Paying attention to phase issues can often make the difference between a clear, well‑defined mix that has a heavy yet tight low end, and one that is thin, with poor intelligibility. On the subject of imaging and width it’s worth noting that sometimes the cymbals can mask the guitars if they have a wide stereo field. A drum‑production trick well worth experimenting with, when appropriate, is brightening up your reverb return. However, amplifying this frequency range can often lead to problems with sibilance on vocal tracks, so a de‑esser should be inserted over each and every vocal channel before they get EQ'ed. The essential high‑end brightness for rhythm guitars will usually be found between 5kHz and 8kHz. As a general guide for the snare and (to a lesser extent) toms, I would use a short plate reverb with a decay of between 500 and 800 milliseconds and a pre‑delay (to set the reverb away from the initial transient attack) of between around seven and 11 milliseconds. Think about attenuating instruments that are masking, rather than boosting the one that is being masked. However, a common mistake is the failure to realign the re‑amped track to the DI, to take into account the delay introduced by this signal path. It is usually appropriate to make the kick drum(s) slightly higher in volume than the rest of the kit: not only is the weight and presence of the kick essential in providing a strong foundation to the mix, but the kick tends to get pushed down when overall mastering compression is applied — as, to a lesser extent, does the snare. Mark Mynett: Music/Recording Technology Courses | Podcast, Win! Mixing is a creative process, and it's important that you aren't continually distracted by technical issues. In my opinion, metal is the most glorious music in the world after classical music. A slight boost in the 10‑12kHz region has been applied in this screen shot to add some definition and brightness. The compressor's attack setting is allowing the initial transients of the kick drum through untouched before clamping down on the body with a relatively high ratio — again, helping to emphasise attack. To achieve all of the above, I can't stress enough the importance of integrating high‑pass filters (HPFs) into your equalisation decisions. The all‑important HPF has been set to 85Hz — very close to the low‑frequency area being boosted, which is 89Hz. Rather than simply amplifying the snare at 200Hz to fight the other instruments for this range, and in the process cause an unnatural accumulation of frequencies here, you should experiment with attenuating the 200Hz region on the instrumentation that is masking the snare. Although I sometimes combine them with other pre‑prepared samples, I will predominantly use drum samples taken from the kit used for recording, as these will interact with the spot and overhead mics in a much more natural way. What is a "hybrid" audio interface anyway? Any harshness in the overheads is usually located in the 3‑6kHz region. It is essential to remove the cabinet thump and resonant low‑end rumble from rhythm guitar tones, and depending on what key the guitars are down‑tuned to, this will involve an HPF set anywhere between 65 and 105Hz. Getting this right can easily be done by concentrating the ear on the high‑frequency content while slowly moving the HPF up until it starts thinning out the cymbals or hats, then moving the setting back slightly. With the kick, this can be anywhere between 60 and 80Hz, depending on the style and speed of kick pattern (low frequencies on kick drums have a tendency to 'build-up' with quick kick drum work), while on the snare it would typically be between 110 and 170Hz. This will, of course, increase the overall level of the audio, which can mislead us into thinking that it sounds better when it doesn't. Although overheads can sound more aggressive with compression applied to them, I personally prefer the pin‑point accuracy of uncompressed overheads. One of the main indicators of poor sample use is lack of dynamics on snare rolls, so this is an area where time will need to be spent either on getting the dynamics to track those of the performance, or using volume automation to introduce variation. Band‑limiting the bass distortion channel can remove the muddy lows and abrasive highs that may be created by bass distortion. This is particularly important in the low end, where getting the bass right is not so much a case of boosting low frequencies as of removing inessential energy in this region, so that instruments that need to sit here have space to 'breathe' in.