Mixing Heavy Music

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 66

MIXING

HEAVY MUSIC
Mixing Advice Tailored to Rock, Hardcore
& Metal That Will Take Your Mixes from
Amateur to Pro

Jordan Valeriote
CONTENTS
PREFACE1
PART ONE:
SETTING THE STAGE 3
CHAPTER 1: MIXING BASICS 4
CHAPTER 2: THE TOOLS 7
CHAPTER 3: WORKFLOW 18
PART TWO:
TRACK-BY-TRACK TIPS & EXAMPLES  26
CHAPTER 4: DRUMS 27
CHAPTER 5: BASS 41
CHAPTER 6: GUITARS 44
CHAPTER 7: VOCALS 51
CHAPTER 8: MIX BUS 59
CHAPTER 9: YOUR JOURNEY 63
WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 64
PREFACE
Ever since the first time I stepped into a studio to record with my
punk band in high school, I knew I belonged behind the glass, not
on stage. It became my dream to produce and mix records pro-
fessionally.
It took many years and many thousands of hours to turn that dream
into reality, but I eventually earned opportunities to work with great
bands and labels on records I’m proud of.
All along the way, I had many conversations with other engineers,
both aspiring and professional. I was hungry for every bit of knowl-
edge I could soak up from a pro ahead of me, and I was equally hap-
py to share my knowledge with newer engineers coming up behind.
I love talking about this stuff, and can easily discuss mixing philoso-
phies, favorite audio gear and studio stories for hours at a time.
In 2015, I somewhat stumbled into sharing my knowledge online in
the form of emails, videos and courses. I never imagined that over
100,000 people would follow my content or that I’d train thousands
of upcoming engineers from over 50 different countries. Turns out
that sharing my knowledge with others and seeing them become
full-time producers, get their band signed, or get millions of streams
on their mixes has been just as fulfilling as working on a killer re-
cord myself.
This book is one more way for me to help mixers move forward and
get better at their craft. I’ve attempted to write down what I believe
are the most important things to learn about mixing, and the most
effective tips for mixing heavy music specifically.
By no means is this a comprehensive encyclopedia of mixing. I’m
not going to bore you to death with bare-bones basics or nerd out
on advanced concepts that don’t really matter.

1 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


My goal with this book is to give you a solid foundation as a mixer,
a firm grasp on the tools and when to use them, and to provide you
with real-world mixing tips that will instantly give you more clarity,
power and punch in your mixes.
I like to mix fast and I like to learn fast too. This book is written in
the same spirit, with hopes that it will help you cut through the
noise, focus on what really matters, and take your mixes to the next
level in the shortest amount of time possible.
- Jordan Valeriote

2 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


PART ONE:
SETTING THE STAGE
CHAPTER 1: MIXING BASICS
THE MIXING MINDSET
Since you’re reading this book right now, I can be fairly sure that you
have a passion for recording and mixing music… and you feel like the
results you’re getting aren’t up to the standard you want.
I’m going to help you with that.
But first, I want to take a step back, zoom out and pose the question:
What is your purpose as a mixer?
Or put another way, what are you trying to accomplish when you mix a
song? What should your mission be?
On the surface, this question might seem too obvious to bother an-
swering. We’re supposed to make it sound good, duh!
Wait a second, though. How do you define “good?”
When do you know that the mix is “good” enough, and to stop
working on it?
As mixers, we tend to get lost in all the tiny details of a mix. We spend
hours tweaking EQs and compressors a half dB at a time, trying to
get the ‘perfect’ drum or guitar sound. We allow ourselves to get car-
ried away with all the possibilities in front of us, trying out 6 different
plugins and being unable to decide which one does the best job. Pretty
quickly, mixing becomes more about the tools than the song itself.

DO YOU EVER FEEL YOURSELF GETTING LOST IN A MIX,


UNSURE OF WHAT TO DO NEXT? SECOND GUESSING EV-
ERY MOVE THAT YOU’VE MADE, ENDLESSLY REFERENCING
OTHER TRACKS AND TOTALLY CLUELESS ABOUT WHAT
YOU WANTED IT TO SOUND LIKE IN THE FIRST PLACE?

4 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


This is what happens when you’ve lost sight of your role as a mixer. It
happens to everyone, myself included.
The cure for this problem is making sure your mindset is right before
you start the mix. Like anything else in life, if we want to achieve some-
thing, we need to have a clear goal in mind so we know where we’re
going before we start.
So, getting back to my question: What is your purpose as a mixer?
Your purpose is to enhance the recording of a song in order to
maximize impact on the listener.
In rock and heavy music, that means we want it to sound big, heavy and
energetic. We want it to explode out of the speakers and feel immersive
to the listener.
Additionally, a mixer should always be trying to identify and maximize
the unique parts of a recording and the emotion the artist is trying
to convey.
What it’s NOT about is impressing people with your skills or your gear.
The end listener doesn’t care if something sounds complex, clean or
“natural.”
They only care about what it makes them feel.
When I think about all the records I loved growing up, or that I love
now, it strikes me how diverse they are. They all have different drum
sounds, vastly different guitar tones, and varying degrees of polish
or rawness.
It doesn’t matter. I don’t like these records because of the technical
excellence of the mixer. I like the records because I connect with them,
and they make me move or feel something.
The real trick to mixing, then, is to make sure you don’t over-mix some-
thing to the point that it actually makes it harder for the listener to
connect with the song. This can happen if you go overboard with tools
like EQ and compression, resulting in an unnatural sound. Or if you put
too much reverb and delay on the vocalist or mix the vocals too low (a

5 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


horrible sin), so that the listener can’t hear the lyrics enough to connect.
And definitely don’t bury the drums, because without a strong pulse
and rhythm, a song that’s supposed to be heavy is dead.
Yes, there are many ways to screw up a mix, but don’t worry - I’m not
here to discourage you.
Instead, I want you to escape these traps and free you up to mix from
your gut.
It really doesn’t have to be that complicated. Remember, in the end,
your job is just to enhance the recording in order to maximize impact
on the listener. That’s it.
So... how do you enhance the recording?
There are many ways, and in the following chapters I’m going to break
down exactly how to get started with each instrument in a rock or
metal mix.
But to put it simply, we enhance it by using a set of tools to manipulate
the sound.
That can be as simple as panning something to the left or moving a fad-
er up by 2dB. Or it can be as complex as duplicating a track, treating it
heavily and mixing it back into the original sound. It doesn’t matter how
you get there, the only thing that matters is that the result feels better
to the listener.
I believe that adopting this mindset is the first step to becoming a great
mixer. You need to free yourself from technical details in order to con-
nect with a song and bring out every last drop of energy in it.
That means you have to be a master of your tools, not a slave to them.
They exist to help you achieve your desired result. That’s it! Don’t let
any plugin, DAW or piece of gear consume your process or take your
focus away from connecting with the song.

6 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


CHAPTER 2: THE TOOLS
Imagine you’ve just bought a painting and you have a simple goal in
mind: to hang the painting on the wall.
You’re not going to line up and test 3 different hammers with 3 differ-
ent nails and choose the best hammer-nail chain. You’re just going to
grab whatever tools you’ve got, pick your spot and do it.
If you step back and see that the painting is hanging level where you
want it, you won’t try and do it a second time with different tools just to
see if you can improve it. You walk away. Job done.
That’s how you should think about the tools in mixing.
The important thing is not the tool itself, but how you use it to achieve a
worthwhile result.
Let’s take a look at the most common and useful tools we use when
mixing. Some of this stuff might seem elementary, but you should
have a firm grasp on it if you want to be able to mix easily and avoid
confusion.

VOLUME
The simplest and arguably the most important tool we have is the fad-
er. When all is said and done, it’s the final balance between the tracks
that makes the biggest impact on the mix.
If your vocal is too loud or too quiet, your mix sucks - even if the drums
are slamming. You can get an incredible snare sound, but if it’s too loud
in the mix, it’s just annoying.
We mixers have a tendency to reach for fancier tools when the best
solution is to simply turn it up or down.

PANNING
Panning is our first line of separation in the mix. We can pan instru-

7 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


ments to different locations in the stereo field, giving them their own
space away from other instruments. Since this is the primary benefit of
panning, I generally don’t try to be subtle. Most tracks for me are either
Left, Right, or Center. If you put too many elements in between these
positions, you start to cloud up the stereo image and destroy the bene-
fit of panning in the first place.
Panning is also an effective way to catch the listener’s attention. Make
a lead guitar enter in loudly on one side, and the listener will perk up.
Again, this is a simple tool that we overlook and take for granted. Some-
times we choose to struggle with EQ to try and make a track stand out,
when simply panning it away from competing instruments will do a
much better job!

EQ
Now we’re getting a little more advanced. EQ allows us to turn specific
frequencies up or down. This allows us to emphasize or exaggerate the
pleasing parts of an instrument, and on the flip side, minimize or re-
move the unpleasant or unnecessary frequencies.
An EQ plugin or hardware unit will have some or all of these features:

FILTERS
A High-Pass Filter (HPF) will cut out anything below the chosen frequen-
cy, allowing the higher frequencies to ‘pass through.’ A Low-Pass Filter
(LPF) allows the low frequencies to pass through while eliminating fre-
quencies above a set point. Filters are the most efficient way of getting
rid of unwanted high or low frequencies in a sound.
For example, you could use a HPF on heavy guitars, set between 90-
120Hz, to eliminate unnecessary rumbly low end and create more room
for the bass. Likewise, you could put a LPF on the bass track at 4kHz to
get rid of any hiss or noise in the high end that could interfere with the
guitars or vocals.

8 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


An example of high-pass and low-pass filters
Filters can also be used to create effects by limiting the frequency
range. The classic telephone-voice effect is achieved simply by lim-
iting the frequency range - use a HPF at 500Hz and a LPF at 3kHz to
see what I mean.

SHELVES
The next EQ type is a shelf. A high or low shelf raises or lowers all
frequencies below or above a set point. This is a smooth way to
boost low or high end and make broad strokes. Use a high shelf to
make a track brighter or darker; use a low shelf to increase or de-
crease the overall low end of a track.

BELL/PEAK
With a bell or peak EQ, we can boost or cut a specific frequency,
leaving the ones around it more or less untouched (more on that in
a second). Using this type of EQ, we can zero in on problem frequen-
cies to notch them out without affecting the rest of the tone. We can
also boost very specific frequencies to help a track cut through the
mix or to emphasize its character.

9 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


BANDWIDTH
Sometimes labeled ‘Q’, this allows us to control the severity of the
EQ for all types - filters, shelves and bells. A low Q means a broad,
gradual curve, thus it will affect more frequencies around the point
you’re boosting or cutting. A high Q means a narrow bandwidth, af-
fecting less of the surrounding frequencies.
In general, broad Qs are great for boosting, as they sound more
natural. Narrow Qs are great for cutting, as you can remove unwant-
ed frequencies without harming the original character of the instru-
ment as much.

