Mika Jussila

 I'm a professional photographer, because I get payed from my shots. Still I'm wondering about some procedures and customs in this business.

 

I started photographing by visiting on the gigs and concerts of my friends. I asked a permission to photoshoot and maybe a backstage access too. I gave my photos to the band members for personal usage as a favor of their hospitality. I got first complaints after refusing to give my photos for free to third part companies for commercials. I was blamed to be ungrateful and greedy. I continued photographing and giving images to artists for personal use, facebook and web sites. Some shots ended up with my permission to press releases and event pages. Second complaints came for giving photos for free and dumping the prices of professionals. Whatever I did, it went wrong!

 

I continued undaunted. People liked those shots, especially artists and bands. Finally my photos were also released in newspapers, magazines, album covers and books. I sent invoices and got decent compensation of my work. Suddenly images began to emerge in third part releases without my permission or even without me knowing after spreading somehow to record labels and managing companies. Third complaints came from this direction after asking my pay-offs. These companies interpreted the compensation to be unfounded because they assumed my photos were freely available.

 

Few days ago I visited to greet friends at Hard Rock Cafe Helsinki. Amorphis got a deserved tribute when one guitar of Esa Holopainen was chosen to a HRC worldwide collection. Surprisingly there were no press photographer present even photos of the event had already been asked in advance. I had my camera with me as usual and took few shots of Amorphis guys posing with this guitar on the wall. After festivity I got several contacts from the biggest media concerns asking for these photos. After announcing my terms, credits with a release and few tenners for my efforts, silence fell upon the lines and photos ended up only in my own social media. In other words the biggest media corporations won't pay a dime for a fresh news-photo instead of using an old promo which is free of charge.

 

I don't generalize because there are partners that collaborates well. Fortunately I still get payed of mastering because most of my earnings comes from Finnvox Studios. But I'm truly worried about the situation in photo business and I don't understand at what point everything has turned so upside down?

 

We have a party coming up in Finnvox. SSL mixing concole in C-Studio becomes 25-years.

http://www.finnvox.fi/en/diary/142-c-studion-ssl-25-vuotta

 

Finally I got my all-time mastering lists updated. I have done 3430 CD albums during these years. 1224 of those albums are heavy, metal or hard rock. I have worked with 1859 different artists and I have had 583 companies as my clients… and notice, all independent customers I count as one client.

This year will surely be hectic. As a part owner of Finnvox studios and after renovation of my mastering unit my motivation is on maximum. I’m so thrilled about this work of mine. More than half of my clients come from abroad and it’s a growing flock on my lists. The word is spreading all over.

I got around ten gold- and platinum records last year. Warmest thanks go at least to Nightwish, Nuclear Blast, Sakara Records and Universal Music. Already the first days of January will be busy. There will be Stone, Finntroll, Stormlord, Visions Of Atlantis, Dignity and Kotiteollisuus waiting on the line. I’m also waiting for a verification of a really important mastering job for me. I will sure tell you more about this afterwards.

I have been more than lazy to write in this blog of mine. Short and fast facebook updates are getting all of my attention. Anyway it’s good that those fb-updates are seen on this front page too. Most of the latest photos are also uploaded to facebook side but I will try to get a grip on putting those also here soon.

Stamina’s Nocebo – the best album of this year? This band is worth checking even though one didn’t like obstreperous metal or understand Finnish at all. How is it possible that from Lemi, a commune of 3000 inhabitants, comes 5 young virtuosos to play in a band? They have lots of talent in song writing and they have created a unique style of their own. A sense of humour is an essential part in their records and live performances. Joe Barresi, the producer of Nocebo, grabbed some nuances out of the guys that I didn’t even believe to be found. After all he was absolutely the right Joe to guide this bunch of brutal savages. Check out the photos from last summer’s Sonisphere festival.

