How To Add Clarity To Metal Guitars - Mixing HEAVY Guitars
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- Опубліковано 2 чер 2024
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Producing metal guitar tones that cut through your mixes with clarity can have a massive impact on the overall sound of your productions. One of the biggest challenges we all face as recording engineers is producing mixes that are both punchy and clear.
The truth is that the heavier and more technical the music is, the more difficult it is to achieve that clarity we're all after. A huge part of the overall sound of your mix comes from your guitar tone.
If your guitar tone is muddy and unclear, your overall mix will be muddy and unclear. In this video, I share my favorite mixing trick for adding clarity to metal guitar tracks.
Special thanks to my good friends in At Rest for supplying the insane riffage heard in the vid.
At Rest:
• AT REST - THE DESIRE F...
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Hey man, I've been a musician for most of my life, unfortunately for me, I always knew somebody who was fluent with recording and mixing/mastering. Now I moved hours away from home with my girlfriend. I still play daily and I want to record, I know how to record but when it comes to the eq and mastering Im slightly lost, my vocals always come out sounding great but I always feel like there's a little bit of "oomf" missing from my bass and just not enough clarity in my guitar tones. I'm really looking to get started all around. I use vdrums and play bass and leads through Amp and di. Hope u see this and can help a fellow musician get out there. My one buddy calls me an asshole for wasting my talent but not being able to fully record everything and have it sound as clean as I'd like definitely holds me back from putting out my songs.
@@chrisherbig4688 Hello Chris! I know how you feel. Home recording (especially mixing metal) can be extremely overwhelming.
I have some free blogs/information on my website that can help you out. Keep me posted on your progress man! frightboxrecordingacademy.com/
Thanks man I really appreciate it. I'll be sure to throw my first upload your way. Hope all is well during these crazy times man stay safe \m/
What's the highest frequency that's ideal for metal guitar
Would’ve been nice to hear an A/B of the rhythm tone with and w/out the effect to hear exactly what it is adding
I have always wondered if you actually leave your TV running in the back the whole time. But then I saw you lean over and the footage played over your face hahahaha FINALLY! I have now learned everything there is to learn from this channel. Just kidding, keep going, your content is great.
This video is going to be what helps me put out my album. Thanks so much for this. Also you deserve way more subs!
Great tutorial Bobby! Going to start experimenting with this.
Thank you! This gave my guitar sound exactly what it needed - I would never have thought of it!
Awesome dude, thanks for this!
Really amazingly clean guitar metal tone! Thanks so much for the tutorial!
Glad you're digging the tone and tutorial!
Your pdf EQ guide is super f@cking great , big thanks men
Interesting stuff man, subscribed!
Glad you dug it, thanks for watching!
That was badass! That really did add a level of clarity to those guitars. Gotta try this sometime🧐
Let me know how it works out. Thanks for watching, Lawrence!
I love the sound of your mixes so much.
I'm really working hard to reach this level of cleanness in my mixes.
Thanks for the great tips.
Thanks so much, keep me posted on your projects!
I'm impressed with this tip, never seen anyone showing this method. Very interesting!
Glad you now have a new tool in your mixing toolbox!
Great advice! Thank you!
No prob at all! Thanks for checking out the tutorial man.
This is a sick tip! 🤘🏻
Glad you dug it Leroy!
great advice thanks Bobby
Damn.. I really wanted to hear the A/B with and without. Guess I’ll just have to try it myself. Haha. Great video as always.
You do a really good job with your channel
I appreciate it
Thanks so much Mr. Surgeon!
Those boys slay. Great grooves
Hey, just wanted to comment and say thank you for the tip! Just tried this and this helped out my mix quite a bit!
Happy to hear that!!
Excellent! I got this idea originally from the description of Voodoo Labs' Sparkle Drive Pedal. It's basically a Tube Screamer that allows you to blend in a clean guitar signal with the overdriven one for clarity, inside the stompbox! Great additional tips here, though! Thanks!
That sounds interesting, gotta check it out. Thanks for watching!
Great video! I'd love to see one on crafting an amp tone.
Great idea! I'll definitely do one in the near future.
