timaeus222 Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 (edited) Someone asked me to help with mixing metal, so I did this. In the end, I finished a template that can also act as a helpful resource for you guys in one fell swoop! This shows specific things I did to mix a recreation of a portion of a heavy metal track by Ian Dorsch, but described in a certain way so that it can be applied in a general sense too. The compression is more specific than the rest, but the settings should be mostly transferable between corresponding plugins. This zip file has stems, screenshots, descriptions/reasoning, and the two free plugins used (endorphin and TLs-Pocket Limiter). Everything difficult has the purpose of each part explained so that you learn the concept, not the specific edit. Just to be clear, this is a non-ideal case. Metal Mixing - A General Approach (ZIP, 62.3 MB) Ian Dorsch - Subterrenea Full Original Ian Dorsch - Subterrenea Snippet Original Ian Dorsch - Subterrenea Snippet Recreation Unmixed Ian Dorsch - Subterrenea Snippet Recreation Mixed Also, this is not "how to mix metal and there's no other way", it's "how I chose to mix metal for this case". Fun fact: I used Groove Bias for the drums. Yes, that's right, an acoustic kit typically meant for jazz fusion, downtempo, and the less aggressive genres, used for metal! This just shows that it's not about what samples you use, it's how you treat them. Shreddage II for guitars and Trilian for bass. Edited September 10, 2019 by timaeus222 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killjoy Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Very cool of you to take the time to put this together Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteo Xavier Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 I just want to say I will be checking this out at some point Timaeus, I had a last minute Health Insurance/Obamacare messup that's eating my New Year's Eve alive and I need to check it out later. I didn't want you thinking I was ignoring it or didn't care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 I just want to say I will be checking this out at some point Timaeus, I had a last minute Health Insurance/Obamacare messup that's eating my New Year's Eve alive and I need to check it out later. I didn't want you thinking I was ignoring it or didn't care. Gosh man, hope you get that settled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chernabogue Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 (edited) Checking this right now, that's some really good advice! You really should make a tutorial about general mixing/mastering, I think lots of people could benefit from it! EDIT: Started trying to mix drums, and it's sounds super awesome so far. Double thumbs up! Edited January 5, 2014 by Chernabogue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mak Eightman Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Going to check this out.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkDjinn Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 For what my opinion is worth, I give timaeus's guide a thumbs up. Followed some of the tips included in this guide for guitars and drums in the last song I finished and it was a great improvement over my pretty much non-existent mixing skills Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnWake Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 This is pretty good! I love how you included your reasoning for the mixing decisions. On the positives, I like how you mixed the snare. It sounds pretty powerful. You also did a pretty good job with the guitars and cymbals. However, I wonder why you don't give more love to the bass... I realize this particular song has quite a low tuned guitar, but bass could be a lot more noticeable. For example, cutting the Kick and boosting the bass in some low frequencies to make it stand out. Or, adding some distortion. When comparing your mix and the original, I feel the most noticeable difference is in kick and bass. While your mix has a very clicky kick, the original one has a more balanced and powerful one. Maybe some boosting in the lower frequencies could help! Also, for the click in the Kick, one frequent technique is to make a separate track for that. You send the Kick signal to that track and only leave the "click frequencies" there. It's a bit easier to mix imo. Some useful tips for metal mixing, courtesy of the Recording Revolution: - Bass and Kick EQ: .- Bass and Kick SideChain: .- Kick click (Klick!): .I love the idea for this thread and I hope some of the more experienced metal mixers drop some tips Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 (edited) However, I wonder why you don't give more love to the bass... I realize this particular song has quite a low tuned guitar, but bass could be a lot more noticeable. For example, cutting the Kick and boosting the bass in some low frequencies to make it stand out. Or, adding some distortion. When comparing your mix and the original, I feel the most noticeable difference is in kick and bass. While your mix has a very clicky kick, the original one has a more balanced and powerful one. Maybe some boosting in the lower frequencies could help! Actually, I did purposefully mention that I used EQing that was particular to these specific samples, along with the implied notion that your mileage may vary. Groove Bias is definitely not optimal for metal, but it was a good challenge to make it fit. In my opinion though, the original's kick could have been more prominent. I will say though that the original's snare is better, not because of the mixing by itself, but because of the sample AND its mixing. I didn't want to add distortion to the bass since that would scale all of its harmonics, and add miscellaneous bass frequencies to filter out again; more hassle IMO. The bass I used had too much treble and a tiny bit too much bass picking frequencies to begin with, so I filtered that out. Everything difficult has the purpose of each part explained so that you learn the concept, not the specific edit. Again, dependent on the sample, so what I do here is just example-based, but the important thing is that I explained why, and the why is what you can apply to your own samples. Edited January 26, 2014 by timaeus222 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garpocalypse Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I didn't want to add distortion to the bass since that would scale all of its harmonics, and add miscellaneous bass frequencies to filter out again; more hassle IMO. The bass I used had too much treble and a tiny bit too much bass picking frequencies to begin with, so I filtered that out. You could try this pretty common practice of making two bass tracks (assuming DI or single mic) and splitting them up with an EQ. Cut one track to be sub 500hz and the other track over 500hz. Between the two tracks there should be a good dip right at 500hz or wherever the offending freqs are that you don't like on that particular bass. Saturate the top track, keep the bottom track clean. Or whatever you find that works for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 (edited) You could try this pretty common practice of making two bass tracks (assuming DI or single mic) and splitting them up with an EQ. Cut one track to be sub 500hz and the other track over 500hz. Between the two tracks there should be a good dip right at 500hz or wherever the offending freqs are that you don't like on that particular bass. Saturate the top track, keep the bottom track clean. Or whatever you find that works for you. In my case, I actually used a sample library / synthesizer combo (Trilian) without mic balance, but yep, in a case like that, one of the ideal/convenient situations, that's a good approach to thickening up the bass. Edited January 27, 2014 by timaeus222 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ectogemia Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 You could try this pretty common practice of making two bass tracks (assuming DI or single mic) and splitting them up with an EQ. Cut one track to be sub 500hz and the other track over 500hz. Between the two tracks there should be a good dip right at 500hz or wherever the offending freqs are that you don't like on that particular bass. Saturate the top track, keep the bottom track clean. Or whatever you find that works for you. Mutliband distortion plugin ;o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garpocalypse Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Mutliband distortion plugin ;o waste of freakin' money!! AND THERE's a picture of Skrillex on the freaking Ohmicide plugin!! Protector of all that is good and holy!! please save me from everything that Skrillex has his face on!!! I mean, hey! that's a cool idea! I didn't know about that! But check this article out for a quick workaround that might save some you money! http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug11/articles/sonar-tech-0811.htm Basically take your favorite multiband and make 4 clones of what you are working on. Use a multiband to quickly isolate the freqs and then bus it all back together and saturate as you see fit. Thanks for saying that ecto though I wouldn't have found that article otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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