Recently I have several times been asked my opinion about final countd… no no, vinyl comeback - anyway it’s just the same, shit and crap. Let’s make it clear now. Vinyl is not coming back anyway, anyhow, anywhere. If only tens or maximum hundreds of vinyls are sold we can only talk about customer service and that’s ok. The sound of vinyl is not better than in CD. That’s the fact. It’s limited and narrow, cut from the high and low and always distorted and including distraction caused by mechanical playback. There are also too many questionable elements such as dirty or used stylus, lousy cartridge, greasy stains (margarine, jam, red wine), scratches, wrong rpm and eccentric perforation. Personally I only miss the fine artwork and easy storing. Vinyl LP’s are collectible, but they are not rescuing music industry. They belong to last century and now it should be time to look into the future.

Last summer was one of the busiest periods of my career as a photographer. I have not counted the number of single shots but there must have been over a thousand of them. After eliminating the roughest and mastering the best ones, I have to choose the most suitable ones for my website. The amount of work is immense. If anyone paid me for the hours I work with my photographs I would be happy. But there are a lot of other things I have to get done in my life than only mastering… whether it is photographs or music.

The fine tuning and trimming of the new Nightwish album has ended at last. Holopainen, Kinnunen and Karmila got all the tracks of the forthcoming Imaginaerum mixed and several test masterings were done during summertime. There are no words to tell what kind of a musical firework the album will be. After the previous record I pointed out to the band that it will be a mission impossible to outreach the perfect Dark Passion Play album – how wrong was I. It’s a pity how long all the fans have to wait to hear and feel the same that I have. And I’m not making the case any easier by flattering and praising Imaginaerum to be the best of its kind because it will be something no one has ever done before. Personally I hope the longest possible career to Nightwish because every member of the band has the unique honesty, down-to-earth mentality and frankness. They have deserved all the glory they have got!
 

In the end of May we had a listening session at Finnvox together with the band (without Anette), Karmila, Kinnunen and Stobe Harju & Petri Alanko working on the movie score. Tuomas brought some champagne and I took care of some salty and sweet snacks. After stunning and dead-dropping experience we headed off to a tight and exciting bowling match Nightwish against technicians. Using some irregular and violative arrangements in their team Nightwish won the competition. Unfortunately the anti-doping committee was not visiting on their track. Post mortem of the bowl game were forgotten during Lappish dinner in the centre of Helsinki, only without the guitar hobbit whose diet included only liquid nourishment.

On September 7^th 2011 a tragic death accident happened in the misty and shady Berlin. On the bar counter of the Finnish stand I lit a candle in the memory of the annual Popkomm music business market. The final destiny of the suddenly died event were long gone visitors, missing important agonists and all-mighty pessimism against events like this. The deceased is missed by the whole international music business, although no one will admit that out loud. It’s too risky to be on the loser’s side. Before laying flowers on the coffin I will say a few words in the following epitaph.

It’s been too long time from my latest update. I’ve been working hard with the chronicle of a floorball team I coached over eight years and that’s why all other news have been left in background. But what has happened during the very busy spring time? The most remarkable news must be that I have been taken a part owner of Finnvox Studios! Our main owner offered Risto, Pauli and me a possibility to purchase one third of Finnvox shares. And now we share the risk of owning a music studio. 

In mastering the spring has been a busy period as usual. The fast growing number of foreign customers is really pleasing me, especially the active Italians. My deepest thanks go to Corvi Wahoomy from Real Sound Studio. Wao has kept me busy every now and then. If you are interested in names and bands you will find updated lists from here. Also a notable thing is that some of my photographs have found their way to CD covers, for example Killing Joke, Viikate and Kolmas Nainen.

The annual Midem Music convention 2011 held in Cannes, France was my seventh participation in a row. Although it is nice to leave the cold, snow and darkness behind and travel to the sunny and warm Riviera, I feel it’s also important to take part in promotion, marketing and sales of Finnish popular music abroad organized by Music Export Finland. By participating I announce the seriousness of the intent of Finnvox to expand its international business and sales and also spread our customer base beyond our national borders. The Midem Music convention is a great opportunity to meet international customers as well as possibly forming some new contacts. It’s a great place to see other Finnish players in the business, with almost all being at the same place at the same time.

