Metal mixes from my home studio

[daryllh]

Hey gang,

I finally decided to muster up some nuts and post some stuff I did at my place.

The band is called Buried By Hope. I am currently working on a full length with them. We have 6 songs tracked and I mixed 3 of them (for them to sell on a little tour they did).

I would like some input on the engineering side of things. I am pretty happy with how things turned out. I have a list of things I am going to change for the album but as a whole, the songs are pretty complete.

My list includes:

More vocal harmonies on 'Volition' chorus'. That is the consensus of the rest of the band.

There are some vocal parts that aren't up to snuff. As it turns out, the vocalist had pneumonia during the course of 2/3rds of the vocal tracking. He didn't know it (damn rockers without insurance) until he went to the doctor before the tour.

Bass is too clicky. We altered the mixes about 3 times to make the bass player happy. I orig. had the bass less clicky and buried in the mix. Since the bass follows the guitars a lot, you couldn't really hear the definition. The bass player wanted it out front more. He was happy with what you hear but the guitar player (band leader) and I agreed that for the album, we are going to smooth it out.

It will be interesting because the drummer that is on these tracks is no longer with the band. The new drummer is better all around.

Thanks for any listens or suggestions/critiques. I will be sure to steal all input and call it my own.

Drums:

• kick d112 - pacifica-speck eq-dbx 160xt
• snare beta 57 top -pacifica-speck eq-dbx 160xt
• toms 1-2 -609s -toft pre and eq
• toms 3-5 -421s -toft pre and eq
• oheads -km 184s (spaced) great giver pres-(cough) red 2 eqs-el8s

Bass:

• 421 - pacifica-el8
• DI - great river-el8

All Gtrs (splitter to Marshall and 5150, both with 4X12s):

• 57 and 421 into pacifica (marshall)
• 57 and peluso ribbon into great river (5150)

Vox:

• West German U87 into Great River, into El8 (singing)
• SM7 into Pacifica into El8 (heavy vox)

All songs mixed in pro tools (TDM 5.1.3), into Folcrom, into pacifica, into Elop (no GR...outputs at 2:00)

[stereobot]

Originally Posted by daryllh

Bass is too clicky. We altered the mixes about 3 times to make the bass player happy. I orig. had the bass less clicky and buried in the mix. Since the bass follows the guitars a lot, you couldn't really hear the definition. The bass player wanted it out front more. He was happy with what you hear but the guitar player (band leader) and I agreed that for the album, we are going to smooth it out.

Common problem when the entire band takes part in the mixing process. It can turn a mix to shit very quickly. I strongly believe mixing should be done by an unbiased ear if possible and without biased ears present.

With that said - I listened to the first 2 songs and I think they sound REALLY good, especially the drums. I am actually going to take note of your recording set up. did you have decent rooms?

The only thing that caught me a bit was the stereo imaging, sounded like everything was a little close to the center.. I am going to listen again though..

Were these tracks mastered? I liked that they didn't seem over compressed, but also not under compressed. it sounds pretty raw and rough and I think that fits the music well.

The guitars sound pretty heavy and deep - maybe you could carve a little more lower frequencies out of them for the bass to pop out a bit? I agree the bass sounds a little clicky..

I like this mix better than a lot of metal I have heard.

[daryllh]

Thanks for the quick response. Thanks also for the compliments.

With that said - I listened to the first 2 songs and I think they sound REALLY good, especially the drums. I am actually going to take note of your recording set up. did you have decent rooms?

You'd probably scratch your head and laugh at my 'room' for tracking drums.

These are some pics from the session. The tracking room is a 15X15 room with packing blankets around it. It's what I have and it suits me fine.

blog.myspace.com/gettysburgstudio

The snare has samples mixed in. I would say that the samples (2) are 60% and 30% of the orig snare. Kick is what it is (or was)

The only thing that caught me a bit was the stereo imaging, sounded like everything was a little close to the center.. I am going to listen again though..

