The DEATH METAL MIXING Tutorial!

[@KohleAudioKult]

Who's gonna join the contest? I wanna hear your mixes!🤘

[@analogkid4557]

I am joining. Still working on it. Going to try and finish up this weekend.

[@descendinguniverse]

already did👍

[@trevornokesmusicltd5357]

I've joined and submitted my mix. Hope i've not wrecked the tracks. Kept it real and used all the original tracks and only SSL Plugings. First Mix of Death Metal, this was hard.

[@benkolts]

The Grandma joke is still funny! 🤣

[@codycreepcore]

Just submitted it yesterday!

[@Producelikeapro]

As always an incredibly informative tutorial! Very excited for the Rate My Mix competition!

[@benkolts]

Yeah Kristian!!! Sick demonstration, brother! Thank you for showing us the way! 🤘🤘🤘

[@KohleAudioKult]

Haha! Thanks for the tracks Ben!

[@jmstep67]

Really appreciate seeing how you go from extremely minimal mixing on tracks that don't need more, and some extreme mixing on tracks that need a lot of help. I wish I had the confidence to make those decisions more often.

[@MrBikboi]

Yeah i really enjoy plutec on kicks specifically too.

[@KohleAudioKult]

Absolutely!

[@andreikislitsin3622]

Cool to see how professional is working with audio 👍

[@Thenamelessoul]

Im in the contest aswell! Gonna work more on my mix this weekend! :D

[@AlexeySolovievMusic]

Sounds super awesome Kristian! You won the competition congratulations lol 👏👏👏 really love vocal effects, the whole mix sounds very brutal! You are a true master of metal production! 😈🤟🤟🤟

[@KohleAudioKult]

Wow! Does that mean I have won $70,000? 😜 Just kidding!

[@ChernobylAudio666]

@@KohleAudioKult I'll arm wrestle you for it... because I surely won't challenge you to a beer drinking contest it! 🤣

[@jgmopar]

I had fun with the mix. I have limited tools to mix so it was a quick one for me. I gave it my all so did my cat. Drums were tough, the kick drums one sounded like it had a pillow in it and the other no pillow. . When i watch all the pro style mixes, I realize I have a lot to learn and a lot of goodies to eventually purchase. Like I said in another video the fun part of this is the learning is never ending. I really appreciate the people who showed how they mixed their version of the song.

[@RaftelStudios]

Hi Mr Kristian. I would like to suggest you 3 alternatives to snare drum sample . 1.Open a second channel and insert a white noise generator. The in the same channel put a gate and side chained it with the snare . 2. Gate reverb 3. It's one that I tried for my own entry I've send the snare to the vocoder of my korg microkorg . I put the volume of osc 1 and 2 all the way down and i maxed the white noise generator. I like the result and I thinking of using it in future projects. Hope you find these info useful.

[@KohleAudioKult]

White noise is interesting for sure! But there's nothing that blends better than a sample from the same session.

[@seanmorgan9020]

I don't have the stones (or time) to enter, I just enjoy learning!

[@xavieralbenygtr553]

thank you so much for all your help kristian you are amazing. I used the two kicks as a fake subkick track, I just duplicated them tried to make them sound as equal as possible with EQ and compression, add a lowpass filter and used a pultec to define the low end then used the alesis track for the attack. you know experimenting a lil that was really fun.

[@KohleAudioKult]

Yeah! That sounds like another good way of doing this!

[@StigmatizedProductions]

Great mix!...For me the winner trick here is the match eq for the second kick using the first as reference...i tend to do that a lot when it is not posible to achieve the desired result using other ways...and also for widening back vocals if i don't have doubled (left, right) performances sometimes i tend to dublicate the track, set the original hard left and the copy hard right and delaying 20-30 ms the copy(right)...but anyway the microshift plugin does the job.

[@KohleAudioKult]

Yes, The plug-in is just another way of doing this!

