Tag: mixing

Fine-tuning STATE CHAMPS drums w/ Kyle Black

Great mixes are the product of thousands of small decisions that all add up, and drums are maybe the ultimate example of this.

To see this in action, check out this clip from Kyle Black’s Nail The Mix session where he fine tunes the drums in STATE CHAMPS’ “Secrets.” These drums sound AMAZING, and it’s because he polished every detail to perfection- for example the painstaking attention to details like gating the snare top head to get precise control over the sustain.

Mixing pop-punk/rock drums w/ Kyle Black + State Champs

Watch Kyle Black mix the drums from State Champs’ pop-punk / rock song “Secrets” in Pro Tools. He compresses them with UAD’s Distressor plugin (an emulation of Empirical Labs’ hardware unit), then uses Waves SSL E-Channel to a more compression, EQ and gate out the ring in the snare sustain.

Nail The MixNail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Chelsea Grin, Machine Head and Neck Deep. Join now for instant access!

Mixing CHELSEA GRIN: guitar solo vs synths

Mixing CHELSEA GRIN synths vs Jason Richardson guitar solo

Synths can be tough to mix in metal, and are often f***ed up by inexperienced mixers– especially when there are several layers of them competing with an already dense metal mix, like in “S.H.O.T.” by Chelsea Grin.

Synths can be tough to mix, and are often f***ed up by inexperienced mixers– especially when there are several layers of them competing with an already dense mix, like in “S.H.O.T.” by Chelsea Grin (something like 10 layers of strings competing with a blazing solo). With a ton of information across pretty much the entire frequency spectrum, it’s easy for the synths to drown out the rest of the mix without the right EQ moves. And yet at the same time, you need to be careful not to EQ the life out of either the synths or the guitars. It’s a tough balance that’s one of the arrangements most commonly butchered by metal mixers (both novices and many pros).

In this clip from his Nail The Mix session, Eyal Levi shows you how to do it the right way, balancing several layers of synth orchestration and a choir with a Jason Richardson guitar solo.

Nail The MixNail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Gojira, Machine Head and State Champs. Join now for instant access!

Mixing quad-tracked MACHINE HEAD guitars

Quad-tracked guitars are a great way to get that massive, thick sound, but they do have their challenges.

In this clip from NAIL THE MIX, Joel Wanasek works with quad-tracked guitars in a Machine Head session, using some smart EQ moves and a little limiting to balance them against the bass and drums while retaining the thickness and depth of the guitars (the mild phasing that you’re hearing is an inherent part of quad-tracked guitars).

Mixing MACHINE HEAD quad-tracked guitars on Nail The Mix

In this clip from NAIL THE MIX, Joel Wanasek works with quad-tracked guitars in a Machine Head session, using some smart EQ moves and a little limiting to balance them against the bass and drums while retaining the thickness and depth of the guitars.

Nail The MixNail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Chelsea Grin, Gojira, Papa Roach, and State Champs. Join now for instant access!

Mixing MACHINE HEAD Quad Guitars

If you’ve ever tried quad-tracking your guitars, you know that they present some challenges. No matter how tightly you track them, you’ll always be dealing with some phase issues in addition to the challenge of keeping their thickness and depth.

In this clip from our September 2016 Nail The Mix session featuring the Machine Head song “Is There Anybody Out There,” Joel discusses the pros and cons of quad guitars and works to balance them against the bass and drums. Note that if you’re hearing some nastiness in the cymbals, that gets EQ’d out later.

This entire session (including the full mixing class and the multi-tracks) is available exclusively to Nail The Mix members.

Mixing MACHINE HEAD quad-tracked guitars on Nail The Mix

In this clip from NAIL THE MIX, Joel Wanasek works with quad-tracked guitars in a Machine Head session, using some smart EQ moves and a little limiting to balance them against the bass and drums while retaining the thickness and depth of the guitars.

 

Nail The MixNail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Chelsea Grin, Machine Head and State Champs. Join now for instant access!