Metal Music Manual: Producing, Engineering, Mixing, and Mastering Contemporary Heavy Music

Metal Music Manual

Metal Music Manual shows you the creative and technical processes involved in producing contemporary heavy music for maximum sonic impact. From pre-production to ﬁnal mastered product, and fundamental concepts through to advanced production techniques, this book contains a world of invaluable practical information. Assisted by clear discussion of critical audio principles and theory, and a comprehensive array of illustrations, photos, and screen grabs, Metal Music Manual is the essential guide to achieving professional production standards.

The extensive companion website features multi-track recordings, ﬁnal mixes, processing examples, audio stems, etc., so you can download the relevant content and experiment with the techniques you read about. The website also features video interviews the author conducted with the following acclaimed producers, who share their expertise, experience, and insight into the processes involved:

• Ross Robinson (Slipknot, Sepultura, Machine Head) • Fredrik Nordström (Dimmu Borgir, At the Gates, In Flames) • Matt Hyde (Slayer, Parkway Drive, Children of Bodom) • Logan Mader (Gojira, DevilDriver, Fear Factory) • Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Killswitch Engage, Testament) • Jens Bogren (Opeth, Kreator, Arch Enemy) • Daniel Bergstrand (Meshuggah, Soilwork, Behemoth) • Nick Raskulinecz (Mastodon, Death Angel, Trivium)

Quotes from these interviews are featured throughout Metal Music Manual, with additional contributions from:

• Ross “Drum Doctor” Garfield (one of the world’s top drum sound specialists, with Metallica and Slipknot among his credits) • Andrew Scheps (Black Sabbath, Linkin Park, Metallica) • Maor Appelbaum (Sepultura, Faith No More, Halford) Mark Mynett is a record producer, recording-mixing-mastering engineer, author, and Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at the University of Huddersfield, England. As both musician and producer, he has over 20 years’ experience in the metal genre; has written numerous heavy- music production articles for leading magazines, including Sound on Sound and Guitar World; and in 2013 gained the world’s first PhD in Contemporary Metal Music Production. He owns his own studio, Mynetaur Productions (www.mynetaur.com), where he provides engineering, mixing, and mastering services for clients from all over the world. Metal Music Manual Producing, Engineering, Mixing, and Mastering Contemporary Heavy Music

Mark Mynett First published 2017 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Taylor & Francis The right of Mark Mynett to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Names: Mynett, Mark, author. Title: Metal music manual : producing, engineering, mixing and mastering contemporary heavy music / Mark Mynett. Description: New York ; London : Routledge, 2016. | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016030865 | ISBN 9781138809314 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138809321 (pbk.) Subjects: LCSH: Heavy metal (Music)—Production and direction. | Sound recordings—Production and direction. Classification: LCC ML3534 .M99 2016 | DDC 781.66/149—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016030865

ISBN: 978-1-138-80931-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-80932-1 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-75007-1 (ebk)

Typeset in Giovanni by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK Contents

Foreword xi Acknowledgments xiii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 Audio 3 Video Interviews 4 Forum 5

CHAPTER 2 CONTEMPORARY METAL MUSIC 7 Tempo and Subdivisions 8

CHAPTER 3 THE PARAMETERS OF HEAVINESS 9 Distortion 9 Proximity 13 Perceived Loudness 13 The Distortion Paradox 14 Sonic Weight 14 Transients 16 Spectral Dynamics and Transient Brightness 16 Clarity 19 Deﬁnition 19 Intelligibility 19 Performance Precision 20 The Parameters of Heaviness—Summary 21 vi Contents

PART I PREPRODUCTION 23

CHAPTER 4 PREPRODUCTION 25 Vision and Leadership 25 Rehearsals 26 The Budget 27 Click Tracks 28 In Practice 29 Tempo Mapping 29 Click Tones 31 Guide Tracks 31 Click-Free Tracking 32 Live Guide Tracks without a Click 33 Overdubs without a Click 33 The Click Track Acid Test 33

CHAPTER 5 SOUND AT SOURCE 35 Drums 35 Kick Resonant Head: Ported vs Un-ported vs Removed 39 Metalwork Setup 49 Bass and Guitar 50 Baritones/Longer Scale Lengths 50

PART II ENGINEERING 63

CHAPTER 6 ENGINEERING OVERVIEW 65 Isolation = Separation = Control 65 Headroom 66 Printed Compression 67 Printed EQ 67

CHAPTER 7 DRUMS 69 Setup 69 Kick Drums 70 Short ISO-Tunnel 77 Snare Top 80 Snare Bottom 84 Toms 85 Metalwork 88 Contents vii

Room Mics and Controlled Cohesion 98 Triggers 103 Recording Drum Hits from the Kit Used for Tracking 104 Sample Creation 105 Drum Edits and Quantization 106