An EQ showing high and low shelves, as well as wide and


narrow bells.
Besides volume and panning, EQ is our most powerful tool in cre-
ating separation between instruments. We use subtractive EQ to
create space for other tracks, and we boost frequencies to help an
instrument stand out or cut through the mix.
EQ can also help create effects by playing to the way our brains are
wired. For example, in real life, low frequencies travel further than
high frequencies. Something far away will sound dull and dark.

10 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


Therefore, we can make a track sound distant by simply reducing or
filtering out high frequencies. On the flip side, we hear high frequen-
cies more clearly the closer a source is. That’s why we like bright
vocal tracks where we can almost hear the movement of the singer’s
mouth. It makes us feel like they’re right in front of us.

HARDCORE TIP:
Remember how I said panning is a powerful separation tool? Well,
keep in mind that your mix won’t always be heard on headphones
or in a scenario where the listener is perfectly placed between the
left and right speakers (think of a car)! In the real world, your pan-
ning won’t mean as much for separation as it does in the studio. To
really exercise your EQ muscle, do your EQing in mono. This forces
all the sounds to come out of one spot, all on top of one another.
So while your guitar and vocal sounded plenty separated when it
was panned 100% left, in mono you hear how the frequencies are
covering each other up (aka ‘masking’). You’ll be forced to EQ in
ways that give each instrument its own space in the frequency spec-
trum. I’ve found this to be a really powerful mixing technique. It’s a
bit weird to get used to, but when you flip it back to stereo, the mix
will sound that much bigger.

COMPRESSION
Compression is another incredibly powerful tool, but it’s not as easy
to master as the ones above. In the simplest terms, a compressor
allows us to turn down the level of a track automatically. It allows us
to control the dynamics - that is, the difference between the quiet-
est and loudest parts of a track.
A compressor has a threshold, either hardwired or adjusted by
hand. When the signal exceeds that threshold, the compressor kicks
in and turns it down. When we turn down the loudest parts of a sig-
nal, it allows us to turn the whole track up, which means the quieter
parts can be heard more easily.

11 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


I’ll give you a quick rundown of the other basic compressor controls:

RATIO
This is a hard one to wrap your head around. The ratio is displayed
as 2:1, 4:1, 6:1, etc.
A 4:1 ratio means that for every 4dB the signal exceeds the thresh-
old, the compressor will only allow it to exceed by 1dB (yeah, I
know... confusing).
So if your threshold is set at -10dB, and your signal comes in at -6dB,
it’s 4dB louder than the threshold. The compressor will kick in and
output a final level of -9dB, because for every 4dB over, it’s only al-
lowing a 1dB increase.
Truthfully you don’t ever need to think about ratios like that again.
Just know that lower ratios are more transparent and smooth, and
higher ratios are more extreme and noticeable. For simple, gentle
level control, use a low ratio like 2:1 or 4:1. For heavy, intense com-
pression and more aggressive dynamic control, use a higher ratio.

ATTACK
This is how quickly the compressor reacts to the signal - or “attacks”
it. A 30ms attack means that the compressor will kick in 30ms after
the signal hits the threshold.
Again, I don’t want you to overthink the numbers. Think of it in sim-
ple terms - fast, medium, slow.
A fast attack time will grab the signal quickly, reducing the transient.
A slower attack will allow some (or all) of the transient through, be-
fore clamping down on the signal. This creates the illusion that the
transient is actually louder than it was. That’s why we use a slow
attack on drum tracks - it emphasizes the transient. Are you starting
to see why compression is so powerful?

12 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


A compressor with attack, release, and ratio controls.

RELEASE
Release is how quickly the compressor returns, or releases, the sig-
nal back to it’s original volume. A slow release will gradually let the
signal go, while a fast release means the compressor turns down
the signal briefly and immediately lets it go until the next time the
threshold is reached.
The best way to think of it is that slow releases are smooth and
more transparent, while fast releases create a more aggressive
sound (because the level is changing more rapidly and dramatically).
Like I said, compression is most basically understood as a level con-
trol. We use it to automatically control the volume of a track to a
certain degree. It’s important to limit the dynamic range of instru-
ments so that the listener can always hear them loudly enough.
You’ve probably had the experience of listening to a song or person
speaking on the radio and had to turn it up at times to hear it prop-
erly and then turn it down when it gets loud. Compression helps to
even this out.
But compression is much more powerful than that. In fact, once you
get a little bit more advanced in your mixing, you’ll start to see level
control as only the secondary function of a compressor. The more
interesting part is how it allows you to shape a sound using the at-
tack and release times.

13 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


With our attack/release definitions in mind, think about some exam-
ples. On a drum room track, we could put a compressor on with a
fast attack time and fast release. What’s going to happen? It’s going
to clamp down the transients and let go of it immediately, which will
make the signal in between drum hits louder. Result? The decay and
ambience of the room is emphasized!
Another example: effective compression on a vocal track can em-
phasize consonants and make the singer sound more intense than
they actually are. As long as the attack time is slow enough, the be-
ginning of the word will get through before the compressor kicks
in. That gives us the illusion that the start of the word is louder than
the rest. Voilà, it now sounds like the vocalist is attacking every word
with intensity. Listen to a pop song on the radio and hear how the
consonants - the T’s, C’s, B’s etc. - pop out aggressively and energeti-
cally. That’s compression at work.
See how powerful this could be? Not only can you control the level
of a track, you can shape it to change or emphasize its character.
That’s why your hear famous mixers talk about the “vibe” of certain
compressors. Old units like the 1176 or LA-2A have hard-set attack
and release times that you can’t change. That means they’ll always
add a certain shape or character, and when you combine that with
the way certain tubes or electrical components color the sound, you
get vibe.
Experiment with different compressors to see which vibe best em-
phasizes an instrument. Over time, compression will be one of your
top ‘character’ and ‘vibe’ tools - over and above what it does for lev-
el control.

LIMITING
Limiting is technically defined as any compression with a 10:1 ratio
or higher. While we just discussed how compression is useful way
beyond simple level control, limiting is more strictly about volume.
A brick wall limiter does exactly what the name implies - it doesn’t
let ANYTHING go above the set threshold. This is used for stopping

14 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


rogue peaks from clipping and really forces a track stay at a con-
stant level.
Limiters generally use super-fast attack times, since their function is
to not let anything cross the threshold. It’s a loudness weapon, mer-
cilessly taming the peaks in order to raise the overall level.
With that in mind, you generally wouldn’t use limiters very often
on tracks where transients are important - like drums. But when
you want something to really get nailed down and be controlled
at a constant volume, like a bass or vocal, a bit of limiting goes
a long way.

SATURATION / DISTORTION
Saturation is a subtle form of distortion. It gently distorts and com-
presses the source, creating harmonics around it and thus thicken-
ing or fattening it. Depending on the type and severity of saturation,
it can either warm up and smooth a track over, or it can add a little
more edge and aggression.
By emphasizing the harmonics, meaning the complimentary fre-
quencies above and below the dominant range, it makes a sound
bigger, fatter, thicker and louder. For example, it can help smooth
out harsh high frequencies by ‘padding’ them with complimentary
frequencies around it. Or it can add harmonics to a super low fre-
quency so that it’s easier to hear on small speakers.
Distortion is a more aggressive tool. We can use distortion creatively
to add aggression, bite and edge in unexpected ways. You can dupli-
cate a scream track, add distortion, and mix that in with the regular
scream very subtly to add extra intensity. You can distort the drums
for effect, or again as a blended track to add aggression. We often
don’t think of distortion for things other than guitar or bass, but
we should.

15 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


HARDCORE TIP:
Distortion is the ultimate loudness machine. That’s because it
straight-up chops the peaks and valleys of a waveform, which cre-
ates the distortion sound. Therefore, the more distortion you use,
the more constant the level. That’s why a distorted guitar track looks
like a solid block on your screen, compared to a clean guitar with
high peaks and valleys.

EFFECTS
Finally we have effects. I’m talking about things like delay, reverb,
chorus/flanger, and other wacky stuff we can do with the sound.
Effects help us to create space in the mix by mimicking the way we
hear things in the real world. Reverb works by simulating the way
sound bounces off of walls or the landscape around us. That’s how a
reverb plugin allows us to give the illusion that something was re-
corded in a club, a big wooden room or a cathedral.
Delay is similar, while chorus and flangers vary the pitch and time
up and down to create unique sonic effects.
For maximum effectiveness, these types of tools should be used
wisely and sparingly in a mix. To me, too much reverb is one of the
dead-giveaways of an amateur mix. It clouds everything over and
gives it a lo-fi vibe (in a bad way). Just listen to the top 10 rock and
pop songs right now. I’ll bet you there’s not much reverb going on in
most of those mixes.
It’s easy to fall into the reverb trap because when you’re listening
to a track in solo, putting some reverb on it usually makes it sound
instantly better. But it’s a crutch, and it adds up in your mix in a neg-
ative way. I hardly use any reverb in a mix, and when I do, it’s usual-
ly to make up for a missing drum room track or to create a special
effect. I find delays to be much more useful in creating depth and
space in a mix. I’ll get into some real examples of this later on.

16 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


Alright, we’ve just covered all the basic tools you have available as
a mixer. Every DAW will have at least very basic versions of all of
these, and there are a plethora of awesome plugins you can add
into your tool bag.
But be careful. More plugins, more gear, or more expensive gear
will not make you better. If you can’t use a plugin compressor ef-
fectively, a $2,000 outboard compressor isn’t going to do much for
your mixes.
It’s all about how and why you use the tools, not about the tools
themselves.
As you can see, I’m not much for mixing by numbers and going deep
on theory, but you do need to get a grasp on these basics. Other-
wise, you’ll feel confused and overwhelmed when you open up a
plugin and start tweaking.
The more you understand the tools, the more they become trans-
parent in your workflow - meaning they don’t hold you up or com-
plicate things. They allow you to quickly and effectively create the
sound you hear in your head.

17 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


CHAPTER 3: WORKFLOW
Ok, now we’re clear on our vision. We understand our tools. Let’s dig
into how we approach a mix from start to finish.

