Heavy, low-tuned production I did this weekend (Ultrabrootz, F# content)

[-Nolly-]

Hey dudes,

Just wanted to share a track I produced, mixed and mastered this weekend with a client - RUIN. It was pretty tricky to work with the F# tuning (with bass down the octave lower), but I'm really happy with how it came out.

Ruin - A Destructive World [Downloadable] by Nolly on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

Fairly standard recording procedure - Axe FX 2 guitars, Darkglass B7K into Chandler Germanium for bass, SM7b to Audient MiCO for vocals, and Toontrack drums.
Any questions, feel free to ask!

Cheers!

 

[Watty]

I can't say that I like the music all that much, but the production does sound tasty; great job with it!

 

[TasmanSam]

Reminds me of the acacia strain a bit, but the production sounds absolutely immense, great work

 

[Larcher]

it's like getting punched in the face by a tonka truck

 

[-Nolly-]

Cheers dude, yes I'm sure the music will not be to everyone's taste but I'm glad the production is sounding good!

 

[MF_Kitten]

Could you share what you've learned about mixing sub-contra bass in metal? I'd be intrigued to hear what your approach was!

 

[-Nolly-]

Sure, I actually just answered a similar question on another forum so I'll pinch what I said from there:

"I actually don't high pass (or low pass) at the master bus these days, I found that when I stopped doing that my mixes had a lot more beef to them, but not necessarily in an uncontrolled way. I suppose my general technique is to high pass the instrument channel conservatively, then use plugins like Brainworx's "BOOM!" on kick and bass to excite the low end in different areas. Slate's VCC and VTM can also be a massive help with getting a solid low end gluey-ness going.
In terms of fundamentals, I'm aware of it but don't do too much apart from keep any high-passes below the tone. In the case of F# though, that's obviously ringing at 23Hz for the bass which no-one is going to hear. Harmonic excitement through analog-modeller plugins etc can be very good for bringing out that 1st-order harmonic which leads the ear into thinking it can hear the fundamental tone more clearly even though it's actually an octave higher.
Funnily enough I was preparing for war with the bass before we started, expecting to have to separate out tracks for subs, amp tone, grit, etc and probably reinforce the low end with a synth track, but in the end it actually sounded so good coming straight out of the Darkglass and into Ampeg SVX that I got away with just one track and no real fighting with it at all. I should mention the band did borrow one of my Dingwalls though, which, being 37" on the bottom side, are very well suited to low tunings!"

 

[Mprinsje]

damn, that sounds tight.

does sound like the acacia strain, but that's not a bad thing

 

[LeAdEr]

Really brutal, reminds me a little bit to Emmure. Not really my cup of tea, but well produced and played

 

[Dash]

Sounds great man, punchy as hell.

 

[cwhitey2]

Love the sound!

 

[jaco815]

This is awesome.

 

[sh4z]

Sounds great Nolly! great work with the mix.

 

[G-Ray]

Ugh those drums make me weep of joy.
Excellent job Nolly.
What plug in do you use for "harmonic excitement"?

Thanks!!!!!!!!

 

[-Nolly-]

Cheers lads! As mentioned I use Slate VCC on every channel, which helps, plus plenty of instances of VTM around the place - push that hard and you get gobs of harmonic saturated goodness

 

[axxessdenied]

Sounds god damn bad ass!! Sick mix!

 

[-Nolly-]

Cheers!

 

[LeAdEr]

Do you recorded the bass with an AxeFx too?

 

[Lianoroto]

Do you recorded the bass with an AxeFx too?

"Darkglass B7K into Chandler Germanium for bass", said so in the first post.

 

[FireInside]

damn, that sounds tight.

does sound like the acacia strain, but that's not a bad thing

My thoughts exactly.

Sounds great!