[@XselfwillrunriotX]

The way you describe certain drum resonances is extremely hilarious but 100% accurate. 🤟

[@KohleAudioKult]

Haha! Whatever floats the boat!

[@joemarta8221]

Im feeling pretty stoked. I only watched this after I did mine, and I did almost all the same types of moves, move-for-move. EQ match in pro-q3, saturn for drive, same eq curve on guitars, very similar bass tone design, but different amount of boost and stuff. I didnt do as well on my room / snare / overhead sound, should have cleaned up more bass in the room and compressed a little less aggressively. Amazing song and energy though

[@seitani68986]

Holy shit that matching EQ on the left kick. Looks like a defunct controller or someone having a crisis but sounds great. Somewhat disheartening but encouraging at the same time.

[@DEADLINETV]

Great to see this mix-breakdown after I have done mine. I'm not a pro by a loooooongshot, but it's funny to see that I did similar things. I'm probably not confident enough to upload my track but I did enjoy the experience! (Btw, the Grindstein plugin EQ section is great to sculpt the tone of the guitars and bass!)

[@lucwilson1]

I find the process very interesting. Not a recording guy obviously. But it blows me away how much manipulation happens on modern recordings.

[@galladebutcooler8645]

I mean if they didn’t invent multiband compressors what should I even live for?

[@Charlyfromthenuclearcity]

I just mixed the song yesterday, and it's amazing to see the ideas in common here ! Same kind of EQs on guitars and vocals, same chorus FX on the backings... and mostly, struggling with the kick drums and the snare ! :'D

[@KohleAudioKult]

Looks like you're on the right path!

[@RonnieVaiArovo]

My old grandma said that your humour is young. 😂

[@Dave_TheMetalJester]

Had a great time mixing the Song and trying to stick to the 90s analog vibe!! It's also very good to hace this video since I can now reflect on my mistakes and improve my workflow since I usually mix my own stuff but I'm not experienced on mixing others'

[@kimseniorb]

is “brootal” supposed to be appealing still. 92 kind of vibes

[@KohleAudioKult]

Yes! This song is from 1997!

[@neoconnor4395]

Love seeing dudes in big fancy studios who clearly only use things in their little tiny computers. There is hope.

[@codycreepcore]

at 10:20 - 10:23 (in this video) did anyone else notice (while mixing the song) the center image of the overheads start shifting to the side?

[@Charlyfromthenuclearcity]

Yeah it's really weird ! I was thinking that : 1 - since its a live performance maybe someone bumped into a overhead mic stand 2 - maybe the positioning of the OH mics is so that the drummer's head or body can get in the way of the mic and change their response There are a lot of weird stuff in this recording (the shifting OHs, the weird second kick drum, the preamp saturation on the guitar mics...). But that's what make it a cool challenge! :)

[@KohleAudioKult]

Overheads are slightly weird, yes! It's actually not a real stereo setup. Too wide for that. It's rather dual mono.

[@RobbDizzl]

Kick Mic 2 probably got knocked over by the bass player. 😎 (I just used a sample from mic 1)

[@UncleHeatBand]

Fuck! Why didn't we come up with that... Gated, EQed and compressed the shit out of that second kick... 🫠

[@KohleAudioKult]

Haha! Maybe it was the bass player. But that's of course another smart way of fixing the dual kick problem!

[@analogkid4557]

It's funny, I did a lot of the same things you did. I also am having problems with the snare. I refuse to use a sample. I will get it!

[@KohleAudioKult]

Fight hard! You can make it!

[@benkolts]

Just add a couple of more transient shapers. 😅

[@analogkid4557]

@@KohleAudioKult you know, I spent tons of time on it and had tons of plugins on it. Started over 3 times. Third time was the charm. I just put a DBX 160 on it and instantly gave me what I wanted. I tweaked it slightly to make it better.

[@serge1643]

Ha ha! I'm working on a mix for the contest right now.

[@Producelikeapro]

Fantastic! Excited to hear everyone’s mixes!!

[@Dystxnn]

Thank you, good sir.

