Album updateAntoher update from Robert: After a great festival weekend like the last one it's so much nicer to dive into the studio again, because of the energy you still carry with you from the shows and it might also be the reason it was a rewarding studio week. We really made some progress. We've been adding some extra parts to the last songs to get them closer and ready for the last drum recordings, which already start in less then a month.We're also finalizing the recordings for the mix of the first song, which is going to start the 15th. We've got some really great mixers ready to go. It's going to be really interesting to hear what the differences in the mixes will be. Mixing engineers are artists on their own. No mix of the same song by different mixing engineers will sound the same. We have a few, but all great mixers who are going to put their stamp on the song. Then it's for us to decide whose style and approach we think fits the song best. The mixing engineer whose song we pick will aslo get to do the rest of the album, so that's also something we have to keep in mind.Now, some more revealing information about the new album… We've told you before that we are working with some other artists on this album. Two of them are actually recording this and next week. It's extremely exciting for us, what we will eventually receive in our mail, because we won't be there with them in the studio as they are recording overseas and unfortunately we don't have the time to go over there (yet). It's also really exciting because we already know it's going to be really good, as they are incredibly talented and fit so well to the songs they are working on. When working with other artists, it's always the song which determines what's needed and who we need for the song. For one song for instance, we're not sure if it will make it to the album. If we can't get the artist to do his part, we will just not release it, because it will miss a part of its soul and will remain uncompleted. But for now, we - and also the songs - are really blessed...Then…luckily and finally…you'll be able to hear a liiiiiiiittle liiiiiiiittle bit of the album next week. Oh yeah!!!Now don't waste your weekend waiting for it but enjoy it as much as you can cause that's how it should be done (and also how time flies and the sooner it will be next week haha)So have a great one and …..till next week!Sharon, Ruud, Stefan, Martijn, Jeroen, Mike and Robert
We can give away 10 duo tickets for Suikerrock!We’re playing at the festival in Tienen, Belgium on Thursday the 25th of July and we’re giving away 10í—2 tickets for Thursday!All you need to do is share this post on Facebook publicly, and add a message why you should win these tickets. Perhaps we will see you on the 25th of July!
Every month, until the start of the tour in 2014, we’re giving away special canvases signed by Sharon to four lucky friends who join our competition on Pinterest!We are collecting pictures of friends who are coming to our shows on our “Within Temptation World Tourâ€-board, and the pictures keep on coming in!We announced this month’s winners in our newsletter, last Friday:Congratulations to Kimberly Jongerman, who will come to see us for the very first time, at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam; Guillermo López Costa, who’s coming all the way from Spain to see us live at the Arena in Ludwigsburg, Germany; Keith Clarkson, our 62-year-old fan from the UK; and Fabien Vivier, who was the very first one to upload his picture to Pinterest for our competition!The winners will also be contacted via Pinterest and will receive their canvas at home.
Album updateRobert's update: This week we didn't spend a lot of time in the studio, or at least not as much as we would have liked to. There were a lot of meetings, mails to write, sorting, thinking, deciding and planning. Though not are favorite things to do during recording, it does give the peace of mind you need to be creative, when it's done.Despite the little time we could spend in the studio, it was a very exciting week for the album. We got the contributions of two other artists and we feel very honored to have them work with us as we admire both their talent and personalities. After listening to what they recorded a few times we realized that their unique character and talent come out so well on these songs, that we can't even imagine the songs without them anymore.One of these songs will finally be mixed next week, as the first single. Kind of strange to know that the first song will be final when there is still so much to do. But it will also give us a lot of peace to know we are on the right track with what we doing, for the rest of the album and what changes may still have to be made to improve things.Now it's time for the weekend, a show at Bospop festival on Sunday and of course reading your comments, first impressions, speculations etc on the teaser released today. I can tell you one thing…you are so often so right.You all have a great one and 'till next week, when we will tell you about the mix results.Sharon, Ruud, Stefan, Martijn, Jeroen, Mike and RobertWithin Temptation
We’re giving away special canvases signed by Sharon every month, until the start of the tour in 2014, to four friends who join our competition on Pinterest!We’ve noticed some of you are having difficulties getting your picture on Pinterest. We enjoy seeing all of you on Pinterest, so we want to help you out!Let us know if you don’t see your picture on our “Within Temptation World Tourâ€-board or if you can’t seem to manage to upload your picture to Pinterest at all. Bear in mind: your picture does not appear on our board automatically, we have to manually repin all of them, so sometimes it’s just a matter of patience. However, if you see we’ve been adding more pictures but you can’t spot yours on our board, post the URL to your Pinterest account in the comments and we’ll check your picture!
