Metallica covers (Blackened/Harvester Of Sorrow)

[KillDivision]

Blackened

Harvester Of Sorrooooooow

Mix I did for dutch metallica coverband Hammer Of Justice.
They recorded these songs 2 years ago, but were unhappy with the mix from the studio.
I asked if I could take a shot at it, here's the result. We didn't wanna copy the AJFA sound, but wanted to get the sound more alive (read added mids).

Vocals: This guy really sounds a bit like the big Het, specially on the older albums.
Guitars: They didn't record di's, but the Preamp Out from a mesa Boogie Mark III. I put some impulses on them.
Bas: Just DI and reamped trough a Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp.
Drums: Replaced the kick with a sample, the rest is 100% natural. No edits were done to the drums. The OH tracks were so bad I didn't use them, what you hear is the spill on snare and toms.
Solo's: reamped trough the Studio Preamp.


Cheers!

 

[The-Zeronaut]

Holy shit
the singer sounds exactly like Hetfield

 

[KillDivision]

Check out their live vids:

http://www.hammerofjustice.nl/videos.html

 

[Teddyboy]

You've got bass in the mix!!!! That's definitely wrong man... jk

You got the "Justice" vibe. The snare I think need more body and the kick more highs and less mids

What impulse did you use on the guitars?

 

[RichS]

Guitars are amazing, did they sound crappy without the impulses? I cant imagine the preamp out sounded all that great on it's own.

 

[KillDivision]

I used impulses from a metallica impulsepack thats somewhere floating in the internet.
The Preamp out sound like a preamp, like a hord of beez.
They recorded the mikes from the amps also, but the sound was unuseable.

 

[Scott Horner]

Bass too loud...not serious. This is pretty damn good and holy shit at the singer! Very complimentary to the AJFA vibe but with more (existent) low end.

 

[statzern]

These are freaking awesome!!!

Please tell me you guys are going to write your own songs...

 

[Dave1978]

Instant Download. Awesome covers.

 

[JohnTheRipper]

It's like het and jason are singing at the same time. I actually like his voice more than het's.
Sick cover!

 

[KillDivision]

Their sites:

http://www.hammerofjustice.nl/

http://www.myspace.com/thehammerofjustice

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheHammersofJustice

 

[Mooch]

Wow dude, it's even got that "Justice Crunch" to the tone. Pretty damn impressive!

 

[Red Phoenix]

The original sounds like a fart compared to your mix. Your version is much clearer and...better! Did you also mixed other songs for them or only these two?

I just searched for this Metallica IR package you mentioned...is it this?
http://richardcookson.co.uk/Tattva/

And can you say how close the studio pre sounds to the mark 3 pre? Would be interesting to know because i own the studio, too.

 

[KillDivision]

The original sounds like a fart compared to your mix. Your version is much clearer and...better! Did you also mixed other songs for them or only these two?

I just searched for this Metallica IR package you mentioned...is it this?
http://richardcookson.co.uk/Tattva/

And can you say how close the studio pre sounds to the mark 3 pre? Would be interesting to know because i own the studio, too.

Thanx Red P.

I only mixed these 2 songs. I only heared now they had also recorded the di's, I just got the preamp-outs from the Mesa Mark III. With the DI+SP the guitars could have gotten a lot tighter, they are a bit too floppy here.


The Mark III pre is a bit more raw compared to the Studio Pre. A bit more harsh too I think. I prefer the Studio Pre a lot more, the SP can get a lot tighter and warmer/rounder.
I've had a Mark IV and sold it because the Studio Pre sounded so much better. I play the SP+Peavey Classic 60/60 poweramp at home (I'm the singer/bassplayer in my band). One of my guitarplayers prefered the SP+60/60 over the Mark 4 and he bought the combi SP+60/60 now and plays it live.
The Stdio Preamp sells around 400 euro secondhand and is a bargain.

Yeah, thats the Metallica IR package.

 

[Terminus]

Wow that is damn cool. If someone put this on at a party I'd be thinking did they remix AJFA and release it? Dude sounds like Hetfield for sure.

 

[Red Phoenix]

when they have the DI tracks wouldn't it be a nice comparison between the Mark III and the Studio Pre?
I really like the SP for clean and Satriani alike leads but i couldn't get a punchy rhythm guitar sound out of it yet. Originally i bought it for a lamb of god and that metallica tone but i'm always far away from that with the studio and so i gave up on this.
Interesting to hear that you prefer the Studio over the Mark IV. I always thought it would be the ultimate Mark amp and now i'm interested what you can do with this Studio *g* When you record the Studio do you mainly use the preamp out or do you use it with an poweramp+cab?
I guess you used the Blackened IR on the recordings (sounded quite similar when i tried this one)?

