RECORDING - Need help getting huge metal mixes

  • Hi Everyone, I am new to recording and so far I have not figured out how to record huge metal mixes like I hear from so many players on Youtube.


    I have the equipment but I lack the knowledge.


    I record with Studio One 2 Daw
    My KPA into my Focusrite 816 audio interface
    For drums I use Toontrack VST's
    Carvin guitar and Bass


    Here is my process. I pick a profile I like and record two tracks hard panned left and right. Then I record a bass track centered. It sounds okay but can get muddied together. I dont know much about EQ'ing so I am wondering if I need to be doing some EQ'ing to the tracks. If so what do I do and which frequencies should I mess with? I fiddled a bit with aplugin in Studio One called Pro EQ but I didnt know what knobs I should be turning and all I did was screw my tones up even further.


    I really want that in your face full guitar sound with crisp clear tones and maximum heaviness. I really want to learn how to do proper recording.


    Any tips would be greatly appreciated.


    Thanks!

  • You ask in a post what people normally take years to achieve :P
    Well, sure you need to eq the tracks. Imagine that each track frequencies are fighting to get their space, and the result is that none of them is really clearly audible. Eq has the purpose to cut here and there so all tracks can sit peacefully together, but you also want to cut just the right amount, lest the mix starts sounding thin and lifeless.
    I'm far from an expert myself, but here are a few tips you can definitely start with:
    - use lowpass filters, expecially on guitar tracks. Anything below 80 Hz is most likely useless. You can go even higher than that, but make sure your tracks don't get too hollow.
    - kick and bass should have a peak around 100 Hz. You might want to emphasize that and therefore cut other instruments in that region a bit.
    - even if the body of kick and bass is at 100 Hz, make sure you give it some other peak also in a higher region, to emphasize attack.
    - guitars' natural habitat is mids, so you probably should enphasize them from 300 Hz to 1KHz, 1.5 KHz
    - you might want to start eq'ing the tracks by trying some presets. It won't sound good, IMO, but it might get you in a very large ballpark


    Then again, I'm not an expert so probably whoever else will chime in might give better advise :)

  • Just to learn how to use an EQ, setup a new, default Pro EQ on your guitar track. Don't change any knobs other than what I tell you now. :)


    First of all, switch the guitar track to Solo.
    Now define a loop area and activate loop playback so you continuously hear your guitar track.
    Go to the Pro EQ window and set the Gain knob to maximum (24dB) on the MF section (mid frequencies).
    Now increase the Q knob from 1.0 to around 3.0. You'll see that the EQ curve gets pretty steep now. You've just selected a narrow band to get EQ'ed.


    Now you're ready to experience the effect of the EQ by moving the Freq knob up and down slowly. Maybe you already find some frequency that seems either important to your guitar sound (and you try to pronouce this frequency region) or some annoying frequencies that you like to reduce by loweing the Gain knob below 0.


    Always deactivate the MF section for a moment, reactivate it so you get the idea, what you changed and to re-adjust your hearing.


    If you've played a bit with the above, then start fine-tuning by e.g. a different (not so steep) Q value, different Gain setting, slightly adjusted frequency.


    If you think you're happy with the result, then double check again and ask yourself if your final change might have been to much. Often it's good practice to just remove 10% of your change after you seem to be happy. Less is more as long as you're inexperienced. :)

    When you've done that, then you already understand the EQ, its parameter and it's effect. Now you're ready to try the other controls for LF (low frequencies), HF (high frequencies) and LMF / HMF which are in between.


    When you think you got the idea, then (but only then!) start listening to the guitar in the song context (un-solo the track)and adjust again.


    It's a learning process and it will take you quite a while to feel comfortable adjusting EQs ... but for a beginner, the Pro EQ is a VERY good EQ because it gives you visual feedback of what you do while you're listening. :)


    Have fun
    Martin

  • Check out Graham's tutorials at http://therecordingrevolution.com


    Never seen this page before, but there are really great tips for recording. Especially the "deeper view" for Pro Tools and the startup package (1.6Gb Download). Quickly bought. :thumbup:
    Thanks Ingolf for this great tip.


  • Never seen this page before, but there are really great tips for recording. Especially the "deeper view" for Pro Tools and the startup package (1.6Gb Download). Quickly bought. :thumbup:
    Thanks Ingolf for this great tip.


    You're welcome.
    I've learned a lot from his tutorials, and still do.

  • Thanks for your replies everyone. Lightbox, I tried your suggestions and got a feel for the EQ controls but I am going to need alot of practice and I need to get a better grasp of which controls I need to tweak. Do I have to tweak all frequencies for each track? MF,LF,HMF,LMF etc? Thanks for the links to the Recording revolution. I'm hoping to get some good info from there. I will probably get the Mixing lessons, they look pretty good and I'm sure I can learn alot.


    I would love to be able to find some Studio One 2 video tutorials on using PROEQ and the mixing capabilities in StudioOne2. I dont see much for SO2 on youtube. I'm going to do some searches and see if I can come up with anything.


    I can see that it is going to take lots of practice to get my recordings sounding good like I want them to. SHould be a fun journey though.


    I had another question when choosing my profiles in the Kemper should I tweak the profiles themselves, dial out the gain and lows? If so is there a general rule of thumb for how much? I have some truly great profiles and it feels weird to tone down the sounds but I keep reading less distortion, and cut most of the bass out of the guitars. By the way I tried the two different profile approach and it already fattened up the sound!


    I am also finding out how much the drums and Bass adds to the overall track and really brings out that in your face sound I want. I currently have Toontrack EZdrummer 1 and Superior but I am thinking of getting EZdrummer 2. Looks pretty cool and could make editing drums directly in EZD2 alot of fun.


    Thanks again for your help and if anyone else has anymore recording tips I'd love to hear them.