In this video I show you some audio mixing techniques I used to mix Nora Inu’s new track Am Fear Liath Mór.
It’s a post rock / post metal track alternating between sweet and chimey guitar melodies and deep and droning distorted riffs.
I include basic mixing techniques such as standard compression and EQ, as well as some more modern mixing methods such as phasing on the drums, mix bus compression and sending a bus feed of an instrument to a group as well as directly to the master output.
The kick drum consists of three signals – Kick In (Beta52a), Kick Out (AKG C414 B-ULS) and Kick Speaker (8″ Speaker cone wired to an XLR plug). I send each to a Kick Bus and process the group as a whole. Compression and EQ is fairly subtle, just defining the tone rather than heavily sculpting it.
The snare bus consists of three signals as well – Snare Top (SM57), Snare Bottom (KM184) and Snare Side (Røde NT55). The majority of the signal comes from the SM57 and the NT55 with a little high end from the KM184 mixed in for clarity. As with the kick, I only add a small amount of processing to enhance the sound instead of trying to make it sound different.
The reverb is quite prominent as the post rock style track calls for a large atmosphere.
In mixing the drums, I almost always use parallel compression on the drum bus as it blends the two signals giving the drums punch while also preserving the depth and transients. I like to keep the drums sounding realistic and live rather than trying to force a particular style by over-processing.
I don’t usually use a lot of virtual instruments, yet on this occasion I took a dive into the deep end as we DI’d the bass and one of the guitars while recording.
I used the Slate Digital virtual amps to breathe some life into the bass and guitar signals that sounded OK on their own, but were lacking the realistic sound of a real instrument recorded through an amp.
Using this modern mixing technique I was able to bring some more depth to each instrument that otherwise sounded a bit flat and lifeless.
Another mixing technique I used was to re-amp the distorted guitars that were recorded via an effects board using virtual amps and a DI box. Sending the signal through my Fender Deluxe and miking it with an Electro Voice RE20 and a C414 I was able to add more grit and depth to the sound that was lacking in the DI signal.
For the more atmospheric tones of the guitars, I used subtle amounts of delay to widen the sound and panned this a little wider than the original guitar track. This gave the guitar more room to breathe, without maxing out the entire stereo field.
The distorted guitars – about 6 in all! – were panned hard right and left and layered to give the track a solid wall of sound when the heavy parts hit. Using quite heavy compression kept them in check, while I also added some Air EQ to give them some high end definition.
I strongly suggest checking out Nora Inu. They produce a nice blend of atmospheric post rock with dark and brooding post metal vibes. Find them here on Facebook.
Nick Braren is an audio engineer and musician with over 15 years experience in the studio, on stage, back stage and front of house. He is the owner and operator of Upaya Sound, guitarist and vocalist of Vandemonian, father of 2 and husband of 1. When he’s not in the studio or in the band room he’s either travelling in his van or at the beach – or both.
