Final Blog Post - A Metal Mix and Conclusion to BBP 2020 10/12/2020

https://soundcloud.com/simon-grabowiecki/luffmann-group

In the mix of the metal track, made by Tom Luffmann’s group, I first evened out the sounds of the instruments, using the sliders in Logic pro. The amplitude of some instruments was much louder than that of others, so it all needed to be balanced out in order to sit right in the mix and be heard, as well as not be too loud.

Later, I added equalisers - these allow me to take out or boost certain frequencies within the song, so by using these, and with my knowledge of the cube theory https://music.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-use-the-sound-cube-to-plan-your-recording--audio-518#:~:text=The%20sound%20cube%20is%20a,in%20the%20world%20of%20sound.&text=This%20is%20probably%20the%20most,though%20the%20next%20comes%20close I was able to make sure that every instrument can be heard clearly through the mix; the cube theory states that all the frequencies of each instrument in a mix are located in a cube, and therefore, in order to be heard they need to have their own space within said cube. The vertical axis of the cube describes the actual frequencies of the instruments in the mix - for example, the low end of the cube is where the bass instruments are located, for example bass drums, bass guitars, contrabasses, bassoons, low end of piano or other bass instruments would often live within the bottom end of the cube., However each would need their own space to be heard clearly through the mix and not clash - what this means for me is that when equalising the track, I had to bare in mind that in order for a certain frequency of an instrument to be heard, the other instruments in the mix, must make way for it, and thus I need to cut it out with EQ in the other instruments. An example of this ,in order for the bass instruments to be heard, I need to add a high pass filter to everything else with the EQ. A high pass filter cuts out some of the low end frequencies of a given instrument, by filtering them out and turning them down, allowing more treble and mids frequencies to be heard. When Equalising the bass guitar and the regular guitars, I needed to cut out the low end of guitars, at around one hundred hertz, and consequently boost the low end on the bass guitar. The challenge I faced, and the challenge that people face when equalising a track, is the frequency clash between the bass instruments. For example in this track, I struggled to compromise the low end between the Bass Guitar and the Bass drum, both of which tend to have similar frequencies of around 80 to 100 hertz. I struggled to get the low end of both of these instruments to cut through,

due to them clashing, like stated in the cube theory. In order for both to be heard, I ended up boosting the bass drum at one hundred hertz, and the bass guitar at eighty hertz - both instruments then had low end but did not clash, and I also ensured they cut through the mix by also adding a boost at 4 kilohertz on the bass drum. This accentuated and emphasised the attack of the bass drum, by allowing the initial whack of the mallet on the batter head to be heard, combined with the low end it gave the drum the sound of a thundering cannon. For the bass guitar, I boosted 15.7 Kilohertz as well as the 80 hertz of low end. This gave it a very low bass sound, as well as some high end crunch and string noise, which added to the feel. I also put an amplifier on the bass using HeavierFX, by ThreeBodyTechnology. The bass amp allowed me to crank up some more low end as well as boost some low mids too (the amp even has a mid frequency knob, which allows the choice of what mid frequency to boost). I took out most of the high end on the amp, but also added in some more presence (thus achieving more string noise, which I also wanted to be audible). I also turned up the drive a bit, on the amp,

in order to make the bass sound distorted, which gave it a fatter and heavier sound, more appropriate for metal. This in a similar vein to Tom Araya’s

bass sound (from Slayer) or Frank Bello’s sound (From Anthrax) https://youtu.be/j7LPw4yDA9M. I finally orchestrated the mix, using Soundiron’s Requiem Light Choir and Orchestral Tools’ Layers Orchestra, to make it sound more epic and authentic. Symphonic thrash is very rare, especially nowadays, so I decided that orchestrating the track will add to the overall flavour and listening experience of the track and also will make it stand out amongst most other crossover thrash songs. I mixed the orchestra and choir, referring back to my knowledge of cube theory. In order to be heard, the orchestrations must have a frequency that the other instruments don’t have. I wanted them to be in the background, keeping the guitars and vocals dominant, but I also wanted them to be audible. Most string and brass instruments, as well as voices, tend to resonate well at around 4khz. This is the same frequency that I have cut out from the guitars as it contained the harshness and fizz, that would otherwise overwhelm the mix. This meant that by boosting around these areas on the orchestra and choir, as well as the keyboards, I would allow them to be heard through the mix. I turned them reasonably down in order so that they stay in the background, and allow the guitars to be dominant, while still retaining audibility and adding texture and atmosphere to the song.

The practical Skills that I have gained are a massive boost and improvement to my critical listening skills, but also the ability to recognize frequencies by ear. This is important, as it helps me in mixing by having the ability to both sense small frequencies, as well as know which one of these small frequencies poses an issue, and which one to cut out, as it is the most subtlest of changes, that often make a big difference within the context of a mix.