[@davejohnsonmusic]

I see you used linear phase on the LP filters for a few elements. I thought linear phase introduced pre-ringing in the lower frequencies? Or is that only if you're boosting down there and not when removing high-end information?

[@KohleAudioKult]

You always gotta listen and compare. But for lowcuts I usually go LP, not for sharper cuts or boosts though

[@riffomancer7462]

Thanks for the tutorial! I'm surprised to see you're not gating the snare at all. I had a really hard time with that, basically had to go and manually trim the track for each hit, and then copy/paste some of the good hits over the ones that had too much bleed from the china. It was a pain but it allowed me to compress the s**t out of it and add a generous amount of reverb for that B I G sound.

[@KohleAudioKult]

No gates here, but I also replaced a few hits!

[@devilreaper_inc6364]

I'm doing the contest trial by fire style it will be my first attempt of mixing anything ever but I decided F it give it a shot and roll the dice. I have next to nothing and will use what I have until I can get better gear like headphones but I am and will definitely learn something that's for sure oooh and like you are so fond of saying "see you in hell MF" don't worry I'll make sure to bring cake I think I had to many beers typing this out lol \../,

[@TheArkhamRebellion]

Always great watching you work, but isn't this an unfair advantage for those who haven't already submitted?

[@KohleAudioKult]

There are a million ways to mix this song and who says that people will win who try to sound like me?

[@TheArkhamRebellion]

@@KohleAudioKult I agree on that point (there are many great entries that sound very different already), my issue is that you show some great ways of solving some of the problems in the mix that people may have missed (the kick being the most obvious example), and some simple things like the hats that add that extra 1% here and there. Don't get me wrong, this is an amazing competition with probably the most generous prize packages I've ever seen so I'm feeling like a bit of a chump even raising this, and anyone needing help at this stage probably isn't going to win something at this level. But it kind of feels like giving out some of the exam answers after some people have already put their pens down no matter how smart they are.

[@Joey-rp5vg]

Great video Christian. Thanks very much

[@PabloQfoguitar]

Awesome!!

[@UncleHeatBand]

Now I am happy we already send in our version... Otherwise we would have been second guessing now. 😅 Darn that's heavy 🤘

[@KohleAudioKult]

You're lucky! Better to shoot straight than to correct things forever

[@UncleHeatBand]

@@KohleAudioKult Sounds like a credo^^ but I guess we rather gave in to more experienced and talented audio technicians and enthusiasts. Or maybe Malamor just brought us to our knees 😜🤘 anyway it's an amazing contests, we learned a lot watching others and doing it ourselves and we are really looking forward to see who the winners are. So far we heard a lot of great mixes. The community is going strong.

[@Spoofaged]

Brootality! i kinda feel like you and Warren should've waited until the contest was over before dropping these vids tho.

[@KohleAudioKult]

Why? We just showed two of a million ways to do it.

[@Spoofaged]

@@KohleAudioKult don't get me wrong, I love the mixes and videos, but I kinda feel like most every entry entered from here on out are going to sound very similar to these because the judges of the contest showed step by step what kind of mixes are going to tickle their fancy

[@fetusbelt6851]

Dangle that thang up cuz

[@karmelomarin9592]

Is this the song that Warren mixed on one of his youtube videos?

[@benkolts]

Yes!

[@KohleAudioKult]

Yes. We're doing the mixing contest and the KOHLE AUDIO KULT together.

[@karmelomarin9592]

@@KohleAudioKult I thought it sounded familiar. His mix really reminded me of '90 death metal raw vibe. I really liked it.

