This is where I’m going to put all my tutorials. Also in here you can ask me about recording and details. Do NOT ask me how I mix, that’ll require a book as an answer.
NEW: Superior 2.0 tutorial.
How to get those awesome FEARED drums.
You will need to download the following file for the tutorial:
How I record guitars for my videos:
How I record bass guitar for my videos:
vafan?!
Hi Ola,
I want to record a decent demo with my band in a few weeks and this tutorial you have on here is awesome I was just wondering if you could post a video on how to start the logic file from scratch. Like what basic settings you use before you press record.
Thanks,
Arjun
Hi Arjun!
You should start hanging on the right forums. Check Sonikmatter.com for Logic stuff!
Mixing is a total science so that would probably make for a 35-60 hour long video. Neither you OR me would be interested in watching that.
Cheers / O
Hey I was just curious where you learned all your studio knowledge. Are you self taught or did you go to school for it?
Thanks
-Sven Ulvestad
Hey Sven! (Norwegian? )
I read one year of audio engineering in 2002, but yeah most of the knowledge is from working with bands, recording. I’ve been doing it for many years now so I’m starting to get a grip around things now. But dude I’m still a noob at some points. I’m terrible at mixing vocals.
Mixing vocals is truly hard! I’m getting better at it though!
Yeah, I’m from Norway
Ah ok, Yeah hands on experience with it is best I think. Gets you much more familiar with it then just reading. I like how simple you record with you Mac and Apogee, but still make it sound great.
haha yeah there is so much to learn with recording.
(indeed, vocals are hell to get right. All about the room your in)
These tutorials are awesome, cheers so much for making and sharing them!
Just spent a good 5 hours working on a test mix and while it’s not there yet, the videos show me the kind of thing to be aiming for at each stage which is insanely useful.
I cannot wait for the Superior Drummer 2 tutorial!
Thanks dude!
Hi from Brazil!!
I wish to understand how do you use the compressor on the drum track, I don’t feel it’s adding too much in my sound yet. How do you set the parameters?
…Waiting Feared live here!!!
You have to use a hard setting. Bring down that threshold so it keeps them drums pumping.
Hey!
I was wondering if you got any tips for the Line 6 recording devices?
Currently I use a Toneport UX2 and cant get a good brutal sound out of it, it just sounds like crap!
If you know any good presets or anything else?
Love your vids btw!
Try to use impulse responses. There are many free ones out there (Guitarhack, Fredman awesometime, clawfinger… ) as well as good paid irs like Redwirez or Ownhammer.
Also, there are some freeware vst amps that will kick the sh*t out of your toneports ass (Nick Crow 8505, Solo C,… ).
Visit this forum (http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap-151/) for more info.
Hey, greetings from Hungary!
Dude, you have an amazing tone, can you help me how could I get something simillar, killer sound from Guitar Rig 4? What kind of effects, filters, eq settings do you use? I know that there’s a huge difference between a live rig and a software, but maybe you can help me… What amp settings do you use, I mean gain, presence…
I’d be very grateful if you could help me! Thanks!
Hey dude.
I was wondering..
I have a Line6 PodStudio Ux1 interface. If i mic up my amp with a shure sm57 -> UX1 -> Reaper, would the quality be good? You probably dont have any experience with these cheap interfaces, but would i need anything else? Oh, and what about recording bass straight into the PC with a bass amp simulator instead of the real deal? I know guitars sound pretty digital when doing this, but how about bass?
I guess the quality would be good, I’ve heard lots of demos with the pod studio that are good.
Of course no problem regarding amp simulator, guitars start to sound digital as soon as you put heavy distortion on it.
For bass it works better.
Hi Ola,
You probably heared this a couple of times before but your tutorials are AWESOME! I’m playing guitar for about 8 years now but I’m kinda new to that “recording thing” and your tutorials have really helped me alot!
When I first saw your amp-testing videos I honestly thought they were fake… Don’t get me wrong, this is absolutely no offence but your sound was just TOO f***ing good to be true so I’m really glad you made these tutorials to show noobs like me how you do it
Just wanted to thank you for that
Greetings from Croatia
Denis
Glad to have you aboard and that I’ve turned you to the dark side… MUAHAHAHA!
Hi
Could you make a video tutorial about post processing ?