CHAPTER 8 GUITARS 111 DIs and Re-Amping 113 Speaker Selection 114 Isolation Tactics 115 Amp Volume 116 Mic Selection 118 Loudspeaker Frequency Radiation 119 Mic Placement 124 Proximity Effect 128 Off-Axis Placement 130 Double Miking 131 Double-Tracking (vs. Quad-Tracking) 134 Quad-Tracking 136 Tonal Variation 137 Multi-Amp/Cab Recording for Double-Tracked Guitars 138 Mix Center Rhythm Thickener 141

CHAPTER 9 BASS 143 DI 143 (Series) Amp/Cab Distortion 145 Amp/Cab/Mic 146 A Different Kind of Brightness 150 Emulation 152 Layers 153 (Parallel) Reinforcement Distortion 153

CHAPTER 10 VOCALS 155 Scheduling 155 Coaching, Communication, and Comping 155 Engineering 156 Polar Patterns and Gang Vocals 158 Handheld Vocal Recording 161 Vocal Compression 162 Monitoring 164 Headphone-less Vocal Recording 165 Recording Further Instruments 168 viii Contents

PART III MIXING 169

CHAPTER 11 EDITS, POLARITY AND PHASE ALIGNMENT, SAMPLES, AND GATES 171 Edits 171 Mix Groups 172 Polarity and Phase Alignment 173 Waveform Edits 176 Multing 177 Drum Samples—Overview 177 Drum Sample Selection 179 Sample Implementation 183 Isolation vs. Cohesion 191 Gating 192

CHAPTER 12 BALANCE AND STEREO WIDTH 201 Mix Group Component Balance 201 Mix Balance 202 Panning and Stereo Width 203 Monitoring and Room Acoustics 208

CHAPTER 13 COMPRESSION 211 Signal Chain Order 211 Compression Parameters 212 Timbral Coloration and Transient Design 214 Drum Compression 216 Snare Hit – Uncompressed 222 Snare Hit – Transient Design 222 Bass Compression 234 Rhythm Guitar Compression 243 Lead Guitar Compression 245 Vocal Compression 245 Parallel Vocal Compression 249 Sibilance and De-Essing 249 Limiting 251

CHAPTER 14 EQ 253 Sonic Sludge 20–55 HZ 256 Low-End Foundation 55–125 HZ 256 Upper Lows 125–200 HZ 256 Contents ix

Low-Mids—“Mudrange” 200–550 HZ 256 Mids 550 HZ–1 KHZ 256 High-Mids 1–4 KHZ 257 Low-Highs 4–7.5 KHZ 257 Mid-Highs 7.5–10 KHZ 258 Upper-Highs/Air 10–17 KHZ 258 Ultrasonic Highs 17–20 KHZ 258 Parametric EQ 258 High-Pass Filters 259 Sweep EQ 260 Corrective and Surgical EQ 261 Instrument EQ 262 Intelligent EQ 273 Context and Interdependence 277 Low-Pass Filters 282 Spectral Masking 282 Bass 285 Channel EQ/Group EQ 293 Rhythm Guitar EQ 294 “Big Mono” vs. Panoramic Width 299 Mirrored EQ 300 Vocals 302

CHAPTER 15 EFFECTS PROCESSING AND AUTOMATION 307 Reverb 307 Snare Reverb Aux Sends 313 Delay 320 Distortion 325 Sine Wave or White Noise Reinforcement 329 Analogue and Tape Emulation 330 Mix Referencing 330 Automation 332

CHAPTER 16 MASTER BUSS PROCESSING 335 Master Buss Compression 335 Master Buss EQ 340 Master Buss Limiting 340 Summing 341 x Contents

PART IV MASTERING 343

CHAPTER 17 MASTERING 345 DIY and the “Four Es” of Mastering 345 Signal Chain 346 Mastering EQ 347 Low End Localization 352 Reverb 353 Uniﬁed Mastering—Bridging the Divide 353 Compression 353 Mid/Side Compression 356 Mid/Side Multiband Compression 360 Harmonic Enhancement 363 Stereo Width Enhancement 363 Stem Mastering 363 Soft Clipping 364 Limiting 365 Automation 367 Fades 367 Mastered Output Peak Levels—CD 367

CHAPTER 18 LOUDNESS NORMALIZATION 369 Loudness Metering and Mastering Practice 371 A Final Word 377

