Metal Music Manual

Mark Mynett is a record producer, recording-mixing-mastering engineer, author, and Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at the University of Huddersfield, England. As both musician and producer, he has over 20 years' experience in the metal genre; has written numerous heavy-music production articles for leading magazines, including Sound on Sound and Guitar World; and in 2013 gained the world’s first PhD in Contemporary Metal Music Production. He owns his own studio, Mynetaur Productions (www.mynetaur.com), where he provides engineering, mixing and mastering services for clients from all over the world.

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Chapter 1: Introduction






Audio



Video Interviews



Forum

Chapter 2: Contemporary Metal Music

Chapter 3: The Parameters of Heaviness






Distortion



Proximity



Perceived Loudness



The Distortion Paradox



Sonic Weight



Transients



Spectral Dynamics and Transient Brightness



Clarity



Definition



Intelligibility



Performance Precision

Pre-Production

Chapter 4: Pre-Production






Vision and Leadership



Rehearsals



The Budget



Click Tracks



In Practice



Tempo Mapping



Click Tones



Guide Tracks



Click-Free Tracking



Live Guide Tracks without a Click



Overdubs without a Click



The Click Track Acid Test

Chapter 5: Sound at Source






Drums





Drum Shells



Shell Thickness, Diameter, Depth and Hardware



Symmetry and Flatness



Drumheads and Re-Heading





Batter Heads



Resonant Heads



Re-Heading/Bedding-In




Drum Tuning





Kick Tuning



Snare Tuning



Toms Tuning




Dampening





Kick Dampening



Snare and Toms Dampening




Hats, Ride and Cymbals








Bass and Guitar





Down-Tuning





Baritones/Longer Scale Lengths




Guitar Overdrive Pedals



Amp/Cab/Mic Simulation and Modelling



Amplifiers





Bass Amps



Guitar Amps




Loudspeakers and Loudspeaker Cabinets



Engineering

Chapter 6: Engineering Overview






Isolation=Separation=Control



Headroom



Printed Compression



Printed EQ

Chapter 7: Drums






Set Up



Kick Drums





Attack Mic



Porthole Placement



Low Frequency Capture



Isolation Tunnels



Double Kick Performance Solutions



Kick Building




Snare Top



Snare Bottom



Toms








Batter Mic



Double Miked Toms



Concert Toms




Metalwork





Hats



Ride



Cymbals





Spaced Pair



Close Miked Cymbals



Paired Cymbal Miking






Room Mics and Controlled Cohesion



Triggers



Recording Drum Hits from the Kit used for Tracking



Sample Creation



Drum Edits and Quantization





Gridding



Phase



Retention of Human Feel



Micro-Editing



Quantization-Based Tools



Chapter 8: Guitars






D.I.’s and Re-amping



Speaker Selection



Isolation Tactics



Amp Volume



Mic Selection



Loudspeaker Frequency Radiation



Mic Placement



Proximity Effect



Off-Axis Placement



Double Miking



Double Tracking (vs. Quad Tracking)



Quad Tracking



Tonal Variation



Multi Amp/Cab Recording for Double-Tracked Guitars



Mix Center Rhythm Thickener

Chapter 9: Bass






D.I.



Dirty D.I.