Album updateA new message from Robert: Oh yeah, the mixes are flying around us. We got the first mixes in yesterday. Since then I think we've already listened a zillion times to the song. Listening carefully, checking if some guitars are loud enough in this part and if vocals are loud enough there, if the energy is there, the transparency punch stereo width and so on... Pretty amazing that we still like it, but I guess that's what a good mix also should make you able to do. It is a great feeling that by now, we already have one really good mix down. Other mixes from other mixing engineers still have to come in, so it can only get better or it will turn out this first one will be our favourite. Next week we'll tell you which mixer has made our favourite mix.Oh yes, I almost forgot. We've also seen the first 1 min edit of the music video. It's big epic, rough, beautiful and mysterious at the same time. I don't think we've have had ever a video before where so many days of shooting and working has gone into, and it shows. It's a big epic video and story with some very cool 3D FX, but shot mostly on real locations and probably the coolest thing is that real huge machines and sets have been built by artist, that make everything feel so real and then I'm not even talking about the chemistry between the singers...But still a lot to do. I know you all want the music and video today but don't worry, time flies. We wouldn't mind if we could make it go much slooooooower ;-)What ever happens, the weekend will start this evening. Make sure you enjoy it to the max !!!Sharon, Ruud, Stefan, Martijn, Jeroen, Mike and RobertWithin Temptation
We’re performing at Suikerrock in Tienen (BE) this Thursday. Aside from our show on the Main Stage, we’re also doing an exclusive acoustic performance for a selected audience at the festival.Are you coming to Suikerrock, and would you like to be present at the acoustic show including meet & greet as well? Answer the festival organisation’s following questions:- “Within Temptation is performing on the Win for Life Suikerrock Stage on Thursday 25/07. How many times has the band already performed on Suikerrock?â€- “How many correct answers is the Suikerrock organisation going to receive before Wednesday 24/07/2013 at 24 o’ clock?â€Send your answer to meet-greet@suikerrock.be. Include your name and phone number in the email, so the organisation can contact you if you win.
Album updateRobert's studio update: Choices have to be madeLast week several mixing engineers got to make a mix from our up-coming new song (and video). What I didn't tell you that one of those mixes was also going to be done by ourselves.That made it a very busy week, because the mixing had to be done next to judging the other mixes and giving them remarks.It was also a tough week cause we had to accept that we couldn't get the ideal mix. Every mix of every mixing engineer had something unique and things we really liked, but there was also always some part of the mix we liked better from another mix. For example, the bass guitar was great in one mix, but the vocals sound better in another mix.But of course you guys and girls don't want to wait forever for the new song, so we had to make a choice yesterday to get it ready in time for release.After many years of making music we've learned to be honest to yourself if you want the best result and though we would have liked to use our mix so very much, it simply was not the best out of the options. We were getting pretty far though, so if we improve our mixing skills a bit more it will not be unlikely that we will mix our own song or record in the future at some point.Anyway in the end we had two mixes wich were clearly our favorites. We let different people hear the mixes and the more people, the more opinions, but ofcourse in the end it's up to us.Our ideal mix would clearly have been a combination of these two. We liked the transparency, and vox sound of one mix best and we liked the bass guitar and angriness in other mix better.So we decided to go for the mix that fitted best with the character of the song and that was clearly the most aggressive mix done by Stefan Glaumann. Choices are always hard to make but when you do make them, they relieve you and now we can be happy and pleased with result. The song is born and will have it's own life now.Soon you will hear the end result. When …? We'll tell you very soon along with some more info about the new video and who will be next to Sharon behind the mic…Now this story has to go to press in fact I'm already 8 minutes too late…soHave a greaaaaaaaaaat smacking weekend.Till next week !