You covered the guitars, bass and drums.Now what to do to have a loud, punchy mix without clipping all over the place and to have the guitars pumping and upfront like in your songs.
I think that the key is in setting the right levels.But whatever man, that would be very cool.All these tutorials on the net dont show what to do after you recorded all that stuff.Like for example the guitars:after I apply the chain with ampsims and impulses it sounds very dry.I guess that you have to tweak with it to have it pump and such.
Thanks, bye.
Dude, that would probably make for a really long tutorial. And I’m not a fan of doing the tutorials. THey require so much video-editing. Not my cup of tea. If you need help check out the andy sneap forum / O
OK, cool.I started a thread there http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/production-tips/658405-some-questions-about-mixing-post-production.html#post9631054.
Thanks, bye.
What up Ola? Thanks for posting the vids man and your tones are brutal. I have a question regarding sending all the superior drum tracks to a separate bus. Is that only possible with Superior 2.0 or can EZdrummer do it as well? Could you just clear up how to create a second bus? Hope that’s not too much to ask. Thanks again for the vids.
-Seth
I don’t know man, I haven’t tried ezdrummer in that way.
By the way, I forgot to mention I’m using Cubase 5.
Hey Seth,
In Cubase 5 with EZDrummer you will want to select the multichannel selection in the EZDrummer mixer that way Cubase detects that the tracks have been routed to different channels. Then press F11 and configure the EZDrummer channel to multichannel.
Hope this helps,
Ed
Du är fan kung alltså!
Hi again
I just wanted to ask you about the drum tutorial.When I load the preset I can only hear the kick drum, nothing else is audible :/ (the meters are moving but no sound).
hey man, did you ever find a solution to this? i have the same problem
Just found your side googling around and by the way, many thanks for your very helpfull posts! I’ve 1 doubt regarding superior drummer and wondering if you can help me.
While using “The Metal Foundry” pack, i liked the option of “The Metal Foundry Mix” istead of “Default”. However it’s stereo (1/2 channel only) when i choose multi-out option, all the equalization, filters and compretion that made sound nice on Superior Drummer via Buses do not goes to my DAW (Sonar 8.5) how can i manage that? I mentioned somenthing about auxiliary channels but i didn’t get that, Many thanks in advance for your time!!!!!
Yeah that’s the thing with the presets, they are made for Superior in stereo plugin. Except for my preset that’s made for multichannel.
Hey Ola,
My Line 6 UX2 is what I’m using to record my guitar tracks. I read above that the Nick Crowley stuff is better? I’ve tried that before, and was never able to get a good solid tone. Do you seriously recommend using the NC stuff over Pod Farm UX2? If so, I’ll get right on giving it another shot. If it’s indeed better, than my UX2 will come in handy for recording DI tracks!
Take care Ola!
-Aaron Smith
Hey Ola,
Great tutorials. Had a good laugh too.
Do you have any tips for recording vocals? I’m currently trying to get the demo for my band ready, but recording the vocals is a real bitch and I can’t seem to get it recorded properly. Somehow it keeps sounding very flat and without any bass in it. It gives me a headache… ugh
-Tim
Hey man, glad you like my vids… I actually have a manuscript for doing a vocal tutorial. Just need to assemble everything.
I would like to see a tutorial on how to record and treat vocals as well. Mine never sound right in a mix
Hey Man, Great sound. I watched your tutorial and I’m having problems working with Superior Drummer to get the multi-channel out (I just got the plugin two days ago). The specific problem is this: when going into Superior’s mixer, I can’t select stereo outs (Out 1/2, Out 3/4, etc.) it only gives me the option of selecting individual outs (Out 1, Out 2, etc). Can you please help out?
Greatly Appreciated Man!
Adrian
Have you right clicked on the outputs in superior and chosen Multichannel. Also Out 1 is stereo right? so that wouldn’t matter.
Hi Ola,
Great videos for anyone wanting to learn how to record metal!
If you need any advice / tips + tricks for vocal mixing (I saw it in previous posts), just hit me up on FB or via email. Been tracking / mixing for more than 10 years, vocals are my speciality.
