How To Mix Metal Guitars - Fixing It In The Mix Pt. 1

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Terrible distorted guitar tone can be the bane of any heavy music mixer's existence.
Nothing is more frustrating than trying to make a tone work in your mix that just won't cooperate no matter how hard you try.
What do you do if your guitar tracks still don't sit right even after you've tried every mix trick in the book?
What if they still sound like crap even though you've applied every EQ cut and boost under the sun?
Is there some analog-style EQ plugin that you can buy that'll magically turn harsh, muddy, fizzy guitar tones into the tones that you're looking for?
I used to think so, but unfortunately...
Gear and plugins WON'T fix mix issues.
Skills, techniques and workflows do.
I learned my lesson the hard way by wasting thousands of dollars on gear and plugins only to realize that my mixes sounded exactly the same...terrible.
It wasn't until I interned at a pro studio and learned from real professionals that I finally understood the truth:
It's all about how you mix...not what you're mixing with.
This week I'll be releasing a 3-Part video series called "Fixing It In The Mix".
In this series, I'll be diving back into old, not-so-great mixes of mine from early on in my career as a metal engineer.
The goal is to see if I can successfully "fix" the problem tracks in these old mixes with the skills that I've acquired over the last 12 years.
In today's video, I'll be fixing a heavy guitar mix that makes me cringe when I listen back to it today.
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[@FrightboxRecording]

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[@jes2814]

I bet ya I can get a guitar tone out of that P.O.D. that can rival any amp sim they got today!! Great info in the vid none the less

[@joshgrillo6115]

I've definetly realized that simplyfying the eq on guitar and messing with the cab section is the key to a killer tone! Great video!

[@FrightboxRecording]

You're a smart man, Josh! 100% true.

[@teslatravels4197]

Great stuff. Good to go back and see how much you have improved over the years and how easy it was to get a great tone.

[@evophonmedia]

Great display of what good, free amp sims with the correct IR can do! Thanks for the free IR Pack, Bobby!

[@RiverwoodOfficial]

Bobby , we can't thank you enough for your golden videos 💛

[@KinoR666]

Legendary video Bobby! It’s so simple but there are so many producers out there, who used tons of plugins to create good sounds..

[@alienhalfbreed1301]

Very nice. Currently I suffer quite a long time from bad ampsim tones and I desperatetly tweak the hell out of the EQs with no success. Just downloaded your cabsims to see what they can do for me. I think the biggest challenge for a beginner is to be sure if you're using not the right gear, or if you are simply not skilled enough. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

[@jrfoster1980]

That raw guitar tone from the POD just cleared out some earwax ;-) Very useful video, thanks!

[@FrightboxRecording]

😂

[@MrKlm34]

You're a wizard 😮 So inspiring, thanks for the share. ML sound lab amp sims are really solid

[@AlexeySolovievMusic]

Really love watching and learning from your videos Bobby! Really great stuff! Thank you so much

[@tgstk2]

that orginal guitar tone is awesome if you want to have bleed from your ears :D great job as usual!

[@CrushingAxes]

Man nice work on the vocals on this first track!

[@jesuisungrosescroc]

so clever to record the DI back then :) thanks !

[@Yanthungbemo]

🤘🏻🤘🏻 gonna try out blending distorted guitars with the DIs put through TSE BOD.

[@benjaminbovay10]

Great content as always !

[@Mississippi_Martian]

Wow! HUGE difference! Great information. Thanks! \m/

[@aaronaustin7760]

Way to show your progress! I missed how you loaded the IR into the amp sim. Could you explain the steps for that, please. Thank you!

[@FrightboxRecording]

I'm using the IR loader in the Roots plugin. Just click the "IR" letters on the faceplate and load any IR's that you have on your computer!

[@leearmitage]

night and day difference in those guitar tones

[@tarasolegov356]

Nice topic, thank you, Bobby!

[@andrew_kay]

TBH I was expecting "how to fix a bad guitar tone" not "let's replace old tone with a better new one".