 

Sorry Folks, this joke won't open at all in english so you can only enjoy it in finnish!

Tässä sisällissodan nuori veteraani tienaa laihaa leipäänsä ja tilkkaa punkkua jossain lännen takamailla vuonna 1877 soittamalla säveltämäänsä Yankee doodle diddle day, the darkest passion play -näytelmämusiikkia savuisessa saluunassa kokoajan henkensä puolesta peläten luotien viuhuessa ohi korvien aina silloin tällöin kun joku juopuneista juottolan asiakkaista ei tykkää pianistin moderneista otteista ja liian radikaaleista sävellyksistä joiden sanoituksissa kerrottaisiin menninkäisistä ja velhoista ja salaperäisistä maista jossain kaukana jos vaan joku laulaisi. Kritiikistä lannistumaton kanttori painaa menemään hurjia sormijuoksutuksiaan juuri suuresta idän kaupungista postivaunujen mukanaan tuomalla Korg kapakkapianollaan joka sen ajan lännen villeillä kultamailla on herättänyt paitsi kulkukoirat kuistien alta niin myös kummastusta ja närää kylän muissa pelimanneissa jotka eivät osaa sooloja soittaa eikä vanhat instrumenttinsa juuri vireissä pysy vaan tästä vähät välittämättä peloton urkuriuros antaa sielunsa vaeltaa ja lataa soittoonsa entistä enemmän tunnetta eikä sitä liikoja säästele edes esiintymisen loppuhuipennukseen joka yleensä johtaa valtaisaan kapakkatappeluun ja silmittömään ammuskeluun jonka jaloista juuri ja juuri takaovesta karkuun päässeenä hiljainen kanttori alkaa keskittymään jo seuraavan päivän esiintymiseensä aina vaan haaveillen vielä jonakin päivänä soittavansa omia nokkelia kipaleitaan suurilla estradeilla ja jopa Euroopan vanhalla mantereella... Lontoossa ja Pariisissa kenties

Good grief it’s been a long time since I wrote last time! It was an extremely busy summer not only in mastering but also relaxing on my vacation... Well, busy while relaxing? Yes, I ”mastered” over 1000 photographs taken from the gigs in spring and summer but haven’t had enough time to choose the best ones to put into my web site. Also it was just too hot in Finland this summer that you couldn’t use your brain without sweating around. So the updating was left here in the autumn.

I had not really began my holidays when I received a mail from Universal Music Group asking me to master the new Killing Joke album because they were happy with the EP I mastered earlier. Work was supposed to be done ”already tomorrow, please”. I kindly asked for a few extra days of mercy to get back to the studio because I was 400 kilometres away from Finnvox in the middle of extraordinary hot Karelian summer. You can only guess was that OK! How the hell are people booking mastering dates in central Europe, especially in summer time? With one hour advance notice?

Let’s update some news from the darkness of the studio. It’s been a busy spring in mastering frontline. Number of foreign clients has happily increased all the time. The always active Spanish metalworkers have kept me really busy. Therefore I put a map of Spain on the studio wall and I will thumb a pin to the home town of every new band after finalizing the mastering. This way I will get a view of where my Hispanic clients come from. After getting this updated there will be over a hundred needles on the map.

The next pincushion I should put on the wall is the map of Italy. The number of Italian clients is running fast after the Spaniards. I’m expecting a large growth of all foreign contacts in near future because all kind of files are moving fast in the internet and therefore it won’t be necessary for a band to be present during mastering process. For same reason I have began to offer more interactive mastering where the mixing and mastering is going hand in hand, so the goal of successful result is more possible at both ends.

