Has the Gordian knot been cut?
Who knows but some razor-sharp guitars have been re-recorded for our second song “Lizards” just some hours ago. Due to some tricky time changes in that song our (so far anonymous) drummer has to do some rehearsals before he will record the drum tracks. Meanwhile the guitar recording sessions for song four “Split Seconds” are just two days ahead.
Healthy margin for the string section, gonna have to wake up the vocalists…
That’s it for today and to quote a famous author:
So long and thanks for all the fish 
Post Category: Miscellaneous
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:16amsven
For those of you who doubt that voXager will ever create something new to listen to, here are the news (sorry for the stenographic style, but time is a precious gift these days):
- guitars for “unto the stars” have been re-recorded and drums have been played by a real drummer (nevertheless the song must be remixed before you can get a glimpse of our current status)
- guitars for “ship of lizards” will be re-recorded in a short time (this time short means really short
)
- guitars for our third song “wheel in space” are recorded (and don’t need a re-recording ), drums are nearly perfect.
- vocals for our fifth song “ship of the moon” will be delivered in a short time (hopefully and if I would be in a position to predict – they will be great), guitars need some makeup and drums are ready.
Most of all 16 songs have been composed (at least we have a draft version of each and every song), so there is enough work for us to do in the next weeks.
But the attentive listener (or reader) may have recognized that we don’t got a real bass so far on any of our samples – if you like our music and can play: feel free to join 
Post Category: Miscellaneous
August 29th, 2007 at 06:18pmsven
But if I have to go a long way anyway and can’t use the car, then you might as well bet the better half of your private parts on it that I’m not going to Tipperary. I’m gonna Betelgeuse, Begelgeuse, Betelgeuse! Now what? Where’s the little guy, and where’s Winona? Ah, man, those drugs…
However, the reason I’m writing to you today, dear Ms. Void, is because I neglected doing so for the most of two months. It’s about time to reassure you once again that voXager’s not a corpse yet (albeit some of the musicians involved are certainly close. Names remain undisclosed due to our unspecified, yet very strict, privacy policy).
Well. I thought I’d upload the work-in-progress version of another song for you. It hasn’t got much non-virtual going on yet (apart from Sven’s guitar solo), but I suppose it sounds quite alright anyway. Song 4 — working title “Split Seconds” — has one of the most brutal double-bass and shredding parts of all voXager so far, albeit you wouldn’t suspect that from the relatively quiet first part, until it jumps into your face feet first sometime after three or four minutes.
Anyways, here goes:
Have phun, stay tuned, stay drugged and remember, I’m always
Yours truly
just don’t sue me
Helge
Post Category: Making of Song #4
June 7th, 2007 at 05:43pmhelge
No! How dare you ask? Well, but if you’d just levitate over to the Download Area you’ll find a new track that wasn’t there before. See? It’s song two! Yeah! It’s still missing a few backing vocals, but since I’m not going to tell you that, you won’t notice. As usual, naturally, just a roughmix to be recorded “for real” a little later this century. I hope you’ll like it. And don’t forget — I’m
Yours truly,
don’t sue me,
Helge
Post Category: Making of Song #2
April 20th, 2007 at 12:46amhelge
In fact, alive and kicking. Well, kicking, at least
I’ve thrown out what was meant to be song #2 about a month ago, because it was too wishy-washy for the dramatic events covered in this song. After all, the story gets going for good here! Dramatic were also my enduring attempts at producing a song better fitting this place. Dramatic, albeit puny at first. I struggled with ideas, measures, tempi, melody lines and whatnot hours and hours every day for nearly a month. I would create a variation at night, and hate it the next morning. I deleted, removed and arranged frantically, and probably lost about half my scalp over this.
Until I finally came up with what you’ll find here. It is, however, not yet finished (I know, I’m repeating myself all over the place), and it’s still missing the guitars. But I have a very clear idea of where it’s going from here, some rough ideas about the vocal parts, and I’ve already started the lyrics. Have fun!
Yours truly,
don’t sue me,
Helge
Post Category: Making of Song #2
March 31st, 2007 at 03:46pmhelge
Because, dear girls, you’re going to hear it a few more times. Better save it for when it’s done! No? You’re sure? Okay. Here goes:
I’ve cleaned up the song a little from the previous version, and added a small keyboard solo (I admit to having edited the 32s in the matrix editor). I might remove it later, because I’m not so certain about it. The vocals and lyrics are, of course, still fake. I do like the melody, however, so unless the vocalists have a better idea, it’ll stay that way. Also, I temporarily suspened the chorus, but it’ll be back with a vengeance. Or just be back. However, the very calm synth part you hear in the end is intended to be the bridge/middle part and it’s not going to stay in this place. I’m going to insert another verse, and perhaps some instrumental thing right before it.
