Recording Extreme Metal Guitars | Mendel Bij De Leij on Mixing for Metal

In this Cubase Collective video, Mendel Bij De Leij looks at tracking metal guitars. Before recording metal guitars you should check the setup of your instrument and arrange your system so you can hear what you are playing without latency. Mendel then demonstrates recording guitars with Cubase and looks at techniques for producing metal guitars, like dual tracking and quad tracking. He also offers tips on mixing metal guitars, like EQing the upper-mid frequencies to reduce unwanted whistles and other noises.
We hope you find this video entertaining and useful. If you like what you see, please leave a comment and tell us what you think. Thank you.
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[@PaulOrtiz]

*absolutely nails it* "That doesn't sound TOO bad" Bro. Please.

[@KeshavDhar]

Hahaha. Came here to post just this. Ridiculous.

[@comadamage]

hahahaha

[@thekaizer666]

that whistling is just dani filth from across the ocean adding in backup vocals to such a sick tune

[@kaspaking]

Hahaha

[@kaspaking]

The Internet...were someone laughs at your joke 3 months later ✋

[@AntikerTealc77]

Can't get enough of this riff

[@shaynes.9773]

Now that the "whistling" sound in the guitars was pointed out, it was easy to hear and removing those two frequencies really made a huge difference when bypassing on/off . It is kind of hard to not hear those two whistling frequencies now. This was a great tutorial that I will definitely put to use.

[@leonardoignaciorodriguezga9667]

one other annoying frequency is around 350 hz, can't play hearing that thing anymore

[@bronson1392]

great timing, great video and for the first time on youtube I have finally heard a bad freq cut out that actually makes a difference!! I'm a happy man! Thank you so much!

[@millubnikow5649]

Sounds better than on most recordings.Well done!

[@simoncharkas5008]

Amazing, thanks for this Tutorial Mendel! Greetings from Greece!

[@yadinmichaeli12]

Man you are amazing player!

[@charlesalmero331]

Yeah, after experimenting with Quad-Tracking, I can't go back to recording Dual-Tracks any more. Thanks for the tip Mendel!

[@bobwalters9151]

Man.... I was looking for videos to polish up my recording /mixing. And lo and behold, I found you!! great videos brother! keep it up🤘🎶

[@КрисДиаз-КрисКам]

Hey man, awesome demonstration, I wouldn't ever have found a noise in those guitars!

[@escalarealrecords_valparai5554]

thnks from Valparaíso, Chile

[@rontidis]

This is a great tutorial, but most importantly, WHAT'S THE SONG????? I haven't seen anyone ask yet, and these riffs SLAP!

[@venom07786]

So sick. Thank you 👏🏻

[@Rockandrollaz-d8l]

Do you low cut guitars as a general practice, or , do you try and refrain from doing so unless these is a distinct need to? You rock btw!!!!😎👍

[@mattgrou]

Good content! Keep em coming. Killer playing as well!

[@chrismars4324]

Thank you very much. I learned a lot in a very short period of time. I have questions that I would love to be answered. If there is a way I could contact you, please let me know.

[@nunoyzrecordingstudio197]

Excellent!

[@krisania96]

Name of the song please, i need to listen to it on repeat all day.

[@Silakov1987]

Hi! Great video! What type of controller (pencil) do You use here?

[@DanielKMihalev]

What's the name of this song?

[@keegan7736]

will you be answering questions? i have lots lol

[@martindalmark2463]

how do you record clean guitar!!! in a metal track.. do you use one track stero or 2 mono L-R

[@stephenchow5161]

wow …what a player!

[@Metalthrashingdad]

Amazing picking!

[@joshi666]

Hey man, awesome video, toght right hand! How did you pan the guitars? 100-80-80-100? Or 100-100-100-100?

[@hiddennature1995]

Hello m a new cubase learner...m taking help from your video

[@orcunozcan]

Thanks forn the fantastic video!!, Could you please tell me that what is your Stereo In gain level?(pre-gain) Thanks

[@Surgicalshred]

Killer!

[@prabowonegoro3693]

i usually record 2 tracks of guitars and then everytime i use the EQ, it runs separately for each tracks. I need to know how to EQ all tracks at once into one EQ channel. Sick video, and guitar riff dude btw.

