DropD goes death metal!

[DropD]

Hey guys! I recorded an old song I wrote in my death metal years for fun. I'm just trying to get more experienced with my new 24-bit gear ). So if you'd like to comment on my mixing and recording, it would be welcome. The url:
www.mp3.com/generate/

The song is called: LowiNfat

I know there's some hiss (which I know how to fix, I simply boosted the very high frequency too much during mastering to try to get more "air") and the vocals are a bit low. I was able to get a surprisingly big guitar tone out of my Flextone (which I ran direct so it's kinda like using a POD).

Comments welcome!

[This message has been edited by DropD (edited 04-13-2000).]

 

[Cooperman]

Cool... as soon as I get home I'll take a listen.... can't wait! We haven't had a good dose of metal around here in ages!

 

[gibs]

The Flextone amp worked for the large sound...I liked the mix but the ratta-tatta drums parts were kinda annoying for me...rest of the drums worked great....I listened to the Project C25 too...obviously a completely different sound..I heard some buzz on some of the acoustic lead notes...was it my speakers or a too high recording level....gibs

 

[Cooperman]

That guitar tone is awesome!!! What amp model did you use on the flextone to get that?

I thought on the whole it sounded pretty good... I thought the kick was a bit clicky but that's not particularly uncommon in this genre - provides a bit of definition for the barrage of double kick.

The main thing that impressed me though was the rhythm guitar work. Man, was that some tight playing!!! If other people see this and see 'death metal' but can't be bothered d/l it cos they don't like this style of music then they are missing out on some tasty rhythm work - those of you out there who have never played this king of stuff before I can assure it requires a fair degree of talent to be able to play these kinds of riffs as tight as DropD does.

Generally I don't like the cookie monster vocals (there are some exceptions) and with this song I must say that I don't particularly like them... but the great thing about this style of music (and your song being a good example of this) is that every song has more riffs than your average pop/rock album.

 

[Tapehead]

Smokin'! I was up early this morning (dental surgery the day before--ouch) and this one defintely woke me up. I'd agree the vocals could go up a little, or maybe a little more lower mids on the vocal eq just to punch it up a little. The double bass drum has a fair amount of attack or presence in it which makes it compete with the snare. Maybe eq out some of the kick drum attack (but not all of it!) and push up the snare a tad. Just a few thoughts. Very well done, quite professional--guitars are huge and sound like they could cut 3/4" plywood--yeah!

 

[DropD]

Thanks for you comments.

The guitar was actually very easy to do. I used my Godin LGX (good tone start with a good guitar!) through my Flextone XL. I used the Rectified model (which is the meanest sound this amp can make), with the Bass at 6-7o clock, middle at 5 o clock and treble at 7-8 oclock. No presence boost or drive boost was used. No effects either. Once recorded I didn't use any EQ or effects at all on mixdown. The magic happened on mastering with T-Racks, a little bit of compression, little bit of multiband limiter, but mostly, boosting the very high mid and high frequency a little, boosting the very low a little made it meaner, but cutting low mid (High-Q cut, don't remember which frequency) suddenly made it sound like death metal! The whole mix started to sound mean and big!

The drum may have a so-so mix, but if you haven't noticed, it's a MIDI drum (I really don't have the legs to do that!). This song was kind of my study in "bassdrumus extremus" and I haven't met a drummer yet capable of handling that song. I think it sound quite good for MIDI drum, but the hi-hat sell the punch if you listen too closely.

Project C25 has some buzz I know, I'm about to re-record it this time without using an electric guitar amp (it killed the acoustic qualities of the Piezo output of my LGX) and perhaps add some strings.

Thanks!

 

[Fishmed]

That ROCKS!!!!!! I know what you mean about MIDI drums. What module did you use for your drums? I know on standard keyboards and sound cards you really can't control individual drum sounds. If you thing you will use more MIDI drums in your future recordings, you might want to invest in an Alesis DM5 or DM Pro unit.

 

[Tapehead]

If you find a drummer who can replicate that, he probably has four feet!

 

[DropD]

Oh forgot the special ingredient: detuned the guitar 1 1/2 step

I used a Yamaha DB60XG daughterboard for the drums.

 

[sonusman]

Hey DropD, nice job.

Considering you didn't use any eq on the mix, it worked out well. But here are a few things I noticed. Don't take offense...

On the kick drums. One of the things I notice with metal double kick is that the quicker it gets, the less low end. The reason for this is that with a really drummer, it is just not possible to go that fast and hit it hard too. In the future, you may consider two kick tracks. One for the really fast parts which has a little less 100Hz boom to it, and the other for the more straight stuff.

On the guitars I would have used about a 80Hz shelf filter to get rid of the big boom that was there. It really kind of covered up the impact the kick drums could have had in the mix because they were fighting for some space. You still would have retained the meaty low end tone needed for this music, but would have created more space for the bass and kick.

The vocals seemed a bit harsh around 4-7kHz. I would have taken about 3db down in there and possible increased 1kHz a bit to give a better midrange punch. Artiscally speaking, I felt more of a "phone" effect on the voice would have sold it.

I liked the toms as they were.

The snare was a little "pop" sounding to me. I would have went for a little more of a Piccolo sound. Sort of a pingier sound.

Nice job though. It would be cool to hear it mastered with something a little cleaner then T-Racks.

Ed