How to Make Your Guitar Sound Metal | Metalcore Mixing Tutorial

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Thanks for watching! If you like the amp sim check out the 14 day trial and if you like it, save using code "BKPHEAVY" : ottoaudio.net/products/ii-ii-ii-ii-amp-sim

[@user-xs4rm1ti8f]

best metal creator out there man

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Thank you so much! I’ve been in the metal scene since the MySpace days so I’m glad it’s paying off haha

[@OTTOAUDIO]

@@BrendonKPadjasek Same! and it is!

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Hahaha thank you my brother!

[@Ottlovesyou]

Very clean my friend ⚡️

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Thanks for watching!

[@OTTOAUDIO]

you are missing an O on that handle of yours😎

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Hahahah

[@Darkest_of_Winter]

Hell yes. I needed a video like this!

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Appreciate you watching. Thanks!

[@MrSaelaewae]

Another super helpful video for us home studio guitar heroes, thanks a lot! I would be very interested in a vid about those background leads you and other death-/metalcore bands do. some insights and tricks on that would be great!

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

hey thanks for checking it out! That's actually on my list of video ideas that I haven't gotten to. People seem to be enjoying the "how to play *insert genre* guitar techniques" type videos so I have a few in store.

[@FIN_Der-Otter]

the goat is back with the audio sledgehammer. right on time sir, have a great 2025

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

LOL thank you! lets bring in 2025 with guitar tones

[@xradical89x]

@@BrendonKPadjasek and some new structures music (fingers crossed) :)

[@noahstrasmann1557]

Love your videos man. You should make one about mixing snare and kick for maximum punch!

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Ahh thank you so much. I definitely could do that! I have a technique that works pretty well

[@noahstrasmann1557]

@ I find that my drums are losing their punch, especially when I am mastering. I think it’s a combo of my pushing the limiter too hard while also saturating the drum bus too much. Also I always use The God Particle on masters cause it sounds so good but it seems to squash the drums a bit.

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

@noahstrasmann1557 yeah drums are the first instrument to really lose their volume when mastering. I often have my mastering chain on while mixing so I can really hear where’s it’s gonna end up

[@noahstrasmann1557]

@ bruh I wish my cpu just can’t handle it cause the stupid god particle is the laggiest plugin ever created

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

@noahstrasmann1557 oh I didn’t know that at all. That’s good to know. I think I’m gonna do some computer upgrades soon

[@chrisgettman]

I just found the solution to the DI clipping recently after months of frustration. In my instance, the bridge pickup was too high. I lowered it a smidge and it was fixed. Hope that helps

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Interesting. I should definitely try that out. I haven’t done much experimenting with pickup height so good call

[@anasabidofficial]

@@BrendonKPadjasek i usually drop down the level at -8,5 decibels on Podfarm and then on Cubase to avoid the clipping ;)

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

@anasabidofficial usually it’s not a problem for me but this guitar is so damn hot haha

[@beanpastekabana]

Just now noticed you have divided by logo on 12th fret on this guitar🙂 Trick with stock ableton live overdrive is super, thank you for sharing knowledge!

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

No problem! Ableton has some gems straight out of the box. And hell yeah haha. The guitar itself is made terribly haha but I love the look of it and it’s my best 7 string for low tuning

[@lewis3418]

So siiiick 🙌🏻

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@OTTOAUDIO]

E X C E ll ll ll ll E N T demonstration. To those watching I say one thing: Do the free Demo of my plugins in your setup and you will never look back 😎👍

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Love that 14 day free trial

[@kingmafw]

Thank you for this great video Brendon. I have a question for you. Did you ever used a real amplifier to create such tones?

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

All the time! I own a Radial Reamp box that has 6 outputs so I often would set up 2-3 amps at once for one guitar tone. That's where this idea came from. A lot of engineers do this exact same thing with amps as well.

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

and thank you!

[@kingmafw]

@@BrendonKPadjasek Blending amp tones is so cool for recording. And if this tone comes live on stage too... Wow. There are less bands who can create such tone live.

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

@kingmafw yeah it’s always fun to experiment with and find huge tones. Some bands will rock a few amps live but I imagine most people are running on amp modellers for stage sound

[@Jamyz33]

Why not having only 2 dry tracks and handle those to each specific bus (with your vst in it so basically 3 buses)? (Note: I do not know much about Ableton live). Very instructive video 👌

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Thank you! I’ve found in the past that I occasionally run into delay/ phasing issues when I do that. Also, then I can’t send those buses to an addition bus to process them as a whole. I’d rather group those 3 tracks into one master rhythm guitar track and eq/ compress them like that while still having the option to bus them for parallel compression

[@Dommak89]

Hi Brendon, You say it in the beginning of the section "AMP SIM 2" at 7:33, but just to verify: You copied your DI track and did not record another track for this, correct?

