still about six sessions ahead of us, then everything should be ready for the album. Here are a few impressions from the Linus drum session.
News 26.04.2024
Hello friends of rock & metal music,
I have so much energy, respectively creative output (thoughts) that my bandmates couldn’t follow up, so i will you give you a inside of a further rough version of a song called”Chasing Ghosts” which is dedicted to the second Album of Availain. This Song is completely arranged and sung by me alone in my Home Studio.
News 25.04.2024
the last two drum sessions with Linus will take place on April 29th and 30th (two long days). i assume that all songs will be finished in terms of drums by then. After that our new bass player Dirk will be in the studio for two days and then our singer Daniel for at least four days. Of course I’m always there to support the guys wherever possible!
News 27.03.2024
Our band now also has a pianist/keyboardist on board
so I hope the search for fellow musicians is over for our band for the time being. I can announce that we now have the last piece of the puzzle together. We can now also welcome a pianist and keyboarder named Andreas Mayer in our midst. As soon as the rehearsals start we will see if the current band line up will last. I really hope so and look positively into the musical future of the band!
Good News / Bad News 21.03.2024
Nothing is as constant as change (Heraclitus)
unfortunately this is confirmed once again and I have to announce that my good friend and bass player Yannik Schaeffer is no longer part of the band Availian. Yannik called me yesterday and told me that he is so busy in his professional and private life that he can hardly find the time to do justice to the band. This makes me very sad, as we’ve been through a lot of ups and downs together over the last fifteen years. But I can understand him and he has to organize his life in such a way that he is happy and content and I wish him that with all my heart. He will always be a part of Availian and me!
Changes in the band structure
Yannik leaving the band was foreseeable, as I have always communicated openly and honestly with Yannik. That’s why I had his blessing to look for a replacement bass player early on. We also have a replacement bassist named Dirk Schubert and we will find out together whether Dirk will fit into the band in the future. Furthermore, as already mentioned, Availian has a new young, motivated second guitarist called Jens Ulrich. I will wait until the album release with a new band photo shoot due to the current changes. Only when the final band line up is finalized we will do a new band photo shoot.
News 18.03.2024
The studio session was once again very constructive and productive. Ansgard and I finished and recorded the last two songs “Just One” and “Fire Inside”. Now my work is done in terms of arrangement, guitars, suggestions for the vocal melodies for Daniel. Now it’s up to my bandmates to hopefully find dates to finish the album by July at the latest. Of course, I’ll also be there for my bandmates’ studio sessions, which will be exciting and fun again.
Availian finally has a second guitarist!
On Sunday March 17th a young motivated guitarist named Jens Ulrich visited me at home and we checked together if he is able to play the material. He could convince me on a personal and musical level and really wants to be part of the band. So now Jens has the job as second guitarist in Availian. On behalf of my bandmates I would like to welcome Jens to our midst!
News 11.03.2024
the studio session on Saturday, March 9th was once again a very creative and constructive success. Our Ansgard (sound engineer) contributed with his creative ideas to the two songs “Torn” and the ballad “Just One”. When you compose all the songs on your own, sometimes you literally “can’t see the wood for the trees”. By that I mean that in some songs I just can’t get an exciting transition from the verse to the chorus. In situations like this, it’s very helpful that Ansgard is a musician himself and sees the song from his own perspective when producing the song and comes up with good ideas. This contributes significantly to the quality of the songs and I am very grateful for that. We also have a lot of fun during the sessions. So now I have one more session coming up on Saturday March 16th and then all the songs will be ready in terms of guitars and arrangements so that Linus, Yannik and Daniel can go into the studio next. I hope that we will be able to hold the result of our efforts in our hands as a CD by July at the latest.
News 22.02.2024
So the next Studio will be the 09th./10th. of March and I will play and record the guitar tracks for the songs “Torn”, “Just One” and either “Fire Inside” or “Don’t let me down” with Ansgard. Then nine songs will be ready in terms of guitar work. After that, our Linus (drums) will probably need at least a weekend (or more) to play the drums for a total of six songs. Our Yannik (bass) has a home studio at home and can deliver the bass tracks, two bass tracks per song (stereo left/right) and the two tracks as DI tracks. After that, our Daniel has to sing all the vocal tracks including vocal harmonies for at least two weekends.
News 22.02.2024
Got the first version of the final mix/master of the first three songs from Nico and Ansgard this morning. As a hobby/semi musician, I have yet to hear my own songs in this excellent quality. I had tears in my eyes, but I was so happy and thinking of my wife Tineke. I wish she was with me and could share this moment with me ! She was my best advisor and critic when it came to music. When I tried to compose and play amateurish songs, she would say “I know you can do it better”!
But what would my music be worth without my friends and bandmates? This is only possible because my boys ( as I affectionately call them ) also believe, that we are creating something wonderful. Destroying something is easy, but creating something from nothing is true art. And I am very grateful for that !
