ToneHills Studio

09/08/2023

Red Ravyn has now released 2 of the 3 songs that had their drums recorded right here by Erkka Korhonen. Check out the link on the first comment!

We will work on more Red Ravyn material soon and this time it will have more of our sound besides the drum recording... Stay tuned!!!

13/06/2023

Drummer extraordinaire Mirka Leka Rantanen came to a session today. We’re recording stuff for Red Ravyn feat. Mark Boals, Jay Lewis and Marko Pukkila’s Kiss My Covers -project!!! Soon these projects will enjoy our famous drum sound…

Our own Erkka Korhonen handled the engineering!

Black Lion Audio Avid Warm Audio Solid State Logic (SSL)

06/02/2023

Drumtech extraordinaire Jarkko Piipari (Nightwish, Raskasta Joulua) gettin our pdp drums kit ready for a sessio that starts today. Spring dates are booked fast, book your session quickly to get the drum sound that legendary mixing engineer Jesse Vainio called ”everything he could ever hope for”!

We will naturally arrange drumtech services to all our clients when necessary.

29/11/2022

ToneHills Studio wants to congratulate Raskasta Joulua for conquering the n:o 1 spot on the Finnish physical album chart and n:o 7 on the main album chart with their latest album "Viides Adventti"!!! Also, their 2013 self-titled album made a comeback to the chart at n:0 48!

ToneHills Studio has been proud to be a huge part of these albums since 2013. Most of the production (including drums) and mixing for all of the albums during that period have been done here. Here are some stats:

Raskasta Joulua (2013) - Triple platinum in Finland
Raskasta Joulua 2 (2014) - Platinum in Finland
Raskasta Joulua - Tulkoon Joulu - Akustisesti (2015) - Gold in Finland
Raskasta Joulua IV (2017) - Gold in Finland

https://www.ifpi.fi/lista/fyysiset-albumit/2022/47/

Check out the entire album here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/3TUMe45nFPpsdOuMHH048s?si=8CxyJPSSRfG-YnX6Nr9M0Q

https://music.apple.com/fi/album/viides-adventti/1653170647

Also, check out the beautiful video for "Kehtolaulu", the link is in the first comment.

Do you want this same sound quality for yourself? Contact us for more info!!!

Album · 2022 · 10 Songs

21/07/2022

Bernie Shaw from Uriah Heep and Mirka Leka Rantanen stopped by to record lead vocals for the next Circus Of Rock album. Erkka Korhonen took care of the engineering. We're truly honored to have such a rock legend visiting us and he sang great!!!

Bernie's signal path consisted of a RØDE Microphones NTK tube mic and a Black Lion Audio Auteur MK2 preamp into our BLA FM192 converters. No additional processing was used in the signal path.

Make sure to check the album out!

23/05/2022

Mirka Leka Rantanen and Circus Of Rock came by to capture our famous drum sound!!!

All drums for the next Circus Of Rock album recorded at ToneHills Studio
Here we go boys and girls!

17/04/2022

It looks like our gear list is too long for the info page, so here's the entire list. We update it whenever necessary, especially the plug-in list keeps expanding and we might not keep up with it...

Our gear (UPDATED 24.02.2023):

Analog summing:

Solid State Logic (SSL) Sigma Delta (32 inputs into 16 fully automated stereo/mono channels, automated master section and 2 separate mix busses)

Preamp/Mixing console:

Soundcraft DC-2000 24ch (48 inputs in mixdown)

Recording system:

Apple Mac Pro 4.1 (modified to 5.1) 2.93 GHz 12-core 64 GB RAM, Radeon RX 560 4 GB graphics, OS X 10.15.7 (Catalina, yep, you read correctly!!!) w/SSD hard drives for system, audio and samples and Samsung 32" UHD (5k) -display
AVID Pro Tools Ultimate HDX1 2023.6 with 36i/40o
Black Lion Audio FM192 XB Recording Interface (8i/16o)
Black Lion Audio FM192 FM Recording Interface (8i/16o)
Digidesign 192 Recording Interface (16i/8o, modified in 2022)
2x Digidesign 192 Recording Interface 8i/8o (spares/modified and installed in the future)
Black Lion Audio Sparrow MK2 White Stereo ADC
Black Lion Audio Sparrow MK2 Red Stereo ADC