I pulled some bass from the intro part via EQ automation, because the toms were booming like mad. Afer the intro, the bass is put back in. It’s not consciously noticeable, so you’ve gotta take my word on it.
The song is not actively being worked on at the moment, though, because I recently decided to work my way through the album chronologically. So it’ll be quite some time before the next version of song 15 will appear here.
Perhaps you’d like to listen to it after all? It might be a long good-bye!
Yours truly,
don’t sue me,
Helge
Post Category: Making of Song #15
March 9th, 2007 at 02:57amhelge
Hallo liebe Freunde, Feinde und anders gesinnte! Dies ist der erste offizielle Podcast aus dem Hause Voxager, der kein Test ist Er wird diesmal präsentiert von Henny, der freundlichen Fee hinter dem Mikrofon. Viel Spaß!
Post Category: Deutsche Podcasts
March 5th, 2007 at 10:30pmhelge
This weekend I’ve just had my fits of the mixing woes. For the first time, I’ve played Unto The Stars on the stereo in my living room. While it sounds quite alright on the studio monitors, headphones, in the car, generally on smaller speakers, and even in mono, on my stereo, it sounded like a catastrophe of epic proportions. Well, perhaps not all epic, but at least like a sonic landslide that takes about a million people into the abyss.
The bass frequencies and lower mids were drowning everything in mud. Kick drum and bass were fighting bloodily like their lives depended on it, the snare hid anxiously behind the mid mud of the other instruments, and the overall high frequencies sounded like… just like most of them were on vacation in the bermuda triangle.
I realize that this must be a result of the linear frequency response on my studio monitors, and the lack thereof on my stereo. Plus a lack of experience on my part. I know for a fact, that most low to mid price stereoes are like that. They have an S-curve built into their frequency response in order to make hip-hop sound as if it were real music. So there… I could have expected that, had I just used the grey matter between my ears a little more right from the start (noticed how I call myself stupido?) Anyway.
Easy fixing, you say, right? I thought so, too. So I fired up Logic Audio and pulled some bass from the drumset, and saw to it that bass guitar and kick drums are not in each others way, frequency wise. I gave the vocals some more highs and even made them a little louder. I worked on the sound of the guitars, made them wider, and pulled the stereo master up against the limiter a little more. In short: I did two dozen things at once. Then I listened to the result on my stereo again.
Geezus frakking ghost! I almost puked. Yes, kick drum and bass weren’t fighting that much anymore, and some of the high frequencies were back from the bermudas. But everything sounded so disjoint, dull and very non-pro. Not even semi-pro anymore like it did before. So I went back to Logic Audio, and jumbled the knobs a little more. Then went back to the living room. It sounded even worse. The highs got nicer, the mids badder. I mean, worse.
I did that for three hours straight, bouncing about 20 versions from Logic Audio, listening, frowning, hissing, cursing, hoping my neighbours were not forming a lynch mob just yet, and doing it over again. And it would get worse all the time. Later that night, I’d eventually give up. I realised that, in order to get a mix that would play o.k. on my (and everyone elses) stereo, I’d have to start the mixdown procedure all over. Not just tweak here and there, but pull all faders and knobs to zero, erase the automation, and redo from start. Or else, just leave it to some pro mixing engineer in the distant future of humanity.
Then I poured myself a bourbon.
And that’s the morale of today’s story, dear boys, girls and aliens from outer space: No better sounding version of Unto The Stars for you and me just yet. Now sue me!
Post Category: Miscellaneous
February 26th, 2007 at 04:27pmhelge
Liebe Leute von heute, Schwestern von gestern, dies hier ist der nullte Podcast aus dem Hause voXager. Sicherlich noch nicht so spektakulär, wie es die folgenden Pott-Kästchen sein werden, da dies lediglich der Generaltest ist.
Immerhin wird hier aber erklärt, weshalb www.voXager.de größtenteils in englischer Sprache gehalten ist, während dabei die erste Version des Album-Intros im Hintergrund dudelt. Wenn das nicht ein Grund ist, den Podcast sofort anzuhören, weiß ich es auch nicht
Viel Spaß!
Post Category: Deutsche Podcasts
February 15th, 2007 at 09:43pmhelge
I’ve got this one lingering on my HD for a little while now, hesitating to post it. It’s very WIP — work in progress; the lyrics are only blind text, the vocals are not yet in the right place and therefore don’t match the background chords completely. I figured, however, that I promised to post all steps of the genesis of a song. So there you go. Now sue me
Post Category: Making of Song #15
February 15th, 2007 at 06:20pmhelge
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