I was going for angry this time. Pumping on purpose, lots of high mids, lots of low end, etc.


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8290798/feared%20lra.mp3


808 > e530 > 1936 w/ V30s > SM57+NT5

Bass is TSE B.O.D. No clean track.

Drums are Metal Machine with nothing but compression and mixer tweaks.

Guitars sound extra badass, but the whole thing is gnar.

I like the treatment of the vocal too. Not too loud, but still appropriately forward for the style, IMO.

The compressor pumping on the chugz is extra br00tzy. It's totally appropriate for the style. It sounds really heavy, especially for the mid-tempo groove of the song- there's this sense of massive weight and size.

I like the e530; it's a really aggressive sounding preamp- like a Marshall but meaner. What did you use for a power section?

Also, where did you place the NT5 and what do you think of it on a guitar cab?

Thanks dudes.

I was running it through a Rocktron poweramp my buddy traded me for my broke ass Ovation. Not pushed very hard at all.


The NT5 was more or less on the edge of the cone about 3" back. It's a very true-to-the-room-sound kind of mic. It blends with the SM57 really well in this situation.

Cool. (And nice trade, BTW.) I've been pleasantly surprised by the NT5 when I've thrown it up on a cab. I think your assessment is spot on; it's nice in the room too (or as a stereo pair in the room).

Yeah, I have a matched pair of them. I believe I posted a clip of them before as a room mic on the XXX? I love them for just about everything. I used them as overheads on my most recent paid project. Came out pretty fucking awesome I think.

I think they're a great deal in that you can get a matched pair with the case pretty readily for not too much if you look around, and I haven't found a source yet they sucked on. Granted, I haven't put them in a kick drum, but they seem okay on everything else. Well, I did use one on the tweeter in a bass rig once, which didn't sound all that great, but that was a useless waste of a track anyhow. There's really not much point in micing the tweeter.

They're cool overheads- crisp without being harsh, though the output is a bit hot and I have to pad them down for that, or at least not run them into my Saffire. I like the top end on them. It sounds shiny, not cheap.

I like them all around... definitely worth the $350-ish(? don't remember) I paid for the pair brand new. They get a lot of use in my little basement studio.

Sounds about right. That's what I paid for mine too, I think.

By the way, re: the mix, Metal Foundry is pretty impressive.

It's the Metal Machine EZx. Recorded and mixed by Andy Sneap. That's why it doesn't sound like standard Toontrack stuffs.

Total brainfart on my part- it even says that in the first post.

But yeah, it does have something going on that's not the usual. (Like, er, having metal-flavored drum sounds that are way better than the original DKFH EZX?) It's a good fit for this.

I just wish the snares weren't so wumpy. The snare I used in this was a piccolo snare (Masai Bubinga, I think?). It sounds like a regular snare tuned fairly high. Everything else sounds epic out of the box. It even has a separate channel for the ride and a dedicated channel for built in reverb that doesn't suck.

Good lord, that sounds muy monstroso.

Thanks a lot dude.

Compare my version with the official album version:

I actually prefer the guitar sound in yours. The actual album version is all hollow and weird for the guitars. And while your mix is pumping, the album version is straight up OTT slam pumping.

I prefer the high level of bass guitar in the album mix, though i don't know if that is possible without the horrible things they have done to the guitars there. Really, those guitars don't sound right to me.

But in general, it sound like, aside from raping the guitars, and pounding the everliving fuck out of the mix with compression, that they seem to have run the whole mix through a Sonic Maximizer or an EQ for similar effect? I hear a slightly weird high and low end emphasis across the board for their mix.

One potential positive in the album mix, there seems to be a bit more clarity/separation between things. I would guess that this is because of all of the EQ that is going on on all of the bits. In truth, i don't know that separation is a positive thing in mixes, but it does make it sound glossier/cleaner. Even though the resulting guitar sound, is kind of pants.

Definitely interesting to compare.

I do like your tone better than the one they settled on.

Gosh, your mixes sound good. Mine are always a little funky...

Thanks, dudes! I thought my mix sounded better too, that's why I posted it up.


That nasty guitar tone seems to work better for other songs on the album, though. I think there is just way too much high end on EVERYTHING in the album mix. Funny thing is, it was mixed by Jocke Skog of Fear & Loathing Studios. AKA the studio Meshuggah recorded 99% of their work at.