YOUR PLAN OF ATTACK


It’s important that you start with a solid idea of how you’re going to
approach the mix. What are you going to do first? How will you orga-
nize the tracks? When do you know the mix is done?
If you don’t have a plan of how you’re going to tackle the mix,
you’ll feel scattered, unfocused and take a lot longer to mix than
you should.
Here’s how I approach my mix:
1. ORGANIZE TRACKS
2. SET UP ROUTING
3. ROUGH BALANCE
4. EQ / COMPRESSION / PROCESSING TRACKS AND TWEAKING
5. AUTOMATION
6. SPECIAL FX
7. FINALIZE
You don’t necessarily need to follow my exact workflow, but if you
don’t have one already, it’s a great place to start. The important part
is that you have a consistent approach. If you have a formula, a set
process that you use every single time you sit down to mix, you’ll
not only mix faster but better.
Having a predictable and repeatable workflow allows you to mini-
mize the un-creative side of your brain so that you can focus on the
creative side. That’s why I have organization and routing at the very
start of my workflow. I want to get rid of the tedious technical and
non-musical tasks up front so that the rest of my process is free of
these distractions.

18 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


Let’s break down each of these stages so that you know exactly
what I mean.
1. Organize Tracks
The first thing I do is put all of the tracks in order on the screen. I
prefer to have drums at the top, then bass, guitars, miscellaneous
instruments (synths, etc.), vocals, then aux returns and master fad-
ers. I color the tracks according to their instrument group to make
them easier to find (for example, all drum tracks are blue, all guitar
tracks are orange, etc.).
Since I use the same organization in every single song I mix, I always
know where to find what I’m looking for. In a big session, it can be
hard to quickly locate where sounds are coming from. A predict-
able track order makes this easy, and it makes you faster at moving
around the DAW.
During this stage, I’ll also try to reduce the session down to the least
amount of tracks possible. If I can combine 3 guitar tracks onto 1, I’ll
do it. Sometimes that even means bouncing down layers into one
track. For example, if there’s 4 tracks of vocal doubles, I’ll do a quick
balance and bounce it down to one stereo track.
Reducing track count in this way helps you move faster through the
session and the mix. It eliminates repetition and gives me a sense of
order and control over the material.
2. Set Up Routing
Next, I set up all the aux inputs, master faders, inputs and outputs
for the tracks. That means I’ll set up my drum aux and route all my
drums there. Same for bass, guitars, and vocals. All these aux tracks
then go through my main mix bus.
This is also a great time to set up your go-to effects returns by cre-
ating aux tracks, loading up reverbs and delays, and setting their
inputs and outputs.
I recommend setting up a snare plate reverb, long plate reverb,
short delay, medium delay, long delay and harmonizer/doubler ef-

19 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


fects right off the bat. With these effects returns ready to go, it only
takes a few clicks in the DAW to create a send to whatever effect you
need. That means once you start mixing, you stay in the creative
zone instead of stopping to create new tracks, load plugins and set
up routing every time you want to add a simple reverb or delay.
3. Rough Balance
Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, I can get into the music!
I’ll start by listening to the rough mix if there is one, so I can get fa-
miliar with the song and the artist’s vision. Then I’ll start bringing up
each instrument one by one and set a quick balance and panning of
the instruments. I’ll listen to the song at least a few times through in
this stage, doing some more balancing as I go.
This is the stage where I get familiar with the song and the tracks
provided. I try to discern what type of sound they were trying to
achieve. I make note of the special parts of the song and unique
sounds or tones that I want to emphasize, as well as any glaring
problems that need to be addressed. Most importantly, I try to con-
nect with the emotion or energy that the song is trying to produce.
The goal of this stage is to get an idea in my head of what I want this
song to sound like. Then I can start to get fired up about bringing
that vision to life.
4. EQ / Compression / Tweaking - aka “The Heavy Lifting”
The rough balance phase naturally flows into this in-depth mixing
phase. This is where I spend most of my time in a mix. I start pulling
out my tools, using EQs, compressors, and anything else required to
get the job done.
I’ll usually start by fixing any obvious problems, such as a
way-too-dynamic vocal or an excessively muddy guitar, then jump
into processing each track one by one.
In most cases I go in the order the tracks were organized in - drums
first, then bass, guitars, and vocals. However, it’s important to note
that I try to use the ‘solo’ button as little as possible. Since every

20 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


move you make affects the entire mix, and because no one except
you will ever hear a track in solo, it’s important to mix with all the
tracks live. Solo is useful for zeroing in on issues and fixing them,
but if you mix everything in solo, you’re going to have problems
when you try to put it all together. Mixing in solo too much can
cause you to mix every single track to be as big and shiny as it pos-
sibly can so that it sounds good in solo. But when everything is big,
nothing stands out.
So while I do proceed in order when mixing, I also jump around and
make small adjustments to other tracks as I go. I’ll get my drum mix
solid, but then once I mess with the bass, I might have to jump back
and tweak my drums again. This process continues on in this way
until I’m feeling really good about the mix.
This is also when I start to add in effects, applying reverbs, delays
and other standard effects as needed.
5. Automation
Once I’ve processed all the tracks individually and feel like I’ve done
almost all the tweaking required, it’s time to automate.
Automation is when you program various changes to the tracks
(mainly volume changes) throughout the length of the song.
An easy example is ‘riding the fader’ of the vocal - changing the level
of the vocal on a line-by-line basis so that the lyrics are always audi-
ble on top of the music.
Modern DAWs allow you to do this with painstaking detail, but I pre-
fer to use an actual physical fader to record these moves so that I’m
reacting with my ears and not my eyes.
Automation is one of the most important weapons of pro mixers.
It’s how we keep the listener engaged throughout a song and keep
pulling them forward by manipulating the energy, excitement and
overall feel.

21 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


Automation example - ‘riding the fader’ on a vocal track
To give you a better idea of what I mean, here are some common
automation moves I make:

• Emphasizing drum hits. Turning up the kick on the first hit of a


chorus or breakdown. Turning up the cymbals on a big crash.
Making sure all the tom fills are perfectly audible.
• Riding the bass so that the low end is constant through-
out the song
• Automating reverbs and delays, like turning up the snare re-
verb during a heavy open section and turning it down during
busy sections.
• When a new lead guitar enters, catch the listener’s attention.
Turn it up for the first few notes and then gradually back it down
to its regular level. It’s like allowing a track to say “Hey! I’m here!”
before settling into it’s proper place.
You can get really creative with automation, and our DAWs give us
insane power in this area. For example, you can automate any of
your plugins to change throughout the song. You could automate
your kick drum EQ so that there’s less low end during a super-fast
double kick section. You could boost the low end on your bass
for the choruses or breakdowns to make them bigger. You could
make your hi-hat get brighter and brighter with each chorus so that
there’s a feeling of building energy and excitement as the song pro-
gresses. The possibilities are almost limitless. I do a scary amount of
automation in my mixes, and I love it.
Do not skimp out on this step. This is your chance to shine as a
mixer and make a big impression on the artist and listener. They

22 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


might not recognize that you’ve automated things or that tracks are
evolving through the mix, but they will feel the difference, and that’s
what counts.
6. Special FX
Once I’ve finished my automation, I take some time to listen for
opportunities to add special effects to emphasize certain moments
in the song.
Usually this means simple things like adding bass drops, big snare
explosions, a reverse cymbal or a reverse snare swell. Occasionally
I’ll get more unique ideas and spend some time having fun, trying to
create some crazy sound I’m hearing in my head. It doesn’t always
work out, but it’s worth a shot.
I don’t spend too much time on this part of the mix, and I make sure
to follow my gut. If I listen to the song and don’t get any ideas or gut
feelings about adding an effect, I move on. You should never add
something to the mix just for the sake of cool effects. You should
only add special effects when you’re absolutely convinced it makes
the mix better.
This is another key differentiator between pro and amateur mixers.
A pro knows when to add to a track and when to leave it alone. You
can’t get your ego involved or try to impress anyone with weird ef-
fects. It always, always has to serve the song!
7. Finalize
All the heavy lifting is done at this point. The final step is to sit back,
listen, and make any last tweaks before printing the final mix.
I try to detach myself from the controls and listen like a fan would. I
dim the lights, turn my computer monitor off, turn it up a bit and sit
back to listen.
Since I’ve been focusing on individual tracks in so much detail, this is
an important time to get perspective on the mix. How does it feel all
together? Does it all flow and remain exciting throughout the song?
Most importantly, does it make me feel something, tap my foot or

23 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


bob my head? Those are the things I’m looking for here.
I’ll listen to the entire song and make mental or paper notes if I hear
an issue or get an idea to tweak something. If I have to interrupt the
playback, I restart the song from the beginning and listen again. The
whole point of this step is to hear the song as a whole and not in
tiny chunks.
Listen at different volumes, on different speakers, and even sit in
different spots of the room. Make any minor changes you feel nec-
essary, and listen again until you feel satisfied.
A common practice for mix engineers is to check their mix in the
car. We all spend so much time in our cars listening to music that
we know instinctively how it should sound there. I always bounce
my mix and check it in the car or in my AirPods, then make any final
tweaks accordingly before I send it off to the band.
In this phase, you’ll probably end up making a number of small
tweaks to the mix, but try not to second guess yourself and start
over with anything. After a few passes and some final tweaks, you’re
ready to print your mix and send it to the artist.

24 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


HARDCORE TIP:
Pro mixers use a mixing template to drastically speed up their pro-
cess. A good template takes care of steps 2 & 3 of this workflow in
just a few minutes.
My mix template basically looks like a normal session with all of my
drum, bass, guitar, vocal and effects tracks already set up.
I’m able to import all of those settings from the template directly
onto the new session I’m working on. This will automatically set up
my routing, load my go-to plugin chains for each track, and bring in
all of my effects returns (reverbs, delays, etc.) pre-loaded with my
favorite sounds & settings.
Using a template like this is a game-changer for your mixing speed.
It’s like having a console laid out in front of you with all of your out-
board gear patched in and ready to go. No need to search through
plugin menus or repeat the same plugin settings over and over.

25 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


PART TWO:
TRACK-BY-TRACK TIPS
& EXAMPLES

I spent the first part of this book setting you up with a foundation
and a starting point from which to mix. Those ideas and princi-
ples will help you approach any mix in any genre of music with
confidence.
But this book is about mixing heavy music, and here’s where I’ll de-
liver on that title. The second part of this book is about how to apply
these tools, with specific tips and examples for heavy music that you
can try immediately in your DAW and hear the difference.
CHAPTER 4: DRUMS
There are essentially two different ways drums are approached in
heavy music. You can either go raw and real, or polished and larger-
than-life. Neither is better than the other, it just depends on what
the artist or producer is going for. As a mixer, in the rough balance
stage you should be able to discern which way they want to go (if
they haven’t told you already).
Regardless of the style you’re going for, a lot of the goals are still
the same. You want the drums to hit hard. They need to be punchy,
loud and intense. In more mellow rock and pop music, the drums
contribute to the rhythm and feel for a song, but in metal, we also
want to hear the detail of the drums and we want them to cut
through the mix, not just sit as a foundation underneath.
Personally, I prefer productions that sound “larger than life,” so the
ideal drum mix for heavy music consists of well-recorded live drums
augmented by samples. Programmed drums are also common
in the genre, which is okay, but I’m willing to bet that live drums
will never go away. As good as MIDI tools are these days, there’s
still a special energy and realism that you can only capture with a
real drummer.
I’ll walk you through each part of a live kit, and then touch
on samples.