A lot of interesting live gigs to photograph have taken place in spring. I have been a bit lazy mastering these photos but soon they will be in the photography section. There will soon appear Stam1na and Amorphis from Nosturi, Backyard Babies, Tarot, Mokoma and Michael Monroe from Tavastia. About Michael’s band... It was more than delightful to meet my old school mate Sami Yaffa after so many years. I can’t remember us meeting more than once during all these rock’n’roll years. Sami left from school to first join Pelle Miljoona and then Hanoi Rocks and I went to Finnvox and mastered many Hanoi Rocks albums but never ran into Sami those days. It has been a miracle we have not worked together thinking of how many projects Sami has been in. Hopefully we can fix this shortcoming as soon as possible.

Our house band at home took a giant step to more professional direction. Finally I got organised a real drum kit to Niklas and not just any drum kit but a real legendary instrument from two great legendary drummers. We picked up the set itself from the Children of Bodom rehearsal mansion where maesto Jaska Raatikainen himself first showed us the secret of piecing together all hundreds of parts of his spare set. For reference Niku also took a taste of Jaska’s real drum kit. Under the staring eyes of all Bodom guys we packed up and left them raging their reaper metal – have to say – in a most functional rehearsal room we’ve seen. Now this drum kit combined to previously received cymbal package sponsored by Jukka Nevalainen from Nightwish we finally got ourselves a Pearl Children Of Nightwish drum kit for more professional rehearsing. It is a unique feeling to sit behind this instrument – thanks to these two great heavy metal persons.

Talking about Nightwish… I managed to organize a luxurious villa from Porkkala for Tuomas Holopainen and Tero Kinnunen to rent for recording demos of the next Nightwish album. I suspected their session to be exhausting so I also decided to help these musicians by feeding them one evening with self made four course dinner. At the same time I had the possibility to hear some achievements of these demo recordings and feel the good vibrations of some new tracks. I can hardly wait…

Floorball news are normally readable only in Finnish but I have to mention that few people can reach a championship of any sport during their lifetime. Niklas and I can because our team Espoon Oilers NG94 won that desirable title in C-junior series in season 2009-2010. You can only imagine the value of that title if you are even a bit keen on sports. After many years of hard work, after a long and though season and after a last game in the finals when you realise that you have reached the gold and won the championship, you can’t describe that feeling in any words. If I as a helping hand and assistant to our head coach can get such a high flying kicks from the title, I can only imagine how the players are feeling after all. I have now been eight years in Oilers’ organisation helping these ’94ers to learn and play and during that period I have achieved 22 medals with these boys. In next season this best team is splitting up and new teams are formed but I’m going to be cooking there again by giving my backup. I hope Niku will go strong and play successfully again and together we can achieve more cups and medals in the future in this great sport and hobby of ours.

2009, my 25th year of mastering was musically interesting. It sure is unfair to mention just a few of the most exciting albums but let’s say that no bad album has been mastered last year. To mention some that I will definately remember were Skyforger by Amorphis, Kuu Kaakon Yllä by Viikate, Nifelvind by Finntroll, Buck The Odds by Peer Günt and Aio by Metsatöll. The title of the Finntroll album seems to have changed after mastering. Also the title of the intro has changed. I liked more Henu’s proposal WTF LOL CONAN.

In addition to the artists mentioned above my iPod is filled with foreign acts such as Dulcamara, Rhesus, Ed-Äke, Stoned Machine, Vitaimana, Unsoled, Tyr, Mortemia, Alioth. Dark Horizon, Bleed Out, Liquid Graveyard, EnBlanco, Rather Unwise, The Foreshadowing, The Punishers and The Way Of Purity.

What ever... that’s part of the work history, only music will remain alive. The beginning of the new mastering decade could not have been more thrilling than it has been so far. Or what do you think about bands like Stam1na, Viikate, Mokoma (all these mixed by Miitri Aaltonen - respect my man!), Parasite City, Amorphis, Kivimetsän Druidi, Tarot and Kotiteollisuus. I’m proud of the fact that an older count like I am can still get so excited about new bands and their fresh albums. Kotiteollisuus has done a track to Killing Joke’s tribute album. There are a few other much awaited versions of that British new wave post punk anchour... for example Metallica and Foo Fighters... but I’m pretty sure that our KT will knock out all others.

