Quick little tips on sounding like August Burns Red...

A

Adeamus

New Metal Member
Jul 8, 2008
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Heya guys

Alright, so I don't play in a hardcore band, nor do I have any interest in it, so lets avoid flaming me for that :)

Anyway, I'm a start up engineer who does heavy styles of music and the group I'm curently working on is a Southern Hardcore style band. Anyway, they want their production to sound somewhat like August Burns Red's Messegers record...

Now I'm not looking for a step by step guide of how to do this, but just some basic clues

the things that stick out about that record to me are how dry the toms are, and how it seems like all the drum overheads are boosted above like 5k and compressed pretty heavily. Am I correct, or just drunk?

I've got their guitar tone pretty close (Boosted ENGL)

Any other obvious clues I might be missing?

Thanks a ton.
 
I'd start off with trying the engl without a boost. The general opinion around here is that engls dont need a boost because they have one built in. I've never played on one so I dunno for sure really. Other than that I'd say tight as possible tracking, tight editing atleast for the drums, possibly bass and even guitar if they are really sloppy. Usually you only have to edit the guitars for timing if the guitarist is really terrible. Sample replacement also, and lots of reference listening. I've never even heard this bad to be honest, so these are just basic tips.
 
what era? Messangers Constellations and Thrill seeker were all very different..

id say quantizing is kind of a must for that tight sound if youve got a not so tight drummer

try some linear compression on the drums.
 
Messangers is what I'm aiming for

I found that just putting a 3db boost on the mastering software helped a ton with getting that sound.

Now when you say Linear compression, what do you mean? doing a compression bus and then sending the kick and snare to that? or is that parallel?
 
Give the Snare more air in the 4khz to 8khz region than u think, it emphasises the crack that decays after he smacks the shit out of his snare. But make sure u use something like the big bottom snare and eq to taste because you also need that fatness behind that short punchiness of the low mids.

Also again the guitars have more presence and treble dialled in but its better to compensate for that with eq maybe?

Make sure to sample those toms and use toms in superior or slate or whatever, he has the most gigantic tom sound, real boomy. so keep that in mind when u get to that. those toms need new skins and make sure to have a tight top skin and looser bottom skin.
Thats just what i would do.
 
who doesn't want their cd to sound like messengers?? haha

but yeah, very tight editing... experiment with layering/panning screams. the final mix is very hi-fi.. boost the highs. also, the kick takes up most of the sub-hz. there's not much bass guitar in the really low area.

andddd, it is freakin LOUDDDD.
 
jfurr said:
who doesn't want their cd to sound like messengers?? haha

but yeah, very tight editing... experiment with layering/panning screams. the final mix is very hi-fi.. boost the highs. also, the kick takes up most of the sub-hz. there's not much bass guitar in the really low area.

andddd, it is freakin LOUDDDD.
Click to expand...

Yeah the messengers sound is just incredible... So fucking clear. Just perfect for this kind of music :worship:
 
Maybe just me, but I hate the sound of the cymbals on messengers. Especially on that 'composure' song in the verse, with that dual splash/hihat pattern, sounds like a Roland drum module or something, with way harsh high mids and way too robotic sounding.

I don't know, I just don't like the sound of this record. Guitar tones Are incredible though.
 
solphilcox said:
Maybe just me, but I hate the sound of the cymbals on messengers. Especially on that 'composure' song in the verse, with that dual splash/hihat pattern, sounds like a Roland drum module or something, with way harsh high mids and way too robotic sounding.

I don't know, I just don't like the sound of this record. Guitar tones Are incredible though.
Click to expand...

man, the cymbals are the best part of this cd!

doesn't sound like a drum module to me... sounds like sex. XD

also, they didn't beat correct the drums at all. so if you're saying it's played too perfectly, i think the drummer would take that as a compliment.
 
cloy26 said:
you're telling me there is no quantization at all on that record? I find that hard to believe. Show me where you got that...
Click to expand...

Being the producer/enginner who recorded the last August burns Red album, I can tell you that there was NO such thing as samples on anything else than the kick and snare. Even the kick and snare was only like 50/50 mix with the natural sounds of the drums. If you are talking about the first albumI have no clue as I didnt work on that...

It hurts my feelings (really) when people jump the gun and lash out at someone, like Matt from August Burns Red, who actually put in the hours to learn how to play the drums for real. I know that a lot of drummers are fixed up these days, but this is NOT one of them. He actually plays them like you hear them on the album!!
There are other drummers I have worked with about who I could say the same...

Cheers,

Tue


That post is from Tue Madsen on gearslutz in this thread

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/high-end/329384-new-slipknot-album-drum-sounds-all-hope-gone.html
 
no no no. ABR is amazing and I know they are all great musicians. I also love their music and they have influenced me heavily.

However, on messengers, I can see it being a more naturally recorded setup. Listen to the drums from Thrill seeker and then listen to messengers. There HAD to be triggering and sampling going on in thrill seeker... My friend was having a conversation with Matt and they were talking about his drum sounds. He said that he didn't like the tone on the Thrill seeker and wanted to make them sound like actual drums for Messengers... He said the tone on TS was way too robotic and fake...
 
cloy26 said:
you're telling me there is no quantization at all on that record? I find that hard to believe. Show me where you got that...
Click to expand...

It's on a dvd that came with the pre-order of messengers. it's like a studio blog type thing. and Matt says something like, "a lot of drums these days just sound completely computerized and stuff like that, but I didn't want that. So, none of the drums are beat corrected at all. When people hear this album, I want them to go 'yeah, that's Matt playing drums.' I don't want em to hear computers or anything like that."

If you find that hard to believe, check this out. the dude is freakin insane. with a few takes in the studio, i don't have trouble believing at all that he got them that perfect.

watch 1:20 especially.. it's so sexy. haha

 
Last edited by a moderator:
If you want your drums to sound like ABR-messangers, you need a ass-tight drummer!!!
Sure the kick and snare might be replaced (only to get this metal-sound) but you are hearing so much drum room and full cymbals on this CD, you CANT get this sound with standart quantisations!!!!!!!
 
I really like the production on Contellations, however, is it just me or is there a LOT of reverb on the main vocals?
 
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