[@someoneontheweb4303]

Thanks you really helped me with my mix :P

[@TheHouseofJunjun]

Hi, fun video to watch. I am kinda doing the same thing from my music recorded back then and my drummer at the time also recorded with 2 kicks because he hated a double pedal, and like you the sounds were different enough to be noticeable when I finally started redoing the songs recently. I also discovered, and this is important, that his left leg didn't have quite as much power and the right, being that he started as a single kick player. His speed and timing was fine, but the power/velocity was maybe 1-2 dbs lower on the left when I was analyzing both kick tracks and once I heard it, I couldn't UNHEAR it. I mention this because there was something I couldn't put my finger on about them all these years and when I finally saw the actual waveforms, it made sense why. Like you, I didn't want to use a sample, but there really wasn't another way to fix it, so I, like the other guy who mentioned this in the comments, sampled the first kick and applied it to the 2nd kick. Fixed easy peasy....To me, this is where it's totally OK to do sample replacement because you are working with material that was recorded at a time/genre where everything was still very much uncharted in heavy music because it fixes the problem that was POSSIBLY caused by a very inexperienced engineer, or assistant engineer/intern who gets to use the studio on the weekends to record his buddies, because that 2nd kick drum sounds like a classic rookie mistake, overheads too. I know, I've been that guy. But, I would have the band record the same 1 minute clip each day (and detailed mic positions/measurements WRITTEN DOWN) just to make sure things were accurate and nothing got moved or bumped and if there were phase issues, they'd get caught and fixed....An ounce of prevention.......... Because of that, I never had much wasted time. Otherwise, they would've been caught and fixed before the final drum performance. It would be interesting to find out if ALL the songs suffered from the same issues with the kicks and overheads. That would resolve that question. When doing work of this kind, I feel it is important to try and find out as much as possible about the actual sessions and how they were conducted because there are probably going to be tons of issues and you need to know how the session was done so you can tackle those obstacles efficiently. Anyways, I found it a little odd that you went the way you did, being that, you already kinda did that to the snare, thus, kinda breaking the no samples thing... and then using the dreaded alesis D4 kick sample. Being from that scene and time period, most drummers I knew did that and it was to combat the crappy sound at shows and to cut thru a live mix better in a club with a terrible sound system, or an engineer who didn't know how to mix/record this style of music, which was just about everyone lol. Being that you already used a sample for the snare and a D4 kick sample, it wouldn't have been a big deal to use it on the 2nd kick. It's not altering the groove in a bad way, it's true to the original drum sound and vibe, nor does it alter the timing of the performance and at the same time sound more consistent and uniform. Sorry this is long and I'm not being critical, just wanting to understand the logic that went into doing that way. If you did the contest blind, you'd probably win your own prizes! That would be pretty funny lol....

[@KohleAudioKult]

All good mate! It's all about how you use samples. Using a snare sample from the original performance like I did here just blends perfectly natural. And using the D4 sample just makes this sounds more 90s. The D4 was THE goto device for kick and snare samples in the metal world back then.

[@TheHouseofJunjun]

@@KohleAudioKult Thanks for the reply. That was my point. Why not do the same thing to the 2nd kick drum by sampling from the "good sounding kick" instead of going through all the steps you did? Just seems like it would be a much simpler fix AND still be true to the original recording/sounds vs. all the plug ins and eq matching etc done to get it to sound closer to the first one. I feel it would've been totally fine to do so I totally get the D4 thing and was just having a chuckle since it brought back memories of 2 of my drummers using a D4 and DM5 for FOH when we played all around the NY/NJ area. Good times........Thanks again :)

[@KohleAudioKult]

@@TheHouseofJunjun Heyho! It's a great idea to sample the good kick to replace the bad one. Don't know why I didn't do that, haha!

[@TheHouseofJunjun]

@@KohleAudioKult I overthink things like that all the time lol. At the same time, that was still an interesting way to approach that problem though. Something to leave in your bag of tricks in case the sample replacement didn't work to your liking for some reason. Can never have enough solutions for problems that pop up... Thanks again for taking the time to reply...

[@shaunlafountain7189]

Is there anywhere to find the full version of Bass Grinder? I only found the free mini version

[@TormentedBrutalityPH]

the audio is noticeably loud compare to other uploads, how did you do it, what are the render settings for audio? BTW killer mix khristian! cheers! \m/

[@KohleAudioKult]

It is limited pretty heavily. But the main difference is that the video includes a lot of talking. That's why the average loundess is lower so KZbin doesn't lower the level that much compared to "music only" videos.

