# Death Metal EQ suggestions



## Bouvre

Hello all,

I'm just wondering what everyone's preferences are with Death Metal EQing.

I'm experimenting alot with it and need some suggestions. all feedback is greatly appreciated!!!


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## Scar Symmetry

What amp are you using dude?


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## Thep

I sound brutal regardless, so I really couldn't help you.


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## AlexWadeWC

It depends on what kind of "death metal" you are playing.

If you mean like dying fetus style death metal then scoop the shit out of the mids.

People call my band "death metal" and our tone is very generous in mids, it just depends on what you are going for.

Can you mention a certain death metal bands tone you are going for?


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## GATA4

Turn the gain up to 11!


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## Goatfork

High gain, tight bass and searing highs regardless.

If you're the only guitar player, I vote super scooped mids.
If there's another guitar player or the bass player knows what he's doing, your sound will vanish if you scoop them however.

Otherwise, I find it wise to have a frown-curve on the eq, and let the voicing of the different amps do the talking to make the two guitars stand out together.

I find that when you're playing alone, scooped mids are the shit. If you're in a band, mids are where it's at.


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## Meatbucket

Gain 10
Bass 10
Middle 0
High 10
xD


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## Chickenhawk

Meatbucket said:


> Gain 10
> Bass 10
> Middle 0
> High 10
> xD







What kinda of 'death metal' are you going for? Like Alex said, there are a million different definitions of 'death metal'.

Hell, I play 'death metal', and my tone is a world apart from Alex/Whitechapel's tone, even though they are a big influence to me. 

We'll need some more info before we can really help. Namely what amp your using, and what type of 'death metal' you're going for (or a few bands that sound similar).


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## GATA4

Meatbucket said:


> Gain 11
> Bass 10
> Middle 0
> High 10
> xD



Fixed.


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## Asrial

Meatbucket said:


> Gain 12
> Bass 10
> Middle 0
> High 10
> xD


There we go


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## Stealthdjentstic

AlexWadeWC said:


> It depends on what kind of "death metal" you are playing.
> 
> If you mean like dying fetus style death metal then scoop the shit out of the mids.
> 
> People call my band "death metal" and our tone is very generous in mids, it just depends on what you are going for.
> 
> Can you mention a certain death metal bands tone you are going for?



This.

If you're going for the classic old school suffocation style tone and want that solid state with too much gain and no mids sound then scoop the fuck out of your mids, crank the bass and sort of crank that treble. Adjust gain to liking, it'll probably be absurdly high if you want old school death metal tone.

If you're going for that modern death metal tone like Necrophagist, Psycroptic, Bloodbath etc... then I would go with something involving a very slight scoop, light amounts of gain, and then you're treble and bass are going to vary depending on what you're setup is like. When I use my Arc300 I have the bass much lower than the treble knob but when I'm using the Loomis it's the other way around.


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## ittoa666

I like my death metal tone to have the balls that only mids can give you. It just has growl like that. Basically, think Slayer on pcp.


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## Knossos

branching onto the edge of death metal, gojira have sweet ass tone, They're something like

Gain 5/10
Bass 6/10
Mids 8/10
Treble 5/10
Combined with some kind of boost to tighten up the bass and emphasise upper-mids. 

Frankly, I advocate just cranking the fuck out of your mids, lowering your gain and getting your pick attack to be as hard as possible. It sounds a lot harder hitting than scooping and maxing the gain, which just makes your tone smooth out and sound overly fluid.


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## Meatbucket

Ha, I got neg repped for sarcastic settings.

Alrighty, in all honesty don't overdo the gain, even though most death metal sounds all brutal and huge with distortion, keep it mid ranged to low even. For my own death metal tone I compensate the less gain with a bit more low and mid range while having treble close to the same setting as the gain.

Of course it also does depend on your rig and shiz and of course (as stated in other posts) the 'type' of death metal you're trying to emulate.

Best thing to do is just sit down and listen to the bands you're trying to take away from and just turn your knobs accordingly doing the "warmer colder" method.


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## KingAenarion

GATA4 said:


> Turn the gain up to 11!


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## Scar Symmetry

Stealthtastic said:


> This.
> 
> If you're going for the classic old school suffocation style tone and want that solid state with too much gain and no mids sound then scoop the fuck out of your mids, crank the bass and sort of crank that treble. Adjust gain to liking, it'll probably be absurdly high if you want old school death metal tone.
> 
> If you're going for that modern death metal tone like Necrophagist, Psycroptic, Bloodbath etc... then I would go with something involving a very slight scoop, light amounts of gain, and then you're treble and bass are going to vary depending on what you're setup is like. When I use my Arc300 I have the bass much lower than the treble knob but when I'm using the Loomis it's the other way around.



Also, the amp he is using will be an important factor as different tubes and different tube combinations react to EQing differently.

I would have to know what amp is being used before I could start recommending what to do with the EQ.


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