Producing Modern Metal

There are a lot of opinions out there on the “right” way to record and produce   extreme hardcore and metal bands. Even some of the best engineers in the industry will disagree on the right tone, the right drum heads, mic placement etc. I found a good article on the website Sound On Sound, on some cool concepts of the process from pre-production to finalizing the mix. One interesting facts about metal music is that it contrasts from pop and mainstream rock in the context that pre-production does not take near as long. This is because the structure and arrangement of such songs have to mold to the format and length of commercial radio airplay. You will  never hear 10 minute Between the Buried and Me songs on any local rock station, so there is no need for deciding those specific details. Another great takeaway from this article was understanding the importance of using clicks. From my own personal experience as a musician as well as producer, this is paramount when playing music in the metal genre. Most modern metal bands play at a fairly high bpm. Keeping that in mind a producer has to sometimes stress the importance of that to a band even if they are strongly opposed to the idea. It makes the songs sound tighter and gives a professional sounding recording versus an amateur demo. Another article that I found was an interview with one of my personal favorite engineers and mentor Jamie King. Jamie has produced over 500 metal and rock albums, including most notably, progressive metal band Between the Buried and Me. He takes a solid and simple approach to producing, mixing and sudo-mastering.  He believes that a good producer of music should give the client what they want. His interview explains it all in detail.