KICK
Depending on the drum and mic used, a live kick track will either
sound dull and muddy or thin and plastic-y.
If you’re hearing a lot of bleed between kick hits, start by setting
up a gate. A simple gate plugin with a drum preset will be a good
starting point. Make sure the attack is as fast as possible, so that
the transient is allowed through. The release time can be medium

27 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


to slow, a couple hundred milliseconds or even up to 1s will do.
Use a faster release time if the bleed is really bad or the kick has a
nasty ring.
Next, start to shape the kick sound with EQ. I start by applying fil-
ters - a HPF around 50Hz will tame the extreme low end and free up
headroom, and a LPF around 12kHz will help with any hiss or noise
in the high end.
If your kick is muddy, make a wide cut around 200-300Hz. If it
sounds plastic-y or “beachball-y,” cut around 700 to 900Hz. Don’t be
shy - you often to need very extreme cuts in a kick drum to get the
modern sound we’re after. I’ll commonly use an SSL Channel plugin
to cut -15db in one of these spots. You may need to cut in both ar-
eas, but usually one more than the other.
Next, add some attack and edge by boosting 2.5kHz for more
smack, or around 4kHz for a bit more edge. For that bright ‘click’
of the kick drum, boost at 8kHz and don’t be shy. Depending on
how much bleed is in the track, I’ll boost as much 8kHz as I can get
away with.
Sometimes that means cranking the knob as far as it goes. It all de-
pends on the source, but boost it as much as you can to get it cut-
ting through the mix.
For low end, I usually boost with a bell curve at 60Hz. You may need
to boost and sweep the EQ around a bit between 60-80Hz to find
the ideal spot, but I like the way 60Hz sounds on most kick tracks.
Again, don’t be shy, but don’t overdo it either. Depending on what
the kick sounds like to begin with, I’ll add anywhere from 3-9db of
low end here. If you boosted a lot in the highs, you’ll have to boost
more in the low to balance it out.
For drums, I usually have the compressor following after EQ in the
chain. On the kick, use a slow attack and fast release to add punch.
Having the compressor after the EQ will also help tame any extreme
boosts you made. I’ll usually do 4-6db of gain reduction on the kick.
From there, use your taste to polish off the kick sound. I like to use

28 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


saturation plugins like Massey Tapehead or Black Salt Audio’s Esca-
lator to thicken up the kick and round off any spikiness in the top
end due to my big EQ boosts. Sometimes another EQ will be re-
quired after to clean up any extra mud with small, narrow cuts.

SNARE
Start by gating the snare similarly to how you gated the kick, with
the fastest attack possible and a medium to slow release. Make sure
you don’t get rid of the ring of the snare, as it will add character to
the drums.
You may need to make some narrow cuts with EQ to clean up a
honky midrange between 500 to 900Hz. Don’t make your midrange
cuts too extreme on the snare, or you’ll find it hard to hear in the
mix later on. Sometimes the ring or midrange that bothers you
when isolated will help define it in the mix (yet another reason to
avoid mixing in solo).
The key spots to boost on snare are 2-2.5kHz for smack that helps
cut through guitars. 3.5-4.5kHz will give some more bite and edge,
and the nice bright attack and crack is around 8kHz. Like the kick, I’ll
usually have a substantial boost at 8kHz.
The low end punch of a snare resides around 200Hz. Give it a
healthy boost to add weight and punch. You can also use a HPF
around 150Hz to clean up any unnecessary low end coming
through the mix.
Again, follow the EQ with compression using a slow attack and fast
release. You want to do enough gain reduction to emphasize the
punch and attack of the snare, but you can’t go too far or you’ll lose
the body of the snare or make it sound squashed and unnatural.
The sweet spot is usually between 3-6db with a ratio of 3:1 or 4:1.
Next, some distortion or saturation can do wonders on a snare to
help it cut through the mix. Just make sure your saturation isn’t
mellowing out the attack too much. This is why a more aggressive
saturation tending towards distortion can be better, because it cuts
down the peaks in an aggressive way that translates to our ears as

29 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


energy and intensity.
Use the bottom snare mic for extra brightness. You can gate it much
harder, with a very short release time so that all you hear is the hit
itself. Boost up at 10kHz or above to get some sizzle, and boost at
200Hz again for some extra low end beef. Sometimes a fast attack
on the compressor can help to fatten the bottom snare sound, but if
you just need a little bit more bright crack, use a slow attack like the
top snare. If you’re struggling to get the snare top bright enough,
the bottom mic can do the trick.

TOMS
Processing on the toms looks very similar to the kick. You’ll likely
need to make a big, wide cut in the midrange, sometimes in the
muddy 300Hz area or up around 800Hz. The low end will be in the
mid-100’s for a rack tom and below 100Hz for a floor tom. Attack
can be found around 4.5kHz and, like most drums, at 8kHz. Make
sure to gate the toms to eliminate ring and kit bleed between hits,
but maintain a natural decay. Compress toms the same way you
would kick or snare, but experiment with slightly faster attack if
you’re lacking some fatness in the tom.

HARDCORE TIP:
Drums can be tricky to gate accurately. Standard gates are prone
to mistriggers (opening the gate when it shouldn’t) and the more
EQ you do on your drums, the more you’ll hear an unnatural, nasty
cymbal bleed every time the gate opens up.
In the past I used a number of complicated workarounds to solve
this problem, until I finally ended up designing the perfect drum
gate myself. I highly recommend the Silencer plugin by my company
Black Salt Audio. It’s an accurate drum gate that kills cymbal bleed
while maintaining the character of the drum. This book is not about
promoting my own plugins, but in the case of Silencer, it really is
that much better than any other option. Do yourself a favor and pick
it up and never worry about gating & cymbal bleed again.

30 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


CYMBALS/OVERHEADS
Some people try to get a full, overall kit sound from the overhead
mics. Maybe it’s just me, but this is rarely how I approach over-
heads. For one thing, most bands, even successful ones, are not in-
vesting in recording drums in a nice big professional room anymore.
That means the ‘ambience’ in overhead mics is rarely anything spe-
cial. I prefer to treat the overheads as cymbal mics, not kit mics, and
fill in the ambience with the room mics later.
So right up front, my goal is to try and isolate the cymbals as much
as possible in the overhead tracks. This means making some aggres-
sive cuts to the low-end and mids. For fast and technical metal, I’ll
HPF all the way up to 600Hz. Sometimes that’ll be backed off down
to 250-400Hz if the kit sound happens to be nice, or the vibe is more
raw. I’ll almost always do a decent sized dip around 600-700Hz as
well. When you cut out the low end and midrange like this, you end
up with mostly cymbals in your overhead track, with a little bit of the
high end of the snare and toms as well, which is not a bad thing.
Depending on the recording, the overheads might require a boost
for brightness using a shelf at 10-12kHz. However, I tend not to
boost much on the overheads. I find it can make them sound
harsh, phasey and lose their detail. If the recording engineer
has done a decent job capturing cymbals, you shouldn’t have to
boost too much.
After EQ, I’ll compress overheads with an 1176-style compressor.
Usually that’s a fairly fast attack and fast-medium release. I want to
clamp down a little on the front-end attack of the cymbal hits, which
makes them sound longer and fatter. Generally this compression is
fairly light, averaging 3-6dB of gain reduction on loud hits.
Treating your overheads this way allows you to have more control
over the cymbal level without affecting the close-miked drums as
much. You’ll be able to turn up your overhead track a lot more while
maintaining the tone and punch you worked hard for in the kick,
snare and toms.

31 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


HARDCORE TIP:
Sometimes even with big cuts in the overheads, you have too much
kit sound and not enough cymbal. Turning the overhead track up
can then start to compromise the punch and tone of your close
miked drums. Rather than boosting the high end of the overhead
track a ton, I use a different approach. Duplicate the overhead track,
and on this one, HPF it all the way up to 5kHz. Now you’re truly left
with only the brightness of the cymbals. Compress that a little bit to
emphasize it even more and then blend it in with your normal over-
head track. Now you’ll be able to add more cymbal and maintain a
natural sound without affecting your individual drums. Boom!

HI-HAT
Hi-hat is treated much the same as overheads. Cut out the low end
and midrange to isolate the hi-hats. Automate the volume down
when the drummer isn’t playing the hats. I rarely compress the hi-
hats, and pan them where they seem to fit naturally with the over-
heads, usually around 60% left (drummer perspective).

ROOM
If you’ve followed my advice up to this point, you’ve worked hard to
isolate each drum and maximize their impact and energy. Howev-
er, you might end up with a kit that sounds nice and clear but lacks
glue and sounds a bit unnaturally separated. This is where the room
track kicks in, and it’s important.
The room sound can vary so much that it’s hard to give specific EQ
points, but a lot of the main frequencies to look at are the same as
you worked with in the kick and snare. This time, though, make sure
not to cut too much in the midrange, because you want the room
track to fill in the gaps for the close mics. Usually my EQ moves on
a room track are pretty subtle. I might boost around 1kHz to get it
more audible in the mix and emphasize the character. A high end
boost around 5kHz helps to add energy, though I usually LPF the

32 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


room around 10kHz to tame a noisy, messy high end.
The room track can add a lot of warmth and size to the low end. Try
boosting below 100Hz, but be careful not to compromise the tight
punch of the kick.
Drum room mics can benefit a lot from heavy compression. Us-
ing a fast attack and medium release, we can use compression to
emphasize the room sound and ambience. Heavy compression on
the room track can make the room sound bigger than it actually is
because of the way lower-level ambience is brought up when you
compress the louder transients. It also has a way of making the
drums sound twice as intense and energetic. If your drums are lack-
ing character and vibe, don’t be afraid to try smashing it and get the
gain-reduction needle flying.
The more sparse the drum part, the more you’ll be able to compress
the room. If you’re working with quick technical drums, you may
need to lighten up on the room compression so that you don’t blur
the drum detail too much.
Try out some saturation or distortion on the room tracks as well.
Again, the room track plays a major role in gluing the kit together
and adding character.
Once you’ve processed the room track, bring the fader down and
then gradually increase the level until it feels good in the mix. For
most rock and metal mixes, you don’t want the room to be super
dominant, but you should really miss it when it’s muted.
Experiment with automating the room level depending on the vibe
of certain sections of the song. More room track in the mix generally
makes the drums sit back a little bit and soften the attack, so try to
set the level where it fills in the gaps and adds vibe without reducing
the punch of your close mics too much.
IMPORTANT: PHASE
I should take a quick sidetrack and talk about phase. You’ve prob-
ably heard people talk about how important phase is when mixing

