fantasticsound Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 I was just thinking about a band I mixed last Saturday called Unclean. (How much more cliche can you get than a metal band named unclean?? ) Anyway, I don't listen to metal. I don't listen to Cookie Monster vocals. I really expected to hear from the lead singer that he couldn't hear his vocals in the single monitor mix and a band that played at ungodly levels. From the beginning they were conscientious about setup. The bass player was absolutely frying his 4 x 10, ported speaker and I told him I'd give the speaker another 6 months, tops. (It wasn't ungodly loud, just distorted which left no tone and speaker damaging clipped signal.) He and the guitar player tweaked it down a bit and, lo and behold, he had pretty good tone. Their manager/roadie told me not to be afraid to tell them (especially one guitar player) to turn down if they were too loud. I made it clear in my ever so smart-ass way that the last thing he had to worry about was me being quiet if they were screwing up the sound. I have a simple philosophy. You can do it your way and if it sounds like ass I'll tell you straight out. If you don't like my suggestions, fine. But I won't let you give me credit for the crap your audience is stuck with. After load in we line checked and sound checked. I turned down the second guitar player and he did not argue. Then, the test... "Run a song, please." Despite their cool attitude, I was still expecting the worst. (Band starts playing. Singer starts singing.) I was overwhelmed. These guys were great. And thanks to their stage volume and me (honestly) you could hear everything clearly. They were in your face and present, with plenty of punch in the lows but crystal clear. It was a great set. The new vocalist is a wonderful front man for the band. Good voice and a lot of stage presence. I had no idea I could enjoy that kind of metal so much. When I think of the god-awful sound I've heard at several concerts I worked for this type of band I'm reminded that some metalheads actually care what the audience hears and what they sound like. I could see mixing for this band on a regular basis. That's saying a lot. Night after night of most hard rock/metal would not work for me. So if you like metal.. You might want to check out Unclean. They should be making the rounds at The Vue in Nashville in a month or so, and you can hear me mix them. Anyone else surprised at how a gig turned out compared to your presumptions? It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman Soundclick fntstcsnd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunny Knutson Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 Good metal is good. Bad metal is bad. Just like any other musical genre. I've even heard really good polka music! https://bunny.bandcamp.com/ https://theystolemycrayon.bandcamp.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeleCarlos Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 Word......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sign Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 Neil, I've recorded a couple of hundred metal bands and indeed you can find very good musicians among them. It's not music for everybody, I think only 5% of the people like metal music, but I've met quite some nice people who played in metal bands and a number of assholes too. It's not so different from rock, jazz or whatever bands and yes, I dig some good performed metal music really. Keep going man! Peace, Han The alchemy of the masters moving molecules of air, we capture by moving particles of iron, so that the poetry of the ancients will echo into the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duhduh Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 Originally posted by sign: I think only 5% of the people like metal music Keep going man! Peace, HanI'd have to disagree with you on that. Metallica's latest album debuted at #1 on Billboard. Thats far beyond 5%. "Meat is the only thing you need beside beer! Big hunks of meat and BEER!!...Lots of freakin' BEER." "Hey, I'm not Jesus Christ, I can't turn water into wine. The best I can do is turn beer into urine." Zakk Wylde http://www.hepcnet.net/bbssmilies/super.gif http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15_1_109.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 Duhduh! Where ya been, bro? Welcome back! "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phait Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 Originally posted by Duhduh: Originally posted by sign: I think only 5% of the people like metal music Keep going man! Peace, HanI'd have to disagree with you on that. Metallica's latest album debuted at #1 on Billboard. Thats far beyond 5%.I've heard some of that, the production was horrible in my opinion. I think they lost it. Load/Reload was even better than St. Anger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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