 

[KillDivision]

when they have the DI tracks wouldn't it be a nice comparison between the Mark III and the Studio Pre?
I really like the SP for clean and Satriani alike leads but i couldn't get a punchy rhythm guitar sound out of it yet. Originally i bought it for a lamb of god and that metallica tone but i'm always far away from that with the studio and so i gave up on this.
Interesting to hear that you prefer the Studio over the Mark IV. I always thought it would be the ultimate Mark amp and now i'm interested what you can do with this Studio *g* When you record the Studio do you mainly use the preamp out or do you use it with an poweramp+cab?
I guess you used the Blackened IR on the recordings (sounded quite similar when i tried this one)?

Ii will ask for the di's and reamp them with the same impulses/eq so you can compare them.
No punchy sound out the Studio Pre? You can make a jazzguitar tight with this baby...... You have to realize that all the toneknobs are PRE-gain, so they work like a overdrivepedal or eqpedal in front of the amp.

For this mix I used 2 different impulses, the Blackened and another one for extra mids. have to get back to you what the other one was.

The Mark IV is great, but a bit cold, midboxy and 2 dimensional compared to the SP.

Here are 4 songs I mixed with the SP+Peavey60/60+Harley Benton 2x12V30.
First 3 are Ola's songs, the third was from here also. I got a Mesa Standard cab (4x12 V30) now thats better than the HB 2x12.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3648177/Feared%2053-01.mp3

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3648177/Goddamn%20Christmas%20reverb.mp3

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3648177/Goddamn-3.mp3

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3648177/Backslash%204%20sporen-2.mp3

Could you send me some di's from your guitar? I'll send em trough the SP+impulses. I'll write down the settings so you can try them at home.

Cheers.

 

[Red Phoenix]

That would be damn cool.
That the toneknobs are pre-gain is not typical, right?

The 4 songs have a nice sound but sounds not like anything i heard from mine...i could imagine that it is because you use a rack poweramp+cab. till now i used the studio only with impulses when recording through it and that sounds muffled most of the time when i set the gain for metalmusic. I tried it also with the 5150 poweramp but that didn't impress me too. Is your SP unmodified? I know there are these IIC+ mods and a lot who own the SP have done these mod to there unit.

I will try to record some DIs today or tomorrow

 

[KillDivision]

That would be damn cool.
That the toneknobs are pre-gain is not typical, right?

The 4 songs have a nice sound but sounds not like anything i heard from mine...i could imagine that it is because you use a rack poweramp+cab. till now i used the studio only with impulses when recording through it and that sounds muffled most of the time when i set the gain for metalmusic. I tried it also with the 5150 poweramp but that didn't impress me too. Is your SP unmodified? I know there are these IIC+ mods and a lot who own the SP have done these mod to there unit.

I will try to record some DIs today or tomorrow

Don't use the Recording Out on the back, you should use the Main Outs. The recording Outs have already some high filtering on them.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3648177/Sneap%20forum%20Studio%20Preamp.mp3

Here is a simpel recording chain with impulses for you i just made, nothing fancy or tight playing. Try this on your SP.

Guitar: Ibanez ICJ100WZ with Seymour Custom5 (any EMG will do also) straight into SP.
SP:Lead Fat on, Lead Bright out, Volume10, Master 4, Treble 5, Bass 1, Middle 1, Reverb 0, LeadDrive 6, Lead Master 5. For the EQ everything flat except the 750 hrz, this one completely down.
Impulses: LeCab with only Frantic impulse. Lowpass on 6 Khrz, thats it!!
No eq/compression or any effect!
If you cant get a metaltone like this you should consider a tubeswap, they aren't that expensive.

That the toneknobs are pregain is very important on all the Mark series. A lot of people cant get a good tone out of a Mark series amp when played the first time. For a tight metalsound always start with the Bass and Middle on 0 (zero) and turn the Treble knob up. If you have a tight chunk the add a smal amount Bass/Middle to ad some body to the chunk. Too much Bass/Middle will just fart your palmmute. The Treble/Bass/Middle is all about the caracter/voicing/shaping of the sound, the 5-band eq is just an eq on a normal amp.

Mine is not modified I think. My guitarplayer has the same SP and it sounds the same. It also sounds good over the poweramp of a rectifier, Peavey 60/60 and Mark IV.

Let me know if these settings will help you.

Ps. Here is a recording I did with the SP and a bassguitar, works very well for a bit of grid on the bassguitar. The SP is a multitool.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3648177/Bass%20DI%20only%20Studio%20Preamp%2BV30%20impulse.mp3

 

[Red Phoenix]

I never used the recording out because i know it simulates a speaker.

I tried your chain and it sounds like this. The guitar was a PRS with EMG81. Not really a similar tone. No smack and bite here, only more boxy. This is the DI for that riffing. Maybe it's my playing...but i hope not! Would not be easy to fix

Thanks for the info about the tonestack..that's good to know.

Last week i played around with Jaymz Narcosynthesis DIs and i also reamped the bass through the Studio for a distortion track..it sounded weird... I could try to swap the tubes with the ones in my 5150. I know that in my Studio are Mesa labeled tubes and the amp is from '88, perhaps the tubes were never changed.

edit: i put the tubes from my 5150 into the SP for a comparison ... the sequenz is 1. sovtek tubes from 5150 2. original mesa tubes. 3. sovtek 4. mesa