33 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


drums. Truthfully it should be figured out in the recording stage, but
it’s not uncommon to have some out-of-phase drums at mix time.
Personally, I try not to get too far down the phase rabbit-hole. I don’t
nudge tracks to align them and I don’t use any fancy phase align-
ment plugins. I just do what the old-school guys do - hit the phase
flip button and see if it’s better or worse.
Here’s how: With all of your drum tracks up, starting with the kick,
hit the phase-invert button on any plugin in the chain (or use a
straight-up phase invert plugin). Does the kick suddenly gain low
end? Does it sound more solid and full? If so, it was out of phase
before and now it’s more in-phase. If flipping the phase makes it
sound thinner or unnatural in some way, that means it’s more out
of phase now, and you should go back to how it was.
Do the same for each close mic, checking to see that the phase posi-
tion is correct. It’s good to do this very early in the drum mixing pro-
cess so that you’re not starting handicapped.
Sometimes when flipping the phase, it’s unclear which is better. If it
sounds the same, just leave it how it was. Other times you might get
a better midrange when the phase is flipped, but a better low end
when it’s not flipped. In this case, use your intuition to make the call
on which setting best serves the mix. Don’t be obsessed with phase,
just check it and move on. We’re not rocket scientists here, we’re
mixing rock and roll.

DRUM SAMPLES
There’s no use beating around the bush. Even if you have a stel-
lar drum recording and do a killer job mixing it, you’ll probably still
need drum samples in this genre. There are definitely exceptions,
and if you feel the live drums sound special enough without sam-
ples, then by all means, don’t use them! But to a large extent, rock
and metal fans have come to expect a drum sound that is at least a
little larger than real life, and you want your mixes to compete with
what’s out there.
My favorite plugin for triggering drum samples is Slate Digital’s Trig-

34 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


ger. It allows you to blend multiple samples inside the plugin, and
it’s the most accurate tool I’ve tried. Different drum samples are
available all over the internet to download for free or purchase.
Here’s how to blend a sample in with your live drums. Duplicate the
live track and insert Trigger (or another triggering plugin). Start au-
ditioning different samples, blending them with the live track. Make
sure that the sample is adding to the sound and not canceling it out,
which can happen if the phase relationship between them is just too
different.
When I’m choosing drum samples, my goal is to end up with a blend
that is greater than the sum of the parts. What I mean is, neither the
live kick or the sample sound good enough on their own, but togeth-
er the result is killer. The ideal drum sample will augment what’s
already there in your live tracks and/or fill in what it’s missing. For
example, you may not have been able to get enough high-end click
out of your kick track, but you can find a kick sample with plenty to
spare. Likewise if your kick was lacking low end.
I have a simple approach with drum samples. I mainly use hard hit-
ting samples and I don’t fuss too much with getting the dynamics
and delicacies to match the live tracks. I want the natural vibe to
come from the live drums, and the samples are there to beef it up
and make it hit harder. I have a bit of a grudge against super com-
plex drum sample packs where the mixer is left to balance all the
mics and choose from a million velocity layers. I got so sick of using
the sample packs I’d purchased that I decided to make my own.
They’re simple, heavy, and do exactly what I need them to do in the
mix without much fussing around.
The big advantage with drum samples is that there is no bleed. You
can EQ and process them ‘til the cows come home. Don’t be afraid
to manipulate a sample as much as you want to get the sound
you’re after. In fact, if you do, your mix will sound more unique than
the next guy who’s using the same drum samples.
I always bounce my drum samples down to a new audio track be-
fore I continue mixing. That means I bus the output of my trigger

35 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


track to a new audio track, and record the sample into an audio file
(or simply do an “offline bounce”).
There are two reasons for this. First, sometimes the trigger plugin
will be slightly off on a few hits, which means the samples end up
slightly out of phase with the live track and some hits are reduced
in power. After bouncing the track, I zoom in and scan through the
waveform to make sure all the transients are lined up.
Second, it’s a safety measure for the future. Not only does it ensure
that your mix is the exact same every time you open it up, it ensures
that your mix will be there regardless of whether software gets up-
dated and breaks your plugin, or your hard drive gets messed up
and you lose the sample files. It just feels safer to lock down the
sample into an audio track.
I’ll throw in a third reason: I like to commit. I don’t want to get 90%
through my mix and be tempted to go back and try a different sam-
ple. I choose it, commit, print it and keep moving. The best mixers
are confident and decisive, and don’t second guess themselves
during the mix.

DRUM BUS
If you followed the advice in Part 1, your drums should all be routed
to an aux track, which is your drum bus. This is where you can pro-
cess & treat the drums as a whole.
Start with a compressor (I like the SSL Bus Comp) doing only a few
dB of gain reduction with a 4:1 ratio, slow attack and fast-medium
release. You’ll be able to get a little extra punch from the drums, and
it will also help glue the kit and control the dynamics.
It’s sometimes necessary to EQ on the drum bus as well. You may
need to add in some low end that was reduced by the compres-
sor, or maybe halfway through your mix process the drums start
to sound a bit too dark. Rather than adjusting all of the individual
drum tracks, just do a nice smooth top end boost on the drum bus.
Keep in mind, however, that if you’re making big EQ moves on the
drum bus - over a few dB up or down - there’s probably a problem

36 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


that’s better addressed at the individual track level.
Saturation is also great on the drum bus. Pick a saturation flavor
that subtly beefs up and fills out the drum sound. I like BSA’s Escala-
tor, CraneSong Phoenix II, or SoundToys Decapitator.

PARALLEL COMPRESSION
I almost always have a 2nd aux input for drums that I use for par-
allel compression. Parallel compression means duplicating a track,
compressing it heavily for a certain effect, and then blending that
in with the original sound. This technique gives you the benefits
of heavy compression while maintaining the natural sound of the
instrument.
Parallel compression on drums is an old trick that pros have been
using for decades. Here’s what to do:
Duplicate your drum bus aux return. On this one, use heavy,
pumping compression. High ratio, fast attack and fast release with
gobs of gain reduction will get your drums slamming. Get the nee-
dle flying and don’t be shy. The goal is to end up with an insanely
punchy drum sound. Some compressors will add some distortion
with this heavy-handed use, or you can add a little bit yourself for
extra oomph.
Your parallel track should sound unnaturally, ridiculously intense.
When you’ve achieved that vibe, kill the track and go back to your
normal drum bus. Now slowly raise the parallel track until you get a
good balance of the two. You should be able to maintain the natural
sound of the kit, with the parallel track tucked in loud enough to add
some killer energy and punch without sounding obvious. It shouldn’t
draw too much attention to itself, but rather be something that is
missed if you mute it.

37 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


HARDCORE TIP:
Small automation moves with the parallel track throughout a song
can help keep things exciting. Turn up the parallel track for sections
that need more punch, and turn it down when the drums need to
lay back a little!

CLIPPING
Clipping on purpose has become a commonly used tool in modern
rock which allows mixers and mastering engineers to get super-loud
mixes without relying on brickwall limiters that destroy the punch
and attack of their drums.
While a limiter turns down the signal to keep it under the threshold,
thus reducing the transient impact, clipping does exactly what it
says - it clips off the peak of the signal.
Because we’re dealing with drum transients, the signal is only
clipped for an extremely brief time. As long as it hasn’t been pushed
too far, the clipping is too quick for our ears to notice the distortion.
The magic of this technique is that it allows us to reduce the peaks
of the drum transients without making them sound less punchy. And
when we can reduce those peaks, we get more potential loudness
for our mixes.
I use a simple clipper plugin on my drum bus and parallel drum bus,
just clipping between 1-4db on loud hits. Don’t go overboard here,
and try to avoid clipping much on kick hits, as the distortion is more
obvious on low frequencies.

REVERB
The main uses for reverb on your drums would be a short room
verb and a longer snare verb. If your room track is good enough,
you won’t need to use an artificial room reverb. However, if you
weren’t provided a room track or you can’t squeeze any good ambi-
ence from it, it helps to use a short room verb plugin on the drums

38 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


as a whole. Don’t make it obvious, just tuck it in enough to fill the
gaps. It helps to use an EQ after the reverb plugin to shape the
sound and make it a little closer to an actual room track.
Use sends on the individual drums to feed the room reverb track.
That way, you can create a custom mix feeding the verb so that
your balance is ideal. Usually I’ll have to send a lot less kick to the
room verb to keep from making my low end muddy, and I’ll also
take some of the cymbals out so that I don’t blur the high end de-
tail either.
The other reverb you’ll almost always have on drums is a snare
verb. The common choice is a long plate. Tailor the reverb tail length
to suit the tempo of the song so that the reverb dies just as the next
snare hits.
I like to choose reverbs that add some weight to the snare, and it
also helps lengthen the snare sound which makes it easier to hear
in the mix. I start by setting the snare plate level where it’s subtle
but important, and then I automate the fader throughout the mix.
In big, heavy breakdowns with lots of space between hits, you can
crank the snare verb for a big explosive sound. Then when a fast
section hits, you’ll want to bring it down to avoid a build up of verb
that clouds your mix and draws attention to itself.
Again, use an EQ to shape the plate reverb return if necessary. You
may need to make it brighter or darker, or to cut out some of the
low end. This is a little bit of a pro mixer secret that a lot of begin-
ners don’t even think of. Follow up your effects with EQ and any oth-
er tools necessary to shape them how you want. There are no rules!
You can also send your toms to the snare reverb if you find them
lacking in size or sustain.

