saal 4

we rehearsed for 3 days in a rehearsal space on a fourth floor overlooking an industrial wasteland that used to be a location for porn movies - all plush red and faux-metal... everything there looks soft or shiny! there was even a poledancing pole!

we are now in the studio. this time we have the pleasure of recording in saal 4, one of the studios in the old DDR media building. it is an amazing construction on the bank of the river spree in a suberb of berlin, industrial in its past, but mostly abandoned since. most of our neighbours here don't even have windows anymore!

christian is soundchecking drums and i'm sitting in an armchair eavsdropping on headphones to the magical acoustic that this room holds... i can even hear the clicking of my computer keyboard when he goes silent! its the kind of room that i imagine spirit of eden by talk talk was recorded in :)

its a funny place, a well kitted-out studio with curtain-clad, warm-sounding wood paneling throughout and an incredible list of microphones but without the budget, it seems, for toilet-paper!!! there is only one person left alive that knows where all the fuseboxes are, and he's now 80!

earlier today, i took my camera into the sunny winters afternoon and tried to capture some of the magic... i walked along the river where the opposite bank is covered in woodland and there is a disused promenade along which i could walk; through the rounded corridors with the light softly shining through the clouded windows, clouded with years of neglect; opening doors and exploring the various studios and rooms... this was the primary point of creation and censorship during the years of the DDR - it is a really amazing place to walk around. it still has one foot in its former years of glory - the grand empty hallways and reception areas; every clock reading a different time; leaves that blew through the windows and doors that don't quite close anymore... i emptied the last of my film and hope to get a chance to pick up some more and continue the fairytale that i was wandering!

now that night has fallen, the building has become the kind of place that makes people afraid... not me, though - i'm strong!!!