Index 379 Foreword

Falling into a certain age bracket, I have been fortunate enough to witness the great transition from analogue recording mediums, to the current wonders of digital recording and editing technology. In that time I have seen a huge paradigm shift in the quality of metal recordings. From a situation where only those with a substantial budget could benefit from professional production standards . . . through to the democratization of technology and the falling cost of equipment where—with a modest investment, combined with the right skills and knowledge—these standards are within reach of almost anyone. This book is a fabulous resource for those wishing to develop and acquire these skills and this knowledge. The general distinguishing features that separate this genre from others in the popular music canon are the high-gain, distorted guitar tones that are omnipresent over virtually all subgenres within the broad umbrella of “metal.” These have a wide-ranging spread of frequencies from low to high, and make it very difficult for other components of the ensemble to cut through and scale this “sonic wall,” particularly when one takes into consideration some of the blistering extreme tempi in the drum performances that metal music prides itself on. With these restrictive boundaries in place, creating a sense of depth, width, and space would necessitate that metal music requires a higher level of extreme equalization, compression, and filtering use than may be required by other popular music genres. This book explains the reasoning behind all these techniques brilliantly—potentially saving the reader years in experimentation. It answers all the questions the novice producer could ask: How are those performances captured so tightly? Why are those drum timbres so full of transient attack? Why are those guitar tones so distorted, yet so controlled and full? Why does everything sound so close to the front of the speakers, yet still have a defined sense of space? This manual explicitly demonstrates how all of it works, and much, much more . . . From the initial preproduction stages to mastering a final product, this tome details how professional- quality metal recordings can be produced on the tightest of budgets. With increased processing power in computers, and the ability to record at home and exchange files through the Internet, anybody with talent can make records that rival those produced in the most luxurious of facilities. This book maximizes that potential. Dan Turner, 2016

Acknowledgments

xiii

Rosemary Turner, and my parents, friends, and family for their support, and for putting up with me being terminally dull for three years straight Dan Turner for guidance, editing skills, and for going way beyond the call of duty, Stevie Senior and Steve Morgan for digital skills, Stephen Creek, Phil Torpey and Mark Mauloni for language- based skills, Stan Havard for video-editing skills, and Johnny Gardner for general all-round awesomeness skills! Lara Zoble, Kristina Ryan, Jessica Plummer, and all the Focal Press crew Steve Fenton, Hyunkook Lee, Jonathan Wakefield, and Huddersfield University (proud to be part of team-awesome!) Esa Lilja, Katia Isakoff and Simon Zagorski-Thomas Simon Gordon, Jeff Singer, and Pete Stone (broders des metals!) Robb Flynn and Dave McClain Steve Rooney Jens Bogren; Ross Robinson; Fredrik Nordström; Matt Hyde; Logan Mader; Andy Sneap; Daniel Bergstrand; Nick Raskulinecz; Ross Garfield; Andrew Scheps; Maor Appelbaum; David Seva at Soundcurrent Mastering; Bob Katz For Untold Reasons; Godsized; Motherload; Everything For Some; All That Fall; Evocation; Sintax; Kaizen Alan Smart at Smart Research Marek Stycos at Dangerous Music Dave Derr and Kevin Walker at Empirical Labs Stefan Heger at MasteringWorks Keri Middleton at Avid Martin Klein at Engl xiv Acknowledgments

Edward Forth at Audio Technica Christian Kuke at HOFA Nousch at 112dB Aram Verwoest at Audioease Maggie Bombard at Sound Toys Josep M. Solà and Nathan Eames at Sonnox Alex Theakston at Source Distribution Elias Kokkinis at Accusonus Nils Lidman and Matthias Eklund at Toontrack Antoni Ozynski at PSP Audioware Steven Slate and Nick Aliberti at Slate Media Technology Nir Averbuch at Sound Radix Martin Adam at Yamaha Europe Joanne at Nugen Audio Ian Kerr at Meter Plugs Paul Cork and Andrew Harper (you, sir, are a legend!) at Celestion Dr. Joseph Pompei of Audio Spotlight technology Lexie Morgan at Izotope Matt Ward and Ryan McGibben at Plugin Alliance Andy Manson at Westside Distribution Terry Hayes at Auralex Tim Holbert at Waves Audio Ian Young at SCV Distribution Ray Maxwell at Eventide CHAPTER 1 Introduction