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Correct! For all 3 amp sims it’s the same left and right guitar copied and pasted

[@PaulOrtiz]

I need to start using different cabs for each side - I feel like that's what's missing for me in terms of stereo image.

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Definitely worth a try. I remember an old Kohler video where the premise was that amps can sound the same as other amps but cabs sound uniquely their own.

[@PaulOrtiz]

@@BrendonKPadjasek for sure. Also it's funny cos I'm currently struggling with the guitar tones on an album, and I was thinking the other day that the big breakthrough in drums for me was to stop trying to get one kit, one drum, to sound how I want, and start parallel processing. So I'm gonna try some variations on your three layer approach. In Logic I *think* I should be able to set up a processing chain where a single take is sent to aux busses with different amps/chains on them. Or I could be making more work for myself and just arming 3 tracks and recording to them at the same time is easier haha.

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

@PaulOrtiz yeah you definitely can. Sometime so find that introduces weird latency and phasing issues more than it normally would for some reason. Worth a try for sure!

[@Durkhead]

If your gona use two different cabs and there not quite gelling to gether move the mic around on one side while the track is playing. You should be able to hear them basically lock in place

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

@Durkhead absolutely. Something that was soooo much harder to do back in the day of mixing real amps haha

[@philippgrunert8776]

a question: If the out put is too high, why don't you turn down the volume on the guitar? In my thinking that would actually also lower any noise picked up by the pickups and in the end create a clearer recording. ...or am i wrong?

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

I can definitely try that out! I know bands like meshuggah will record specific sections with their volume rolled down to get a milder tone I believe this will sacrifice the tone over all and although I don’t want the guitar to clip, I’d prefer the tone to be there over all. I believe my best course of action is buying a pad or running it through a designated preamp that has a pad or input / output control.

[@Durkhead]

I think compressing the lows kinda eliminates the need for the pitch down and the extra amp sim

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Good point. The octave down does a surprising amount. I think I failed to show it on and off to really justify the cpu for the part. A high octave works as well

[@Durkhead]

@BrendonKPadjasek it def sounds good ppl have been doing this since metallicas black album I actually like how it sounds when you pitch down both sides and leave it in stereo

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

@Durkhead oh hell yeah I didn’t know that. Good to know!

[@den-dudin-rock]

My headphones are blowing up from the low frequencies of this guitar!

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Interesting. That shouldn’t be haha which headphones are you using? It’s not doing it to any of mine or my iPhone earbuds

[@den-dudin-rock]

@BrendonKPadjasek right now I'm using my Sony mdr 7506. Tha amount of lows is not something bad by any means, of course, just too much for my taste

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

@den-dudin-rock you can always roll that track a lot lower than I have it in my version. I wanted that much bass but if you wanted to have less it’s as easy as dropping the volume or replace that heavy buzz/ fuzz with something else

[@radekmusic1846]

GREAT riffs! how does the squier perform after changing the pickup? are you happy with the results?

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Eh thanks so much! And absolutely. I feel like I can play it like a real guitar now with picking nearer to the bridge. These riffs were on the 7 string 27” but the Squier is still my go to

[@radekmusic1846]

@@BrendonKPadjasek I was hesitant to buy a Squier guitar, and besides it was my first baritone guitar, apart from an Ibanez 27 inch, and inspired by your riffs and (thall), I decided to buy it and I don't regret it

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

@radekmusic1846 I’m so glad to hear that. It’s perfect for thall since the tuning is always pitched down to insanity. It’s nice to be able to maintain clarity with the 30# neck and pitch up for leads if anything

[@Sabar0_S]

@@radekmusic1846 hey mate I was going to but an ibanez 27 inch, or a gretcsh. Do your ibanez is much different to a low tuned 6 string or a 7 string?

[@Return2TheLiving]

You should start a discord server!

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Hahaha I’ve heard that but I feel like I would never check it haha. This KZbin is basically my discord server. I’m gonna start streaming this year so I’ll treat that like a discord

[@nunofmpires]

Br00tal 😎

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Thanks my friend! try it out

[@Maxischupp93]

poor bassist trying to find a hole in that wall of sound

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Haha there’s some room if he knows what he’s doing

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

You can also just make sure that buzz track is quieter if it’s too much for your taste

[@xradical89x]

[@BrendonKPadjasek]

Thanks for coming!