# Help with my mix! Entombed Death, D-beat, grind project (BOSS HM-2!!)



## Crabmeat (Mar 29, 2011)

Hey everyone! New here but this forum has proved very valuable for research on recording for me in the past! Here&#8217;s hoping someone can help! 
Basically I&#8217;ve working on a death, punk, HC, grind project with the infamous Swedish Sunlight Studios sound in mind (ala Black Breath, Nails, Disfear, Trap Them, Rotten Sound, etc.) and I would love some feedback on guitar tone, EQ, mix etc. as I&#8217;ve reached a point where I can&#8217;t seem to progress much further. 
I&#8217;ve scoured this forum and pretty much everywhere else on the net where people are vying for this sound and done the best I can considering my noobesque technical limitations and know-how. I&#8217;ve spent A LOT of time on trying to get this down and I&#8217;m frustrated.

The catch? I&#8217;m using amp sim VSTs (seems my neighbours are not Dismember fans!) for the most part but I AM going through a real MIJ Boss HM-2 (the essential ingredient!).

Here&#8217;s a track I&#8217;m working on for people to rip apart!




As reference I&#8217;ve actually recorded the first 15 seconds of Entombed&#8217;s &#8220;Drowned&#8221; intro for me (and you) to kind of compare before my song starts properly. It&#8217;s got a bit of everything I&#8217;m after stylistically for this project (Hardcore thrashing, chugs and a slow, black metalesque break) so it&#8217;s pretty comprehensive as far as the kind of music I&#8217;m looking to make. No vocals yet (that&#8217;s another story for another month!)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24343732/CTTK%20%28Mix%204%29.mp3


If anyone&#8217;s interested, I&#8217;d love fresh ears. I&#8217;m not after release quality. Just something I can show around and maybe be a little proud of! How close am I to the Swedish tone?

Thanks in advance to anyone!!! Grind on!!

Chain/software info:
DAW &#8211; Cubase
Guitars &#8211; Charvel late 80&#8217;s (great for thrash!!) - 3 tracks (1 full left with HM-2> Guitar Rig (slightly crunchy clean tone), 1 full right with HM-2> Guitar Rig (slightly different amp/cab setting but usually same exact audio file as Left git), 1 guitar straight down the middle through Guitar Rig (no HM-2, more standard chuggy sound). A little EQ on all
* also there&#8217;s an extra non-HM-2 guitar for melody augments during the black metal bits)
Bass &#8211; Aria Pro II Integra > Boss HM-2 > Line 6 Gearbox
Drums &#8211; EZ Drummer (Meatalheads)
Master Strip &#8211; Izotope Ozone with a little loudness (not brickwalled!), a little EQ


----------



## ChuckLee (Mar 30, 2011)

MAN!!!!
This is pure Dismember evilness!!! And shit I love it 
Do you have someone who's gonna sing in there?
The guitar tone is full enough and fits the genre, the drums must be EQed differently imo...sounds like the Ozone compressor activates when drums are hitting the crash...since you use EZD, try to lower the room size in the plug-in mixer...maybe there's too much boom in the mastering as well
Anyway, keep up the great work!


----------



## Tomo009 (Mar 30, 2011)

WOW this is amazing, wish I was in this band! It's sooo similar to the sound I want. The only thing with the mix is a slight lack of low end, it seems both the bass and bass drum are occupying a more low mid frequency then lows? It sounds great anyway, the guitars are absolutely perfect theres just a tiny bit of hollowness in the low end to my ears.


----------



## MrMcSick (Mar 30, 2011)

Sounds good. I think the Entombed/Dismembered sound has more lower mids it though. Try to get more mids out of the pedal. Too much trebile/highs on the drums, cymbals are very hissy/tinney.


----------



## Crabmeat (Mar 30, 2011)

Guys!! I cannot thank you enough for the kind words!!! 
I was really at the end of my tether, banging my head against a brickwall and about throw in the towel on the swedish dream! So thanks!

Excellent suggestions as well! I've gone back to the project and yes, there was a layer of hiss on the cymabls. I've scaled down the compression on the highs and taken out some of the room in EZX (thanks Chuck Lee!) and I think there's an improvement. Or not?

Also, added some lows to the gits and bass and squeezed in a tiny bit of low mids overall. The pedal's dimed out as it is so short of using a heavier guitar/strings... not much I can do.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24343732/CTTK%20%28Mix%206%29.mp3

Let me know what you think! I REALLY want to nail this so I have a template for the rest of my project!

Chuck - No, I don't have anyone to do vocals for this (I just end up dissapointing myself when I try!).... why do you ask?????? Interested?.

Tomo009 - You in VIC? Small world... I'm in St. Kilda!


----------



## Stealthdjentstic (Mar 30, 2011)

Totally NAILED the tone you're going for. God I love that old school swedish dm tone


----------



## ChuckLee (Mar 31, 2011)

Crabmeat said:


> Guys!! I cannot thank you enough for the kind words!!!
> I was really at the end of my tether, banging my head against a brickwall and about throw in the towel on the swedish dream! So thanks!
> 
> Excellent suggestions as well! I've gone back to the project and yes, there was a layer of hiss on the cymabls. I've scaled down the compression on the highs and taken out some of the room in EZX (thanks Chuck Lee!) and I think there's an improvement. Or not?
> ...