Cool trick
Killer video! Song sounds like Within The Ruins lol defintelty like this approach and the mix sounds great
Thank you, man
Thanks for watching!
thank you for thisl. I always had this idea of a filtered parallel clean in my guitar sound for another project but never tried it because of doubting myself but because of this you will now for sure get business from me and people i know that's for sure! I think I want to do a parallel clean on my axe fx 3 too now for performance mode of some patches!! Can you please clarify if this was just the DI or was there a cab simulator with that further processing plugin? And if you are im surprised you are getting a relatively clean sound out of it! sansamp is usually a very high gain preamp. is that a particular preset on the sansamp just as if it would be an actual patch on the unit in real life? Thanks again. And sorry last question, was that an IR from the raw tracking?
Kick ass! Lovin the snare clarity too! I always find it tricky recording death metal because of hi hat bleed in the snare; and the gates dont let the blasts get through! I wonder how he got it to work, using a physical trigger maybe?
Exactly the problem I'm having with my first and second singles! My snare got totally drowned by the guitars etc.
Use a drum trigger. Even if it’s made from your own snare. If you’re set on using the recorded snare then try using a multiband set to an expander to reduce the bleed in the top end a bit then you could duplicate the snare and distort it.
Using drum triggers is your best option
Great question. I do A LOT of automation when it comes to death metal drum mixing. Death metal is a huge bitch with all of the blasting and stuff that goes on. Also, I always baffle my snare mic to eliminate hat bleed. I also blend in a sample (of the recorded snare, itself) to help with the consistency. If you're interested in learning how to make your own drum samples, check out this video: ua-cam.com/video/FqPV6RbXwTs/v-deo.html Hope that helps man...thanks for watching!
Thanks for the awesome tips mate! 🤘🏻🔥 did you quantize the guitar on the breakdown part?
I only mixed this song, but I'm sure the engineer that tracked it did some editing to polish it up. It comes with the territory for this style of metal. Thanks for watching, Ben!
That snare hit hard af
I use this from time to time, IMO if it's applicable, tracking the same part with a single coil (especially position 4 on a sss, or north/south parallel on H/H), or even a piezo can further accentuate the clarity. Or, just use clariphonics lol.
You should let the clean/distorted guitars play by themselves so we can hear what's happening to the tone. Take out the drums please so we can focus on what's happening with the guitars
Great stuff as always! Quick question about this: does this cause any phase issues since you’re low/high passing on a parallel eq channel from the same source?
Great question! The clean guitar is so far removed from the main sound (due to the different tonal characteristic) that it doesn't have any audible affect on the tone phase-wise.
You rule bro.
Love your tutorials. Would you by any chance make a video about Mixing and Mastering templates in a DAW?
Stay tuned, one is definitely in the pipeline!
@@FrightboxRecording Awesome, thank you. Looking forward to it
Hey man. Dig your stuff. I just got reaper, a couple of plugins and a guitar. I want to do my own stuff at home. Where should a newbie start? V
Cheers
If you have an interface, Reaper and a guitar you're good to rock!
Cool!
Hey man, watt software do you use to record the screen and Pro Tools audio?
Hey man! I use QuickTime to capture the screen and I record the audio out of my D/A into Logic Pro X.
Sick duck Leroy. Dom tones are Gordon!
Thanks Leroy! We'll be hangin' at the studio real soon.
Nice i like it
Thanks for watching!
Hi, great video 👍 would this work if I only had 1 DI to work with and I just duplicated it so one track had a plugin like the one from Neural DSP for the tone and another doing what you have just shown? Or would you get phasing issues or other weird unwanted sounds? I ask this as I don’t have a good amp to mic to get a good tone so I rely on a guitar straight into my interface to record.
Hey man! Yes, that would definitely work. I do it all of the time with amp sims. As long as the extra tone is really clean (and heavily filtered like in the video) you shouldn't have any issues with phase. Removing the low end really helps. If you do hear some weird stuff happening with phase, experiment with some sample delay on the clean track and you'll be good to rock.
Frightbox Recording awesome! Thank you so much, I can’t wait to try it 👍
If I’m using a Scarlett 2i2 for example, and I plug into 1 input, is a DI track as simple as guitar track through the Scarlett with no effects? Then in addition I could add another track with amp sim running on same input.
ok if I use my audio interface, I have a Studio 64 Presonus, I have to amp my guitar, and i started out using that, in the beginning but I record now straight from my amp 1500 firehawk through a USB. Seems to work well, and I do not hear a major difference? Could you do a video on why the interface is that much better? A sincere question, tonally, I am not hearing it, yet...