DAW Control:

Solid State Logic UF8

Monitoring:

Tannoy Reveal 6 w/Primacoustic Recoil Studio Monitor Stabilizers

Preamps:

Black Lion Audio B173 (Neve 1073 -style)
Black Lion Audio B12A MK2 (Api 512 -style)
Black Lion Audio Auteur Mk2 (2 channels)
Warm Audio WA273 (2 channels Neve 1073 -style)
Soundcraft x24

Microphones:

Avantone
Shure
BeyerDynamic
Sennheiser
Audix
EV
Röde
Behringer
T-Bone
AKG

Processing:

Empirical Labs Fatso
Black Lion Audio Seventeen F.E.T. Limiting Amplifier
Black Lion Audio B172A Dual FET/Optical Compressor ("La-2a and 1176 in the same box")
Eventide H3000 D/SE Dynamic Ultra-Harmonizer
Klark Teknik 1176-KT Limiting Amplifier (2)
Klark Teknik KT-2A Leveling Amplifier (Modified with Black Lion Audio T4BLA Optocell)
Aphex Studio Dominator Multiband Limiter
Behringer Ultrafex Pro Enhancer
Yamaha SPX90 Multi-effects
Rocktron Intellifex LTD Multi-effects
Lexicon MPX G2 Multi-Effects
Two Notes Torpedo Live Speaker Emulator/Digital Load Box
Palmer PDI-03 Speaker Emulator/Load Box

DI-Boxes and misc:

Radial Engineering J48 Direct Box (2)
Radial Engineering Mix 2:1 Mic Summing Box
Radial Engineering Pro RMP Studio Reamper
HBE Bytchyn' Swytchyn' Guitar A/B/C box & signal splitter
THD Hot Plate 8 ohm Tube Amp Power Attenuator & Load Box
2x Lehle ISO Isolation Transformers
Lehle P-Split

Plug-In -effects and software instruments:

Universal Audio UAD-2 Octo card and a Satellite Duo & 2x Quad FireWire accelerators (a total of 18 cores) w/following plug-ins:
- 1176 Classic Limiter Collection
- Ampeg SVT-VR
- Ampeg SVTVR Classic
- AMS RMX16 Expanded Digital Reverb
- API 2500 Stereo Bus Compressor
- API Vision Channel Strip
- Brigade Chorus Pedal
- Cambridge Eq
- Capitol Chambers Reverb
- dbx 160
- DreamVerb Room Modeler
- Dytronics® Tri-Stereo Chorus
- Empirical Labs Distressor
- EMT® 140 Classic Plate Reverberator
- EMT 250
- Fairchild Tube Limiter Collection
- Fairchild Plug-In
- FATSO
- Helios Type 69 EQ
- Lexicon 224
- Lexicon 480L Digital Reverb and Effects
- Marshall Plexi Classic
- Neve 1073 / 1073SE Classic Console EQ
- Neve 1081 / 1081SE Classic Console EQ
- Neve 33609 / 33609SE Compressor
- Neve® 88RS Channel Strip Collection
- Neve® 88RS Legacy Channel Strip
- Ocean Way Studios
- Precision Buss Compressor
- Precision Enhancer Hz
- Precision EQ
- Precision Limiter
- Precision Mix Rack Collection
- Pultec Passive EQ Collection
- Pultec EQP-1A Legacy
- Pultec Pro EQ Legacy
- Raw (Pro-co Rat)
- RealVerb-Pro Plug-In
- Roland CE-1 Plug-In
- SPL Transient Designer
- SPL Vitalizer MK2-T
- SSL 4000 E Channel Strip Collection
- Studer® A800 Multichannel Tape Recorder
- Studio D Chorus Plug-In
- Teletronix® LA-2A Leveler Collection
- UA 610-B Tube Preamp and EQ Plug-In
- UAD 4K Buss Compressor
- UREI LA-3A Audio Leveler

