Any mixing/mastering tips specific to metal?

M

Mr Death Hands

New member
hi im new to this forum, iv'e been studying music tech (in the u.k) for a couple of years now. Im fairly familiar with the basics of recording and have gotten used to the problems of recording in a less than suitable space.

My question is are there any of you here that can point me in the right direction when recording metal which is something i've been tring to do for a few months and im not totally happy with the sounds im getting. I have done the whole "death scoop" eq-ing on guitars (messa 20/20 powering a digitech 2120 and a marshall TSl 100 with fx in the loop), all instruments are down tuned to C, drums straight down the middle and are a mix of Drum kit from hell and live acoustic kit. I have triple tracked some of the guitars, doubled others dependant on how it sounded. I think what im after is some other ideas for techniques i could try out. I do mainly doom/ thrash/prog metal.
 
Yea. Don't do the "death scoop" or whatever the heck it is you tried in a vicious attempt to degrade sound quality of guitar tracks. And try using some real drums.

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keep it simple. get a good sound out of your amp and record it. sometimes boosting the mids on the amp will sound great through the right mic.

for quick riff ideas i plug my jackson ke2 directly into a marshall avt20 mic'd with a royer r-121 going into an apogee mini me to record right away before i forget. riff! it sits right next to me. volume about 3 or 4, gain 5, bass 0.5, mids 3, treble 2.5. just for quick riffs. sounds alright and it's simple. though my main amp is a marshall tsl122 for more serious recordings. just keep practicing. oh yeah and use the search. this forum is loaded with stuffs. metalhead28 made an awesome micing techniques thread too. all kinds of information i would be lost without.
 
If you have to deal with a drummer who sucks ass (like some 16 years old kids who doesn't even know how to count up to 4 and keep a beat) then get ready to do a lot of midi programming for the drum tracks and buy the best samples for rock and metal drum : FARVIEW's drum samples!


What I find is that combining a direct out from a POD or an amp with the miced signal for very fast guitar riffs will give an extra definition to the notes.

Try a little distortion on bass and vocals

Use clear skin drum heads for the toms.
 
I would avoid the so-called "Death Scoop" as well, but that's just me. I like midrange.
You might try using less distortion than normal, and different amps or at least different tones when you double track the guitars.

Other than mentioning that, we would need to know exactly what you didn't like about your current sound, or maybe hear a sample in order to go any further.

I just noticed that somebody mentioned a thread I did about guitar micing (as if I know anything :p )
Here's another thread I did comparing an SM57, an Audix I5, and a Sennheiser e609s in case you want to hear more microphones.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=193715&highlight=sm57+audix
 
The "death scoop" turns ugly really quick as most DM *listeners* employ the "death scoop" on their listening devices anyway.
 
yea....not to mention that the only reason that the whole mid-scoop thing became a "signature" part of underground metal is because all those bands were too broke to make a decent recording
 
It might seem counterintuitive, but less is sometimes more. less distortion, less EQ'ing. the result should be more pleasing. make sure the guitar has some nice body to it and it's not just nasally high mids and treble.. as far as using DFH you can certainly achieve good results with it.. don't let anyone try to tell you that you can't use certain tools.. it's how you use them that matters.
 
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