PHOTO DIARY: IN THE STUDIO WITH TELENOVA

THE WARNING is out now!

Image: Nick McKinlay.

Australian trio, Telenova have released their sophomore album, THE WARNING. To celebrate, the band are taking us behind-the-scenes of their time spent in the studio working on the record with an exclusive photo diary.

This April, Telenova will hit the road, performing across Australia, Europe and the UK. Their local run of shows will kick off in Adelaide on April 10, and continue on to Perth, Sydney and Brisbane, before wrapping up with two Melbourne performances on May 2. Tickets are on sale now.

A great shot of Headgap studio in Preston with studio guru Finn Keane. Bloody love that man, we recorded so much stuff with him at that studio, both Time Is A Flower and The Warning. Headgap ended up burning down a year ago as the burger joint next door pulled an insurance job setting their store on fire, just remember kids, if you are gonna pull an insurance job keep in mind the collateral damage, we all love ripping off insurance companies but gotta look out for each other in the process! - Josh

For The Warning I had a whole bunch of vocal ideas I wanted to try on each song to draw out the emotion, pretty sure I’m reading through those notes in my notebook here. I was really drawn to nuances in vocal delivery and layering and mixing that change the ‘feel’ of something without necessarily drawing attention to itself - softly sung doubles and triples that sit off-kilter, using different mics (at Finn’s recommendation) to bring out different timbres and nuances in my voice for different sections of songs, panning things in weird spots, or strange ad libs that never dominate the lead but sit in the mix just loud enough to be felt. - Ange

Here I am twiddling knobs and plugging things in furiously, there’s a saying in the studio I learnt many years ago from Franc Tetaz, you always just wanna find a tone that ‘has a thing’. It can take hours of messing around, different effects pedals and different guitars, all sorts of amplifiers and microphones but when you get the magic sound that ‘has a thing’ its very special. If AI music takes over (which I truly believe it won’t) it’s a sad thought thinking that memories of working together with your band mates scrambling around madly plugging things in to make something together in a tactile way will be lost. - Josh

Here’s THE LEGEND Ange singing into a number of expensive microphones. We went DEEP (PUN ALERT) on this record with the vocals. Ange really wanted to capture the intimacy that artists like Billie Eilish inject into their vocal delivery - hence the 23 microphones. - Ed

What I like about this picture is that I’m not in it. Now that may seem odd, but it’s a testament to how this band rolls. I love some studio time, but I assume in this pic the gang were comping Ange’s vocal takes. And no one does that better than Josh and Ange. So I got a little break and no doubt used that time wisely. - Ed

Shredding on the lead bass, my favourite place in the world to be! Ange is obviously so incredibly invigorated by my playing that she couldn’t possibly stand still, makes total sense really. - Josh

A brief reprieve from the studio, always good to get a taste of the sunshine outside. I loved Headgap studio because it was deep in industrial Preston with nothing to distract us, it was very easy to focus. Good Bahn Mi not too far away which kept us going, the truck stop down the street wasn’t gourmet but if you wanted a big M you couldn’t go wrong. - Josh

Obligatory ‘artist by the mix desk’ photo that every recording artist has on file but is usually the only point they actually sat at the desk (that’s Finn’s seat!), I usually curl up in the fetal position on the floor or squat into a tiny ball and block my eyes with my hands tightly so I can hear better when we’re doing any sort of playback. - Ange

Our little visual checklist to make sure all the parts have been recorded, I think this still has mostly the demo names before we’d settled on the final song titles - kind of a fun challenge to see if anyone could pair up which song goes with which. - Ange

The boys really gave me space to go hard on the vocal production on this record - probably spent a minimum of one whole day on each song on vocals alone, other than the lead vocals you hear, I really wanted to create this whole world and ambience by stacking different layers and vocal textures - things like whispers, or different vocal deliveries but really quiet in the mix - things that aren’t necessary ‘heard’ consciously, but are ‘felt’. - Ange

Me doing my best McCartney on the cover of Let It Be. We tracked the grand piano for a few songs but actually found it sounded kinda soulless, the upright piano we had haphazardly recorded in my studio had a lot more vibe, or as I mentioned earlier, ‘it had a thing’. You really have to follow your gut and intuition, good recorded music will never be about what is technically recorded well or made in a precise studio with the most expensive equipment (most musicians definitely know this of course), it’s about the vibe dude! - Josh

Lots of different guitars and different guitar sounds on this record, here we are checking the tuning is just right (takes three people to do that REALLY well). - Ange

As aforementioned by Josh, incredible Vietnamese spot a short drive away from the studio (I’ve just remembered I must go back there) we ate Vietnamese almost everyday - Bahn Mi, Bun and THE BEST SPRING ROLLS with Finn’s homemade hot sauce. Absolutely spoilt by our engineer! Name me another brilliant studio engineer who provides home made hot sauce for the band! - Ange

Just a live shot of me laughing at something one of my hilarious band mates would have said. I remember during recording The Deep the Summer Olympics were on. This was probably a live action shot of Josh giving his lengthy insights into a new sport he’d discovered the night before. - Ed

No idea what I’m handing over to my bandmate Angeline there but I assume it’s chocolate of some kind. Consumption levels were OUT OF CONTROL during those sessions and I think it’s evident in the music. - Ed

Ah yes. My patented Eb7#9diminish chord that I like to warm up with before laying down some flames. Nothing quite gets the heart racing like that particular voicing for me. Convince me otherwise! - Ed

THE WARNING is out now!

TELENOVA ON TOUR

Tickets

FRI APR 10 – LION ARTS FACTORY, ADELAIDE (AA)*

SAT APR 11– ROSEMOUNT HOTEL, PERTH

FRI APR 17 – LIBERTY HALL, SYDNEY (AA)*

SAT APR 18 – BRIGHTSIDE OUTDOORS, BRISBANE *

SAT MAY 2 – FORUM II, MELBOURNE (U18/AA)

SAT MAY 2 – FORUM MELBOURNE

TUE 12 MAY — DE ROMA, ANTWERP, BELGIUM

WED 13 MAY — YUCA, COLOGNE, GERMANY

THU 14 MAY — TURMZIMMER ,HAMBURG, GERMANY

FRI 15 MAY — LONDON CALLING FESTIVAL , AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

SUN 17 MAY — MILLA, MUNICH, GERMANY

TUE 19 MAY — CAFÉ V LESE , PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

WED 20 MAY — PRIVATCLUB, BERLIN, GERMANY

FRI 22 MAY — SUPERSONIC, PARIS, FRANCE

SAT 23 MAY — OSLO, LONDON, UK

SUN 24 MAY — DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER, UK

THURS MAY 28 — GAZARTE, ATHENS, GREECE