I'm pretty new to the screaming thing but I really LOVE it already so the more I have to scream the marrier 
Check out my "Nosebleed" project in my signature and feel free to contact me if you think my voice may suit into your awesome music


----------



## MrMcSick (Mar 31, 2011)

Highs are much better. You can definetly tell that your going for the Swedish sound but for some reason I think it still is missing alot of mids or honk or something. Here is a reference.

Sounds like they are playing on maybe the neck pickup or with the tone pot rolled down some or something. IDK. 

On another not did you try to just run the HM straight into guitar rig while bypassing the preamp section and just using a cab from it? Wonder what that would sound like?


edit. I love the way the bass turned out with the HM!


----------



## Tomo009 (Mar 31, 2011)

MrMcSick said:


> Highs are much better. You can definetly tell that your going for the Swedish sound but for some reason I think it still is missing alot of mids or honk or something. Here is a reference.
> 
> Sounds like they are playing on maybe the neck pickup or with the tone pot rolled down some or something. IDK.
> 
> ...




Actually I think it sounds better than that, more like this.


My favorite sounding Dismember album. So clear, so heavy, so HM-2. (The HM-2 and clear part is NOT easy)


----------



## ChuckLee (Mar 31, 2011)

Tomo009 said:


> Actually I think it sounds better than that, more like this.
> 
> 
> My favorite sounding Dismember album. So clear, so heavy, so HM-2. (The HM-2 and clear part is NOT easy)




Agreed, I'd say it's more Death Metal (LP) sound...i love it


----------



## MrMcSick (Apr 3, 2011)

Uggghhh, I've listened to nothing but Dismembered for the past couple of days. I despised them back in the late 90's when I was really into deathmetal but I can't get enough of that chainsaw now lol! Some of my fav songs are Casket Garden, Dreaming in Red, Trail of The Dead and Black Sun. Awesome!!!


----------



## Crabmeat (Apr 4, 2011)

Crapola, my email notificatins were off and so I thought there were no replies! Doh!!

Tomo009 - Agree! for me the "Override the Overture" opening riff is the DEFINITIVE Buzzsaw sound. Hard as hell to get with the gear I'm working with (ie. amp sims!) but I'm getting to where it at least sounds like I'm trying to be Swedish.  Will tinker more wth this!

McSick - Thanks for the ears! Yeah, I've tried a million configs with Guitar Rig including what you suggested (bypassing preamp)... sounded like walrus fart, unfortunately. I've found that EQing the track after recording has actually improved the tone considerably (I spent days if not weeks tweaking GR4 but EQing was the key). I know, still missing oomph! Highs are sorted.... gonna tackle mids now haha! Quite happy with the bass rumble!! I've read up on it and contrary to standard practice, Bass with an HM-2 turns out out be quite popular with the grindcore sect (and it was Godlesh's pedal of choice for bass... can't argue with Justin!)

Chuck - Ill PM you. I would LOVE for you to give it a whirl with vocals!!


----------



## TXDeathMetal (Apr 4, 2011)

You nailed the old school Swedish DM sound IMO, this sounds great, nicely done!


----------



## ChuckLee (Apr 4, 2011)

Crabmeat said:


> Crapola, my email notificatins were off and so I thought there were no replies! Doh!!
> 
> Tomo009 - Agree! for me the "Override the Overture" opening riff is the DEFINITIVE Buzzsaw sound. Hard as hell to get with the gear I'm working with (ie. amp sims!) but I'm getting to where it at least sounds like I'm trying to be Swedish.  Will tinker more wth this!
> 
> ...



PM'ed back


----------



## MrMcSick (Apr 4, 2011)

Maybe pic up amplitube 3 or metal since they have a 5150 sim in there. Im pretty sure thats what most of these bands used to get this sound.


----------



## Tomo009 (Apr 4, 2011)

MrMcSick said:


> Maybe pic up amplitube 3 or metal since they have a 5150 sim in there. Im pretty sure thats what most of these bands used to get this sound.



Nope, they use this


----------



## MrMcSick (Apr 4, 2011)

Tomo009 said:


> Nope, they use this




I know they use the HM-2(thats basically all we have talked about the whole thread duh lol) but they run it into 5150 half stacks most of the time.


----------



## IconW (Apr 4, 2011)

Wow! This is awesome! 
You really nailed that swedish death metal sound!


----------



## Tomo009 (Apr 7, 2011)

MrMcSick said:


> I know they use the HM-2(thats basically all we have talked about the whole thread duh lol) but they run it into 5150 half stacks most of the time.



Really? I thought Marshall's were pretty popular for the HM-2, not that it really matters a whole lot there. The HM-2 will do whatever the hell it wants anyway.


----------