Brainworx Concole N
Brainworx Console SSL 4000 E
Brainworx Console SSL 4000 G
Brainworx Console SSL 9000 J
Brainworx Digital V3
Lindell Audio 6X-500
Plugin Alliance Free Plug-ins
Izotope RX8
SSL Fusion Stereo Image
SSL Vocalstrip
SSL Drumstrip
FabFilter Pro-Q 3 Equalizer
Three-Body Technology Kirchhoff-EQ
Waves Platinum Bundle
Waves SSL 4000 collection
Waves CLA Classic Compressors
Waves H-Eq Hybrid Equalizer
Waves C6 Multiband Compressor
Waves F6 Dynamic Equalizer
Waves Abbey Road Plates Reverb
Waves Torque
Waves NLS Non-Linear Summer
Antares Autotune Pro
Eventide H3000 Factory Bundle
Eventide UltraChannel
Soundtoys Echoboy
Avid Pro Tools HD Included plug-ins, virtual instruments and Upgrade Plan bonus plug-ins
Avid Focusrite d2/d3
Avid Reel Tape Suite
Avid Pro Compressor
Avid Pro Expander
Avid Voce Bundle
Avid Classic Compressors Bundle
Avid Pro Subharmonic
Avid Reverb One
Avid Moogerfooger Bundle
Avid Smack!
Avid Pro Limiter
Avid Sound Replacer
Avid Pro Multiband Dynamics
Avid ReVibe 2
Avid Space
Avid X-Form
Avid Tel-Ray Variable Delay
Avid Cosmonaut Voice
Avid Eleven MK2
Avid Falcon
Neural DSP: Archetype Abasi, Archetype Cory Wong, Archetype Nolly, Archetype Petrucci, Archetype Plini, Darkglass Ultra, Fortin Cali Suite, Fortin Nameless Suite, Fortin NTS Suite, Omega Ampworks Granophyre, Parallax.
Arturia V Collection 9
Synchro Arts Vocalign Project 5
Toontrack EZkeys 3 w/Studio Grand
Toontrack Superior Drummer 3 w/the following SDX: The Rock Foundry (Bob Rock), Decades (Al Schmitt), Avatar N.Y, The Rock Warehouse (Randy Staub), Orchestral Percussion. EZX: Rock Solid, Pop/Rock, DFH, Nashville, Classic, Latin Percussion)

Headphones:

BeyerDynamic DT 1990 Pro, DT770, DT250, DT860
Sony
Vic Firth

Backline:

PDP Drum Kit, Sabian AAX Cymbals

Hartke Bass Head + Cab

Bogner Ecstasy 101b Guitar Head + Cab
Bogner Überschall Guitar Head + Cab
Bogner Goldfinger 54 Phi Guitar Combo
Jet City 100 Guitar Head (Designed by Michael Soldano and modified to an SLO100 by Lassi Ukkonen)
Marshall 2555X 25th Anniversary 100/50W Guitar Head
Mesa/Boogie Mark III Simul-Class Head (Green stripe)
Mesa/Boogie JP2C John Petrucci Signature Guitar Head (Owned by Teemu Mäntysaari)
Laney Chrome-O-Zone 30w Tube Combo (Each channel modified by Lassi Ukkonen)
Neural DSP Quad Cortex
VHT 2/50/2 Tube Power Amp
70's Marshall 4x12 Guitar cab (Celestion G12M25 Goldback)
80's Marshall Model 1936 JCM800 2x12 Guitar Cab (One Celestion G12T changed to a Vintage 30)
Effect pedals: Fractal Audio, Lexicon, Rocktron, TC Electronic, Bogner, Friedman, Source Audio, Mad Professor, Xotic, Lovepedal, Digitech, Custom Audio Electronics, Earthquaker Designs, Fulltone, BBE, Line6, Ibanez, MXR, Danelectro, MI FX, Boss, DOD, Behringer...

