http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8290798/TSE%20- ... orming.mp3

Fuck you, it's 7AM and I haven't slept... again. At least I was being sorta productive?

Guitars: 6505+ for the lead, E530 on the rhythm, ModernDeathcore on them all because Onqel's guitar is fucking weird sounding. Bass is BOD+Reacomp. Drums are Metal Machine as usual, this time processed a fair bit to sound moar polishy. The piano/strings/synth bus had LexHall, Reacomp and ReaEQ on it. Master bus was Reacomp on a pumpy setting using the wet/dry feature, plus Waves Ultramaximizer.

Question marks: ModernDeathcore- preset on something? EQ maybe? What's the deal with his guitar being weird sounding- the instrument itself or the way he dials in the rig?

BOD- amp modeler? (Or does this stand for Bass Overdrive?)

I'd qualify this as productive.

Nice work getting the low end on the piano to blend with the bass, BTW, in the synth part. Who writes the synths for this stuff?

Anything being pumpy isn't obvious 'cept for the hats + cymbals. It's all pretty well under control.

ModernDeathcore = free VST sim of a Distressor (I think it's a Distressor?) B.O.D = Bass Overdrive indeed, it's a Sansamp BDDI sim.

I believe it's the guitar. These are straight up DIs AFAIK. Also, AFAIK Onqel writes everything. I think he has a chick singer on some of his stuff? It's been a while since I've sought out his music.

And, thanks. I spent a lot of time on that part. Getting the drums to sit right was... fun. The bass just kind of fit right in, the way I had it EQ'ed to death to sit well with the guitars in the rest of the song. These dense mixes are tricky.

They are a giant pain in the dick. Synth stuff, IMO, can need real drastic EQing to get it to sit right; there's a lot of sounds that like to eat up all frequencies at all times- this is not helpful.

I looked up Modern Deathcore and it does claim to be a Distressor. I don't know how it stacks up to a real Distressor, but I've liked real Distressors when I've been able to use them. They're pretty tough sounding. Are you running it post-amp in the mix or on the output into the guitar rig while reamping the track? What's it doing tone-shaping wise?

My occasional metal collaborator picked up a BDDI recently and it sounds awesome, J-bass straight in. We used one on the Garda stuff too, split before the amp.

Another random question- do you compress distorted guitars at all normally?

First question: Post amp, and not much tone-shaping wise; the DS mode is on, but since I'm not hitting the compressor very hard, it's probably not doing much. I have ReaEq notching out around 5.2k-ish because there was some nasty fizz there.

No, I don't normally compress distorted guitars. Reverb once in a blue moon, but this is actually the first time I've compressed distorted guitars that I recall. I've used C4 on guitars on a couple mixes, but it was acting more as a fancy EQ than a compressor.

And the Modern stuff is fun... Seventh Sign is great for slamming the shit and fuck out of vocals. Dunno if it's Mac-able or not, though.

Modern Deathcore is one of the Antress plugs? How do you like it?

It's pretty solid. I have yet to use it on a snare, though, and IMO that's the true test of any compressor. I used it on the vocals on my latest Feared - LRA mix.

Holyfuckloud mix.

Guitars seem a little less supermassive than what you normally poast, but everything works well with the mix.

I used Modern Deathcore a bit on some drum/snare stuff a while back. I liked it fine, but it also seemed pretty much to do what the "7th Sign/1176" and the regular "Modern Compressor" did, sound-wise. In the end, i kind of felt that it worked about as well/the same as any other VST compressor i have that i like. Actually, in general, i kind of feel that about all of the Antress compressors. They all look like different pieces of gear, and i am sure that they have different types of programming behind them, but i don't really feel that they do anything differently enough from other shit to really stand out from each other.

Actually, it is odd, some of the only (talking VST here)compressors that are out there on the frees that sound very interesting/different to me, are the Tinbrooke Tales ones. They each have some flavor/vibe to them that kind of pops right out when you start to adjust controls. The Antress ones just seem sort of like they sound like anything else. Almost like they only look more interesting than some other stuff, because they are clearly visually based on other IRL gear.

Thanks, man. I was doing a reverse approach to my norm... ie: not mixing around the guitars, instead trying to make everything glue together.


And, you're right about the Antress stuff... although the Deathcore when used at extreme settings does sort of sound like a Distressor, as it does indeed Distress things.