Mixing Distorted Guitars | High Gain Tips by Joe Barresi

[@adammcgill9844]

He literally just taught in 10 minutes what it took me years of experience to learn. I wish KZbin was around when I first started mixing lol....

[@BenPotts]

well then maybe you didn't learn as much as you thought you did

[@beatfromjetsetradio8239]

@@BenPotts Hey, Ben? You’re a bit of a prick. 😂

[@StewTheTrue]

He's got a lot of very good points. You'd just need 5-10-ish years in the studio to really, intrinsically understand some of the things he's said. Put in the hours!

[@8eight104]

just watching a video isn't enough tho. You got those skills through experience and effort.

[@pedrosilvaproductions]

I think it's more of a matter of you looking visually at his projects to understand. For me, these small effects and transitions make so much of a different in terms of bringing out the energy of a track. And after I watched some of these pros talking about this and showing, more and more I hear these subtle transitions and effects coming in. Another thing I always noticed is how big and wide guitars sound and 99% of the times the sound comes from the whole band and not just the guitars alone

[@Melvin7727]

That last tip about just cutting the high end and then turning the track up. Brilliant and so simple; thank you.

[@TheAerovons]

amazing what some people call clean guitars ........

[@DavidDiMuzio]

lol, yeah, that's what I was thinking.

[@PilferMusic]

0:16 I thought the same thing... won't eat at his place... imagine the clean dishes ;) - absolutely LOVE his work!

[@Timbo6669]

Clean compared to the rest! I still wouldn't eat at his place [as PilferMusic stated] either..

[@Questioneverythingx]

It's a way to play without having to use a pedal. Lower your volume to like 2 or 3 and when you want the full effect, crank the volume. It's a cool effect and is something different than your average clean.

[@johnnybrown9581]

Was literally just about to comment that lol

[@ZaryaMain]

A video that I can actually hear the difference when changes are made. Good stuff.

[@infintiyward]

I know right lol. You get better at that though

[@pepe7drum]

Lol then what have you being lookin at?

[@siriusfun]

Joe's the real deal. Some of the best sounding heavy albums EVER have him to thank.

[@tomvice]

It’s a fringe subject. But mixing is insane. You get to craft the finishing juice of sound that generates emotions As a music lover, newfound singer song writer: It blows my mind how much you can do with a DIY room treatment, audient mic pres and plugins It’s insane. Million dollar sounds with so little. What a good time to be an artist

[@Gregorypeckory]

It is a good time in terms of tools to make a lot of different sounds. But I'm not sure having more tools than ever is a good enough advantage to call this a "good time to be an artist". I know some extremely gifted and hard working musicians who after a lifetime of hard work on their playing skills, songs, networking, and a hundred other things they do to create a good musician's life, are still struggling and in many cases, either doing day jobs or teaching for most of their money, as well as living with very little of it, sharing rentals with others at middle age, etc. The more I think about it, the more it is a great time to be a musician as a hobby if you have a good source of income to indulge in cool tools and a place to use them, but a very poor time to be a pro musician, unless you're willing and able to concentrate on a lucrative career path at the expense of following your own creative direction. For example, people who write brilliant music, but are also willing to dress up as a classic rock band and do a tribute act, are almost sure to make most of their money (a very good living if they're crowd pleasers who get some nice casino gigs) doing the act, not with their own music.

[@tobiasjone]

The tools we have today are amazing, but unfortunately, there’s a lot of people stabbing in the dark trying to use them. I used to work in an all-analogue studio (and still do mastering work in the analogue domain), and trained under experienced and accomplished engineers who passed on a lot of knowledge, first hand. This process of learning via osmosis is being replaced by KZbin videos and forums, which just isn’t the same at all. Also, even though awesome AD/DA, pres and mics can be bought for very little outlay, a lot of people use amp sims, VST drums etc (which are great in their own way) instead of using the amazingly affordable recording equipment to capture sounds with real air around them, and all these nuances / errors that make the audio sound organic, without having to fake it.

[@fret2fret221]

People always give so much credit to bands and songwriters. And sure. They definitely have to write a good song and have a good “starting point”. But it’s truly guys like joe who truly make the music magic happen.