DRUM AUTOMATION - QUICK TIPS & IDEAS TO


GET YOU STARTED
• Boost your kick on important hits at the start of new sections.
Bring it down on fast double kick parts or automate the low-end

39 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


EQ to avoid too much low end build up.
• Ride your snare fader to emphasize dynamics on fills, especially
when you’re using samples heavily.
• Turn up drum fills to grab the listener’s attention and accentuate
a change in the song.
• Turn up your overheads for crashes at the beginning of new sec-
tions or to emphasize big, heavy hits.
• Automate your toms to make sure all the fills are audible

40 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


CHAPTER 5: BASS
I like to tackle bass after I get a solid drum mix happening. In my
experience, you will almost always be given a bass D.I. track to work
with, along with an amp track, Sansamp or distortion track, or any
combination of these. The D.I. track gives us maximum flexibility
in the mix, but if the artist/producer supplies a killer amp or pedal
tone, that’s even better!
The two key things to focus on when mixing bass are the low end
(obviously) and the high-mids. The low end, from 50Hz up to about
300Hz, will provide the weight and power for your mix, while the
energy, presence and ‘growl’ of the bass lives around 1kHz.
For almost every style of heavy music, bass distortion is a must.
If you weren’t provided with a gritty track or the one you’ve got is
sub-par, there are many decent plugin options to do it yourself. My
favorite is the SansAmp PSA-1 included with ProTools, and some-
times I’ll run it through my actual hardware Sansamp pedal. There’s
something about the Sansamp tone that just suits rock and metal
perfectly.
In most mixes, I’ll try to end up with two bass tracks to work with - a
cleaner track and a more heavily distorted track. If you only have a
D.I to work with, simply duplicate the track and process one more
heavily with distortion. Use the faders to blend these two together
to your liking, so that you have a nice balance of clarity and grit.
Bus these two (or more) tracks together to an aux input to process
it as one sound. Start with an EQ, and use a HPF to limit the amount
of sub rumble in the track. I use my friend Google to look up a chart
showing frequencies of musical notes, and set my HPF according to
whatever is the lowest note played in the song. For example, a low
C is around 65Hz. So if the band is tuned to drop-C, I set my HPF
just below 65Hz, since I know anything below that is just rumble

41 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


that isn’t necessary. That will free up some extra space for the kick
in your mix.
Next, you can boost the low end, also according to the frequency of
the low notes in the song. Don’t get too obsessed over it, but in the
drop-C example, I would make a wide boost around 65 or 70Hz that
covers all of the low octave. Finding the right amount of low-end to
add can be difficult, and it takes time to learn your room and your
speakers. This is where reference mixes are a must. Compare the
overall low end in your mix to other pro records you love and make
sure you don’t have too much or too little low end.
Moving on to the midrange, try boosting around 1-1.5kHz. This is
where you’ll get a lot of attitude and aggression in the bass, and
how you can help it be heard in the mix. Don’t be afraid to boost
it as much as you need to, being sure to listen in the context of all
the other instruments. If you want even more grind and pick attack,
boost again around 2.5kHz.
Compression, and usually lots of it, is the name of the game for
bass. We compress bass heavily because we want a constant, pow-
erful low end through the song, and we want all of the bass notes to
be equally loud.
1176-style compressors are popular for bass, but like always, there
are no rules. Try out some different plugins and their bass presets.
Usually, I’ll use a fast or medium attack, and a fast to medium re-
lease time. Slower attacks will emphasize the pick sound a little
more, while faster attacks will smooth out inconsistent playing. Ad-
just according to the track you’ve been given.
If the bass track is pretty inconsistent dynamically, I’ll put a compres-
sor first to even it off by a few dB, followed by my EQ, followed by
another compressor with a heavier hand.
Next, I use some saturation to add extra harmonics and thicken up
the bass. I’ll then put a limiter (Waves L1 is my favorite) last in the
chain to shave off any stray peaks and really cement the bass level
in the mix.

42 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


Setting your final bass level in a mix can be challenging. We all have
different tendencies, but personally, I often find myself mixing the
bass too quietly and have to revise it after checking in the car or
AirPods. This could be due to my room or speakers, or just the way I
hear music. If you’re like me, try to push the bass up just a little be-
yond what seems comfortable. It’s a massively important track that
determines the size and power of your mix.
I’ve also learned to try and avoid making cuts in the low mids of the
bass, because that’s the area that gives the bass power on smaller
speakers that can’t produce the lowest sub frequencies. If you mute
the bass and don’t miss it that much, it’s too quiet. If you’ve mixed
it properly, the mix should totally fall apart when the bass is muted.
Read that last sentence again and remember it!
With a heavily compressed bass track, you won’t need to do too
much automation in the mix in terms of dynamic control. Instead,
use automation to manipulate the feel throughout the song. Even
a 1db boost on the bass during a breakdown or chorus can make a
big difference. If you have separate clean and dirty bass tracks, you
can change the balance of them as well, adding more grit in heavy
sections and backing it off when the bass needs to be cleaner. And
don’t forget to turn up those little bass licks, otherwise you’re guar-
anteed to get complaints from the bass player.

43 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


CHAPTER 6: GUITARS
When it comes to guitar tone, I need to make one disclaimer up
front: It is essential that you start mixing with a good tone.
To me, dialing in guitar tone is part of the recording stage, not the
mixing stage. These days I’ll often get sent both amp and DI tracks
for guitars. I will stick with the amp tracks 99% of the time, unless
the tone is completely unusable or if the artist specifically asks
for reamping.
If you are reamping, whether with a real amp or a plugin, I rec-
ommend doing it quickly and committing the final tone to an au-
dio track. Constantly going back and tweaking your guitar tone
throughout the mix is a quick way to derail the whole process. Like
I said before, the best mixers know how to make quick decisions
and commit.
When it comes to the mix process, then, my philosophy on heavy
guitars is to keep it simple. The #1 enemy of big guitars in the mix is
needing to use too much EQ. If you’re both tracking and mixing your
projects, and you consistently find yourself making EQ moves over
3-4dB in the mix, then you probably need to work harder at captur-
ing a good tone.
Doing too much EQ on heavy distorted guitars, especially in the
midrange, causes them to start sounding thin and phasey. I can’t tell
you exactly why - it’s just something I’ve noticed after thousands of
hours mixing guitars on hundreds of songs. I’ve also heard the same
thing from other high profile mixers.
I know you’re waiting for the specifics on processing guitars, but
when it comes to guitar tone in the mix, you have an extremely wide
leash. You do not need to conform the guitar sound to match any
other record, and when you try to do so, the result will be mediocre.

44 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


Just think about a few of your favorite records. Do any of the gui-
tar tones sound the same or even similar? I’m guessing not. If you
don’t know what I mean, just open up iTunes and play a random
selection of songs. I’m willing to bet that the variation in guitar tone
is massive.
It may seem counter-intuitive, but guitar tone is one of the least
important factors in defining the quality of a mix. Drums and vocals
have much more of an impact on the energy and connection with
the listener. That’s true across all genres. So rather than obsess over
the EQ on your guitars, try your best to simply let it be what it is. It’s
much better to have an odd guitar tone that is big and full, than to
force a cookie-cutter frequency curve that makes the guitars sound
thin and harsh.
Having this mindset with guitars will give you the freedom to roll
with the tones in front of you and maximize what’s there. The result
is a more powerful and unique mix - and that’s what you want!
With that in mind, there are definitely some subtle, but powerful
things you can do with EQ on your guitars. I’ll start by describing
my approach with the main rhythm guitars and then touch on
lead guitars.
Start by filtering out some low end. Find where to set your filter by
gradually moving it up until it starts to sound a little too thin, and
then back it off a bit to get enough low end back. Depending on the
tone and tuning, I usually end up with the HPF between 90-110Hz.
Not only does this clean up the guitar sound, it allows the bass gui-
tar to own the low end.
Use a LPF to eliminate harsh high end, setting it the same way you
did for the HPF. When you feel that you’re losing too much bright-
ness and energy, back off the LPF a bit.
Next, listen for harshness in the high mids. Distorted guitars will
have a high “shhh” or “sssss” sound that can be over-pronounced
and annoying. Find these frequencies by making a boost with a nar-
row Q and sweeping it between 2 and 7kHz. There will probably be

45 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


a spot where the noise is particularly bad, and this is when you’ve
found the problem frequencies. Dip the EQ there by 1-4dB, keeping
the bandwidth fairly narrow. I’ll usually find two high-mid frequen-
cies to cut in this way, one in the 3.5-4.5kHz range and one higher
up around 6kHz. Again, only notch out a few dB here with a narrow
band. Too much cutting and you’ll lose the edge and bite of the
tone. The result should be subtle, but noticeable, especially when it’s
done on multiple layers (i.e. left and right guitars).
When you A/B the results of your filtering and notches, you
shouldn’t hear a massive change in your guitar tone, but rather a
decrease in nastiness. These simple moves make a big difference
in the clarity and perceived quality of your guitar sound. Often this
is all I need to do in terms of main rhythm guitar EQ, especially if I
recorded it in the first place. But extra EQ is sometimes necessary
beyond this.
In most cases, try not to make any further cuts on the tone. You’ll
probably be tempted to cut some low-mid, but I’ll show you a bet-
ter way to deal with that in just a moment. You’ll want to keep as
much power in the guitar as possible and maintain a smooth mid-
range response.
Occasionally, if the tone is very bass-heavy, I’ll use a low shelf
around 100-150Hz to further reduce the low end.
The other areas to focus on are in the high-mids and highs. You may
want to make a small, wide boost around 1-1.5kHz if your guitars
seem too far back in the mix. Save the 2-3k range for lead guitars.
If they sound too dark or dull, try using a high shelf at 5-8kHz. Be
sure to use low Q’s (wide) when boosting guitars for the smooth-
est result. Usually any boosts on the guitars in my mixes are just
a few dB, but they make enough of a difference without messing
up the tone.
Ok, now let’s go back to the low-mids that I mentioned. In heavy mu-
sic, it’s common to get a build up in the 200-300Hz range when the
guitar is chugging or playing low-tuned, heavy riffs. Cutting this area

46 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


with EQ will thin out the tone for the entire song. A better approach
is to use multi-band compression to tame the low-mids.
Multi-band compression is also sometimes called Dynamic EQ. It’s
basically a compressor that only compresses certain frequencies.
In this case, we’ll use it to turn down the low-mids when necessary,
without touching the rest of the sound.
My go-to tool for this is the Waves C4/C6. I load it up and disable all
of the bands except the low-mid band, since I don’t want to touch
any other part of the sound. This range is from about 160-350Hz.
Next, I simply loop a heavy or chugging section and adjust the
threshold to get the desired amount of reduction in the low-mids,
usually just a few dB. The result I’m aiming for is that the low end of
the guitars sounds consistent when moving between chugging and
regular playing, with no big low-end buildups.
Using this tool is a super-effective way to control the low end of your
guitars. It fixes buildup problems and preserves the full tone for
other sections of the song where there’s no need to reduce these
frequencies.
When it comes to overall compression on guitars, think of it as a
vibe increaser instead of a level control. Distorted guitar tracks are
already heavily compressed with little dynamic range. The reason
to compress a heavy guitar track is to give it a subtle color or to en-
hance/soften the attack.