Interfaces are generally extremely transparent. In other words, what you put in is what you get out. I did a video on this a while back. Here is the link: ua-cam.com/video/Kl2a7WUqCG0/v-deo.html
Hi, Bobby! I f**ked up as the child - my guitars were recorded trough the pedal of distortion (AMT P2 preamp with cabsim) without DI (( It sounds not so bad, but I need some body and fat, that gives an impuls response. When a try to make a submix with GTR BUS sends to the cabsims with impulse responses, all guitar sound loses hi end and sounds shitty )) Is there any right techniques to work with reamping or recabing distorted sounds?
Do you think this technique would would with a lead solo up the middle?
Hey man, how's it goin'?
I've recorded already four tracks for rhythm guitars, 2 left and 2 right (4 DI's). Does it worth blend those 2L and 2R different recorded guitars? Or is it better delete one from left and one from right, duplicate the remaing and then blend (a heavy one and a "clean" one of each side)? Or yet, it doesn't matter at all?
I haven't quad tracked guitars in well over a decade. I find that two tight performances hard panned is all I need. It's completely up to you and if you like the sound of quad-tracked guitars, stick with it. That being said, I'd say give it a shot on one of the pairs and and see how it sounds!
@@FrightboxRecording Thanx man! I'll try something the way you work with guitars. They sound damn great!! Kudos from Brazil
Subbed
Why don't you use Studio One Pro. 4.5. as your DAW? To me it's far better than PT. My opinion. Good video!
Hey man! I use Pro Tools, Logic and Reaper. I use Reaper for live recording and Logic for programming. Pro Tools is my main DAW for mixing and editing. I demo'd Studio One multiple times and really like it, although Pro Tools still beats everyone in the editing department. I work on a lot of technical music and the editing in Pro Tools is bar none. Also, Pro Tools has a really unique way of handling groups and has an extremely detailed import session data feature. I usually have a high volume of projects going on at once and need to be extremely efficient. The second any of the other DAWs catch up to Pro Tools in these few areas, I'd jump ship in a heartbeat (Unless Avid gets their shit together). Hope that makes sense!
@@FrightboxRecording Thanks! Yes it helps. I bought pro tools last Dec. from sweetwater. I have pt. 2019.6. And studio one pro. 4.5. The editing is great in both....but I guess better in pt. PT is easier on the eyes...simple looking yet a powerful DAW. I'm not a pro... I just enjoy recording at home for fun. Studio one to me is the fastest best looking DAW. Your input helped alot. I guess thats why most studios use pt. And I see Waves uses it....Thanks Man!
What's the highest frequency that's ideal for metal guitar
Wouldn't this lead to phasing issues? If not, why? What am I not getting here? Awesome video though, thanks for the great tips!
Another question, you stated he recorded the DI's as well, did he do that at the same time? or just played the song again and recorded it through the (DI) interface? I am new to the types of recording options to a point, I would assume he has mic'd his amp and also had it running through the Di simultaneously? or not possible, sorry for the stupid questions, just trying to understand the process. Thanks,
He did not use an amp at all. He recorded straight into his interface using a plugin. The plugin was only for monitoring, so in reality he only tracked a clean guitar signal. I then reamped the clean guitar and used my own guitar tones when I mixed the song. If you use a amp, always split the signal with a DI box so you can record the amp and clean DI simultaneously. I did a video on this as well: ua-cam.com/video/v300jxEdPcc/v-deo.html
@@FrightboxRecording ok cool, NEW HORIZONS!! seriously, GREAT information, I need to know, I have been recording and find that the gain was too high, not on levels but just "muddy", couldn't hear the riffing well, so, I took a lot of the gain out and and tracked a very clean track like you mentioned, sounds like a very clean guitar but you can hear the pick attack and the notes way better, I then did a distorted track, took forever for my tone to sound the way I wanted it, I think that is the amp issues really. I haven't used a plug in yet, but VERY tempted too after a weekend of noodling around for a nice tone. Anyway, putting those together sounded seemless, I didn't outright hear the tone benefits, but I play them together and it sounds good, I think lol, just just to hear my efforts pay off. So, I watched this, and thought, ok, my Presonus DI would add a better cleaned up recording? Should I just mic the amp and use the benefits of the DI to record it nicer than the direct USB recording? I think you are saying yes, to do that:) btw I appreciate your insight and help!