Amorphis is showing to everybody in their becoming live DVD that at the moment they are the best band in the world... making perfect albums and playing killer gigs alive. To prove I’m right, just check the photos from that recorded gig from Teatria, Oulu.

At the change of the decade the total amount of my album masterings reached 3100 units and a total of 1000 metal/hard rock album masterings became real. With this number of metal albums maybe I should apply to work at the British steel?!

In the frontline of photography many hours have been spent. Evidence will be uploaded on the site once pics have been mastered. Amorphis and The 69 Eyes will be accompanied by at least Kotiteollisuus, HIM, Ajattara, Kolmas Nainen, Stratovarius and Backyard Babies. These Neanderthalic baboon look-a-like Swedes chose some of my photos taken from the last Tavastia gig to their recently released 20th anniversary photo book named Them XX... and I couldn’t be more proud of that! It’s been great to have so hectic time in the photography shooting gallery even after Nightwish ended their world tour. I almost got used to shooting, meeting and enjoying the hospitality of the band and crew every couple of months around the Europe.

I wonder what is happening with Finnvox in the future… When music business is struggling and everybody is crying about the financial crisis, Finnvox is getting bigger by building more studios. Mikko Oinonen who joined the staff last year came to the house with clean ears, bright eyes and fresh ideas and has already taken some responsibility in the development of the 45 year-old institute. More of these news will be announced in the Finnvox web site soon.

I’d advice to you take a minute to check out the updated all- and metallists from the Music section. There might still be some changes to them later, but Johan and I did a massive job joining the lists together and it took us the whole summer! Every artist, album and record company have been checked as well. As a nice add there is also a list of record company clients and their huge number ({fabrik view=element table=15 rowid=1 element=a_count_records_view___record_companies}) surprised even myself. Please notice that independent clients (self expense) are counted as one client. The metal masterings are getting close to a thousand albums ({fabrik view=element table=15 rowid=1 element=a_count_records_view___metal_albums}), so I will get back to the lists at the latest by then.

There are also new pictures uploaded in the Photography section. There are more pictures of the Highest Star of all hair propellers and his Godlike Machine acomppaning him. The Amorphis pictures taken from their Nosturi-gig will probably soon be joined by pictures from their other gigs around Finland. It is always great to shoot this band when the show is led by a singer with an insane amount of charisma and attitude. This reminded me, I’m planning to go immortalize The 69 Eyes gigs that are coming up as well.

There are also news from the floorball world. Oilers NG94 has ploughed their way to the Finnish National series. You can find more floorball news in the Floorball section... but sorry, only in finnish.

I recently noticed that for some reason the pictures of Nightwish's Ruisrock performance in 2008 had  not yet been added. They are my personal favourite Nightwish pictures, together with the shots from Lorca Rock, because I got to roam around on stage with my camera and got also a different stage angle. On top of that, the summer night in Turku was exceptionally beautiful that Friday and gave me a great lighting to the pictures. Some older shots added are Backyard Babies, December 2008 from Tavastia. I had the honor to hand over the pictures personally to the band members at Kivenlahti Rock in Espoo in the beginning of the summer. These guys were true rockers as well as laid back and fun guys to hang out with. The third folder added from 2008 is from Berlin in the autumn. I went there for the Popkomm convention, but I also got to see Lordi's gig, as well as the Ramones museum, not forgetting about the Sturm Und Drang pictures that have their own folder.

The pictures from Nightwish's Brussels and Rotterdam gigs that have been out for some time already are now accompanied by pictures from their support acts. Both pictures from Pain lead by Peter Täggtgren and the finnish band Indica are from the gig's mentioned above where they were playing as support acts.

From Finnish concerts there are pictures from Tavastia from the end of the spring when Kotiteollisuus took over the stage, accompanied by the Count of Kitee and his keyboards. Even if he is a familiar face in front of the camera it was nice to see him in the midst of some uglier brutes for once.

