Guitarist at Revolted Masses and Magic De Spell, Freelance Audio Engineer. Here, i am gonna post my main mixes, my music projects and anything related to original composition and creativity.
I know this artist from Matter Of Act, a cool Greek band I produced a few years ago. This is his one-man solo project described as Acoustic Metal…and it really is both acoustic and metal, how cool is that?
Once I started recording, I realized that the level of the performance would make my life easier. What you hear in this recording is mainly one take/first take. Most of the times, I would record a second vocal/guitar take just for safety. Same thing goes for editing, I only removed unwanted noises and…editing was done!
From the very beginning we decided to keep it simple and straightforward. Many mics on the acoustic guitar to get as much of the room “sound” as possible. Vocals were recorded with an AKG condenser mic. This is one of the many examples of using TONS of plug ins, without actually sounding “over-mixed”. Sculpting EQ, some compression, some more EQ and some more leveling, saturation, multiband compression, limiting for overall loudness and so many more. A touch of reverb added but, other than that, there are no reverberation FX.
Now this is an interesting project I did a while ago for Wild Machine, one of the few glam rock bands left in Greece. Interesting fact: back in 2004/2005 these guys were the talk of the town, with a growing audience and we even played some shows together when I was 15 years old.
These guys still have it! Drums were recorded with no triggers or samples, a P bass covering the low end, double tracked guitars and a SM7 for the vocalist. Straightforward Rock’n Roll ingredients. Same goes for mixing: I decided to keep away from the typical cheesy stadium rock mix and stick to a more natural (Ac/Dc like) result.
Wild Machine are actually getting ready for their full-length album (entirely recorded at Soundway Studios, where I engineer), and this is a taste of what’s coming. Once the album is out, I am going to post a new article, as the mix will also be slightly different.
Recorded, mixed and mastered in 2018 for Soundway Studios.
Here is the first song that I produced and mixed for Panos Smyrnaios, since he participated in the “Rising Star” TV show and got nationwide recognition.
The initial idea was just an acoustic guitar and vocals. We set up the guide track with Panos and begun building the main structure of the song. Intro is a typical “spotlight to the singer” approach, while the full production kicks in at the first chorus, with drums and electric guitars (played by me). I suggested some production ideas, for example backing vocals in the chorus and an acoustic outro, which really made a difference to the track.
Acoustic guitars were played by Panos, who (as always) did a great job with groove and dynamics. Bass duties were handled by John Grigoriou, a musician that has participated in countless recordings and who gave an interesting twist to the song.
I also had the pleasure to work with an exceptional clarinet player, Mr Petros Halkias. Petros is a well known traditional player here in Greece an the grandson of Petroloukas Halkias who, more or less, established the sound of the clarinet here in Greece, as we know it today. He came over to my studio and did a great job.
Recording wise, both acoustic guitar and clarinet were recorded with an ORTF mic placement and a condenser mic, a combination I frequently use lately. I used my AKG for the vocals and decided to keep just the DI of the bass blended with a mild overdrive for the chorus. I mixed the whole thing until I was 100% happy with the way it was sounding. Had a tough time removing the harshness of some elements (including the vocals) without making it sound dull, so countless instances of multiband compression came to the rescue.
Last but not least, I sent the mix to George Archontakis, the bass player for Magic De Spell and a famous sound engineer, to master it. (George is also the guy who called me to play and reamp for the one and only Vasilis Papakonstantinou.) He once again nailed it, adding extra depth and extra glue to the track, through various outboard and in-the-box tools.
First time working with Jagertees, a jazz pop/rock band from Athens.
Here is a mini-diary of the recordings:
Preparation:
The guys sent me a rehearsal of their song in order for me to get the general direction and vibe. I instantly decided that the final mix should give the impression that the whole band is playing together, in the same room.
First day: Drums!
The drummer of this band is a brilliant and a creative musician. I set up a Yamaha Stage Custom drum set and really took my time to tune it to perfection. The snare on this recording is a Mapex Black Panther 13′ snare tuned low, in order to get rid of its aggressive rock character. Rack toms were tuned pretty high, while the floor tom pretty low, in order to maintain the low end of the drum kit. Two Overhead mics and two Room mics in ORTF position, and there you have it: a great overall drum sound even without enabling the spot mics. This guy practically “mixed himself” as he had steady dynamics and a great laid-back groove that allowed me to turn off (and forget) about the metronome during the rest of the recordings.