@@rolandlemus203 Yes, I always recommend to just record a clean DI at home. You can always reamp it through your amp later if you really like the sound of your amp. I use both real tube amps and amp sims and in all honesty the amp sims sound just as good as the real thing these days. I still mic amps for fun, but it's really not necessary.
So this is just another way to do parallel compression. It makes good use of DI tracks that a lot of people don't have a use for except for reamping.
Exactly! It's almost like parallel compression, only utilizing a completely different tone in parallel. Thanks for watching!
I don't understand how guys like you get so much work(obviously you do great shit).... I've been trying forever to be a go to audio engineer.... like wtf am i missing?
That's a great question man. The trick (in my opinion) is to do the stuff other studios are too lazy to do. Ex: overdeliver by always delivering mixes early, edit and fine-tune details most people don't take the time to do...those things go a long way.
I m new to DI box. Can I use the clean sound direct from my audio interface? Do they work same?
Yes you can! I only use a DI box if I'm tracking with a real amp and I need to steal a clean DI track. My favorite way to do it is to plug straight into the interface and monitor through a sweet sounding amp sim and reamp later (only if necessary). Plugging into an interface is the same thing as using a DI box.
Thank you.
@@tnsmmu3269 No pob!
You mentioned that you could get a decent DI box for $50 or less. Is there one you would recommend in that price range?
Hey man! Check out the Whirlwind IMP 2. You can buy them for just around $50 online new and even cheaper used. I've used them live and in the studio and they're totally capable. I just wanna mention that you only need a DI box if you're tracking with a live amp. If you're using an amp sim and plan on reamping later (or sticking with the amp sim tone) plugging directly into your interface is sufficient enough, you don't need a DI box. Let me know if you have any questions!
@@FrightboxRecording So is the DI box essentially s splitter for using a live amp strictly for monitoring?
@@hamfistTBHP The DI box splits the signal so you can record both the clean DI of the guitar along with the mic'd up amplifier. If you're recording into your computer with an amp sim, there's no need for a DI box at all. I only use a DI box if I'm recording a guitarist who's playing through a live tube amp.
@@FrightboxRecording Excellent. Thank you so much for the feedback. I love your videos and find them very helpful.
Чувак ты просто супер дупер)))
I usually record 2 DI guitars and pan them hard left and right, so I need to record another DI, right? Or 2 of those and pan those the same?
Hello Romulan! I only record 2 clean DI tracks. One performance on the left and another performance on the right. I use those captured clean DIs to generate my main tone (with an amp sim or by reamping), but I also use it in secondary creative ways as presented in the vid. I'm not recording any additional takes or performances...everything stems from the clean DI's recorded when I record the band.
@@FrightboxRecording ok cool! nice channel
Can focusrite solo be enough or do we really need the di box?
It's perfect if you're recording DI's without a live amp. If you're recording a live amp, you'll need a DI to split the signal.
@@FrightboxRecording thx 😄
one track of clean di in the center? or two di tracks one going left one going right?
A DI with each performance. It's only two performances, but it includes both a DI and the amp tone on each side.
not sure i understood right...do you use the same amp/settings on the left and right? or one amp left and different amp right?
Same exact settings on both left and right. The additional amp tone is blended in on both sides and is identical on both sides just like the main tone.
@@FrightboxRecording So you don't record as there were two guitar players each with it's own amp......but all using the same equipment?
@@danielrobertson9854 I did not record this song, only mixed it. The engineer send me only clean DI tracks for the rhythm guitars (with no amp tone). I reamped the Left and Right rhythm guitars for the main tone and then used those same DI tracks and dialed in a second, cleaner tone. Let me know if that makes sense!
