Hardcore Music Production Tips?

  • Thread starter Thread starter CallousNorth
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CallousNorth

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Hey, I am looking for tips to get the best sound for Hardcore music.

I'm not too sure what you would call it, so I'll just call it 'waveform' for now. If you look at the waveform in this picture, you will see it has a good, wide triangular shape:

eg1.gif

(You can listen here: http://www.myspace.com/thedeadswans)

However, in a track that my band produced, it seems to dip quite a lot in the regions marked with red:

eg2.gif

(You can listen here: http://www.myspace.com/callousnorth)

How would I be able to boost this area and get a strong, wide triangular shape like in the first image? Is it a problem with the vocals or guitar position?

Here's some more info on the track with the dipped areas; the vocals are in the center mostly, but switch between L20 and R20 pans in the verse. The bass is in the center, one guitar is set to L80 and the other is set to R80.

Also, have you got any other tips for mixing Hardcore music?

Thanks for any tips!
 
it doesn't matter what it looks like....it matters what it sounds like. You don't listen with your eyes.
 
Well when I listen to my track, the vocals seem to be over the track, not inside it. Thats when I saw that the center was isolated in the wave form with dips either side.

I'm just asking for tips to boost these dips and make the vocals sound part of the music.
 
Geez - Especially on a MySpace analyzer...?!?
 
Compression and reverb (not the wild wet ones, the roomy ones) might help. To be used sparingly and with care, of course. It takes some experimenting to get your levels right. Also comparing with "commercial" CDs while mixing. And listening to your mix on different speakers. On some your mix might sound right, on others not, because they handle frequencies differently. And for God's sake, never mind that myspace analyzer.....
 
Hahaha, can anyone recommend a good, free analyzer?
 
Propably it would be better not to use any spectrum analyzers for now. For noobs like me it often takes you to the wrong direction. Im myself trying to get myself out from using it that much.

It sounds so easy, that you could just look the graph and use EQ to make it look the same as in commercial songs, so it makes it a really tempting idea, but often things that sound so easy are not true.

To my ear your song has less bass and is more harsh. Maybe try boosting 100-250Hz and see if it goes better or worse? I havent been mixing this hard music so I dont really know.. And ofcourse make it sound like you want it, not like something else sounds. Be creative!
 
Thanks Joza, and yeah I totally agree, the bass gets lost in the mix.

I'll have a play around!
 
Wow.... I can't believe this was started as a thread.
 
at first I thought this was going to be a thread about mixing while skydiving and drinking copious amount of Mountain Dew or something.
 
bro...

bail on the analyzer. period.

Don't have good monitors. Fair enough, use everything. Headphones, ipod, car stereo, home stereo. Its a bit more work and less luxorious then nice montiotrs but it'll introduce different things. take a note book.

ears bro, not eyes.

I have no idea why people use that stuff. Its a good back up i'll give it that... A secondary check i guess.

But when you start to put all the work on a visual your brain is processign images and focusing on that, your ears arent doing what they are supposed to. nor are training them properly for future growth.

Even when i was noobish another noob reccomened this to me and i just couldn't be bothered with it.

best of luck.
 
I use a spectrum analyzer for all sorts of stuff. Mixing is rarely one of them, though it can be handy at times. In this situation, you heard a problem, then you opened up the analyzer to confirm that something looked strange. The analyzer has done it's job. Now put it away and figure out what's wrong with your song.
 
Agreed on bailing on the spectrum analyzer: blind dudes can mix, deaf dudes can't.

As for hardcore, here are some tips at filling that spectrum out:

1 - Double-track all guitars (meaning 4 performances: on each side). Use a different amp/cab/guitar on as many of the takes as you can, to thicken everything up.

2 - Get a mean bass tone. Go DI for nice round lows, and get a somewhat distorted amp for super steaky awesomeness. The guitar can't be heavy unless the bass is heavy. You should be cutting (high-passing) all of the guitars out below around 70-100 hz, depending on what you have going on down there.

3 - Double-track the vocals. Two performances, and compressed to complete shit. I mean it: you should be able to hear a squirrel fart in between verses (which, by the way, is why you'll have to chop out all of the non-vocal parts, but keep some or all of the breath noises to add realness and such).


There are a lot more tips, but see if this helps first. I used these techniques on the hardcore production I have on my myspace, which doesn't sound amazing, but is at least respectable I think!
 
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