47 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


My favorite compressor for heavy guitars
My favorite compressor for heavy guitars is the Waves CLA-3A
(based on the old LA-3A hardware units). I find the sweet spot
is around 5db gain reduction. It adds a subtle color to the tone,
smoothing it over a little, and also a bit of extra oomph to the at-
tack. This is something that is hard to hear as a new mixer, but the
more you practice, the more useful this type of compression will be.
The only other thing I’ll use on my main guitars is a saturation plugin
when I want to fatten the guitars up just a little more in the mid-
range between 300-1kHz. Adding EQ in this area can often sound
strange, but using saturation to add harmonics instead tends to
sound bigger and more natural.

LEAD GUITARS AND LAYERS


The same principles apply for layered guitars and leads, but you can
get away with a heavier hand than on your main L-R guitars.

48 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


If you have a lot of guitar layers happening, filters are your best
friend. On a lead guitar track, HPF all the way up to 200Hz and filter
the high end more aggressively if you need to. Since distorted gui-
tars are so full-range, you need to limit different layers to smaller
and more specific frequencies in order to create separation and not
swallow up the whole mix. Sometimes a lead or octave guitar layer
can be filtered to an extremely narrow range that might sound silly
in solo, but fits perfectly in the context of the whole mix.
For lead guitars and solos, you can boost a little more in the
high-midrange. A 1kHz boost will bring them forward, and 2.5kHz is
where the bite and aggression is. You might also want to make them
brighter by using a high shelf at 5kHz.
Tying in with the theme of keeping it simple, the #1 way to make
the lead guitar stand out is to simply use a different guitar or amp.
It will automatically have its own voice and compete less with the
other guitars. Many producers overlook this though, stacking the
same guitar tone on top of itself over and over, and that’s where the
moves I mentioned above come in handy.
When it comes to FX, keep your main guitars dry. Lead guitars can
benefit from some subtle harmonization to widen them in the mix.
I usually pan leads and solos dead center and use a harmonizer or
“doubler” plugin to add just a touch of left and right energy.
I also avoid reverbs on lead guitars, unless it’s for dramatic effect.
Delays work much better. A ping-pong delay set to an 1/8th note on
one side and 1/4 note on the other is amazing for creating that big
lush lead sound. A simple 1/4 note delay up the middle can do the
job as well.
Like I said with drums, use filters and EQ to shape your delay return.
I’ll almost always filter the high end from the delay return, some-
times so much that it sounds lo-fi. This keeps your delay from taking
up too much space in the mix or adding noise, and it also just tends
to sound really good. And remember what I said about mimicking
the way our brains perceive sounds - less high end will make the de-

49 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


lay echoes seem further away, which keeps your main tone sound-
ing up-front.
Since guitars are so full-range, loud and constant, automation is
important in creating movement and making space for things. As
you can probably guess by now, use it to turn guitars up during
heavy sections or choruses and down during more mellow sections.
It’s also useful to dip the main guitars a touch when other layers or
leads appear and bring them back up afterwards. This helps to com-
bat the problem of having it sound like something drops out or is
missing after a lead or layer part ends.

50 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


CHAPTER 7: VOCALS
Vocals are straight-up overlooked in hardcore and metal. Not by the
fans, but by amateur mixers and producers, and sometimes even
the artist themselves. I think it’s safe to say most hardcore / metal
bands write their music first and then try to fit vocals overtop, com-
pared to a pop song where the lyrics and melody are step #1.
You absolutely cannot overlook the vocals. It is the most person-
al point of connection for the listener. I will go as far as to say that
even if your drums SLAM, your bass is HUGE, and your guitars
are perfect, the quality of your vocal sound will be the make-or-
break factor.
As music listeners we all want to connect with the song. We do this
through the music itself, but the easiest and most impactful channel
to connect with the listener is through the vocals. The most potent
combination in music is when the notes, arrangement and mix of
the instruments enhance the context of the vocal and lyrics - like
how a sad chord progression makes a lyric sound even sadder.
Therefore, take the vocal seriously even if you’re only working with
scream tracks.

SCREAMS
When mixing screams, intensity is the most important thing. You
need to make it sound like the vocalist is giving it their all, screaming
as hard and loud as humanly possible. That may or may not be the
case, but you can use the tools at your disposal to emphasize the
energy that exists in the vocal track.
A HPF around 100Hz will clean up ‘pops’ and rumble in the low end,
and since the screamer will often record vocals right up against the
mic, there can be some excess low and low-mids. If so, I’ll use a low
shelf to cut again around 150Hz by 2-4db.

51 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


Next, I’ll look for a spot between 1-2.5kHz to boost in order to help
the vocal cut through the guitars in the mix. Make sure you’re not
doing any vocal EQ in solo, because you’ll end up boosting too little
midrange and your vocal won’t cut through. Obviously, the point
is to make the vocal audible over all the other instruments, so it
makes no sense to mix it in solo. Don’t do it!
For brightness, I always boost screams at 8kHz. It adds a lot of inten-
sity, and using a shelf, also adds the brightness and ‘air’ you need.
This boost combined with the midrange boost will help your vocal
cut through the mix and make the lyrics more intelligible.
I tend to avoid all cutting with EQ on vocals. The rare exception
would be if it was recorded in a bad room, causing some frequen-
cy to ring or build up. But in general, cutting on the vocal will re-
move the natural character of the voice. I’ve always found it better
to boost to get more of what I need from the vocal and leave the
rest intact.
Next, the real moneymaker for vocals: compression. You’re going to
need gobs of it.
I’ll do 8-12db of gain reduction on the way in during recording, then
another 6-10db on the SSL Channel plugin (my favorite), and then a
further 8-20db of compression with the Waves 1176 plugin. All this
compression adds up to a vocal that is dripping with character and
stays loud on top of the mix.
I try not to obsess too much over the fine details of compression
when mixing vocals. Instead, I just try a few different compressors
with their basic presets to see which one suits that particular song
or vocalist. For screams, though, the chain above is usually what I
end up using.
The first compressor is usually a faster attack than the second. It will
also be a higher ratio. This will level off the vocal and provide a lot
of the dynamic control. Then I follow with another compressor, gen-
erally with a lower ratio, but doing more gain reduction and with a
slower attack.

52 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


If you remember from previous chapters, the slower attack will
emphasize the start of the sound, in this case the beginning of the
words. Dial in a healthy amount of compression and then move the
attack knob until the consonants (t-, c-, ch, b-, etc.) are really jump-
ing out of the speakers. Use as much gain reduction as necessary
to maximize this energy without making the vocal sound too unnat-
urally pumpy. Try not to look at the meter, just use your ears. This
is, in my opinion, the most important part of the chain. This is how
you make the vocalist sound 10x more aggressive than they ac-
tually were.
The heavy compression will also add some subtle distortion, further
enhancing the vibe of your vocal track. Certain compressors (like the
ones modeled after vintage hardware or consoles) will add more of
this character than others.
With all that compression and likely a large boost to the high end,
you’ll probably need to de-ess (though that’s not always the case). A
de-esser is basically just a compressor that is designed to only work
on certain frequencies, kind of like the multi-band compressor we
touched on with guitars.
Pull out any de-esser plugin and load up a basic preset. Since I boost
a lot at 8k, I usually set my de-esser around there, but you’ll need to
sweep the frequency around to find the harshest part of the vocal.
Then, set the threshold until you’re getting the necessary amount
of reduction on the S’s and T’s. There are no guidelines here; it’s
strictly a case-by-case basis and you should use your ears and not
the meter.

53 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


Simple de-esser plugin
Make sure you don’t take out too much, though. These consonants
need to have a bit of edge to cut through and allow the listener to
discern the lyrics. This is another area where reference mixes can
help. Pull up a couple of tracks you like and make sure you’re in the
same ballpark in terms of sibilance.
Lastly, I like to use a limiter at the end of my vocal chain. This limit-
er will be set to only take off the peaks and spikes in the vocal lev-

54 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


el, sometimes hitting up to -6db, but usually only doing occasional
1-3db reductions. This limiter is necessary for me because the heavy
compression can cause big spikes on the consonants - which we
want. They can, however, sometimes be too much, so the limiter can
handle those spikes without compromising the intensity achieved
by the compressors. Since the limiter works so quickly and trans-
parently, the consonants still sound just as hard without spiking the
meters. Using the limiter in this way will also help to cement the
vocal in its place, similar to the way I use it on bass.

HARDCORE TIP:
If you feel that the scream is weak or lacking energy, distortion can
help a lot when used in parallel. Duplicate the scream track and
put on a distortion pedal plugin. You may need to filter out the low
and high end to clean it up, and compress this track as well to get
maximum intensity. Blend the distorted vocal in with the main, just
enough that you get the energy boost without the vocal actually
sounding like it’s going through a guitar pedal.

SINGING
A lot of the principles I wrote above apply the same to melodic
vocals, but they can be a bit trickier sometimes. You may need to
use slightly less EQ or work harder to find the right frequencies,
but start with all the same EQ tips I pointed out for screams. The
exception may be in the high end, depending on the vocalist and
mic chain used. Occasionally a singer will be too harsh in the 8k
range, so you’ll need to go up higher to 12 or 14k to get your bright-
ness and air.
You should approach compression in a similar fashion, though you
may need to do more level control before your ‘attitude’ compressor
due to the more dynamic nature of singing vs. screaming. The same
attack and release settings still apply. Level the vocal off and then
slam it with a slower attack to bring out the consonants. Then de-
ess and limit.

55 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


I always process the screaming and singing on different tracks, but
I’m careful to check that the overall vibe between the two is consis-
tent. You don’t want to have the screaming brighter than the singing
or vice versa, especially if it’s all the same vocalist. In fact, if it is the
same vocalist, you can often copy settings from scream to sing and
then make some small tweaks to suit each one separately.

VOCAL LAYERS
Depending on the vibe that the artist/producer wants, you’ll prob-
ably get some vocal doubles and harmonies. You can generally
process doubles and harmonies very similarly to the lead vocal, but
without as much focus on cutting through the midrange. You’ll still
need to use heavy compression, but it will be more for level control
than vibe, so more limiting might be helpful.
Use a bit less low end on layers and avoid boosting in the 1-2.5k
range, so that it’s reserved for the lead vocal. You will often need to
de-ess the layers more than the lead, to make sure that all the s’s
aren’t adding up too much.
In my opinion and experience, the best use for vocal layers is when
they are spread out left and right. You can emphasize important
screams and make the vocal sound huge with a scream layered
center, left and right. The same approach works well for singing to
make choruses and harmonies fuller. Don’t be shy - pan them all
the way out.

VOCAL FX
In the second chapter, I alluded to the idea that effects like reverb
and delay need to be used wisely and sparingly for maximum effec-
tiveness. This goes for vocals too. You may be surprised to hear that
I almost never use reverb on my vocals, unless for a specific spe-
cial effect.
There tend to be trends that ebb and flow surrounding the wetness
of vocals in the mix (i.e. 80’s songs are dripping in reverb), and right
now we’re in a long era of dry vocals. Listen to top 40 radio and
you’ll hear what I mean. The same goes for heavy music.

