To all the metal players..

peaveyman09 · #1 01-31-2008, 04:32 PM

this is a "for the band" kind of question, my two guitarists and i usually play everything in Standard tuning or drop D tuning, but when we do play in D standard or drop C, the distortion, and the mix in general, sounds very "mushy" and has just a big "fuzz" kind of sound. how do you keep this from happening? how do you mix it so that everyone has a voice instead of it being a giant mush of distortion? -thanks

SoLongJake · #2 01-31-2008, 04:38 PM

Make your guitar players turn their bass down. plain and simple, they try to put too much bottom into their mix and it just muddies everything up terribly.

Audiophage · #3 01-31-2008, 04:47 PM

Yeah, a lot of metal guitarists put too much bass in their sound because they want that big bass and guitar unison sound without realising that it is what it is. That's not to say that some bass doesn't sound good in a guitar mix.

Mr. Soul · #4 01-31-2008, 04:50 PM

A lot of guitar players like to 'scoop' the mids too, as do some metal bass players. This is results in the same mush. Remeber mids might sound 'honky' when you jam by yourself but when you play together with a band they are essential.

SoLongJake · #5 01-31-2008, 04:56 PM

if your guitar players aren't smart enough to do the mixing for themselves. Record a practice. Make notes of their exact eq settings. Then have them play, adjust their eq for them. Turn the bass down, turn the mids back up. Record the same songs again and make them listen to the difference.
Either that or just turn their bass down without telling them.

peaveyman09 · #6 01-31-2008, 04:57 PM

ah so mids = good!? both my guitarist, one in particular, keeps his mids at about...0. ill have him try more mids

Rocketpriest · #7 01-31-2008, 05:22 PM

Scooped mids is about the stupidest thing that ever happened to metal (besides a bunch of people stopping listening to Judas Priest because they found out Halford was gay). Mids are absolutely essential to a good live sound, especially for the bass, since that's where your actual note definition is going to come from. When it comes down to it, mids and highs are what your audience 'hears' of the notes you play, and the lows are what they 'feel' (this is a massive generalization, taken best with a grain of salt).

improvpwnd · #8 01-31-2008, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peaveyman09

ah so mids = good!? both my guitarist, one in particular, keeps his mids at about...0. ill have him try more mids

But if your LF is still cranked, that won't help much. Actually, it'll worsen your situation. Try flat first, then cut low...

TrevorOfDoom · #9 01-31-2008, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoLongJake

Either that or just turn their bass down without telling them.

i do that! the last guitarists i've worked with, i've turned their bass knob down to halfway (flat) after they started playing, and they've never noticed.

the bass knob for guitarists is like the mid knob for bassists. just cuz it sounds great one way when you're alone, doesn't mean it'll sound great in the band.

mids = tone
gospel!

jschwalls · #10 02-01-2008, 06:45 AM

I am very fortunate , in both bands I am in the guitarists realize that i know more about tone than they do and they never hesitate to ask me to fix their amp for them... usually the mid knob found its way closer to the 0 and the bass knob found its way closer to 10...

They know I am a frequency freak, and let me run it all. Which is great for me, since most of the tunes we do are boring in the sense that I have been playing them for like 10+ years.. I run a simple 15 band eq insert into each guitar channel on the board.. this way i can control some of the non adjustable aspects of each amp. I roll off the lows to keep stage boom and bleed down to a minimal and if i boost a frequency on one guitar i will usually cut that frequency on the other guitar, in the mids...This gives each guitar its own mid frequency to dominate.