FMP 2021 - Post production; mixing Blunt Force Trauma
- May 20, 2021
- 7 min read
Updated: May 25, 2021
After the recording phase, we were tasked with mixing the pieces that the bands have recorded. Having primarily had experience in heavy music, I was tasked to first mix down a piece (of unknown name) by Luffman’s metal band, which now called themselves Blunt Force Trauma. I also mixed another piece by Blunt Force Trauma, entitled make it count. I also decided to push myself a bit and experiment by attempting to mix a different band, that was less heavy orientated and more “vibey” for the lack of a better word. For this I chose the hard rock/indie band SIN (Silence In Numbers), as they were less heavy, and more rock orientated, however still pretty intense, with their catchy and pyromaniacal piece, Fire, which I decided to mix.
So, I first mixed Blunt Force Trauma’s unnamed song. I started off by listening to the piece and using the faders to align the piece so that it sounds even. This is helpful to do, as sometimes things get buried in the mix because they are too quiet, due to being conquered by louder sounds in the mix, which need to be turned down, for example a bass drum could sound quiet in the mix, when compared to a snare drum playing at the same amplitude. This is partially due to psycho acoustics - the human brain is built to pick up and identify higher pitched and more treble orientated sounds, such as a snare drum, a lead guitar or a violin, as opposed to bass oriented, or lower pitched sounds, such as a bass drum, bass guitar, Contrabass or even low end of a rhythm guitar (implying that this doesn't just apply to bass instruments, but anything with a lower frequency), the latter instead will be “felt” more by our body, as vibrations or shockwaves in the skin (like when attending a concert, and the bass hits and shakes our insides) (r/explainlikeimfive, 2014). So therefore, it is necessary to align every channel using the faders, in order to even out the instruments based on amplitudes, and so that nothing is too loud, or too quiet. When doing so, it is also key to ensure that things are not clipping. Audio clipping happens when either the entire mix, or certain instruments are too loud, thus resulting in the audio becoming distorted, and could potentially blow the speakers (Mcallister,2018). It is important to keep the master fader at unity (zero decibels), which is the optimal amplitude for mixing, and ensure that the piece is not clipping by controlling the individual instrument and channel faders so that nothing clips.
I then started to mix the drum kit. I started with Channel 1, which was the bass drum. For the bass drum I needed to ensure that the drum has plenty of low end, whilst not clashing with the bass guitar. I did this by boosting low end, at around 100 hertz, to 35 hertz, with a low shelf, then high passing everything after that. I then ensured that the transient of the drum cuts through the mix, as a strong, punchy and powerful attack of the initial impact of the mallet on the batter head of the drum is very important on a bass drum in a metal mix. I brought out the attack by boosting some treble frequencies, with a sharp EQ boost.
I proceeded to then add compression, which had a slow attack, to let in more of the transient, and a slow release to quieten the sound faster. I added an analog noise gate from nembrini audio, with the threshold at -65.0 decibels, to ensure that the sound of the drum comes through, but less bleed is audible.
For the snare drum, I high passed out everything below 60 hertz, and did a small boost at 100 hertz, which would beef up and add weight to the snare. I then proceeded to remove overtones at 232 hertz, 404 hertz, 1.01 kilohertz, 3.02 kilohertz, boosted some treble from 4kkz to 10khz, to add definition, then low passed everything after that. I added some compression, by setting the attack rather slow, to ensure that the initial smack of the stick on the batter head comes through clearly, then setting the release as medium, in order to capture as much of the snare wires buzzing as possible, while keeping a short, staccato sound. I added the aforementioned gate, to ensure that only the snare comes through, and no bleed does. Finally I added a splash of reverb, to give the snare more room and more of a live sounding atmosphere.
I proceeded to then mix the tom toms. Firstly I cut out the mud and the boom at 200 hertz and below. And then removed resonances at 334 hertz, 1.11 kilohertz and three kilohertz, on the rack tom, and boosted the treble to give it more presence, and on the floor tom, I boosted 2.88 kilohertz and 6 kilohertz, to give it more attack, whilst also boosting 80-100 hertz, with a low shelf, to make it sound fuller and fatter, while avoiding clashes with guitars and bass instruments. On both toms I put a compressor, with a fast attack, and a relatively fast release, to ensure that the transient is heard, but also that some of the resonance is heard, with a relatively fast decay. I applied a noise gate with the threshold at -63.0 decibels. I finally added a generous amount of reverb on both drums. This was to ensure that the toms sound massive, and roomy in the mix, with a live-like sound, as if in a massive concert hall. I also panned both drums left and right, so that they sound like they are placed from the audience's perspective, with the floor being on the left side of the kit (stage right) and the rack being on the right (stage left).
