Metal Mixing

L

LakeBodom

New member
I'm fairly new to the world of tracking, mixing, and mastering (at least, compared to most of the members). I'm currently working on a melodic metal album and it's such a tedious task when it's a one- man band. Regardless, I'm wondering if somebody could offer advice on making many layers and tracks. In my song "Angel Of Shadow And Sun" I have about 35 tracks EQ'd and panned.

I'm not so much into the modern day in-your-face, compress the hell out of everything, but I of course like parts to stand out where they should. I'm not looking for publicity through my music, merely advice and opinions on the sound. I know it's a bit muddy, so any advice is appreciated! You can hear the song I mentioned at Buried Abyss on bandcamp. It should be the first song. Thanks.
 
before mixing this...

become a 'producer'.

get rid of everything that does not support the song.

be ruthless.

boil it all down to ONLY what is necessary.

then, automate the 'ear candy' in and out of the basic mix, using your stereo field to spread it around...
keeping the basics (kick, snare, hats, bass, vocals\) all centered.


this is just one example of one approach.

it is infinite.

but i can guarantee you, that i do NOT want to listen to 35 tracks at once.


with metal, concentrate on the kick and bass guitar blending and working together, and let that be your dominant sound in the mix.
bring everything else up around that.

make that kick kinda skinny sounding, for metal.
carve out EQ's for every part.
 
Wow! 35 tracks! That is hefty. I might have to agree with the what gonzo said. Trim out some of that fat first!

I'm not an expert. I have been 'recording' for years. But only in the last two years have I really started to care what it truly sounded like. It has been mostly punk, which isn't a lot different then metal when you get right down to it. The biggest lesson I have learned so far is this: Less is more. You can make less work for you!

I would guess probably 8 of those 35 tracks are guitars. Try and knock that back to 3 tracks.

Same with effects. Less is more. I am really pleased with what I have been doing with only eq and some verbs.

Good luck man! Stick with it and listen with your ears when you mix too! Not your eyes. Your eyes can really make a mix go south quickly.
 
Any way you can post a link?

I do instrumental hard rock stuff, and to me your track count doesn't seem all that unusual. A typical mix for me will be:

8 x Superior 2.3 routed to invidivual outputs, then reconsolidated back into a drum bus.
1 x drum 'verb
2 x bass - DI and SansAmp, reconsolidated in a bass bus.
2 x distorted rhythm guitar, L + R, into rhythm bus
2 x acoustic guitar L+R stereo, into acoustic bus
2 x clean guitars, L+R into clean bus
2+ x lead guitars - melody track, solo track, and occasionally harmony tracks, into lead bus
1 x lead delay

So, a starting point for me will be 20 tracks and 6 buses. I'll also usually have a couple random ambience tracks or eBow tracks or little supporting overdubs or whatnot in there, and sometimes the leads/melodies will be split across a few additional tracks... That said, they're not all playing at the same time.

What goes into those 35 tracks?
 
New member, one post, and one week later a couple responses, many with additional questions, yet no response from the OP. Drive by Bandcamp spamming? Yep.
 
35 tracks is about average for something like this.

usually its about 45 tracks and about 5-10 are not used.

I could tell you in public, but then I would have to find a way for global nuclear war to happen so only a few would know again.

p.m. me if you want to learn.

and yes there is a way without taking the usual commercial shorcuts

The tracks I produced for Civil Serpent was done not using the commercial ways. Granted all but "Digging My Grave" was recorded live using a presonus studiolive 16.4.2 with a studio project to get 24 tracks in. the studio project was hooked up to an old 1975 studiomaster board that has an oscillation problem, but it still got the job done.
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
New member, one post, and one week later a couple responses, many with additional questions, yet no response from the OP. Drive by Bandcamp spamming? Yep.
Click to expand...

Yeah no kidding. I'm not sure if he was looking for praise or what but the song was horribly mixed so I though he was actually asking for help.
 
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