@@FrightboxRecording Sure, it will create one wall of one amplifier, I myself as a musician and mixes my music, always made sense to me having one guitar amp/cab settings on one reamp, and a second similar, not exact the same as the other guitar to create a 2 guitar players playing together each with it's own amp/cab....
Is a di necessary? An audio interface would work right?
An audio interface is all you need for recording DI tracks. Check out this video: ua-cam.com/video/IJmBru77YkU/v-deo.html
Thanks man! I have been enjoying your tutorials. I'm very new to mixing and mastering and your videos are helping me a lot
Do you record DI's on line or inst? I can't use inst cause it clips on hard lows but sounds better than line.
I record on instrument, but just make sure you engage the pad if you're clipping on the way in.
@@FrightboxRecording yeah I got a focusrite 2i2 which clips my Seymour nazguls on Inst with the gain on minimum, shit sucks. My option is to just buy a di box or use line. Or use Inst and do A LOT of editing. 😒
@@borges3099 I'd recommend picking up an inexpensive DI in that case. It's something that'll get used a lot the more you record.
@@FrightboxRecording I guess. Thanks 🤘
@@FrightboxRecording actually do you recommend a passive or active DI for high output passive pickups?
They're coming to get you, Barbara.
Hell yeah..you know what's up!
What's happening with that tv on the background at 7:27 ? anyone else notice? lol pretty neat for sure
Night Of The Living Dead
@@FrightboxRecording I meant like how your head appeared behind the movie playing lol. Btw great tutorials man appreciate that
This is kinda like the add a second distorted bass tone thing
ah sneaky sneaky... \m/
Wheres the part where you deal with phasing issues from replicating a signal twice? cause thats a thing
I saw a lot of panning guitar tutorials by hard panning 100% Left and right ... but I did only get lost power guitar on the midle area ..the double guitar track has been busses..sory bad english speak 🙂
I always leave a hole in the middle for the kick, snare, bass and vocals.
@@FrightboxRecording thnankyou..then why my mix always bad on little speaker or phone..better on speaker monitor or my headphones 😐
Sometimes I compress heavy guitars to manipulate how it sits not really to “compress”
I do the same on rock guitars a lot. Just for character.
Frightbox Recording this was before I knew anything about compression but I’m still doin it 😂
That EQ download blinks and then does nothing. Hmmm.
Sorry, the website was down. It's working now!
So that's basically the opposite of what you would do with a bass, cool
In a way, yes! Cool way of thinking about it.
6:23 and this is how I found out I was a crap guitarrist...
What is DI
It's explained in this short video: ua-cam.com/video/IJmBru77YkU/v-deo.html
@@FrightboxRecording Thank you! Subscribed.
That’s what metal sounds like now? Dang, I’ve been out of the picture for while.
Realized I came to the conclusion like 10 seconds into tryna do metal production. Was like “dude. Where tf is a my notes.” *listens to reference* ooooh. Gotcha…the problem is, i can’t get all of em to become one homogeneous thing. I’m like 2 mins into the vid, so imma see if you talk about compression, in which case disregard my next comment. Buuut, how to you compress all of em. Or make em sound uniform?
Damn you remind me of someone I know.
He looks like Matthew Tuck … incredible !!
What is d eyes, guys? 1:41
I do not native english speaker
“DI” Direct input (when your instrument is directly connected to the interface or to a DI Box)
@@juansarax thanks a lot man!
Is it bad that I'm enjoying Night of the Living dead on the tv?
i know it's 2018..??
I said 2019...but I know it's hard to tell sometimes due to the fact that I sound like a cartoon character :P
needs more giant gulps of air
SOUND LIKE IT MADE BY MACHINES
Welcome to the world of modern metal.
What the fuck is a DI? Lol
Fuck me, bro -You really don't boost EQ too much, do you?? But -Your mixes are fuckin' TOIGHT!! Not really sure how you do it... Ha!
By reducing the frequencies I don't what, I'm revealing the ones that I DO want. It's pretty much the same as boosting, but in reverse.
@@FrightboxRecording Dawg, I get it -But somehow, you manage to pull it off a liiiiittle bit better than myself... lol!
@@FrightboxRecording yeah dawg -Just went through a recent mix of mine and revisited this philosophy (all the cutting rather than boosting.) You are TOTALLY right. I am a believer now... This is THE Way...