I then went and mixed both overheads. As with the toms, I panned the overhead mics, to get more of a stereo feel. I applied an equaliser, with a low mids cut at 200 hertz, a high pass filter and a medium cut at 318 hertz. I also proceeded to make small surgical cuts at 1.14 khz, 2.62 khz, and 5.35 khz. I then boosted the treble, with a high shelf, to add more high end sparkle and presence, the cymbals being the instruments with the highest frequency range in the piece. For compression, I applied a slow attack on the compressor, which allowed the cymbal transients to be heard, and a slower release, to ensure that they are entirely captured but also do not ring out and overcrowd the mix.
I then started work on the bass guitar. This would be the lowest pitched instrument, with the lowest frequency range in the mix. So, I needed to ensure that the bass had plenty of low end, and also some presence with some crunch. However first, as requested by the bassist, Lee, I added some drive to the bass DI, by adding a tube screamer pedal from TSE audio, with some drive and a bit of tone, to give the bass more of a gritty and gnarly sound, more appropriate for metal. I then added EQ, with plenty of low end boosted by the use of a low shelf. This gave the bass guitar loads of low bass that meant it would be distinguishable between the low end of the other instruments. I cut out some mud and boom at 212 hertz and 382 hertz, and I cut out some of the screechy frequencies at 1khz. I then added high end crunch, using a small boost at 3khz, which would emphasize the attack of the plectrum on the strings, as well as the string noises. I cut out the excess treble with a low pass filter. I gave the bass some compression, with a fast attack and slow release.
I went ahead to mix Bex’s Rhythm guitar. Due to using a strat, Bex could not have any drive on the guitar, during the recording phase, due to the strat having single coil pickups. Single coils work differently to humbuckers, and utilise an electromagnetic thrum to pick up vibration (Glynn,2020). This means that, once subject to heavy drive, the coils’ thrum will be amplified and distorted, posing a hazard for peoples’ hearing, as well as blowing speakers. I thus conquered this by adding a distortion pedal (main tank 2 by heavier fx, from TB tech) to add extra drive to the guitar. I filtered out any noise of the coils by using a gate. I also added automation, that panned both guitars into stereo, once the second guitar comes in, making a stereo like feel as if the guitars are both on separate ends of the stage, giving a larger mix. I then added EQ, to both Harry’s as well as Bex’s guitar, which cut out the harsh “fizz” frequencies at 4 khz and 6 khz, and I scooped the low mids at 200 hz and 300 hz to remove mud and boxiness, from both guitars, making them more defined; a technique often used in thrash metal. I also boosted some of the midrange on Bex’s axe, to make it cut through a bit more and differentiate it from the other guitar. I added compression, with a slow attack to make the palm mutes and initial attack of the plectrum on the strings come through, then added fast release to let through the rest of the sound.
I proceeded to finally mix Luffman’s vocals. It was a fairly dynamic and loud vocal, with loads of changes from belting, shouts and melodic singing. This meant I needed to add loads of compression to even out the sound, so that it doesn’t get too loud in places. First, I added an equaliser, with a high pass filter, and a low mids cut at 300 hertz, to stop the vocal from being too boomy or muddy. I took out sharp overtones with surgical cuts, at 400 Hz, and 885 Hz. I also decreased the frequency at 21.8 khz, as it was ringy, but also served as part of the main tone, so I did not fully remove it. I did a small cut at 4 khz to remove some sharp sibilance, so that the “s' ' sounds do not become too loud, but also did not fully remove it, so that they’re still audible. I then did a high shelf from 6 khz to 10khz, to add presence and definition to the vocal, and cut out hiss and air frequencies after 10 khz, with a low pass, so that the vocals sound less airy and do not clash with cymbals. I compressed the vocal with a fast attack, to cut out the initial plosives and smacks, and a fast release, to bring out the rest of the sound. I added a gate, to remove the rest of the room noise, and added a generous amount of reverb, to make the vocals seem roomy and give them a live sound.
I mixed Make It Count in the same way, with the same techniques, due to it being the same band, with the same instruments, and the same sound...
Here are the finished mixes:
Untitled:
Make It Count:
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Glynn. (2020). Humbucker vs Single Coil Pickups: A Beginner's Guide. Available: https://www.dawsons.co.uk/blog/humbuckers-vs-single-coil-pickups-beginners-guide. Last accessed 20th May 2021.
M,Mcallister. (2018). What is audio clipping and why is it important. Available: https://producelikeapro.com/blog/audio-clipping/. Last accessed 19th May.
r/explainlikeimfive. (2014). Why can't I feel treble like I feel bass. Available: https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1fvoor/why_cant_i_feel_treble_like_i_can_feel_bass/. Last accessed 18th May 2021.
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