News 19.02.2024
Dear friends of harder music,
during my last studio session on February 10th with our sound engineer Ansgard I recorded all guitar tracks again, because I forgot to record the dry signal (without distortion) in my home recording project for these songs or I forgot to save the guitar tracks separately as DI tracks. This technique is used nowadays to be able to positively change the guitar sound in the studio afterwards by placing other loudspeaker simulations on the guitar track. On February 10th, we finished two songs with the titles “I know” and “New Horizons” (album title) in relation to the guitars. Now there are still four songs left to be recorded. The next studio date to record guitar tracks is February 24th. Next I will record the guitars for the song “Soul for Sale”. Since we’ve always recorded in blocks of three songs since we started recording with Ansgard, I’ve decided to record a total of nine songs for the album rather than ten or twelve. After all, it’s also a question of cost and as I didn’t win the lottery, I can’t conjure up seven thousand two hundred euros (for twelve songs). I think nine songs is fine for a debut album. Besides, the album should be released before I retire or bite the dust! 🙂
What happens next?
For now I’m recording all the guitar tracks for the remaining four songs in the studio with Ansgard. Ansgard is a excellent sound engineer and also a true musician who suggests ideas and tips regarding song details during the guitar recordings. That’s exactly what I wanted for the album production. It’s kind of magical and scary at the same time, we often have the same thoughts about the song structure. And our singer Daniel has the same feeling. Daniel told me yesterday during a conversation that Ansgard and he sometimes understand each other without words. Daniel knows exactly what Ansgard wants from him when Ansgard makes a suggestion for improvement. And I feel the same way. This shows that we are in highly professional hands and the chemistry is just right. Once the remaining four songs have been recorded on guitars, it’s the turn of my boys Yannik (bass), Daniel (vocals) and Linus (drums). I estimate that the whole album should be finished around May / June if everything goes smoothly.
Be prepared for the studio session!
Before I go into the studio I prepare myself for the songs. But preparing my instrument is just as important. A few days before the studio session, my baby gets a wellness treatment (old strings down, fingerboard cleaned and oiled, new strings on). The new strings are then played in for another two days so that they can stretch a little to achieve more tuning stability afterwards. The tremolo system of the Ibanez is very tuning stable.
News 27.01.2024
“Next Studio Date February 8th and 10th. Guitar Recordings”
So now the album recording project is gaining momentum again. As our sound engineer has more free time again, I’ve arranged with him to record the guitars for three more songs on February 8th and 10th. However, this is more or less just a matter of fine-tuning the guitar melodies. I will also plan the Band Live Rack with Ansgard (our sound engineer) and discuss it in detail. It will probably be a Behringer X32Rack digital mixer and two signal splitters as well as the M-Live B.Beat PRO 16 Plus 1TB, which has just been released on the market. Furthermore, an InEar system to which my band colleagues can connect. There’s a lot to do, let’s get on with it! Ansgard is familiar with these systems in the FOH (front of house, live mixing) environment.
News 22.01.2024
“Next Studio Date Third February Vocal Harmony Recordings”
Hooray, I can finally announce the next studio date. We’ll be back in the studio on the first weekend in March to record the next three songs. First of all, the drum tracks will be recorded, followed by the bass recordings and then the vocals (Single & Harmony Vocallines) will be recorded. I have less to do at that moment, as our sound engineer Ansgard says; “my Guitartracks are studio-ready”, except for a few details that I have to record. My friends (Band) and I are highly motivated and we are already looking forward to this date. The first three Songs will be now postmixed by Nico. At first when all Songs are recorded and postmixed they will be mastered. So far my unprofessional understanding.
“Thinking one step ahead”
The last few weeks I’ve been busy getting my guitar equipment ready for live use in the near future. That means I needed a new guitar top. Since I had extensively dealt with the sound and technology of the “REVV G20” and really wanted a modern tube top that also had a MIDI connection. I can only say “I was not disappointed”. Furthermore I had luck to buy an Ibanez RG made in Japan (only for the Japanese market). My next task now is to define my guitar sounds, which I use live as MIDI (presets) and then to create a MIDI mapping for my footswitch Behringer FCB1010 footswitch. I hate MIDI Programming i am oldschool 🙂 !
News 19.12.2023
Hello friends,
unfortunately I was not able to write updates as actively and promptly last time due to health reasons. Also my favorite singer Daniel has problems with his ears and is not able to sing songs at the moment. So we had to postpone our planned vocal weekend until the beginning of January. But now some positive news. Although I had to have a surgical procedure on November 17th, I am almost fit again at the moment. Nevertheless, in the last two weeks I have completely rearranged and recorded some songs like “Fire Inside and Torn” (new melody) and recorded the ballads “Just One and Unspoken” as raw versions. I’ve just checked how much song material there is in total. I count twenty-one song projects of which eleven songs are definitely studio finished! I think or rather I hope that we will be back in the studio by the end of January at the latest to record the next three songs. Here for you, the raw version (still instrumental) of the song “Torn”. I’m already looking forward to recording this song with our singer Daniel. This time unfortunately only as an audio file ! Anyway, I wish our website visitors a Merry Christmas ! Hope you like the Song !
Andi
here is a rough version of a ballad entitled “Just One”, as I recorded the song here alone in my home studio. I apologize in advance for my horrible vocal performance, I’m just not a front man. But I know about the qualities of our singer. I’m sure that Daniel will sing this song really well.