[@dsess2001]

100%

[@markusm108]

true. plenty of crap songs that sound amazing out there

[@lucy3687]

100% agree

[@danibiyarslanov]

Nirvana wouldnt be so famous without wallace on the mixing so i agree

[@fatninjacatmatt]

@@danibiyarslanov 100%

[@caspermaster-com]

Note that you have to pan the guitar (or any mono sound) before the Imager at 8:37 to get it wider. That is why he is sending the guitar into a bus that has the imager plugin on it. He is panning the guitar track into to the bus, and not the bus itself with the imager:)

[@krisrudecki9477]

When you’re so metal you call crunch clean 🤔🤘🏻

[@Str1ng5]

I guess he meant compared to the other guitar parts in the song

[@tassellhoff2624]

when you're working with tubes. that's your clean sound.

[@davengeance4811]

😂

[@strivingx67]

Thought the same thing! LOL

[@TheAerovons]

You are absolutely right..

[@ArTiFiCiAlInSpIrAtIoNs]

Love that Spinal Tap reference "Where can you go from there? Nowhere." Great info man.

[@szsilvers]

Simple, old school way of mixing with great modern plugins!

[@andrewharms9435]

EQing the high end out of the solo guitar to unmask it from the other tracks is such a cool mind blowing tip 🤯 Great video! Thank you Joe and Waves!

[@adamcoe]

Joe Barresi, you're the shit. No kidding you just helped me mix a band's entire album better. Thank you sir

[@YesuAiNimen]

"Ok, let's talk about guitar tone...." Video switches to a computer screen monitoring global tectonic plate movement.

[@billyhughes9776]

I could watch Joe mix all day -- with the commentary and advice of course. Excellent.

[@SecretEyeSpot]

This guy knows what he's listening for when he mixes guitar.. i love it..

[@SteveStockmalMusic]

Great stuff, thanks 😊 When I finally learned to use distortion (really saturation) on for example an acoustic nylon to bring out harmonics to make a super clean sound, my life and sound changed drastically. Subtlety is the key !!

[@Voxtender]

Renaissance Axx is totally the bomb for making guitars come to life. I bought Waves Platinum bundle a bunch of years ago - never needed much else after that. Added Slate Virtual Mixbus/Console & Tape Machine. Done.

[@mwintersteinsmith]

WOW!!! Sooooooo cool mix. I own loads of Waves Plugins myself but knowing “how” to use them properly is demonstrated here perfectly ;-)

[@jasonstallworth]

Dude I love your simple approach. And you nailed it...one guitar may not sound great by itself but sounds awesome once you throw in the other guitars (and the final mix, which is what it’s all about).

[@greensleeves32]

Great tips and principles! A legend revealing secrets left and right, love it

[@joshhuxleyisdead]

i've come back to watch this like 5-6 times, joe is the bosssss

[@Oilid]

During the intro, I actually thought it was a new Tool sneak peek. 😂😂😂😂

[@UnityTheorem]

I thought someone was remaking Unchain the Night by Dokken

[@themetalicarus0284]

It's a Dokken riff rip off!

[@LukeThompson28-A]

same

[@zachiswayposi1]

Sounds like SOAD

[@Darkhalo314]

Woohoo! New tool song was released a few days ago

[@manifestgtr]

That s1 is such a killer little plugin whenever you need some gratuitous width on something. It’s funny because it’s so Spartan and old school looking compared to all these insane modern plugins with perfectly rendered knob dust and fader wear graphics. But that one little, 20th century looking imaging plugin really throws certain sources right outside the speakers and created immediate interest under the right circumstances.

[@L.A.W.Studios]

Double KZbin treat tonight... Rick Beato's multitrack breakdown of Tool brought me here, this is some very cool and useful info ...thanks Evil Joe.. ha!

[@AlexisGitarre]

same here too! Thumbs up for Rick and Joe

[@jiznak2000]

For going straight into the content, THANK YOU.

[@TheNewTechnology]

Just had a go on a demo of the SSL channel and it's mint, and 80% off and there's a 2 for 1 offer. The stars have aligned. Great video too.

