Mixing post death hardcore metal.. as they define themselves...

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drummerdude666

drummerdude666

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OK, I've been recoring for a while now, i'm 15 and have manged to build up a small one room studio which I have been recording bands in. Up until now all bands i have been recording are nice bands, i.e. tuneful (in my opinion).
Ive recorded, punk, ska, funk, pop, general rock.. but now a post death hardcore metal band has asked to record at my studio ( www.freewebs.com/ericthestudio ) so how do i go about:

a) Recording it - so any tips etc
b) Mix what in my opinion is just noise.. how the hell do i seperate the insturments in the mix??? I really have no clue as to how im going to approach mixing the band.

If fact just any advice at all - only thing ive figured out is drown the screaming in reverb - other than that....HELP!
 
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a genius - you know what, i genually hadn't thought of that.. oh that means i'll have to buy a CD of that genre.

I'll find some random band and stream their music.
But anyone got any advice about how to achive a good sound...
 
Dude -

If you're not inspired enough to even buy a CD of the genre, how are you going to stand recording and mixing and album for days or weeks? If you're not into the music, you'll most likely not do a great job and it will be an exercise in frustration for both you and the client. You should probably pass on the project.

That said, you should approach it as with any project. Get great performances first. A great guitar sound is essential for metal, usually mids are scooped quite a bit to add clarity and make room for other instruments. A lot of metal tends to be very "tight" sonically with drums and sometimes guitars are heavily gated. If the band tunes down, listen for subharmonics (use headphones if your monitors don't go down far enough) and make sure that there is clarity in the bottom end.

Oh yeah, and don't go overboard with the reverb! :)
 
Have them bring samples of what they like. Don't waste your money on that crap if you don't like it.

Most of those bands don't care about quality, so just remember that while you are trying to get the mic in the right spot, they are laughing at you. ;)



Just kidding. :D



But seriously, they probably don't care.
 
Outlaws said:
Have them bring samples of what they like. Don't waste your money on that crap if you don't like it.

Most of those bands don't care about quality, so just remember that while you are trying to get the mic in the right spot, they are laughing at you. ;)



Just kidding. :D



But seriously, they probably don't care.
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What makes you think they won't care? All of the death metal bands I've worked with have been pretty particular about how they want their recording to sound.

Anyways, I'll have to agree with Masteringhouse guy in saying to pass it up if you can't even tolerate it, and especially if in your opinion you think it's noise!
I've always listened to death metal music (old school Deicide, Morbid Angel, Entombed...) , and I myself get a headache when mixing it. :eek:

Then again, who knows, it might be an adventure for you.
 
whats awesome is that in 3 years you'll probably be in love with postdeathhardcoremetal
 
try checking out As I Lay Dying...they're pretty good.

my only peice of advise as far as recording...if there's a lot of double kick, make sure you get the kick "clicky" enough, otherwise you just end up with a super muddy low end.
 
glimmer_doll said:
try checking out As I Lay Dying...they're pretty good.

my only peice of advise as far as recording...if there's a lot of double kick, make sure you get the kick "clicky" enough, otherwise you just end up with a super muddy low end.
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Don't try to mic a double kick drum, have the drummer bring in the double pedal and just mic the one kick (advice that was given on this board, I'm just repeating it). But you probably already knew that.

Just hope for a good performance and let them listen to the raw tracks. If they like what they hear, you got it. If not, hopefully they can give you more of a hint than "we want to sound like ....(insert band name here)... that can get ugly...
 
Rokket said:
Don't try to mic a double kick drum, have the drummer bring in the double pedal and just mic the one kick (advice that was given on this board, I'm just repeating it). But you probably already knew that.
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good call...
 
chessrock said:
I once met Tony Danza at a restaurant.
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Heh, one time in New York I looked out the window of a restaurant and Fonzie (Henry Winkler) was watching me eat. I guess he wasn't impressed with my dinner because he didn't come in.
 
I've recorded / produced some metal stuff and I will say this, you generally take the same approach as you do with all other stuff. You want clean sounds that will give you the ability to mix well. I try to make the band sound like the band and get a mix with some character. I usually use old Slayer as a reference, like Reign in Blood or Seasons, both done by Rick Rubin I think, also the new High on Fire is a very cool sounding metal disc... done by Steve Albini. But the bands I've done have always wanted this type of recording so that helps a ton. Also, for death vocals, handheld mics help a lot, my favorite so far has been the beta58. Oh yeah and don't crank the vocals up so high in the mix (personal opinion).

Here's one of my favorites I've done, kind of thrashy with death vocals. Drums were done with four mics.

Purge The Demon
 
Yeah, probably don't drown the vox in reverb. Track through a dynamic like the Beta 58 into a compressor. And try and get 'em to back off it a tad.
 
Thanks for all the responses guys - I really appriciate your help. Link is now working. :D

Masteringhouse - although i dont like the music (and to be honest i will make sure i listen to it; as i am making asumptions as to what im expecting) i still think it will be good experience and i'm up for it. If i do a bad job then i will reduce my cost with them or something like that. Also thankyou very much for the advice. But scooping mids whilst recording? Won't this make it seem very thin and...ermm.. not nice sounding? or am i way of the mark?

Outlaws - ha! :D

Glimmer doll - yeh i've been fiddling with some presets i've created, I think ive got that clickly sound. Thanks.

Rokket - Thats a good idea, i'll ask them for an example of the sound they want. I dont have two kick mics anyway - so i asked the guy to bring his double pedal, so thats sorted.

4-man Takedown - i dont have many handheld mics.. I could use a sm57 with a pop shield? think that will do the job?
Really niec job recording that band; although i actully started laughing when the vox kicked in. Does anyone knows a British comedian called Bill Bailey? He does this amazing impression of slayer! its so funny. I'm going to have to listen to more of it so i dont start laughing when they record.. ;)

A lot of the bands i record are bands only slightly older than me - so 17-18: becuase of this they are normally not very good, But more importantly not very tight or well rehersed, which always leaves the finished result with many annoying mess ups. So even with the perfect mix (which at the best of times i cant get anywhere near) there are always mistake made my the band that spoil it all... not sure why i went onto that? :confused: hmmm

Anything else anyone could suggest? They have 3 guitarists ive just found out. They'll be using diffrent guitars but the same amp as they dont want to use any of mine. The amp they have is a 60w marshall, so im not expecting a very good sound.

Any ideas as how i can separate the guitars. I'm planning on using diffrent mics per guitar. As they wont be playing very diffrent parts im woundering how i can make each part stand out?
 
As far as scooping mids goes, do it in the mix rather than during tracking unless you can get a good sound EQ on the guitars going in. But it's probably better to play with mic position and amp settings at that point.

To separate out the individual guitars, try panning them differently; maybe even hard left, right and center.
 
AlexW said:
As far as scooping mids goes, do it in the mix rather than during tracking unless you can get a good sound EQ on the guitars going in. But it's probably better to play with mic position and amp settings at that point.
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Ditto, I tend to stay away from EQs in general while recording except for high pass filters.
 
I record a lot of this genre, most likely. ha.

sample:
Look up "still crossed" (free mp3 or 2 on the indecision records webpage) - although they are no longer a band anymore - the webpage is still up. My good buddy was the basist in that group.


Also if you wanna AIM me: "shackrockrecords" ...I can send you some stuff I've done, which is more realistic for a home studio, etc. etc.

anyway, THICK is good. Remember that. and I say DONT drown it in reverb, that'd just sound cheesy...ha. A little can go a long way! ha.
 
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