[@someonesomeone9075]

send both guitars to a Gtr Bus, then you set the EQ to this bus, automatically you will EQ both tracks.

[@Timjvidoes]

Great video and sweet guitar playing. Did you ever try to use the kemper and eliminate the whistling and save that in a preset, just curious.

[@RudalPL]

Thanks for this video mate. This just confirmed that I am doing it right! ;) I'm not a guitarist (used to be a drummer) but I always struggled with that full sound and could never got it right unless I recorded 2-3 guitars per side. Now I know I'm not missing any secret ingredient. :D Do you EQ, compress your guitars in a group channel later on in a mix or just aim for that "perfect" tone straight from the amp and only filter out the noises when needed and move on?

[@Mendelian]

Rudal Main focus is to get the final tone from the get go, that’s my focus. And then remove the things that annoy me like the 2khz-4khz whistles. The usually remove a bit of mid around 200hz depending on the timing and get some extra tonezone if needed boosting around 1khz wide.

[@earnyourkeep3811]

Are you recording guitars in mono or stereo? Great video!

[@Tony_spumoni]

I'll tell you what I've learned: you, sir, have a great ear!! Also, thanks for this video

[@lucianosarmiento5922]

Awesome! And Question: In the case is a two or even three guitar part, do you prefer quad or twice tracking for each? If anyone can give me his/her opinion will be appreciated :D

[@Mendelian]

It depends on the song, when i wan’t a more old school thrash sound i’d prefer dual tracking. But to be honest 99% of my recordings are all quad tracked.

[@Madsalan]

Thanks man ! some useful stuff! can i ask what kind of Drum program you use?

[@mikesekula3949]

I learned something today. I learned that my picking technique is terrible!

[@babaorumstudio6280]

Thanks ! great guitars, have you put the HPF into your kemper rather than in Cubase ?

[@Mendelian]

Babaorum Studio No HPF on the Kemper, i do it by ear in the mix.

[@fulani5]

but what you do when samples aree not excactly the same??

[@matthewrembish9521]

Hey Mendel, is it possible to direct monitor with the Axe Fx? I’m assuming that’s what you did with the Kemper but my “direct monitoring” button in cubase is always grayed out…

[@isaiah1660]

I’m in a band but we never practice due to everyone’s schedules and I just want to start recording and making my own music. I plan on making no money but just having fun. I need some tips to start out tho...... I have no idea what to purchase and such.

[@ostankovalex1176]

just get an interface like Focusrite 2i2, or solo pack if you plan recording vocals there are lots of plugins that will allow you to track and edit tracks

[@thomaszaglowek]

Great video! Great stuff! I use the TH-U from Overloud for my guitar sound. What do you think of guitar amp plugins?

[@Mendelian]

Thomas Zaglowek Love em! Haven’t found anything that beats my kemper but Neuraldsp is really cool.

[@liviofraschetti4713]

@@Mendelian hi I have a Steinberg 22 c audio interface and Cubase ….with th u ..or boss katana 2 ..can I recreate a similar stereo sound when I playing or recording in Cubase ?

[@Mendelian]

Yes you can! Record your parts 2 or 4 times as tight as possible and pan them L and R and you should have a good foundation.

[@krismarchant2913]

@@Mendelian was that a kemper tone of yours?and do you low and high pass kemper tone before the whistles and do u use a multiband compressor on the kemper for the taming of chugs.thankx in advance kris from Australia would really help to know as im learning still mate a friend put me onto u, as not alot on the net what to do once ya lay ya kemper tracks down.

[@thejoker8625]

Why when i set up a grup of two audio tracks (usually guitar L/R) when i pan the guitars and send them to the guitar general grup, it sound like is a mono track, and become stereo only as soon as i click on the stereo option in my amp sim for example? Shouldent it be stereoed even with that settings set on mono?

[@danfreeman8225]

I've got a Schecter C-1 Platinum and when I record, without any FX, I'm hearing peaking and the waveform is flat at the top. I'm using Steinberg UR44C and Cubase Pro 11. I've turned my Pre Gain to -20 db, turned my input faster to -20, turned both to -20, tried a direct box using the -15 switch and the peaking is always there. I've tried lowering my pickups. I tune one full step down and had a luthier setup all my guitars. I've tried the hi-z, lo-z and line level inputs, but the peaking is always there. I have a guitar with passive pickups and there's no peaking. I have a bass with active pickups and the option to be passive and it doesn't peak. I've tried different batteries and cables but still the Schecter peaks. Any idea why?

