How to metal?

Ask questions and get answers about how to make music in any particular way. Hardware or songwriting or whatever.
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Mostess
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How to metal?

Post by Mostess »

So my 12yo wants to record an 80's punk/metal album with me this summer. I'm doing some listening to pick up some of the recording/production tricks. I grew up with this stuff but am listening to it with very different ears as an adult who knows things about recording. Here are things I've noticed.

1) Reverb on the drums. Always reverb on the drums.
2) Echo on all lead guitar parts: the echo is more important to hear than the dry signal.
3) Vocals are mixed way down and with more high frequency EQ than makes me comfortable
4) If it's a love song, everything has to have chorus or flanger on it. Drums included.

More more more. I'm going to need help! Also, anyone here have some free time this summer and know how to shred shred an 80's metal solo?
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Re: How to metal?

Post by ken »

I had a similar experience watching 80s hair metal videos at the gym for a while. I started to really pick apart the production, whether there were two different guitar parts on each side, or one. How the guitar parts changed. Were the vocals single tracked, double tracked, harmonized at times, or the whole time etc. Very interesting.

Maybe you should sit down with your kid and see what parts of the 80's punk/metal aesthetic he wants and what parts you could contemporize a bit.
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Mostess
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Re: How to metal?

Post by Mostess »

Not that it matters really, but it's my daughter.

She loves Joan Jett and she's been kind of fascinated by 80s rock. She doesn't really care about genre so she says things like "I want it to sound like Pink Floyd but more metal, like Poison."

We've been listening to various stuff. She likes the big anthems like Queen or Kiss or Def Leppard, but she doesn't like multi part background vox harmonies. (sad face)

But any tricks on how to make that classic 80s sound would help. When you really listen, there are some consistent choices. But for some reason I never really listened until now.
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ken
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Re: How to metal?

Post by ken »

Mostess wrote:Not that it matters really, but it's my daughter.
Sorry to have missed that. Good for her!

I hope you have fun making music with your daughter regardless of how it sounds in the end.
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Re: How to metal?

Post by jb »

I don't have any specific advice, but here's something general that you may have thought of:

Look for guitar effect presets that are designed to get the right feel.
And here is a Google Search for famous guitar tones: https://www.google.com/search?q=famous+ ... e&ie=UTF-8

Also, go on one of those forums and ask if anyone knows how they got the tone for song X: there's always somebody with an opinion on those threads.

Maybe just remember that they were recording to tape, and often on shitty equipment, so use some emulation and saturation in your mix.

Have fun!

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Caravan Ray
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Re: How to metal?

Post by Caravan Ray »

I have nothing to suggest - except that if your offspring is female and she wants to rock - make sure she knows who Chrissie Amphlett and the Divinys are:

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Re: How to metal?

Post by fluffy »

crank up the gain, scream like cookie monster
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Re: How to metal?

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

I would say the arrangement would be important, but I'm not help with identifying those traits. Both in how the song is constructed but also what instruments to use where.

I like the idea of a more metal pink floyd project, but it sounds hard to pull off. Then again, it'd be fun to fail while trying, too.
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Re: How to metal?

Post by irwin »

There's a great interview in this month's TapeOp with Mike Shipley, engineer on those huge 80's Def Leppard albums.

Turns out the reason it sounds larger than life is... because it is. 100 tracks of handclaps. Sheesh.
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Re: How to metal?

Post by noma »

Pigfarmer Jr wrote:I like the idea of a more metal pink floyd project, but it sounds hard to pull off. Then again, it'd be fun to fail while trying, too.
Like Queensrÿche? Every time I listen to "Silent Lucidity", it amazes me how much it sounds like a track off The Wall.
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Re: How to metal?

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

I liked that song. Not as much as my friends, but it was cool enough. I'd never make that association, but I see where it comes from.
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Re: How to metal?

Post by bdog5778 »

Hey Mostess, you still doing the album? This IS kind of my thing, so...while I'm rather busy this summer with recording our band's second album, I can certainly provide guidance on any number of issues and potentially a solo.
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