The last pictures added this time are some Junior Football pictures from a summery Helsinki as well as some already well-known sunset pictures from Kesälahti, Karelia. The football shots are to practice taking "fast-paste sport pictures" and the sunset shots from Mäntyranta, Kesälahti are from my holiday, These views from Puruvesi shows the contrast between the busy everyday life in the mastering studio and the well-earned holiday where I can recharge. I am completely addicted to my holiday there! Besides, there has never been two sunsets that look the same in Kesälahti!

This summer in Karelia ended in Nightwish's gig in Olavinlinna Castle, Savonlinna.

So the summer is heading to its end and my holiday is long gone. Now it's time to get back to the busy life and in with the skulls in the D-studio, refreshed and ready for another year. The floorball season started as well and junior has already got the nets swinging. I'll get back to this later on in the autumn.

 

 

 

Skyforger, a new album of the finnish pagan deity metalband Amorphis is now released. Every self-opinioned music lover should get this third part of Joutsen-Kalevala trilogy, where every track is almost perfect from the heavens of my hearts to majestic beasts. Goddamit, this must be the album of the year... well, until new Warmen, Tracedawn or Viikate will be released.

Finally I got updated my mastering history lists. The total sum of mastered albums has reached 3000 units and we are still counting for more. This could even be a world record. Guinness -feel free to contact! Same time listed metal-, heavy- and hard rock album masterings has reached number 900. That´s a lot of head banging and hair throwing! Lately I have worked with Eluveitie, Trail Of Tears, Black Sun Aeon, Revolution Renaissance, Nightwish, Amorphis, Pete Parkkonen, Drivhell, Dystera, Adamantra, Alioth, Purity, Him, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Tracedawn, Stam1na and that 3000^th: Warmen... hey, just check out the list from the "Mastering All Records" under Music link. Combining of Metal-list with All-records is still under work.

It´s also delightful how numerous foreign clients have found their way to finnvox mastering. Over half of my work comes from abroad and I take the opportunity here to send special greetings to bull fighting, kalimotxo drinking Spanish clients as I have mastered about 50 Spanish records in past two years. So thanks a lot, the Serranos in Madrid and Toro Rossos in Valencia for the hospitality! Se necesita una corbata?

 

EN BUSCA DEL RECORD MUNDIAL

He finalmente conseguido actualizar las listas históricas de álbumes masterizados. Tengo ya en total más de 3000 álbumes masterizados que debe ser cerca de un record mundial - ojalá se lo pudiera verificar de algún lado. Al mismo tiempo los álbumes masterizados categorizados como metal, heavy o hard rock han llegado al número 900! Se puede decir que he pasado un par de días escuchando canciones oscuros. Últimamente a la lista se han añadido nombres como Eluveitie, Trail Of Tears, Black Sun Aeon, Revolution Renaissance, Nightwish, Amorphis, Pete Parkkonen, Drivhell, Dystera, Adamantra, Alioth, Purity, HIM, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Tracedawn, Stam1na y el número 3000: Warmen. Los podéis todos chequear de una lista que se encuentra en la enlace Music debajo de Mastering All Records. Todavía queda combinar la lista Metal con la lista All, pero lo finalizo algún día.

 

Ha sido muy grato ver más y más bandas extranjeras en la puerta del estudio de masterización. La mitad de los trabajos hoy en día viene fuera de Finlandia. Como especialidad se puede mencionar los españoles - toreros y bebedores de kalimotxo - cuales álbumes he masterizado ya 50 en dos años. Quiero aprovechar esta oportunidad para agradecerles su hospitalidad tanto a los Serranos de Madrid como a los Toro Rossos de Valencia. "Se necesita una corbata?"

Allthough this web-site has been open allready a while, it now begins to look like what we designed it to look. "We" because Johan Stolt did all the work based on my fragile wishes and plans. From now on in this spot I'm going to tell some interesting stories from Finnvox, front my camera lens and beside a floorball rink. Check out, enjoy and give me feedback of all this.