[@farkasszabo7505]

Hi! I was just wondering, if I only record the guitar part once (or twice) and double it, so its quad tracking, does it give the same result, or should I record the same thing 4 times?

[@norjan_posetiivari]

Whenever you are either double or quad tracking, you'll need to play and record each part separately. Just copy-pasting a single take cancels the stereo effect of the guitars because of the identical frequency.

[@5urg3x]

When you record chug riffs how do you line up the chugs to the grid? It doesn’t sound right to me for some reason when I make them perfectly aligned. I mean with using amp sims and a usb audio interface theres gonna be latency regardless of how well you play the part, so you’re gonna end up moving stuff around right?

[@Medialover100]

Can u use VST Connect Pro V4 to record Metal Guitars like u did here? I have some friends who believed that doing so with VST connect wouldn't be ideal & only useful in situations like during this Quarentine. Their argument was that these kinds of recordings need to be done in person since there's usually issues with tuning & strings "ringing out" that would require an engineer & artist to be present in person in the same studio. In fact their exact words were.. "I think the idea is cool in a pinch. But still think that for stuff like metal. This wouldn’t be ideal. You have to constantly check tunings, make sure strings aren’t ringing out, even holding strings for the guitarist. So being all there in person is a must. But I could still see where for times like now." What do u think? Can this level of tracking be done remotely with VST Connect V4? Can u do video of with u & an artist Remote recording Metal Guitars with VST Connect?

[@VapesForBabies]

Sweet vid, thx for the tips :D

[@marianmusic7221]

@Cubase Two exact same takes per channel - how does he avoid phasing? Would you do a video specifically on that matter? I can probably find many youtube videos on this subject, but i would like to know how the creators of Cubase would approach it. Just plain sound engineering or some specific tools? Thanks!

[@kilwast6530]

Phasing becomes an issue if you're recording the same source with multiple mics, like using two mics on the same cab. Here, each unique take is its own source so phase is not an issue.

[@jirinekovar4374]

What is that black screen he has with the pencil on his left? looks cool. thanks

[@jcalzada74]

Is a tablet

[@Mendelian]

Wacom Intuos Pro S

[@McNastySlam]

How would you set up your Kemper/Axe-FX with the Apollo into Cubase? I’d like to use my Axe-FX and Apollo Twin Interface into Cubase and that way I have a Clean DI but can track with no latency.

[@Mendelian]

I’d plugin your guitar straight into the Hi-Z input so you have a clean DI Signal. Route that to your Line 3 out and put that into the input of your Kemper or Axe Fx. From there take thr XLR or Digital out and put that into the input of your interface.

[@thekaizer666]

im a damned mediocre guitar player. any chance i can sequence guitar licks like how you did drums? where's the tutorial?

[@fulani5]

isnt it better do duplicat the same track to four?

[@Mendelian]

Ariel Nahum You need different performances to get that wall of sound feel, if you copy past you get the exact same tracks which results into just 1 take being 4x times louder.

[@fulani5]

@@Mendelian ok cool

[@Cithar]

HELLO, PLEASE USE PURE CABINET ON YOUR PROFILES? I HAVE PROFILES FROM YOU, BUT THEY DO NOT PLAY AS YOU. THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@tomix1970pl1]

In Reaper you can record 4 guitars tracks at the same time.You don't have to repeat 4 times.

[@Cubase]

Hi, in Cubase you can do the same thing, that is not the point here, every time you play the same part, you will play it a little bit different giving it a more humane sound.

[@htc345youyou2]

N'enregistrez plus sur les ordinateurs...la latence rend impossible une bonne mise en place rythmique...Pour le mix OK,mais pas pour engistrer!!!

[@YASIR.K]

👍🍻

[@labounti]

I learned that I am a crappy guitarist and mixer. Channel plug for dreadful music made in Cubase!

[@UnstopFooL]

This tutorial for people who starts experimenting with recording guitars like yesterday,for all others it just auper useless )