[@TormentedBrutalityPH]

@@KohleAudioKult thanks krhistian! that explains it! i just cant figure it, im joining the contest and im trying to get my mix the best sound i can, thanks for the mixing tips! helps a lot! one thing i notice about your mix is that, its way clear and its got that natural sound, do you use hardware in mastering? or completely in the box? for some reason i cannot get that kind of sheen that you have in the mastering, im doing mine completely in the box though ^_^

[@punkfloyd4148]

How long did it take for you to come to this 90% mix? I am really curious as a total beginner.

[@KohleAudioKult]

Two hours maybe.

[@punkfloyd4148]

@@KohleAudioKult Vielen Dank für die Antwort!

[@mickviolet3009]

How can I tel if a song has an above the kick bass? I’m trynna use deftones as my reference but tbh it’s pretty hard to tell. Anyone have tips?

[@ianmunn]

Did you process your sample with a gate? I tried cutting up a couple and there was always some cymbal wash. Was there some room on yours too?

[@KohleAudioKult]

Nope. I took it from one of the snare breaks. Filtering off the highs helps to get rid of cymbal wash though

[@tgstk2]

first.... 37 comments below! ... .. i will just make the sick ass deathmetal riffs.. and let someone else mix it... how much i try .. as that much as a craft as mixing.

[@sonidodemoniacostudios7752]

mmm I find that all sounds too compressed in sort of way, that is kind of hard to understand whats going on cause all is just crushed to death, and vocals get lost in the guitar wall of sound, guitars sounds really cool tho but just that. my mix sounds more Raw but you can actually hear the good vocalist that is in there, maybe my mix need that wall of sound guitars to be that good, what do you think Khole? Cheers from Chile

[@sonidodemoniacostudios7752]

yeah, my mix sound so RAW, but I just did it in a 4 hour mixing session, in the video I explain why I took just 4 hours to mix it

[@sonidodemoniacostudios7752]

sorry I didnt expressed correctly what I was hearing in your mix, is really the reverb in it, maybe there is too much reverb, the reverb settings are good but isnt it maybe too much reverb/delayfx in the vocals?

[@pablom8854]

How can you compare to Khole's mix (LOL) when your toms aren't even panned properly and you couldn't even spot this in 4 hours lol. I'm from Chile too.

[@SimonJification]

I first mixed mine and then I wathced this. ;)

[@KairosFlow]

Wie jetzt? Kein Aurora DSP Mammoth beim Bass? Ich dachte, das wäre Deine "weapon of choice" 😉 Trotzdem ein sehr schön maliziöser Bass mit 'ner Stimme, die ein Wick Blau vertragen könnte und gut kontrolliertem Low End. Chapeau!

[@KohleAudioKult]

Ich benutze immer andere Sachen. Sonst klingt's ja immer gleich. Aber Mammoth ist oft dabei!

[@alexandrosbagkas]

The bass with the plug-ins sounds like my neighbour trying to start his hedge trimmer in the morning! :P (that is a good thing)

[@KohleAudioKult]

Haha! That's a lovely compliment.

[@TheGarageRecordingSC]

Man I love That Bass Guitar chain!!! Worked really well on a Bass that was being a real bitch!!! \m/ \m/

[@maxpolansky3417]

I've been listening to brutal death for over 20 years, but I've never even heard this band. I listened to the original and your mix, I'd say you have did a very cool sound.

[@KohleAudioKult]

Thanks!

[@frankstijnen1910]

Working on the mix, nearly done!

[@ahawk706]

Full mix 2:53

[@Nosfeicon]

That EQ Is expensive asf !!! Any Hint on a good free one that would do it?

[@KohleAudioKult]

Do you mean Pro-Q or the Tube-Tech?

[@Nosfeicon]

@@KohleAudioKult The first one you are using: Pro Q3

[@NikoFrederiko.]