If you are reading this book, it’s likely you have a passion for metal music, and more specifically metal music production. Welcome—you’ve come to the right place! From rehearsal room through to final mastered product, this manual presents—in meticulous detail—the technical and creative processes for the production of contemporary heavy music to a professional standard. This is an inspiring time to be writing a book on the subject. Metal music has demonstrated the longevity of its appeal by existing for almost half a century. However, it is only in the past 10 years or so that the genre has gained broad cultural acceptance. This is reflected by an increased integration into mainstream media that previously focused solely on rock, indie, and pop. Similarly, many news publications that once reflected a negative stigma toward metal music now provide continued positive coverage, with the genre now acknowledged as a challenging and highly compelling art form. These developments have been accompanied by a dramatic increase in the research and study of the genre. Typing “heavy metal” into Amazon’s search engine reveals literally thousands of volumes that have been published on the subject. These titles tend to address the importance and relevance of metal from historical, sociological, cultural, and musicological perspectives. From heavy metal- inspired cookbooks, through to extensive studies on Islamic metal, there is an incredible diversity of publications. However, at the time of writing, there isn’t a single book dedicated to the production of the music itself! It is important to ask why a music production manual is needed for the contemporary metal style. Isn’t the process pretty much the same as for other forms of popular music with the same instrumentation? The categorical answer is no, it most definitely is not. In brief: we’re dealing with a sonically dense wall of distorted down-tuned guitars that heavily obscure the other instruments. And often fast, rhythmically synchronized kick/bass/guitar subdivisions, resulting in quickly recurring slow low-frequency wavelengths, and several times more musical events per song than typically involved in other genres. In simple terms, then, this production style involves capturing and translating a dense concentration of musical sound—usually referred to as “heaviness.” However, there is a paradox; this defining feature of “heaviness” is also at the core of the challenges involved. If the qualities that equate to 2 CHAPTER 1 Introduction

heaviness are not sufficiently controlled, the performances and sounds lack clarity. A lack of clarity results in less effective heaviness, as the music’s energy, aggression, and impact are lost in what becomes an unintelligible mush. For example, the rhythm patterns of the all-important guitar riffs get blurred, and the complexity involved in the performances just ends up sounding confused and messy. For other genres, an uncontrolled, unintelligible mush might adequately translate the emotional message of the music, but this is seldom the case here. When presented with poor clarity, this is a style of music that is usually considered unacceptable. For these reasons, this manual does not address lo-fi production values in any way. Similarly, it is not intended as a simplistic “101” for achieving a good-quality demo. Its objectives are to present the approaches, processes, and techniques involved in producing contemporary heavy music for maximum sonic impact. This is enabled through an appropriate balance between heaviness, sonic weight, clarity, and performance precision. Different productions need these key characteristics emphasized in entirely different ways, but a production that is deficient in all four areas is inevitably weak. Introduction CHAPTER 1 3

AUDIO Many of the engineering and processing images in this manual come from real-world projects, which you are able to access via the companion website (www.routledge.com/cw/Mynett). Listed below, these 10 productions represent a particularly diverse range of performance styles, from extreme metal through to slower/groove-based heaviness. Each track was produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by the author. But to provide a broader range of mix challenges, they reﬂect varied production budgets, performance standards, and recording environments—and two multitracks have been included (marked §) that feature drums and vocals recorded by the bands themselves.

• For Untold Reasons—“Of the Skies” • Godsized—“Fight and Survive” • Motherload—“We Are the Authority” • Everything for Some—“Just Like Jesse James” • All That Fall—“Ripped at the Seams” • K2—“Sleeper Cell” • Evocation—“天靈靈地靈靈” § • Sintax—“The Answer” § • City of God—“Requiem” • Kaizen—“Time and Tide”

The complete multitracks, full session details (tempo maps etc.), and ﬁnal mastered/unmastered mixes are provided, as well as stems, clean DIs for re-amping or amp-sim use, pre/post processing examples, and downloadable software mix settings. With some, a multitrack of clean drum hits taken from the kit used for tracking is available, allowing you to create samples from these hits. Production and mix examples from these projects are referred to throughout this book. As you read through, you are encouraged to access these ﬁles and experiment with the concepts and techniques you read about. Due to the high number of audio examples available, many are not listed within the book, however the following prompt is provided when relevant:

Audio examples referenced within these boxes can be accessed via the companion website z (www.routledge.com/cw/Mynett), which are organized in folders by chapter. 4 CHAPTER 1 Introduction

VIDEO INTERVIEWS The book’s companion website also provides access to video interviews the author conducted with the following acclaimed producers, who share their expertise, experience, and insight into the processes involved:

Quotes from these interviews are featured throughout the book, with additional contributions from:

• Ross “Drum Doctor” Garﬁeld (one of the world’s top drum sound specialists, with Metallica and Slipknot among his credits) in Chapter 5, “Sound at Source.” • Andrew Scheps (Black Sabbath, Linkin Park, Metallica) in Part II, “Engineering,” and Part III, “Mixing.” • Maor Appelbaum (Sepultura, Faith No More, Halford) in Chapter 17, “Mastering.” Introduction CHAPTER 1 5

FORUM To discuss anything and everything to do with metal music production, visit www.metalmusicproduction.com.

Mark Mynett Manchester, England, 2016 www.mynetaur.com www.metalmusicmanual.com

[email protected]

@mynetaur