One on One with Paavo Lötjönen and Mikko Sirén of Apocalyptica
Following our recent One on One interview with Eicca Toppinen of Apocalyptica, we visited co-founder Paavo Lötjönen and drummer Mikko Sirén in the band’s rehearsal room, located within Helsinki’s famous Cable Factory cultural hub.
In a broad ranging interview, the pair discuss the challenges of touring the world and the prospect of an upcoming ninth album from the ground-breaking cello metal band.
The recording process has, they agree, “changed a lot – in the past you recorded them by yourself in small studios and then you mixed it and you were kind of behind the mix engineer driving him nuts like ‘be louder!’” According to Sirén, the band needed to find a “system for how we could take part in the mix”.
Accordingly, the rehearsal room is equipped with a Genelec monitoring system based on Genelec’s The Ones. As in Toppinen’s home studio, Genelec Loudspeaker Manager (GLM™) and AutoCal have played key roles in ensuring the band sound their best. “The cool thing about this is the DSP system where you can calibrate the speakers to fit into this specific room,” says Sirén. “Even though the room is good there are still dips and with this system we can get those under control and make the listening conditions optimal.” Lötjönen concludes: “We don’t need to guess anymore”.
