Recipe
Metal tone from scratch
The full route, without getting stuck: from an unrecorded guitar to a solid metal tone, across recording, mixing and mastering.
This recipe is the full map to get a solid metal tone from scratch, without getting lost in details. It doesn’t explain everything in depth (the linked guides are for that): it tells you the order, what to nail at each stage and what not to chase yet. If you feel stuck, follow these steps and move forward.
Step 1 — Recording: capture well (and save the DI)
What you DO nail in recording
- Level: peaks between −12 and −6 dBFS, no clip (a clip is permanent damage).
- Tuning and timing: tight and in tune — it’s the most expensive thing to fix later.
- DI saved: record the clean direct signal (via iD44 or the Helix USB) so you can change the tone later without re-recording.
- Double tracking: record the riff twice for real (not copied) for the wall.
Level, tuning and timing are the few things you MUST nail at the source: they can't be fixed later. The tone, on the other hand, is decided flexibly in the mix if you saved the DI.
Full detail: Guitar recording → sections (signal and levels, rhythm/double tracking, walls, leads, cleans, reamping).
Step 2 — Mixing: make it fit
This is the bulk of the tone. The order matters: clean up first, beautify later.
The mix recipe in 6 moves
- HPF on every track: cut the mud below ~100 Hz.
- Corrective EQ: lower mud (200–500 Hz) and tame the fizz (4–8 kHz / LPF above 10 kHz).
- Room for the vocal: gentle dip at 2–4 kHz so the vocal appears without lowering the guitars.
- Saturation: a touch of character (the guitar is already distorted — a little).
- Panning: doubled rhythms 100% L / 100% R (the wall).
- Guitar bus: group everything and glue it with glue compression (1–3 dB).
The HPF and room for the vocal are the two moves that most unblock the metal tone: they remove the mud that blurs the wall and make the vocal coexist with the guitars at a good level.
Step 3 — Master: polish the song (not the guitar)
What you need to know about the master
- The master works on the whole song, not on your isolated guitar.
- Don’t squeeze the guitar bus chasing volume: leave headroom (~−6 dBFS) for the master.
- The master brightens and squeezes → if you left fizz or mud, they get exaggerated. Tame them in the mix.
Real mastering is a later step (a whole stage, with the full band). For the guitar, all you do now is not ruin the master: leave room and tame the fizz in the mix.
Detail: Master notions for guitar.
Anti-perfectionism, summed up
Quick path — metal tone from scratch
Ruta rápida
- Record a clean DI at a good level (−12/−6 dBFS), in tune and tight. Double the riff twice.
- Amp sim/Helix for the base tone. Don't obsess: you finish it in the mix.
- Mix: HPF → corrective EQ (mud/fizz) → room for the vocal → a touch of saturation.
- Pan the rhythms 100% L/R and send everything to a bus with glue compression.
- Leave headroom (~−6 dBFS): volume is the master's job, not the mix's.
- Compare against a commercial reference track at the same volume and adjust.
Expected result
Resultado esperado
A metal tone that’s solid and finished: a tight, in-tune guitar, a wide wall (double tracking 100% L/R), no mud or fizz, that coexists with the vocal and with headroom for the master. More important than perfection: a finished song. If it sounds big and fits, it’s done — move on to the next song.