56 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


I think this goes back to our desire to connect emotionally with the
music. Tons of effects make it harder to hear the lyrics, make the
vocal sit too far back in the mix, and doesn’t sound like a real per-
son singing to us in a room. Hence why drier vocals have seemingly
proven to be the preferred and most effective approach.
It is essential, though, to use some sort of ambience tool to get your
vocal glued with the mix. My favorite way to do this is with a very
short stereo delay, and I accomplish this with the stock delay plugin
in ProTools.
The delay is fed a mono signal (the vocal) and outputs a stereo
signal. On the left, I set the delay time to 180ms and on the right,
220ms. The difference in delay time between left and right means
that the delay will sound wider. I don’t use any feedback or other
fancy tools on this delay, aside from a slight LPF to tame s’s and to
set the delay back a little.
I add just enough of this short delay to a scream or sing track so
that it’s not easily noticeable in the mix, but is sorely missed if mut-
ed (have I said that before?). The short delay and no feedback (feed-
back = repeats) creates the illusion of the singer being very close to
you in a small room.
Let me explain, because it’s kind of fun. In real life, if you were in a
small room with a singer right in front of you, you’d hear their direct
voice and then be hit very quickly again with the reflections off the
walls. This would happen so quickly that you wouldn’t really discern
it as an echo or reverb. It would simply sound natural. That’s how
this technique works in a mix. It simulates the way our brain would
hear a singer right in front of us in an intimate environment.
Aside from my go-to short delay, a scream track will usually only
have a few other sends. One for a quarter-note delay to create a
more lush and spacey vibe if needed, and another send for a big
reverb that I’ll automate up at the end of certain lines. This gives
you the huge vocal effect in the spots where it counts, not clouding
up the rest of the vocal sound. Lastly, I’ll have a send called ‘Throw
Delay’ which feeds a long echo delay that I’ll use for dramatic echo

57 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


throws (like OH - oh, oh, oh. We’ve all done it).
Melodic vocals can often benefit from a little more wetness. Again I
reach for delay over reverb. Quarter-note delays with a bit of feed-
back are an excellent way of making the vocal sound lush and blend
with the mix. Experiment with varying the left and right side of the
delay if you want to create a wider vocal sound.
If you can’t tell already, I love delays. They give me all of the benefits
of reverb without messing up my mix. I’ll only reach for reverb on
layers that I want to sound further back or for other genres with a
lot of space in the mix. In general, the more dense an arrangement
is, the less reverb you should use.
Automation is an absolute must for vocals. You’ll want to ‘ride the
fader’ (or just edit the line on the screen with your mouse) so that
each and every word is perfectly audible. This is another one of
those things that separates the pros from the amateurs. The pros
know that the vocal needs to be perfectly consistent throughout the
song. An amateur will set-and-forget, whereas a pro will go as far as
to split the vocal onto multiple tracks, all with different EQ settings,
to ensure that the vocal tone is optimal throughout the song. EQ au-
tomation is another powerful way to do this on troublesome tracks.
Do whatever it takes to make the vocal shine!

58 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


CHAPTER 8: MIX BUS
I like to keep my mix bus, AKA master fader, very simple. It usually
has only two plugins inserted: Waves SSL Bus Comp and the Slate
Digital FG-X.
Using a compressor on your master fader will help add a little extra
glue and character to the overall mix. Since the compressor is being
triggered by various mix elements, but acts on the entire mix, it has
a way of making the mix feel like it’s moving and breathing together.
With the SSL Comp on my mix bus, I tend to like the sound of only
2-4dB gain reduction, at a 4:1 ratio, with 10ms attack and release
set to ‘auto’ (many compressors designed for mix bus will feature an
‘auto’ option).
You can and should experiment with presets on different mix bus
compressors to find a flavor you like. The SSL bus compressor is
highly regarded and widely used across all genres, especially rock
and heavy music.
There is one secret, though, when it comes to mix bus compression,
and it’s this: insert the compressor early on in the mix. Usually once
I get my rough balance done and start digging into my drums, I’ll
turn on the mix bus comp and have it work very subtly (~1db GR).
By putting the compressor on early in the mix, you automatically
mix “through” it and maximize its benefits, since all of your mix deci-
sions will be subtly influenced by the compressor and the character
it’s adding.
In contrast, if you finish your entire mix and then throw a com-
pressor on everything, it could really mess things up and make you
spend extra time tweaking the balance you worked so hard for.
The Slate FG-X (or newer FG-X 2) is essentially a mix bus compressor
and loudness plugin. I only use the loudness section, which uses a

59 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


variety of secret sauce, including limiting and clipping to raise the
overall level of the mix. Let me tell you why this is important:
An unmastered mix will be much quieter than a mastered record.
For a long time now, mastering engineers have used heavy limiting
and clipping to make tracks louder and louder - presumably to make
the song stand out more on the radio.
Our brains have a somewhat unfortunate habit of thinking louder
= better, at least on first impression. Have you ever had the experi-
ence where you put on a record and it sounds fantastic - big, loud,
full of energy, but by the time you get to track 5 or 6, you start to
feel fatigued and slightly agitated by the sound? This is what hap-
pens when a record has been mastered too loudly. Our ears and
brains get tired with such a lack of dynamic range, and the subtle
distortion caused by the limiting and clipping starts to take its toll.
Regardless of all the downsides of the ‘loudness wars,’ it’s just a fact
of life today that records need to be loud enough to compete. In
rock and metal, we’ve become especially accustomed to this, and
aggressive loudness in the master is usually even preferred, as it
adds a lot of extra energy and aggression to the mix. This makes
sense for heavy music and we can use it to our advantage, but it
needs to be done skillfully. I always leave it up to a mastering pro
who has a long list of credits in the same genre. These guys have
the proper room, gear, and experience to maximize loudness with-
out doing too much damage to your mix - and hopefully making it
even better.
That said, you still need to send your mix to the band for approval,
and they’re going to compare it to their favorite records. For that
reason, you need to at least get the level of your mix up into the
ballpark of a finished record. This is where the Slate FG-X kicks in.
Simply using the ‘loudness’ knob and the slider set towards ‘hard’, I
turn it up until the RMS (=average level) reads somewhere around
-12dB. A mastered modern record is usually 2-5dB louder than that,
but getting your mix up around -12dB will help it sound comparable
to finished records without messing up your mix.

60 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


The FG-X does a good job of maintaining the balance and punch
of the mix when increasing loudness. If you don’t have this plugin,
there are a few other options like iZotope Ozone, which has a good
‘clipping’ mode in its limiter that is great for metal.
Once the band has approved your mix and you’re ready to send it
off to mastering, my advice is to bypass your “fake master” plugin
when you print the final mix. Get a feel for what a true professional
mastering engineer does to your mixes, and as you gradually get
better and more confident with your mixes, you can experiment
with taking some of the loudness factor into your own hands and
sending louder (but not slammed) mixes to your mastering
engineer.

The Slate Digital FG-X plugin

DON’T USE YOUR MIX BUS AS A BANDAID


I want to finish this chapter by urging you to avoid bandaids on your
mix bus, like heavy use of EQ or multi-band compression. I call them
bandaids because many amateur mixers will use these plugins with
a preset, on their master fader to achieve a quick and easy ‘wow’
factor. However if you’re adding a ton of EQ or have multi-band
compression pumping on your mix bus, chances are something isn’t
right in your mix. Treating the master fader this way gives you much
less control over individual elements in your mix. Take the time
and effort to learn how to mix without these bandaids - they never

61 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


sound as good as a carefully crafted mix.
A little bit of EQ or multi-band compression can be OK on the mix
bus, though. For example, if I’m 98% finished a mix and then realize
it’s just a little too dark overall, a simple high shelf EQ boost of only
0.5-1dB could be the perfect touch. Likewise, I’ll occasionally need to
add a subtle low end boost on the master fader if I find the overall
mix just needs a tiny bit more oomph.
If the entire mix is lacking something in a subtle way, the mix bus is
the perfect place to do it. Just make sure you’re making a creative
judgment call and not lazily avoiding fixing a problem with a specific
instrument in the mix.

HARDCORE TIP:
This one is pretty simple, but it’s something not many mixers ever
think about: you can automate your master fader! Think about it...
a great way to add excitement and contrast in the mix is to simply
turn it up or down depending on the section. This is not something
I do regularly, but every once in a while it’s perfect to make that
chorus pop just a bit more with a 0.5dB increase. Like using EQ on
your master fader, automating the volume here is just a final, subtle
touch when necessary, and shouldn’t be used as a shortcut or sub-
stitute for properly automating your mix!

62 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


CHAPTER 9: YOUR JOURNEY
In this book I’ve written down the most important advice that will
quickly make a noticeable difference in the sound of your mixes.
I want you to start with the right mindset, get a basic grasp of the
essential tools, and then have a solid idea of how to process each
instrument.
I want to close, however, by offering my biggest tip for mixing. I al-
ready touched on it in the first chapter.
Here it is: Mix from your gut.
Your musical ear and intuition is the foundation of your mixing, and
all the tools and techniques I mentioned above just help you bring
your creative vision to life.
So if it’s not about the tools and techniques, why do I spend so
much time and energy helping people understand them? Because
you still need to master them and use them to bring your vision
to life. A lot of musicians and mixers have incredibly unique tal-
ent, feel and creativity, but it’s limited by a lack of practical skill and
knowledge.
Keep learning, practicing, and working hard at your craft. Never get
complacent with your skill or knowledge, as there’s always more
you can learn from someone ahead of you. Just make sure that you
never lose sight of your purpose as a mixer and the unique feel and
energy that only you can bring. It is the foundation that gives mean-
ing to all of the technical skill and knowledge.
I hope that in this book, I’ve helped you break through a layer of
confusion and difficulty in your mixing. You’re one step closer to-
wards bringing your talent and vision to your own songs, to the art-
ists you want to serve, and to the world at large.

63 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC


WHERE TO GO FROM HERE:
YOUTUBE CHANNEL
I’ve built a large and growing library of recording & mixing tutorials
on YouTube. Just search for Hardcore Music Studio on YouTube or
click here.

PRO PRODUCTION SYSTEM


My online training program where you can fast-track your progress
by getting a complete step-by-step method for achieving label-qual-
ity mixes, personalized feedback on your work, and a foolproof plan
for getting paid to produce.
Learn more here: hardcoremusicstudio.com/pps
I look forward to serving you more on your journey as a mixer.

64 JORDAN VALERIOTE | MIXING HEAVY MUSIC

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy