Heavy Guitar Mixing Techniques in the style of Andy Wallace, Andy Sneap, Randy Staub, etc.

An overview of some techniques employed in modern heavy guitar mixing
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[@RainbowRadioLab]

Great stuff, JP! Thanks so much! 😊

[@Henryamps]

Glad you liked it!

[@DanielPestanaTranslations]

In one of his rare interviews, Andy Wallace said he was mixing Slayer's Reign in Blood, and he was just setting up the mix and had put a Lexicon PCM42 on each guitar player. As he was listening to the mix, he noticed the guitars were popping out more than he had expected, so he thought of having a look at the delay time to see what was happening, only to realize it was at 0. He forgot to setup the delay time. Basically he was getting this ridiculous big in your face guitar sound without explanation. A happy accident. From what I read about the unit, Lexicon put a 2-stage compressor limiter in the input side which directly affects the feedback (which I think might play a big part in this technique), which when turning the feedback knob to full blast will send the output back into the input but through that 2-stage compressor/limiter, preventing it to enter into crazy overdrive (aka looping into oblivion), which is what happens in other Lexicon PCM units. Since this plugin is quite expensive (I’ve been waiting for ages for a discount to buy it), I’ve demoed the Lexicon plugin against several plugins to try to achieve the same effect/sound. I first tried a few compressors with no luck, and then I went for the tape plugins. I tried a few and they sounded completely different, but then I tried the Kiive Audio Face Tape and I was able to get a very similar sound, although the Lexicon seems to have a bigger low-end. It’s pretty close, though. I think it’s because the Kiive Audio Face Tape acts more like an old AD/DA converter than a tape machine. Sounds great, just like the Lexicon. I’ll share the settings here once I’m in my computer again.

[@scacchomattho]

Let us know!

[@DanielPestanaTranslations]

@@scacchomattho I will ;-)

[@ale_papa]

Gem of a comment! ❤ Looking forward to your reply bud..

[@Henryamps]

That's the story that gets passed around, but i've still never seen that interview or heard it from him. He kind of laughs off the PCM42 thing in his Mixing with the Masters video. Either way, it def sounds great! And many other guys were doing this with 42s as well (think I learned it from Tim Gilles at Big Blue Meenie back in the day)

[@BeatsAndMeats]

These videos are fucking unbelievable!!!So good!

[@Henryamps]

Thanks so much!!

[@LeonTodd]

Flipping the stereo image on the guitar verb is a wicked idea!

[@Henryamps]

Its really useful!

[@officialpoa3171]

*That riff sounds like pitched down "12 o clock high" by ODEN!*

[@Henryamps]

Ha! You're right!

[@ale_papa]

Those guitars sound sublime! 😍

[@Henryamps]

Thanks!!

[@gabofortuna]

Thanks man! Lots of little nuggets that add up to a huge change. Will definitely be trying a couple of these things soon! 🤘

[@adamcoe]

YESSSSS another reason to use a Distressor. Honestly there aren't too many situations where that thing isn't useful. Easily my most used compressor by a wide margin.

[@Henryamps]

I used to track thru the hardware with 1:1 Dist 3 back in the day, can't believe how well the UAD plugin nails it!

[@Dan-np5zb]

You're the man!!! Never stop this :)

[@Henryamps]

Thanks!!

[@slugtoenail]

100% about the native version! At least we finally got the ssl.😂

awesome :) Can't wait for the fatso as well ! Did you try the disto-s from sknote ? Loving the serie you're making and your amps sound killer !

[@Henryamps]

Thanks! Havent tried that one yet but will add to the list

[@rjmacreadysurvived]

Nice! Can't hear the C4 example tho- I will try the Distressor technique with Fatso. Thx! \m/

[@custommelody7091]

Wait, you sdnd guitars to reverb that isn't 100% wet? Why? There is no sense of making it only 60% wet unless you put it on insert. Or maybe I got it completely wrong.

[@Henryamps]

Think of it more like an extra guitar bus that's also being squashed by an 1176... it sounded best with some of that mixed in as well. You can try 100% too!

[@custommelody7091]

@Henryamps so, you put 1176 on the reverb bus?

[@Henryamps]

@@custommelody7091 yep, it's shown in the video. Black BF76, all buttons in. Also panning the reverb return opposite the individual tracks, so a little bit of dry on opposite side helps too.

[@custommelody7091]

@@Henryamps Got it now! Thanks for great tips!

[@dinmentor]

Could one replace the pcm 42 with a comp + reverb, what do you think? Sounds great, but sadly dont own it.

[@Henryamps]

Try a Limiter with fast release instead, no need for a reverb since we're not using any delay or anything from the PCM42.

[@dinmentor]

@Henryamps oh, its only the limiter thats active? No reverb?

[@Henryamps]

@@dinmentor Yep, Mix is set to 0% delay

[@dinmentor]

@@Henryamps thanks man, for sure gonna try this. Super interesting.

[@MrNrph1975]

Sorry but with out the context of the rest of the mix this is not a good way of demonstrating how to mix guitars. everything has to fit together and gel and just showing guitars does not show this as it’s quite common to have to cut a fair bit out of the guitars to make everything else fit

[@evildeebee]

Adds much needed depth to the guitars.