Second Day: Guitars and Bass
These guys can really play, so we only did a couple of hours to finish the other instruments. The general sonic direction was decided from the very beginning, but I kept a DI signal to reamp later. Most of the layers are one take, including the main and outro solo. I also suggested adding an Ebow during the acoustic bridge which worked really nice with the track.
Third Day: Vocals
Vocal tracking was once again an easy task for Jagertees, so I mainly concentrated on the feeling, expression and dynamics. I chose my trustworthy AKG condenser mic, directly into the Golden Age PRE73. A bit of improvisation on the bridge and…Done!
Editing and Reamping:
Editing on this track was kept to a minimum, due to the quality of the takes. So, only basic editing, mainly to remove unwanted noise and headphone leakage.
Reamping was done on my Bugera 333XL, with 2 microphones perfectly in phase with each other. I even added some reverb on the way in, to give more body to the guitar sound. Lead guitars were treated with a Maxon OD808, a great addition to the sound.
Mixing:
My biggest doubt was how “much” should I mix? Mainly because it is supposed to sound natural but not messy. So I decided to make a lot of small and subtle moves, instead of major and bold ones.
EQing with multiband compression is a great way to have an ear-pleasing mix and a natural result so there are MANY instances of multiband compression on this session. A bit of compression on the room mics, but nothing fancy, the source was great to begin with, so this made my life easier.
FX-wise I had mainly 3 buses with 3 different types of verb to choose from and a basic filtered delay.
Mastering:
It’s always tough to master your own mixes, isn’t it? So, once again, I introduced my mastering chain early on and mixed through it. Some multiband compression, a bit broadband compression, a tiny bit of EQ and a limiter, made the track to sound the way it is.
It’s always a pleasure to work with skilled and dedicated musicians and this track is the proof that mixing begins from the musicianship and creativity.
Here is my first production for 2018. This track came to me on a basic format, so all I had was just an acoustic guitar, a basic drumbeat idea and vocals.
The real challenge for me was to give a vintage twist to the song without making it sound old-fashioned or outdated. So, the recipe was simple: 80s, almost disco feel to the drums, slap back delay on many elements, a heavily saturated bass guitar played with a pick, compressed vocals with (you guessed it!) slap back delay and various filters.
After listening to bands like Last Shadow Puppets, I also decided to add a Tarantino-style guitar and some backing vocals to compliment each chorus. A tambourine was also recorded, to add more groove to the whole song.
This is one of those times that I used multi band compression instead of just lazy EQing. This is a great way to achieve instrument separation without making everything sound small.
Recorded, mixed and mastered: December 2017-January 2018
This is a very interesting project, as it comes from an artist with a classical background.
In other words, the original composition was just a score written for some basic instruments, like the bass and the violin. The real challenge for me was to turn that “lifeless” score into a vivid, finished song.
The main work began with the drums, and then came the bass, the guitar and all the other instruments (vocals, violin etc).
I recorded a tambourine to compliment the snare hits and also added a bendir as a MIDI instrument.
Another challenge for this particular mix was to get rid of the rock philosophy! No punchy drums, no subtle saturation on bass, just a clean approach with lots of reverb and gentle sounds. Doing that, without ending up with a dull result was something I had in mind from the very beginning.
Once again a great project! Produced, Mixed and Mastered during late 2017.
Well, I’ve noticed this blog is packed with metal releases, so why not adding another one?
I do work on various other genres, I swear, it’s just that more and more metal bands trust what I do and contact me to produce/mix their work.
Anyway…What do we have here? A unique blend of black metal with heavy metal elements from this one-man band called Deisidaemonia.
Behind all this hides a great musician, Mr. Spathas.
Does the name ring a bell?
Exactly!
The genes have something to do with this, as this is one of the finest examples of cool-sounding extreme music with TONS of musicality in it. Like Father, Like Son.
