Petra Vlková and Sonic Playground goes recording
It’s an early morning hour in Svárov, a village about 20 km. from Prague. From Wikipedia we can learn that “Svárov is a municipality and village in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants.”It doesn’t sound very impressive, on the contrary, it sounds like many other villages in the republic, and it is. And yet it holds a central and important role in the musical being of the whole country, i.e. Svárov Studio. A modern, professional and homey studio for recording whatever your needs are, and this of course is one of the reasons why I’m here at this hour of the day (night!). The other reason, which are actually three, is Petra Vlková and Sonic Playground, Petra Vlková (voc), Mikuláš Pokorný (p) & Libor Šmoldas (g), who have decided to take the Svárov Studios services to use. Yes it’s finally on its way, the record we’ve been waiting for so long, It’s about time!
The Sonic Playground are the first people I see in this village, and with them disappears one of my illusions, musicians are supposed to go to sleep at this hour, no? That’s what I was told anyway, and yet here they are, fresh and ready for the day’s toil, hmmmm. No, I don’t really complain since I was given the privilege to spend the first recording day with Playground in the studio, no afternoon times available I guess… 😉
Hard work
The making of a record is never easy, no matter what you hear. Before you get your mobile working and call the studio to ask for free time you need, among other things, the almighty gravy. Anybody you know who could spare some change? I didn’t think so. PSP have been working very hard on this area also, and they found themself a sponsor, IMAGINE stories s.r.o. That’s the company I and many more are very happy with, most of all PSP of course.
At first sight the studio looks like a barn, which it actually used to be, and if one had any doubts on the outside they all disappear once you cross the threshold, because then you realise why this is a studio so popular with the bands. Not only the equipment that is first class, but the whole atmosphere is something that makes you relax and feel almost like home. And this of course goes without saying, but I say it anyway, this is just as important as the equipment, if not even more.
But then again goes one of my illusions, here we are, and here is the extremely competent soundenginer, Lukáš Martinek, some say the best in Czechia, but… Where are the rest? There are no roadies, no champagne or cocktail service, the food wagon(s) probably got lost and, and… There is furniture to be moved, carpets in the wrong place, cables to be drawn, mics to be set up, all kinds of equipment to be unpacked, et.c. What is this, is this the glamor? I’m just asking, I was told something totally different, again! But seriously, there must be a totally inexplicable, a very special desire on your inside to go through with all this, because this is hard work and I, as the most of us, only see a fracture of it. Yes, everything gets done but the headcount stays at four + me who is having a really hard time staying out of the way 😁 and this all before, more or less, one single note has sounded…
But finally we are ready to start recording, which is maybe even harder work than putting the conditions in order, believe it or not.
To be continued…