(Series) Amp/Cab Distortion



Amp/Cab/Mic








Isolation, Speaker Selection & Master Volume



Mic Selection



Mic Placement



Double Miking



Phase Alignment




Emulation



Layers



(Parallel) Reinforcement Distortion

Chapter 10: Vocals






Scheduling



Coaching, Communication and Comping



Engineering



Polar Patterns and Gang Vocals



Handheld Vocal Recording



Vocal Compression



Monitoring





Headphone-less Vocal Recording




Recording Further Instruments

Mixing

Chapter 11: Edits, Polarity and Phase Alignment, Samples and Gates






Edits



Mix Groups



Polarity and Phase Alignment





Drums



Phase Alignment



Bass



Guitars




Waveform Edits



Multing



Drum Samples – Overview



Drum Sample Selection





Drum Samples Libraries vs. Samples Created from the Kit used for Tracking



Kick Sample Selection



Snare Sample Selection



Tom Sample Selection




Sample Implementation





Kick



Snare



Toms




Isolation vs. Cohesion



Gating





Kick and Snare Gating



Keyed Gating



Toms: Gating vs. Automation vs. Waveform Edits



Chapter 12. Balance and Stereo Width






Mix Group Component Balance



Mix Balance



Panning and Stereo Width





Mix Center



Sides




Monitoring and Room Acoustics





Monitoring Level



Headphone Monitoring



Chapter 13: Compression






Signal Chain Order



Compression Parameters



Timbral Coloration and Transient Design



Drum Compression





Signal Stability



Punch



Transient Design



Attack Settings



Release, Threshold, Ratio



Make-Up Gain



Hats, Ride, and Cymbal Compression



Room Mic Compression



Parallel Compression



Drum Bus Compression




Bass Compression





Reinforcement Distortion



Series Bass Compression



Signal Bracketing



Parallel Bass Compression



Bass Automation



Keyed Compression




Rhythm Guitar Compression





Palm Muted ‘Chug-Thump’




Lead Guitar Compression



Vocal Compression





Parallel Vocal Compression




Sibilance and De-Essing



Limiting

Chapter 14: EQ






Parametric EQ



High Pass Filters



Sweep EQ



Corrective and Surgical EQ



Instrument EQ





Drums





Kick Drum



Optimized Kick HPF Cut Settings



Kick Weight



Low-Mids – Broad Corrective EQ



Attack/Click



Frequency Bracketing




Snare Top/Snare Samples





The Baxandall Curve






Intelligent EQ





Snare Bottom



Toms




Context and Interdependence








Metalwork



Room Mics




Low Pass Filters



Spectral Masking





Distributed Creative and Corrective EQ



Anti-Masking in Mono




Bass





The Missing Fundamental



Low-End



Low-Mids



High-Mids



Additional Layers



Bass Reinforcement Distortion



Frequency Bracketing




Channel EQ / Group EQ



Rhythm Guitar EQ





HPF and Low Frequency Emphasis (Cabinet Thump/Sonic Weight)



Mids



Big Mono vs. Panoramic Width



Low highs – Mid Highs



Mirrored EQ



Dynamic EQ




Vocals





HPF and Lows to Low Mids



Mids



Highs



Chapter 15: Effects Processing and Automation






Reverb





Reverb Decay and Pre-Delay Times



Drums



Decay vs. Level



Snare Reverb – Aux Sends



Guitars and Bass



Vocals



Processing the Reverb Return Paths





EQ



(Reverb Return) Transient Design, Compression, Tape Emulation and Pitch Shifting




Reverse Reverb, Special Effects and Automation




Delay





Processing the Delay Return Paths



Pitch Thickening Width Enhancement




Distortion





Parallel Snare Distortion



Megaphone and AM Radio Effect




Sine Wave or White Noise Reinforcement



Analogue and Tape Emulation



Mix Referencing



Automation

Chapter 16: Master Buss Processing






Master Buss Compression



Master Buss EQ



Master Buss Limiting



Summing

Mastering

Chapter 17: Mastering






DIY and the ‘Four Es’ of Mastering



Signal Chain



Mastering EQ





High Pass Filters and Low End Control



Low-Mids and Mids



Low-End Foundation



Upper Mids and High Frequencies



Stereo EQ vs. Mid/Side EQ



Low-end Localization




Reverb



Unified Mastering – Bridging the Divide



Compression





Broadband Compression vs. Multiband Compression



Broadband Compression



Mid/Side Compression



Side Chain Filtering



Multiband Compression





Two Band



Three-Band



Four-Band



Multiband Parameters





Low Band



Mid Band



High Band






Mid/Side Multiband Compression



Parallel/Upward Compression




Harmonic Enhancement



Stereo Width Enhancement



Stem Mastering



Soft Clipping



Limiting



Automation



Fades



Mastered Output Peak Levels - CD

Chapter 18: Loudness Normalization






Loudness Metering and Mastering Practice



A Final Word

Index