4 Tips For Recording Metal

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post containing tips for WRITING metal. This post is a sort of follow-on of that, imparting a few tips I've learned about recording metal, particularly in the mixing aspect.

Before the tips, a bit of housekeeping. You may notice that on the right hand side, there is now a flashy new Facebook "Like" button and a Youtube "Subscribe" button. As much as I don't like typing this, it'd help out a great deal if you could simply click on either one of these, or both if you're feeling generous.

But anyway, the content of this post. I'd imagine that some of it most people will know, but, it'll hopefully still be helpful.

Tip #1: Dial back the distortion/drive
I, like many others I'm sure, when I first started playing metal assumed that the more distortion, the heavier the sound was. For practise/jamming, crank it up as much as you like. But for recording, having a lot of distortion simply makes a lot of the notes hard to hear. This is particularly noticeable if you want to have a track with large chords with many separate voicings.
A song can still sound heavy with lower distortion settings (see Uneven Structure, their tone has a lower distortion setting and they sound massive)

Tip #2: Use at least some kind of EQ
Admittedly, it took me a while to start EQ-ing properly as I thought it was a lot harder to learn than it actually is. Knowing even a ballpark figure for the frequency ranges of the instruments you're using can go a long way. Being able to boost/cut certain parts of the sound is an invaluable tool. An incredibly useful resource for this can be found here. This contains a chart with most instruments, their associated frequency ranges, along with what effects boosting/cutting certain frequencies will give you. I refer to it all the time while recording and it helps a great deal.

Tip #3: Compression is your friend
I find that using a compressor is just as important as learning how to EQ. Compression, when used correctly, can add some much needed punch and fullness to the mix, particularly in the djent genre when used on the kick drums. If used incorrectly, it can give that strange effect where all the volumes fluctuate according to the loudest signal. This usually occurs when the track is compressed too much. Chugging chords on a guitar (especially an extended range or down tuned guitar) can sound massive if compression is applied correctly. There are plenty of online resources to learn more about compression.

Tip #4: Loud doesn't mean good
This is a mistake I made all too often in my earlier recording days. I would crank up the volume of everything in an effort to make the track sound heavy and massive. Of course, I'm sure you all realise that all this achieves is massive clipping. I now always try to have the volumes set so that they sit just a bit below that threshold at their peak. This allows for the master to be lower, giving greater headroom, no clipping and a potentially high output song.

That's all for now, these tips are merely meant as a basis for research and learning. If you take the time to learn a bit about each one (especially EQ/compression) then you will find your mixes sounding a world away from where they were, in a very positive way.

Cheers for reading, now whack those subscribe buttons!