Aeon Aphelion – “Blind Descent” EP (Co-Production, Mixing, Mastering) *Doom Metal (for SoundWay Studios)

First time working with Aeon Aphelion, a doom metal group from Athens.

Many years ago, we did a live show with Aeon Aphelion and Revolted Masses. That’s when I met the guys, and I actually got their first album, “Visions of Burning Aeons”. I remember listening to this particular album a lot while working at my home studio and really digging it. That’s why I didn’t have any second thoughts when SoundWay studios proposed me to co-produce and mix/master this EP release.

The challenge with this kind of bands is that they have to sound polished and unpolished at the same time! So, no editing to grid, but on the other hand it has to sound tight and professional. We reamped through several amps, vintage and new models and a really nice ENGL cab. I applied my trusty two SM57 technique (thank you Mr. Nordström) as well as a condenser mic to get more detailed bottom end.

A nice surprise was when the band asked to record a bonus track, performed 100% live. I trusted the nice-sounding room of the studio, and asked the guys to plug and play just like they would do in a typical live situation. After some minor adjustments (mainly to get the phase right, as well as the mic bleeding in overheads mics right) I hit record and BOOM, the sound was already there. We did some takes to get the best performance and… that was it. I can also recall that this was the easiest song to mix.

Speaking about mixing, this was not an easy thing to do. Projects tend to be somewhat complicated these days. Not necessarily in a bad way, but gone are the days of a band booking a studio and recording an album from start to finish.  With Aeon Aphelion for example, I got drums and bass tracks already recorded with another SoundWay studios engineer, vocals that were tracked in another studio, and home recorded guitar DI tracks!

Double tracked vocals were mixed almost in equal volume and each track was automated depending the part and vibe of the song. Same goes for saturation and reverb effects, which were extensively used, even on rhythm guitars.

I tend to rely on reference mixes more and more these days. When I was younger, I thought this was a bad thing and that you have to do your own thing. But as I get more experience under my belt, I feel that you have to have a direction. This is natural and something every producer is doing, whether he admits it or not. So, I listened to a lot of music, took notes and borrowed some elements. At the final stage of the mix I tweaked everything to sound solid and nice.

Last but not least, a different mastering for digital and physical release and…done!

Some reviews are already out and state the nice overall sound of the EP. So that’s cool! A nice experience.

Co-produced, Mixed and Mastered in 2019-2020, released in 2020.

Void Era – “ The Way It Starts” EP (Co-Recording, Mixing, Mastering) *Alternative Rock

First time working with Void Era, an alt-rock band from Athens, Greece.

Come to think of it, I have worked with Ilia (Vocals, Guitars) before, for the Burning Stone single I mixed back in 2013.

7-8 years later, this is a 5-track debut EP and a whole different story.

I had the chance to listen to the demo songs of the trio before they hit the studio. Nowadays, it’s very common practice for bands to record some elements of the production at home. Things like guitars, bass, even vocals might be recorded in a DIY fashion, and this was the case with Void Era. While this method has its advantages, it’s also very important to have these tracks recorded properly. So, we had to get some things fixed or re-recorded, mainly from a technical point of view (crossfades, proper tuning, properly recorded DIs etc).

We recorded the drums at SoundWay studios, the place I record most of my drums nowadays. Can’t really remember what snare we used, but I do remember applying different snare tunings for different songs, which turned out great. Once again, room mics were my friends and played an important role in the mix too.

Guitar-wise, there is one extra octave rhythm guitar in there, duplicating ALL the standard rhythm tracks So far so good…but the best part is that this track is not a lower octave but a higher one, roughly imitating the sound of a mandolin. My initial thought before starting to mix was that I was not going to use any of that, but in some cases I actually found myself loving them, thus raising the faders a lot.  I reamped the DI signals through real valve amps at my home studio.

Mixing -wise, it was all a matter of combining aesthetics with the technical aspect of the mix. The more I mix, the more I understand that a crucial process for a successful production is imagining how as element should sound and then translating it into EQ curves, and plug ins but without losing its initial essence.

This was also one of the first tracks I started to realize the algorithms and mechanisms of most streaming services (YouTube, Spotify), adjusting the dynamic content of the final master accordingly. Good times!

Co-Recorded, Mixed and Mastered in 2019.