[@stonesthrow420]

Love JOE...thank you for this video. man, just the terminology he is using helps to communicate what is really going on....and what needs to be done to create the sound you want. I learn so much and my mixes have improved 100 fold...cheers!!!

[@timmarrier]

9:20 - Now that's what I'm talking about, the distorted rhythm guitars come back in like warm ocean waves engulfing your ears.

[@leforce666]

Evil Joe is a wizard at mixing once again!

[@JulienGarros]

So good to see Joe! He is one of the nicest dude in the industry! Hope you are doing well Joe.

[@GuitarGrind]

Has hundreds of thousands dollars in equipment and uses a stack of papers as a mouse pad. xD

[@williamking8684]

Dude this is like a million dollar studio

[@willalexanderr]

Looks like sound city

[@foomfoom7547]

how do you think affords it he saves bro

[@PeteThorn]

@@jsullivan2112 False. Joe has his own studio.

[@MixChecks]

All that gear in there is very old. Maybe he doesn't know mouse pads have been invented yet.

excellent turorial,,S1 and the R Axe for electric guitars! just watched A Scheps use the Helios for more girth and presence on electric guitar..all 3 together might sound amazing!

[@vl292]

Nice to see people who have something worth sharing is sharing it.

[@tecnolover2642]

Shocked this guy is a professional and using these waves plugs! The same ssl plugs i have in my DAW? Wow! I guess we are all on even ground with the big boys now!

[@TheKevbe]

"Cuz where does it go from there? Nowhere!" Nice point.

[@Charlyfromthenuclearcity]

Is this Spinal Tap ? ^^

[@TheKevbe]

Stupid me, I forgot there is 11!

[@michi9955]

You ask yourself, how much more black can it be? The answer is none, none more black.

[@ledzep20]

Damn that whole mix sounds killer!

[@nekromachine]

That is what I refer to as more of a classic crunchy guitar sound than I do modern, High gain distortion. The PRS lead/proper channel which the Archon possesses aside from anything in GTR is a fine starting point with a Maxon od 808 (or whichever overdrive or boost that suits your tastes/works with the front-end to smash the preamp harder, Tighten things up + the trusty, does exactly what I need/want in the boss ns-2 is and that is my type of territory and the guitars are most of the time far below standard tuning and longer than 25.5" scale-length). The advice is all still applicable though and works. A great tool that I deploy but it sounds not exactly great isolated is an original roland microcube on the rectifier aping cosm model thing, It does a solid job at pinning down a rhythm track, same with a peavey bandit, a randall rg and the older marshall mg amps. Stuff that might be used for sratch tracks has numerous times found its way in to the final mix, The same way the now infamous Rockman for solos and then a little later the original SansAmp for all purpose essentially. I supose "extreme" is the term used to distinguish between the area which I operate in compared to the legend that is Joe Baressi. I've never heard anything by Joe that isn't great, EJB and Melvins are up in the god tier level in my world. Cheers Joe for all the invaluable advice, Great albums You've hand a hand in and Waves for the consistantly great tools over two decades now and still delivering \m/

[@petergedd9330]

Thanks, straight off the bat you give me 'Guitar Swells' what a great idea for a lead in.

[@falkortv800]

Sick That Zico chain sounds amazing, always loved the guitar production on that

[@johnsguitarmusicanddemos]

Thank you for this upload! I'm always trying to improve and make my mixes more powerful!

[@everythingNotHere]

Just friggin FULL of great info..

[@Edge_0202]

So much respect for this man!

[@nuurnwui]

Mr. Analog demoing plugins. But it works. I think he should make some plugs with Waves.

[@diegooliveirabenjamin]

Like before watching, Baresi is a master!

[@guitaristssuck8979]

Baresi was a football player

[@DevotioOfficial]

@@guitaristssuck8979 Ron Barassi?

[@JJDPROMEDIAPRODUCTION]

Another great lesson. Thanks again Joe.

[@teriakamoto]

Thank You ! It's amazing what a real Pro can do behind the glass.

[@bradwatson2363]

The amount of times I had to stop this and go try those Waves plugins I hardly use...