Tascam tape

[@AmishOutlaws]

MALAMOR is so damn good

[@loredanamassini9484]

Listen to that despised icon album ,and tell me why the snare Is so loud and still other things are loud and unmasked..... Compare the drum of this and that album After the mixing ....the difference Is insane. Its not Just about keeping the original its 10x powerfull

[@niko.pacheco]

I don't know how you say in english "'la virgen como suena!" 🤘😈🤘

[@odevetosnd1692]

Somebody please send me something heavy to do a death vocal on.

[@KohleAudioKult]

What about this? kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZqZcpyOq6qFo6ssi=Xo8PZz_i3r0C76nc

[@odevetosnd1692]

@@KohleAudioKult It's superb, really. I think my voice is too Death for that, though. At least from a conventional point of view

[@MetalZoned]

I'm pretty happy with mine (first full track I have mixed kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z4CQo4WXpcihi68) but its not at a competitive loudness and my snare is pretty weak. This video was very helpful, thanks.

[@ChernobylAudio666]

I've joined the contest! I love that CC121. Looks awesome. Wish Steinberg still made them!

[@KohleAudioKult]

Me too! Need one for my other room

[@mikemoore3635]

Dude incredible mix makes mine sound lame haha

[@DIYIstKrieg]

So, you're basically "telling" me going full '90s on this mix could've been a not so good choice? 🤔 Well, I guess we'll see 😁

[@KohleAudioKult]

Not at all. We're all very open for all kinds of mixes.

[@DIYIstKrieg]

@@KohleAudioKult I know, I know, just joking :D

[@MeganMcDuffee]

I want to produce more metal/rock just to use all the tidbits in these videos 😂

[@KohleAudioKult]

Do it!

[@MeganMcDuffee]

@@KohleAudioKult You bet your booty I will!!

[@mynameisnobody99]

Bloody bloody drums. Mine sound like shit when I don’t gate the bleed. What gives lol

[@hunnybunny6921]

665th like ova here! ... y'all know wachu gotta do

[@KohleAudioKult]

Haha! 🤘🖤

[@rsimolla]

😂😂🤘

[@oleskiyashko2901]

Germans don’t know humorous)) But truly they knows many rules

[@KohleAudioKult]

There must be something good about us, right?

[@oleskiyashko2901]

I love German people! 💪 And big thanks for your help 🇺🇦

[@gorf101]

I was doing my mix for this contest on my setup I have in my dining room and I start noticing all these professionals with full size mixing boards and outboard gear are entering the contest. I then hear yourself and the other person involved in sponsoring this contest are also ENTERING THE SAME CONTEST! HOW IS A NORMAL GUY SUPPOSED TO HAVE A CHANCE WHEN YOU SEE INDIVIDUALS WHO RUN PROFESSIONAL STUDIOS ARE ENTERING THIS CONTEST AGAINST US ? HOW IS IT FAIR WHEN YOU SEE A GUY MIXING OFF A SSL BOARD OR A HYBRID BOARD WITH THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF EXTRA GEAR BEING FAIR TO THE AVERAGE PERSON TRYING TO GET AHEAD FOR HIM OR HERSELF.. YOU SAID , YOU WERE ENTERING? THE OTHER GUY , THE ENGLISH FELLOW IS ENTERING? I SAW THE GUY FROM CHERNOBYL STUDIOS SAY HE WAS ENTERING? I'LL BET THERE IS A SHITLOAD OF OTHER "PROFESSIONALS" TOO! I WAS SO FIRED UP AND THEN I NOTICED THIS LOAD OF BULLSHIT AND IT IS DEFINITELY ONE MILLION PERCENT UNFAIR.. IT IS TRUE ! YOU CAN'T DENY IT , WHAT A CROCK OF HORSESHIT!

[@KohleAudioKult]

Relax dude! Relax! Warren and me and both hosting this contest. We're not joining it. Then again: We live in a free world. And huge studios are also allowed to join if they want to!