Let’s get to the technical stuff. All instruments were recorded from scratch, except from the bass, which was brought to me as a DI signal. Guitar was a Gibson flying-V, while a different guitar was used for clean and leads, can’t really remember which one.
Vocals were really interesting to record: Initially I set-up my nice AKG condenser mic, carefully calculating the height, the distance, creating a nice headphone mix for the singer, getting a good balance….
Great sound…but this music demands energy, and this set-up wouldn’t work for the performance I had in mind.. So after a few takes, there was a change of plans: A single hand-held Shure SM57, CRANKED monitors in the room and a f@ck-headphones approach. This setup worked WONDERS. As a result, most of the vocals are continuous takes without any editing (well, maybe only the audio bleeding from the cranked monitors!)
Many details were added to complete the mix, acoustic guitars, synths, gang vocals and various audio samples.
Mixing wise, black metal is a genre that demands character. So, treble-sounding guitars, big and distorted bass sound, reverb on almost every element and sample replacement, nothing out of the ordinary here. This is what I call a “carefully unpolished” mix. Tons of experimentation as well, weird reamping techniques based on the room and not-your-ordinary-EQ on the ENGL amp.
Really proud for the final outcome. I believe I spent more time asking about Mr. Spathas Sr than actually recording, but I could really listen to Deisidaemonia all day. Good times!
Long time no see. No wonder, as I am serving in the army for the past 6-7 months. Well, “serving” would be more appropriate, as I am currently in Athens, which allows me to keep on recording and mixing various stuff.
Anyway, enough with myself, let’s dive in this great piece of work I produced.
Skandal is a doom’n roll band I started working with 2 years ago for their “Year Of The Cicada” EP. The guys have visited my studio twice for the recordings, travelling all the way from UK in order to work together. George (who is also a member of Forsaken Memoriam) is a personal friend of mine and the main member behind this band. So, two seperate sessions and all-day/all-night long sessions to make everything work just in time.
So, not your typical stuff here, we recorded various unusual instruments like bendir, saz, a bagpige and even a throat “thai chant” singer for this EP. I was lucky enough to choose the session musicians myself, and they did a great work, adding a special flavour to the ending result.
Real drums on this one, recorded on two seperate takes (always a challenge to place everything the same way after 2-3 months have passed). Many hours on vocal tracking as well. Guitars, bass, everything was double and triple checked before I delivered to Mr. George Bokos (ex Rotting Christ) who did mixing and mastering, with great results.
Great work, that has taught me a lot. Produced, mixed and mastered during 2015.
Here is a really interesting project from members of Mist Of Nihil. This time they are back with a more atmospheric style, and a fully instrumental song.
I listened to a wide variety of music before mixing this single, which really helped the general direction of the mix. Many Midi Instruments on this one, from violin to piano and strings, to give more character to the final result. No vocals, which made my life easier!
Here’s a tip: before reaching for EQ or compression, you should first try to stick to the very basics: Panning and Volume can make a vast difference. So, I find amazing the fact that you might struggle with surgical EQ for a lead guitar in order for it to be fully audible and clear, but the solution might just be to turn the f ***n pan knob!!
Great project and cool music! Recorded, mixed and mastered during Winter 2016.
For the past 2-3 days I’ve got a cold, so this is the perfect chance to update this blog with some of my latest work.
So, to begin with, this is the first time working with Introvert Project, an alternative goth project from Athens. The guys knew what they were aiming for before coming to the studio, which made my life easier and the ending result really smooth!
The bass player was a friend of mine from Mist Of Nihil, who once again did a great job on bass duties. Guitar sound is a blend of 2 different guitar amps. Vocals (for the most part) are two different octaves, both audible in the mix. Worked really hard automating and humanizing the other elements of the mix in order to give them a more realistic character (piano, strings etc).
This is one of the first times that I had no regrets hitting almost every channel with really heavy compression and, in some cases, limiting. I then automated the f*ck out of everything, to bring those dynamics back in the game. This method really seems to work with this kind of music, but you have to be really careful not to over-compress.
A nice collaboration, check out their DIY lyric video as well! Produced, Mixed and Mastered during Summer 2015.
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