[@ClaudioRowe]

and you brag about it

[@kimsaisse]

It's not the plugin neither the approach but about those really good mics plugged into a really good preamp to give this perfect tone that really doesn't need any type of post-processing at all

[@Swanlord05]

Is this Pro tools he is using Or logic? Which is better?

[@AndreaMaccianti]

Joe is da man, I love his work! 💪

[@antoineleedolliole7549]

Utterly badass sounds

[@DanBieranowski]

When do we get the Barresi line of plugins?

[@JacobraRecords]

But which amps and guitars?

[@АнтонДемьяненко-у3г]

This is "The zico chain - mercury gift" awesome track)

[@brentmagnano3808]

The Master at work. Thanks Joe great demo and mixing!

[@viktorpuurunen]

The clean guitar... What a nice sounding guitar. Tell me What did they use for recording this? Amp, pedals and pickups?! Thanks :)

[@Anonymous-jb6gj]

It was probably recorded using ADT

[@bretdorton]

Hats off to you. Mr. Professional!

[@Asila]

This guy is the boss!

[@kayvtv]

need more videos of barresi sir, waves DO IT! :P

[@oranmoked1]

Hey Kay, more video tutorials by Joe Barresi are here: www.waves.com/tag/joe-barresi

[@vextract4662]

Hey alright! cool man. Needed some ideas to give a dist gtr track some more octane. Thanks for posting.

[@SierraMike78]

I feel like I'm in a 6th year level course watching this. Great explanation of advanced concepts. Sub'd

[@MixChecks]

6 years? That would make you a Master... a Mix Master ;)

[@maxmarksroyaltyfreemusic9892]

Awesome video... He showed just couple plugins and that really helped me a lot.) Thank you!)

[@stevenforman3044]

Lovely. Thanks a bunch for this. ❤️

[@Phil_Trujeque]

I don't know whether the spiders were all in tune, or if my shadow was shedding skin... but what I *do* know, is me watching Joe work his wizardry in the studio, is like chocolate dipped bacon for my brain!

[@alexg585]

At 1:48 I thought I was listening to a soad song "spiders"

[@arturospeaks]

THAT'S MOST DEFINITELY SPIDERS, with the drums from Question!

[@Massivecarcrash]

This whole song screams System of A Down. 02:30 is "Questions!"

[@ChrisBarnesGuitar]

@@Massivecarcrash IT's New romantic by Zico Chain

[@JeffAbarta]

Joe is a genius!

[@levijessegonzalez3629]

7:15 hell yeah! Blow out that preamp baby. What a tone

[@acidbath3226]

i personally would pull the parametric EQ on the SSL back the guitar tone sounds great with just the default compression u got

[@fret2fret221]

Good god that parallel distortion trick was awesome.

[@MikeSignorelli_]

*watches this video* decides to never mix another song and just hire Joe 😆✊

[@mikemorris1069]

Hey mate! If you're into this video you'll find some other great video's in this audio editing series which provides over 40 links to audio editing videos. Check it out here: kzbin.info/aero/PL2J2wb2kyWNGkpkE0cKvZg_b-72cKi8Yd

[@MixChecks]

Good strategy. How much does Joe charge?

[@boxy8673]

@@MixChecks $20 per song

[@Ianlive9]

Joe Baressi has done a nice work with Parkway Drive sound!

[@alan456M]

YES! Deep Blue is a masterpiece, the drums are so organic and powerful. You can hear every instrument almost in your face!! Joe is the man!

[@orryfishburne5326]

I love his studio

[@mountainbandexperience2858]

This was Gold!

[@vicesquadpunk]

Good lord, that intro guitar is almost Dokkens, 'Dream Warriors'. There is nothing new under the sun ☀️ :-£

[@laurasamulionyte-enlitaudi474]

This is super useful! Thank you!

[@dezinerAhmad]

What a lovely Track......Awesome man

[@BrandonStonerAEP]

The man makes great records. Loving these!

