Has anyone here ever recorded a heavy metal band?

[bigvernthearkitekt]

I just took a swing at it to do something different. We got 3 songs done and they are straight. We multi tracked everything. I've been out of the Heavy Metal loop for a minute though. I'm looking for some reference cd's to use so I can critique the mix on the songs I did. Any suggestions? I'm looking for Rage against The Machine type music that has a solid mix on it. (other than Rage Against the Machine). Thanks.

[Jpautomatic]

i did some stuff awhile back and the reference i used were "As the Palaces Burn" and "Ashes of the Wake" by Lamb of God and "Archetype" by Fear Factory. they're a bit heavier than Rage, but i think the Fear Factory cd especially is great for referencing the levels when i went to master it. its probably as loud as you can get something with a limiter before it gets abrasive. "Far Beyond Driven" is great too. thats my all time favorite metal production.
if you already got it recorded, its probably a moot point, but i always got the best results with metal drums if i got the drummer to use triggers on at least his kick drums. getting a good sound with a mic on a kick drum is something ive never been able to do. i can get decent sounds, but it never sounds as good as triggers. i like to use triggers on the snare too, just so i can get a track with no bleed from the cymbals and toms and shit.

[bigvernthearkitekt]

thanks. the triggers sound like a great idea. i had a lot of bleed in the drums but used the ssl plug ins to gate out what i didn't want.

[Jpautomatic]

yeah i love triggers. i always just recorded the audio off the drum brain, but you could even record the midi and then change the samples later on, or velocities and quantize parts and all kinds of cool stuff.