News 23.11.2023
Well, dear friends,
time flies by, and in between everyday sensitivities I find time to pursue my passion “music”, for which I am infinitely grateful! Here is a revision of a song “Fire Inside”, which I found no longer suitable in the old version. Here is the preliminary, new, instrumental version (I have the vocal lines in my head 🙂 of “Fire Inside”. I have underlaid the song with pictures from the past. I’m looking forward to Daniel singing this song !
News 16.10.2023
Hello Folks,
The drum recordings on Saturday were extremely exhausting for Linus, because he had to travel two hours by train and then I picked him up at 10:30 am at the station and we went straight to the studio. The recordings lasted until 7:30 pm and I had to bring Linus back to the station immediately so that he could catch his train at 8:00 pm. I think Linus won’t have done much after his arrival at home around 22:30 pm. For me it was an experience to see the boys in action and Linus was again well prepared ! We recorded the Drums for three Songs “burn it down”, “iam” and “what live should be” !
Here is a short video to capture the impressions of Saturday. The underlying Music is just a fun Song which i have created in the Homestudio (not for the Album).
News 24.09.2023
So this weekend was all about vocal recordings. Our singer Daniel was challenged for twelve hours yesterday and today to sing the main vocal lines and the harmony parts for three songs “burn it down”, “Iam” and “What live should be”. I think Daniel’s voice needs a few days break now. Even without mixing the result is just awesome. On 14.10. 2023 it’s our drummer Linus’s turn to record the drum tracks for the three songs and of course I’m there again as always.
Production Costs of the Album
Just to give you an idea about the costs of an album production here are some infos:
1 Song Recording (Layering/PreMixing) by Ansgard 250€ / 1 Song PostMixing Mastering by Nico 350€
We’ve planned by now to record 10 Songs for the Album (10 * 250€ = 2500€ / 10 * 350€ = 3500
Total 6000 €
in addition, the album should also be physically available as a CD in a quantity of 500 CD which costs about another 800 euros and a new photo shoot (with new drummer) is still pending, which costs about 300 €, as well as a music video production about 1500 €. So you are about 8000 € if you want to deliver a professional album in this day and age. But ok, others fly twice a year on vacation or buy a used car and I fulfill my dream ! By the way, my last vacation abroad was over twenty years ago ! 🙂
News 06.09.2023
The next studio date is now fixed !
We will realize Vocal recordings for three songs on 23./24.09.23 and Drum recordings on 14.10.23 in the new studio. In the meantime i wrote and composed two new Songs called “I know” and “Rise again” 🙂. Furthermore i prepared a “Lyrics Page” for our Website with all Lyrics of the upcoming Album. As soon as the Album will be released the Lyric Page goes online.
News 27.08.2023
The first impressions of the new collaboration in terms of album production.
I was on Saturday 26.08.2023 at “11:00 am” with our new sound engineer at his home and we have worked until 23:00 pm on the three songs. So almost twelve hours with about an hour break to get something to eat and a few beers. Ansgard is completely insane when it comes to audio editing and layering. He is a perfectionist and had let me re-record some guitar parts. He looks at the frequency response of the audio file and tells you exactly where the sound is off, it’s just incredible. We hit it off right away and not just musically but also interpersonally. It was really a great experience to watch him at work. Now I am thousand percent convinced that the collaboration with the new studio will raise the songs and the whole album to a really professional level. The next step is now to record drums for three songs in the main studio with Nico. The date is not fixed yet, because our drummer unfortunately has no time at all in September but probably in October.
“Ansgard remarked that i can’t play the guitar. i’d better buy a triangle” ! 🙂
News 23.08.2023
a kind of Holiday Break !
It has been a bit quiet on our band website the last two months, despite all that there has been a lot going on in the background, both in terms of the band and music, as well as in the private sphere of the band mates. But everything in order !
Status “Album Recording”
If you have been following our news page for some time, you know that we have recorded three songs so far in the recording studio of my Friend “Friedel”. (Today i have deleted the old “News” entries because they are not actual anymore.) The intention to work together was, to find out, if the collaboration and the results fit for the band. Unfortunately, it turned out that my friend Friedel is not the right soundengineer to record the album. But that’s okay from my side, now I know how it doesn’t work and I’ve paid a bit of a lesson in terms of a few hundert euro. The only thing that’s a little bit sad is, that we have a delay in the Production of the Album. The last recording in my friend’s studio was very disappointing and unsatisfying for my bandmates and me. For this reason I decided to work with another recording studio.
“New Horizons and a new Recording Studio”
This is now all organized and on Saturday 26.08.2023 I meet the new sound engineer in his studio. We have prepared three songs and will prepare them for the recordings on Saturday. We will also re-record the songs that we have recorded with Friedel already. I am convinced that we have now found the right soundengineer (collaboration) and the right studio (with the right attitude) for the band Availian and the Album Production ( https://spiralmusicstudio.de/ ). As soon as the first recording sessions are over, I will tell you about it!
cheers
Andi