I can see that or hear it. Could be because of my tracking room for the narrowness of my drums. Both guitar players used the exact same amp and guitar. Blends of guitars (which were panned hard left and right) were very similar. I panned my verbs at about 80 for the drums and 60 for the vox. Guitars were sent to each of the 2 verbs. I can't think right off hand why i did that but i think it was because i wanted the drums more up front with less verb spread. I have very little method to my madness and this was a chance to experiment with different things.

Were these tracks mastered? I liked that they didn't seem over compressed, but also not under compressed. it sounds pretty raw and rough and I think that fits the music well.

The classic 'pseudo mastering'. I am not a mastering guy and don't tell people I am. hah I did some slight eq-ing (lin phase) and threw an L2 on it but I wouldn't consider it a final 'master'. I'll probably send it elsewhere to have them master it (when the complete album is done).

The guitars sound pretty heavy and deep - maybe you could carve a little more lower frequencies out of them for the bass to pop out a bit? I agree the bass sounds a little clicky..

Thanks. I think we were successful with the guitars. I would agree that something could be done with them to help the bass but it could also be a combination of working the bass to fit the guitars. It will be my exploration for the next batch of stuff we do.


The band wanted this first batch of songs to represent what they sound like live. I can accept that in regards of production. There could have been different guitar parts added here and there, lot more vocal things to explore. They didn't have anything to sell or send to people. Now that they have the 3 songs, we can concentrate on the newer stuff and hopefully, get a full length of really cool Minnesotan metal.

[Sid Viscous]

I like it except for the bass. I'd like it to be bassier with a little distortion perhaps.

[RockDog]

its great man but i second the bass comment is there a bass there? lol good song great guitar vocals

[daryllh]

Originally Posted by RockDog

its great man but i second the bass comment is there a bass there? lol good song great guitar vocals

word....haha

After further review, we have concluded that there is much more bass than 'And Justice for All' and Nitro's O.F.R. album?!

Metal bass is a strange thing. It can be a challenge to mix and get a good balance.

[Baz]

Sort the bass out and you're there on these. Very nice job.

Man, a buddy of mine added a modest ESP LTD to his studio for cats with crappy basses and that thing kills for metal and dm.

[daryllh]

Originally Posted by Baz

Sort the bass out and you're there on these. Very nice job.

Man, a buddy of mine added a modest ESP LTD to his studio for cats with crappy basses and that thing kills for metal and dm.

I should look into getting something like that.

If you saw in the pics of the session, my studio partner has a 76 Rick 4001. While most guys pick it up and are amazed at the very low action and cool Ric tone, it never makes it on any tracks. I should look into getting a good 5 string for the heavier metal stuff I am probably gonna do more of this year.

One thing about this bass player is that he digs very hard. He has recording experience but I suspect that his chops come mostly from playing live over the last several years in metal bands.

[stereobot]

MAybe if you fix the stereo imaging issue the bass might come out more if the guitars don't sound like they are all so close to the center.

And you shouldn't have to take away from too much of the low end of the guitars to make room for the bass. You don't need anything around the 120 hz range, give or take 30-40 frequencies higher or lower in the guitar tracks, you shouldn't necessarily CUT them out, but dip a few db and go from there, see if the bass comes out more. You can keep the guitar crunch and eat it too... wait, I meant you can keep the guitar crunch in there and hear your bass too! (haha..)

I can see if you used the same guitar amps for the guitars it could cause an issue, it might be hard to tell them apart when mixing.. I can see that being something you don't learn until you get to this point that it might not be a good idea to use the same amp for both guitars.. whatever, they still sound good. mess around with the reverb and stuff.

Oh yea - try cutting some of the lower frequencies out of the reverb as well, assuming you have your guitar reverb on an Aux Channel. Put an EQ before the Verb and dip out the lower end part of the guitars a bit, should help even more with clarity for the lower frequencies.

I am also in MN by the way, live in Minneapolis.

PS: I didn't look at the room where you recorded the drums.. I am a bit afraid :) Also, nothing wrong with using a sample snare mixed with the real snare. It worked very well, my old band had to do the same thing with the drums. It is done all the time.