A masterpiece of arrangement and automation
Welcome to our first episode of Metal Mix Hall Of Fame, where Eyal Levi deconstructs important metal songs from a songwriting and mixing perspective with the goal of helping you level up your next song!
In this episode he tackles Dimmu Borgir’s “Vredesbyrd” from their 2003 album “Death Cult Armageddon” which is an absolute MASTERPIECE of automation and arrangement! It was mixed and mastered by Fredrik Nordström & Shagrath.
With a full orchestra in addition to the usual guitars, drums and vocals of a black metal song, there’s a LOT going on here, and it would be very easy for it to turn into mush without the masterful use of automation, balance and dynamics that keeps the song moving at all times — pay careful attention and you’ll notice that nothing stays static; something is always coming to the foreground or receding into the background.
It also displays some very sophisticated used of theme and variation which ties the brass/orchestra together with the guitars and again keeps the song from collapsing on itself with complexity.
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