[@EasyHeat]

I've been wanting to experiment with a pedalboard solution for mixing different fuzz/distortion/clean blend/octave in a parallel mix? Either into one, two, or even possibly three power amps? Currently riffing on a cheap (but competently modded) 30" scale Firefly baritone offset with dual humbuckers. Currently been using an Orange OMEC teleport as just a mono to stereo splitter. then using a cheap Tech21 Orange preamp clone on one side, and either an EQD Life pedal V2 clone or an EHX Big Muff deluxe. Sometimes both! Then I'm using a cheap Sonicake ABY in reverse to sum it all back to mono. The hypothesis in principle IMO is sound, I just have no way to blend in a clean signal for clarity or phase flip any potential issues. I know I'm overthinking this, but I also possibly need much better buffered splitter & summing pedals? The JHS utility stuff comes to mind, as does the something as simple as a Mosky Audio Loop Box? Not sure... Anyway, You totally F'N HAD ME at "Parallel Distortion" Joe! Haha! Brilliant!

[@TyphoidMary1980]

Parallel distortion.... my mind is blown

[@tassellhoff2624]

Reading these comments you'd think nobody actually knows what preamp tubes do to the sound of a guitar. To elaborate, turning up the first gain stage on the amp will cause "clipping" or a bit of distortion, and in general, you'd be hard pressed to find a guitarist who actually runs the pre amp stage on 0. hence, that's his "clean" sound.

[@TheAerovons]

pre amp tubes do NOT have to make your guitar pushed or crunchy at all unless you want them to.

[@Griuofficial]

Thanks for the video 🤝

[@wrongfuture]

More of this, please

[@oranmoked1]

You can find more videos by Joe Barresi here: www.waves.com/tag/joe-barresi

[@MakeUpEgypt1]

amazing quality man , you know all my music dies totally cause of the bad mix , i lost 70 tracks cause i try to mix it myself lool

[@NoCoverCharge]

8:52 is my favorite section i need this plug in

[@kacklerot]

I'm a mixer too. Some mixes I made are pretty bad lol. Some I'm pretty satified with. Joe is badass! Number of the beast hell ya! Keep rockin' Joe!

[@SeverinoSE]

Fascinating. A real pleasure watching this expert. And it’s great seeing how passionate he is. 😊👍🏻

[@dvdpz89]

@1:50 is similar to Spiders by System of a Down.

[@thesavman23]

Bloody hell Joe, ive had a few beers so now ive just bought the SSL now havent i..

[@peanutbutterisfu]

Cool stuff man!

[@louiscalisse3352]

That’s one hell of a cool studio

[@RiffLair]

Where to go from there.. 11?

[@joesified]

“Where do go from there? Where? Nowhere.” 😂 Hell yeah

[@cc11studio]

Great overview of EQ!

[@PhatVan]

Thanks sir. So What is this song name pls ? At 09: 33

[@BeGoodNow5]

Extremely insightful video!

[@0scill8r]

“Meta flanger” nice :) very nice

[@botramduuze7188]

6:26 10 years old iMac!? wow

[@spankroy]

That's an Apple Cinema Display. Most likely connected to the older tower Mac Pro. So the computer could be from as late as 2012 at the most.

[@jerbear97]

@@spankroy soo.... 8 year old mac?

[@spankroy]

Jeremiah Fernandez Yes. A lot of businesses are pretty conservative with tech. If it works, don’t change it. Plus these old Mac Pro’s were good. Reasonably priced and expandable too.

[@danmeme7740]

Tons of recordings are recorded better with old technology then new. If all it took was technology almost all songs would be great. There is nothing he could buy to make his recordings better. He is not all about the "new" "in" things he is into what works.

[@Syklonus]

I still use a PC from 2012. Recorded many great albums on it with no problems. If it ain't broke...

[@gabet3754]

Parallel guitar?!?!? 🤯 Sir, I wish I could shake your hand

[@lafeeshmeister]

Where do you go from there? Nowhere!

[@snapascrew]

Can hear a clean guitar signal blended into the dirty guitar sounds... either a specific weird amp or already sub mixed down David Gilmore style

[@peteroxx]

What’s the best way to record rhythm guitar if one guitar is enough but panned left and right? Is it to record like there’s two guitarists and two takes?