Instruments:

Fazer upright piano w/Yamaha hardware
Korg M1 Keyboard
Roland A-33 Master Keyboard

Fender Jazz Bass
Harley Benton 5-string Bass
Harley Benton Beat Bass (Violin Bass Copy)

ESP Custom Shop Eclipse FR "EK-1"
ESP Custom Shop "T-Stag" Tele-style
ESP Custom Shop "T-Stag II" Tele-style w/tremolo
Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Elegant
Tokai Les Paul (2)
ESP Eclipse 2 FM
ESP/LTD Eclipse w/Floyd Rose
ESP/LTD EC1000
ESP Eclipse 1
ESP/LTD GL-200 George Lynch "Kamikaze" w/Floyd Rose
Tokai Stratocaster (Alder body, rosewood fingerboard)
Warmoth Stratocaster (Samp ash body, 1-piece maple neck)
Carvin SH225 Semi-acoustic
Larrivée L03 Acoustic
Tanglewood TSR-1 Acoustic
Manuel Rodriguez FF Sabicas Cutaway Boca Mr Nylon-string Flamenco guitar
Martin/Sigma Acoustic Guitar in Nashville tuning
Tanglewood Resonator Guitar
Mikko Laakkonen Custom Tele-style
ESP/LTD VB-400 Baritone
ESP/LTD Phoenix-7 Baritone "Black Metal" :D

Assorted percussion instruments

17/04/2022

This is one of the many, many songs produced, recorded (for the most part) and mixed at ToneHills Studio.

Mastering by the great Svante Forsbäck at Chartmakers West.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa9WiNJzHIs

Stars by Raskasta JouluaOriginal track by Hear 'n Aid (PolyGram Records 1986)Vocalists (in order of appearance):Marko Hietala (Nightwish)Tony Kakko – Harmony...

15/06/2021

Tools are meant to be used, but enough is enough.

Meme credit Kimmo Ahola

06/05/2021

Check out the new King Company lyric video, "Dangerous Tonight" right here (or, actually in the first comment)!!! The cool thing is that the drums for their forthcoming album were recorded right here at ToneHills Studio by Tero Kostermaa with the aid of Erkka Korhonen. Legendary mixing engineer Jesse Vainio who mixed the album called the drum sound "everything I could ask for"...

The drums are usually the process on a production that requires the biggest amount of inputs, preamps and converters. We've proved that you can make a world-class drum sound here without breaking your bank. Book your drum session NOW for only €100 a day (VAT 0%, no engineer included)!!! We also have a big network of great drummers that we can use in sessions if you want to book a drummer as well. Another option is to send us your programmed drums or "garage" recording tracks and we can blast them into our live rooms through a PA system and record the ambience!

The choice is yours.

AOR Heaven Black Lion Audio Avid Solid State Logic (SSL) msonic oy Nordic Audio Distribution - NAD

05/05/2021

05/05/2021

"Talonmiehemme" Erkka Korhonen sai tällaista palautetta miksauksestaan eilen, kyseessä on erittäin menestynyt suomalainen tuottaja, jolla on yli 40-vuotinen ura:

"Tää on loistava!!!

Syy: stydi ja pullea yleissaundi, kitarat eritoten, loistavat virveli ja basarisaundit, köörit on komeesti framilla ja parasta: paksun massan päällä vocal on täysin helposti seurattavissa ja hallitsee kuitenkin koko massaa, laulun tila upee eli koko erottelu on ihan unbelievable. Nyt on ammattimies hanikoissa eli Erkka mukavuusalueensa ytimessä. Mulla ei oo mitään muutostoiveita. Tää oli komeeta kuultavaa, helvata!!

Tulipa hyvä fiilis!!"

Mitä siis enää odotat? Jos haluat saada samat fiilikset niin tuo tai lähetä biisisi meille miksattavaksi!!!

IN ENGLISH:

Our In-house guy Erkka Korhonen received this feedback about a mix he did yesterday, this is coming from a very successful Finnish producer with a career spanning more than 40 years:

"This is great !!!

The reason: strong and thick general sound, guitars in particular, great snare and kick sounds, the backing vocals are boldly present and best of all: on the thick mass the vocal is completely easy to follow and still controls the entire mass, the space of the vocal is great and the entire separation is unbelievable. Now we have a pro guy mixing, Erkka is at the heart of his comfort zone. I don't want any changes. This was great to hear, damn it!!

This made me feel good!! "

So what are you waiting for? If you want to feel the same, then bring or send your song to us for mixing!!!

Black Lion Audio Solid State Logic (SSL) msonic oy Nordic Audio Distribution - NAD Avid Primacoustic Tannoy Eventide Audio Empirical Labs, Inc.