The trick is to get 2-3 good compressors going… at the moment i’m using a Focusrite LiquidMix in my mixing stages, but when i’m tracking i’m using either an SM7, Neumann U87 or a Rode K-2, Avalon 737 tube pre / comp / eq. Usually I’ll compress on input just to tame the actual signal a bit (2:1 ratio, long attack, medium release) and then inside my DAW (logic pro 9) i’ll eq / de-ess / automate the vocals. The trick is to automate each and every P, S, T and F by using a spectral analyser and seeing where the peaks hit and then taming those peaks from there. Thereafter, I run it into a multiband compressor to tame the low-mid response (250-400hz) depending on the octave of the voice. Then I run it into the liquidmix plugin on an LA2A setting. Thereafter Eq’ing some artifacts out.
Try it out, see if it works for you? I’ve learnt a few neat tricks from your videos! Keep it up man! I’m really enjoying your blog!
Big ups from South Africa!
Hey Ola,
great music, great recordings ! I realized, you tried almost every good metal amp out there. Have you ever tried cabinet simulators? I’m looking forward to buy an SPL transducer maybe. But there are lots of differnt simulators…. do you have any idea or suggestions?
Keep doing your great stuff!
Best regards
hey dude, your vids are awesome!!!! i love your tone and wanted to ask how you eq engl amps. i own an fireball 100 and im pretty satisfied with it, but i just want to know how settings
would be nice, cheers from austria
…. your settings
Could you please post the vocal chain you use if you get time. Your vocals sit in the mix perfectly and that is for sure the hardest thing to do with mixing.
HI Ola,
Thanks for your excellent tutorials. They’ve really helped me to get to grips with the basics of shaping a sound.
I downloaded your Superior Pack and I am getting an error when trying to load it. It says “You have loaded a preset that makes use of a sound library you don’t have installed, SL-DFH”
Any ideas?
Graham
Hi, have you got any tips for speed building on guitar?
Regards
Ben
Hi Ola,
just discovered your page and wanted to let you know that your videos are incredibly useful to me. You’ve uncovered the whole send/receive/bus thing, as I’m now able to use it properly. Thanks!
Hi ola,
I have a little question, i cant run the superior toontrack in logic 9…you have any idea what i have to do?(audio card?…or software? wrong configuration?)
im realy beginner in this world of recording…the input and output of logic is pre configurated for apogee …is that wrong?
Thanks
Okay, i know im late here, but after taking a recording hiatus, i have to relearn a lot of stuff. Found the tutorial helpful, in general. But i really wanted to take a look at the settings you had on your preset but ran into this problem.
when i “load project as combined preset” it says:
“You have loaded a project or preset that makes use of a sound library that you do not have installed: SL-DFH”
What does it mean by SL-DFH? I know you were saying you did it on Avatar so we wouldnt have to buy Drumkit From Hell, Metal Foundry, etc… so what is this speaking of and where can i go to get it?
Thanks
Hey Ola. I’ve been living in my cavern (aka home studio) and trying to get nice guitar tones. I was wondering if you could give me some advice concerning impulses, which software you use as impulse loader too. For example look at this guitar tone : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYUdoFWKtBY . I can’t get to those tone even if I plug my engl e530 in the soundcard, fast track pro. Does the soundcard have anything to do with the tone quality? Or maybe my imput level arent strong enough. I feel I am not using the maximum potential of these simulator, If you have any rule of thumb to follow to use maximum potential of amp sim, impulses (such as input levels, settings in the softwares, harmonic exciter n shits)
A+
marco
Very informative and entertaining!
I noticed you use an imac for DAW. I am considering one to get rid of my windows tower and million wires for recording guitar and voice basically.
How is the latency? I also use Guitar Rig.
take it easy,
jävla gott ! tack !
Thanks for all tutorials, they were realy helpful to me! Greating from Russia, come to Moscow, anytime!
“bANG THE SHIT OUT OF YOUR PARENTS”! HA HA HA HA HA!!
Was just curious is you HAVE to use superior drummer to use the samples and aptrigga? or if you could use any drum program and then replace the audio and get the same results?
do you have some presets for a BOSS me-25 and a BOSS m-2 metalzone
can you give these please i cant work with it
Just wondered if you could put up a video tutorial of how to match up a logic file with a video when doing covers?? had a few problems myself and couldn’t sync them together properly
Tjenare Ola! Riktigt fin guide det här du, men jag har lite problem med “multichannel mode” i Cubase 5. Hur ska jag bära mig åt? Får vara baskagge när jag laddar preseten.