Reference songs from the group are unknown. Every member of the group had some form of vague idea on what they were planning to do and add to the track. This means that different members of the band had different reference track ideas. Key songs that were mentioned were some MCR songs that I forgot the name of and a Crossover Thrash/Hardcore Punk song called Enforcer, the first song from demo by a band of the same name https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOeWTNAa6jQ. The song contains many aspects that Luffmann’s band has copied, such as heavily distorted guitars, tempo changes and double bass drumming, all of which add to the anger and heaviness of the song, by sounding evil, dissonant and cacophonous as well as adding elements of controlled chaos. This makes the song intense and projects the anger and emotion of the lyrics in the music. Furthermore, The vocalist (who simply is referred to as Liam) has a similar style to that of Tom Luffmann - a style known as “overdrive”, which includes large amounts of glottal compression as well as a distorted/overdriven, raspy voice, almost like a death growl, however the latter is much more distorted, however the song makes it blatantly obvious why the genre inspired the many of the harshly growling death metal vocals in the years to come https://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2017/01/19/harsh-vocals-a-history. The low overdriven vocals also add to the anger of the song - a vocalist’s voice often determines the emotion of a song and the message that they are trying to convey, similarly to how in a regular conversation people shout or have an intense/aggressive voice when angry or frustrated, or even trying to convey a powerful message. With that in mind, the aggressive way that Enforcer and Luffmann’s song deliver their vocals, adds to the anger and desperation or emotion of the song making it seem like the singer is literally having a meltdown. The way I produced the song was inspired by the sounds of other thrash, crossover and symphonic metal bands, such as Slayer. I more or less produced the guitars based on what I know about the guitars on Slayer albums, such as the legendary Reign In Blood https://youtu.be/FK_B9rwYwh8. In this album, as well as many Slayer albums, the guitarists used high gain marshall amps. It is known that the rhythm guitarists (Jeff Hanneman and Gary Holt) use and have used a Marshall Jubilee amp, with a tube screamer overdrive pedal in front (as according to this article > https://mixdownmag.com.au/features/columns/gear-rundown-slayers-reign-in-blood/ however this has not been fully confirmed, nor denied, by the band. Kerry King (lead) used a JCM 800 amp, with an tube screamer pedal, before switching to his own model of the JCM800 that also came with a drive boost, meaning that a screamer was no longer necessary; their entire setup is shown in an interview with them before going on stage https://youtu.be/GlvaYmvyDmk. In order to achieve a Slayer guitar sound, I used HeavierFX’ tube screamer effect alongside a (very accurate sounding) Kerry King signature Marshall JCM800 amp simulator plugin, which served for the bulk of the sound, and have used these on the DI (dry) instances of the guitars. In order to get an idea of what the settings may be, I referred back to the aforementioned article as well as YT for an insight and even got some free Impulse