[@DaMegadeth]

Awesome videos man, super straigth forward and super simple. Any dumb people like me can replicate and understand it Thanks man

[@jacksmith4460]

08:40 You are clipping the input pretty bad on the Roots sim (blue light flashing)

[@largeuselessness]

The camera focused on movie in that old TV wwwwwwww

[@bluestreak5172]

Are you loading the cabinet into the amp sim itself? Or are you loading it into an external impulse response loader? I can't seem to load the cabinet into the amp sim at all.

[@FrightboxRecording]

I'm using the IR loader in the Roots plugin. Just click the "IR" letters on the faceplate and load any IR's that you have on your computer!

[@bluestreak5172]

@@FrightboxRecording Thanks a lot!

[@xraypacsman1]

Hey Bobby!! Thanks so much for this vidéo. It cleared out a question i had. And just one question, would it be better to have a DI box in front of my audio interface for guitar recording?

[@Deconbrio]

I know for me, adding a DI box between my guitars and interface helped. But, it could also be that I adjusted the guitar input from “Mic” to “Line”. Doesn’t hurt to try both, though.

[@FrightboxRecording]

Unless you're recording a live tube amp at the same time and you need to split your signal, you don't need a DI box. I record DI's straight into interfaces all of the time with clients. The Hi-z input on any interface is meant to accept instrument-level signals.

[@zinjian157]

ok im not gonna lie, I think my guitar tone is great but I struggle with a weird sound that my double tracked guitars make in mono or through one speaker. I cant figure out what it is but I really need help

[@israelrosario3922]

my god... such a good song lol

[@SideGateStudios]

You must be on a mac cause ml tones isn't aax Windows compatible :(

[@MBBGun14]

Very nice and helpful video! I guess I will have to try that. Im recording new song and gonna mix it afterwards. Im already using settings from my previous project, just tweaked here and there. I doesn't sound too professional but I like it, still I guess Im probably guilty of overcomplicating process. I put multiband compressor to attenuate some fizzy frequencies and doing cuts with eq, but I probably gonna start over. Of course this is just my hobby and Im doing it for myself but still I want to improve. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5yzq3l5dtCid5I this was my last project but I bet it sounds worse than your "terrible" tone from 2010. Made me proud when I released it back then, maybe not so much now, at least Im happy from composition perspective

[@johnscottlomax4682]

i get bogged down with the endless sounds by using DI. im lending more to a studio setting where the sound is what you record. like it would in a studio. i get overwhelmed with all the options and and keep it simple. ok bit of eq where needed but essentially get the tone you want then record it. i end up forever tweeking when my first judgement should be right. do you agree or am i stuck in the past

[@FrightboxRecording]

I agree 100%! I actually follow a similar approach when using amp sims. After I decide on a tone, I print it to audio and never touch the plugin again in the mix. Committing is such an important part of mixing.

[@Phil_Skillz]

Hey Bobby. I’m plugging strait into my Scarlett 2i2. Should i eq before adding amp plug in for guitar. Thanks

[@FrightboxRecording]

Nah, I'd just feed it straight into an amp sim just like you would when plugging into a real amp.

[@firmans12]

Hi Bobby awesome video as always. Recently i just compared my mix to professional commercial mix, i just realize the commercial mix guitar is heard louder without eating up the space for other instruments. I tried to match the guitar loudness but it's just eating up the space so the other instruments feels lower in terms of volume. Do you have any tips to get louder guitars without eating up the space for other instruments. Thanks Bobby

[@punkfreak1414]

My guess would be it’s not about turning up the volume of the guitars DB wise as much as it’s keeping the guitars at a decent volume but EQ them so you turn up their “perceived loudness” is there. Maybe try boosting some 1k?

[@FrightboxRecording]

Definitely gonna make a video on this! Apparent loudness comes from the frequency response of the guitars (especially the midrange. Sounds like you might have too much low-end happening in your guitar tone which eats up a lot of headroom in the mix.

[@AlbertodeVictoria]

it's hard to fix a guitar tone