As well as being technician, musician and engineer, a record producer may have to be part psychologist, career advisor, songwriter, close friend, lyricist, drill sergeant and therapist. A producer's personal talents and his ability to motivate, inspire and organise cannot be underestimated. In essence, pre‑production can be viewed as designing the project's blueprint, and along with many other producers, I believe that this is the cornerstone of a successful album or project.Ī successful producer needs the ability to look beyond the technical aspects of microphone type, placement and processing. Before the band and producer enter the studio, there is likely to be a period of time spent working out the ideas, direction and fine details of the ensuing production. But it is usual that there is another element to the process of a successful production, and its importance is too often overlooked.
Pre‑Productionįor obvious reasons, a record producer's natural habitat is assumed to be the recording studio. This month will focus on the often misunderstood and undervalued area of pre‑production, as well as the engineering and recording part of the process, with the next month's article covering mixing. In this article and next month's follow‑up, I will explain the specific production, engineering and mixing techniques that represent the state of the art in metal recording, with contributions from a number of top producers, engineers and musicians. The combination of down‑tuned instruments, dense and distorted tones, and intense performances presents the engineer with serious challenges when it comes to achieving the required clarity and definition. However, extreme metal remains one of the most challenging styles to produce. Over their career, the band have sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. Slipknot have sold over 10 million albums without toning down their extreme metal sound. With countless clubs, fan/webzines and mainstream magazines and radio stations nurturing and sustaining the scene, it comes as no surprise that an act as extreme as Slipknot gained the number one position in the US Billboard 200 with their last album, All Hope Is Gone. Modern extreme metal is anything but a passing fad.
In this in‑depth masterclass we explain the techniques that go into crafting modern metal sounds. Extreme metal music demands, and expects, extreme skills from producers and engineers.