Responses for Cabinets beforehand which helped with the tone https://youtu.be/weRpNBIOu-Q. The sound I achieved overall still sounded very heavy but had less of the general tone, due to the tuning on the guitars as well as the way they were played. Another significant factor in Slayer’s tone is the fact that they tune to D# (half step down), however I was still pretty happy by the result, especially when added EQ. As stated before, The way I produced Lee’s Bass guitar sound was also influenced by Slayer, as many thrash bands, Slayer included are known for having, low, fat and fuzzy bass guitars, with a generous amount of drive, such as seen on the official bass track, extracted from Raining Blood (The title song of Reign In Blood) https://youtu.be/XtqdOBdax6k. Personally, despite being inspired by the sound, I decided to not crank up the drive as much as Slayer do on the bass as it actually does not sound that great, and loses some of its tone, getting buried in the mix, as is the case for almost all Slayer songs and albums from Reign in Blood onward. However a generous amount of drive on the bass helps it sound heavier and fatter, however I did have to listen to the mix a few times and use my critical listening skills, to figure out what the sweet spot is for the drive knob on the bass amp. Another influence to my take on the mix were symphonic thrash metal bands like Hevein and Valkyria from the late eighties. The song Break Out The Hammers, from Hevein’s Album Sound Over Matter https://youtu.be/EP6ovHTv3uk, as well as the album itself, really have similarity to Luffmann’s group. The intricate riffing, double bass drum kicking and vocals were all implemented in the groups’ performance and I saw a great resemblance, especially in the aggressive, overdriven vocals, mixed in occasionally with cleaner ones. I also took inspiration from Hevein and Valkyria, when it came to adding orchestrations to the mix - the sound of cinematic strings, brass, woodwinds, synths and choirs, mixed with heavy riffing all make these songs sound even more emotional and aggressive as well as add an atmosphere of darkness - which actually would suit the purpose of the song well for Luffmann’s group, setting and conveying an atmosphere and a mood for the despair, frustration and emotion in the lyrics, another more subtle influence for this is the band Valkyria (they have changed the name recently into something in Russian that I can’t spell) their song, Ravens, from their album Mystical Mass https://youtu.be/chT7mW_SnTM, had loads of aggressive thrash riffs accentuated and elevated massively by different intense and dramatic orchestrations and synths. This inspired the idea of the staccato choir chants at the start of the song, that add a war-like effect to the song, which further emphasises the meaning, with the battling your own thoughts, and trying to keep out of your mind motif, which was said to be the meaning of the song by Luffmann himself. The way I produced the drums in the song was also influenced by the way they sound on Sound Over Matter (the aforementioned Hevein album), with loads of low end on the bass drum as well as a massive walloping thud from the initial hit of the mallet. It took many attempts to get both of these to cut through the mix, however I have learned that it is best to listen to the instrument in the context of the whole mix, as opposed to by itself, as nobody will probably be listening to the bass drum by itself, or any of the drums for that matter. The kick sound was also inspired by the dark and massive sound of a concert bass drum, especially the dramatic accents in the passage of Dies Irae by Verdi https://youtu.be/V03oyXfOPAo, which also inspired me to accentuate the ending of the song by the use a sample of an open bass drum at the very end of the song, were, coincidentally, the drummer kicks the bass drum last. The sound of the open drum is long and low, and sounds like an explosion, and really adds to the feel of the song and concludes it, in a dark fashion, perhaps suggesting that the main character has lost (trapped forever in his own mind), as Luffmann’s last scream fades out and pans from ear to ear by the use of automated stereo pan, which I have done to help add to the effect. The remainder of the song however, I tried to produce a similar sound to Hevein’s bass drum on the kick in the song or the sound of the kick in crossover thrash band Beartooth’s Bass drum sound in their song In Between https://youtu.be/j2p_w409y-o. The latter, I also tried to copy the snare drum sound of, after learning that the sample of a field snare might not work for the song. Beartooth’s drums have a really nice low end punch to them, making them seem very high quality - for example the bass drum sounds like the head is made of a good material, like fiberskyn at least, while in fact it has been proven that they use plastic heads https://youtu.be/hFXP9Qf4kPI, meaning that they have been very well produced by Caleb Shomo, however I struggled to find how they were produced specifically, so instead went about getting the sound by the use of triggers. The snare sound from Steven Slate Drums and a sample of a Muffled/Muted Gran Cassa for a bass drum mixed in with the real drums helped make the two key drums stand out and have both punch and low end, and in order for the low end to cut through, I tried to use EQ, with the aforementioned settings to achieve that.

Within the group, I was a producer, when recording the band. I used my skills on Logic X to operate logic and record the band - this meant that I had to set up outputs for microphones and tracks. I also gained new skills such as seeing how things like guitar cabinets are recorded. I also set up some of the microphones for recording drums. In order to improve however, I need to remember and practice doing that and be confident, as I have struggled with the physical setting up process in the past. I also gained soft skills such as tact, which is being professional and empathetic when commenting on peoples’ mistakes - something I struggle with, but I am improving. Overall I am pretty pleased with my resulting mix, it was pretty hard to do and some of the challenges I faced included having to ensure that everything sounds good and can be heard, but also making sure that the mix is not too quiet or is not too loud and doesn’t clip the master output either. Clipping is bad because it causes the signal to be distorted due to putting too much pressure on the speakers and their membranes, due to having too much gain. Also it can damage speakers potentially, as stated in this article https://mackie.com/blog/what-clipping#:~:text=Facts%20about%20clipping%3A,is%20not%20at%20full%20output. This means that it was very important to ensure that the master bus is not clipping (indicated by output turning red), while keeping it at zero. Coincidentally, when I lowered the amplitude I ended up with the mix being too quiet and having to increase the volume using the sliders. I also learned the soft skill of patience, as that is a skill that comes by hard to me, but is important in order to make everything sound right, to be patient and not rush things or overdo things. In conclusion I believe that the project went decently well, and that the mix turned out to be pretty decent, despite having a slightly unique flavour and many influences. Some of the things I need to improve on, is how I go about the actual recording session while being a producer; a lot of the time I (felt I) was very unhelpful and needed thorough guidance and instructions on doing things (like micing up the drum set) and often needed assistance and was very awkward and unreliable due to being put on the spot and being under pressure. I hopefully will improve that by getting more used to recording and studio settings.