The Overcoming Project – Determination. Exclusive Premiere via MetalSucks. With Jon Howard of Threat Signal, Arkaea, Imonolith, Mike Heller of Fear Factory, and Sergei FS Fomin of FS Projekt
The Overcoming Project is a Psychedelic Metal project featuring world-class metal musicians Mike Heller (Fear Factory, Malignancy) on drums, Jon Howard (Threat Signal, Imonolith) on vocals, and Sergei “Efes” Fomin (FS Projekt) on bass. Executed by Doctor Mike Trubetskov – Guitarist and Producer at EOL Studios.
”Overcoming” EP depicts a psychedelic journey through immigration, Doctorate degree, Type I Diabetes and insane burnout into discovering the true purpose and becoming a Metal Producer.
After releasing the “Anxiety” single in 2020 through Heavy Magazine, The Overcoming Project returns with a bang.
Mixing Your Own Music is hard – be it Metal, Rock or any other genre. In this video, I share my recent experience when mixing The Overcoming Project and some insights that can help you on your path!
My first impressions of Bogren Digital AmpKnob Rev C. Guitar Playthrough, comparisons with ML Sound Lab Amped Roots and Custom Audio Amplifiers OD 100. Hope that you dig my thoughts!
What’s the difference between playing Metal live and recording in the studio? Having just stepped off stage from our gigs with Hybrid Nightmares, I summarise the different approaches in this video as a studio and live guitarist.
A simple method that allows you to better hear compression, EQ, saturation in your Heavy Metal Recording and Mix – Guitars, Drums, Bass, Vocals. Push things to the extreme, level match and listen to the results while changing one parameter at a time.
Recording Metal in the Studio vs. at Home – Which is Better?
Let’s break down one of the common recording myths – Recording Metal at Home is just as good as Recording Metal in the Studio. In this video, I talk about the not so obvious advantages of recording your heavy music in the studio with a producer, and what value you could get from it.
Recording Metal Tutorial. Setting up Gain Staging and Levels while Recording your Heavy Metal Guitars, Drums, Bass and Vocals at Home Studio – Makes it or Breaks it!
Find out how different is the sound for correct and incorrect gain staging within Logic, Cubase, Pro Tools, Reaper, or any other DAW, and how to set it up correctly.
Mixing Metal Tutorial. Compression is a key way to make instruments powerful and fit in the Heavy Metal Mix. Overcompression, however can make instruments sound thin, too pushed and, frankly, boring.
I discuss unique ways to retain dynamics and still keep Metal Guitars, Drums and Bass super powerful in the Mix. By using Tape, Saturation and Transformer Clipping.
Staying Present and Mindful when Recording Metal. It’s all about the mindset. The state of mind that you are in during the recording session in the studio or at home, dictates the end result. The way you feel translates into your guitar, bass, drums and vocal recording, and even mixes. Consider tuning your mind into your music and not losing the big picture, and the results will follow.
In this video, I show my Analog Mix Bus Chain for Mixing a Metal Track. Featuring Louder Than Liftoff Silver Bullet, Rupert Neve 5043 Compressor, Rupert Neve 542 Tape Emulator. How to Mix Metal with outboard gear.
Common mistakes when recording Heavy Metal Guitars, Bass, Drums, Vocals at Home Studio. I talk about my direct experience receiving multitrack for mixing, and ways to prevent these mistakes from happening! Inconsistent levels, bad doubling, too complicated layers and not finding your sounds. If this sounds like you – check this video out.
Recording Metal Guitar. How to get Heavy and Crushing Metal Guitar Tone starting from Guitar DI and into Mix-Ready Sound. I cover Cab Impulse Response IR Selection, Amp tone block, corrective and colouring EQ, dynamic EQ, multiband EQ, saturation, compression and lack of it, guitar reverb, and how to fit this all into the mix to obtain heavy, clean and crushing Metal Guitar Sound and Tones.
Metal Guitar Editing. I show how simple editing should be, and how fast you can get tight sounding heavy guitars (with decent performance in the first place). Manual editing, no auto-aligning or flex-editing needed. Edit your guitars based on DI tracks.
A common myth about mixing heavy rock and metal is that instruments in solo / isolation sound thin, brittle, or plain wrong, and only when combined they complement to each other. While it may be true to some extend (high pass filters, etc), I show that instruments need to sound big and full on their own, as well as combined together. Have a listen with me on my recent mixes for The Archanan, Sliimak, and The Overcoming Project.
Doctor Mike Reacts to Shiddy Heavy Metal / Metalcore Snare Drums and Mixes. I listened to In Flames (I Am Above, Clayman 2020), Children Of Bodom (Something Wild), Metallica (St. Anger), Meshuggah (The Violent Sleep of Reason), Erra (Drift), Mnemic (Liquid), Alpha Wolf (Black Mamba), Emmure (Slave To The Game). I analyse and explain what I think is right or wrong with the sound of snare drums in these mixes.
Here’s a little documentary on how I was recording guitars for my Psychedelic Metal The Overcoming Project, where I work with Mike Heller from Fear Factory and Jon Howard from Threat Signal. I hope that you enjoy my approaches and some raw Heavy Metal Guitar footage and headbanging!
There is a trend that I’ve been noticing for years, and that has crystallised into a succinct summary in my head just recently. 📈
Heavy Rock and Metal field is massively saturated these days. Too many bands fight for the attention span of listeners that is limited. 🥊
The problem is, however, that musicians are not actively trying to stand out. Some deliberately race to sound like band X, which is OK (although I personally think that bands form a niche by discovering their own sound, and it’s hard to break into an already pre-occupied niche). 🚥
Others, though, simply fall into a certain sound by using software (and hardware) that everyone else in the field is using! 🍃 As the technology has grown so much recently 📲, we have a few go-to very high quality plugins for shaping the guitar and bass sounds, and enhancing drums with samples. These modern tools are really easy to use and get results in no time.👌
These results, however, sound very similar! And because of their wide spread and limited sound libraries, we basically get 2-4 major studio sounds across all modern metal productions. The final sound has a staple that gets recycled forever! ♻️
As magnificent as it is for the creators of these plugins (and I have the utmost and greatest respect for their hard work and outcomes! ✊), this, unfortunately, does great disservice to musicians and bands who desperately need to stand out in the crowded market! 🔉
My takeaway would be – always experiment! 🧪 Try weird shit, new approaches, or simply spend time tweaking buttons on your plugins, actively listening and engaging with these tools, and making sure that these sound great FOR YOU and YOUR MUSIC, and not just good in general. 🧬
This will allow you to power up your sound 🧨 and move towards discovering something special, something that your fans will remember for years, carve out your own niche and rocket up your live and studio career. 🚀
Ever struggled when listening back to your recording against the click, or getting tight enough for pro metal level? This video explains what to look for when recording into the click track, and how to improve your playing.
Resonances in Recording Heavy Metal. In this video, I demonstrate how the phenomenon of resonance is relevant in recording and processing Heavy Rock and Metal Guitars, Bass, Drums, Vocals, as well as on the mixing stage. I explain the way to take these resonances under control, too.
I hope that this video resonates with you 😉 Let me know if this was helpful!
▶ Schedule a free first coaching session with me: https://eolstudios.as.me/free-consultation
I see a lot of horror studio stories, projects that never get finished, or just don’t sound 100% amazing.
And this may be the final nail in the coffin of your band trying to stand out in the saturated heavy market.
Studio recording in Rock and Metal genre requires a lot of preparation from a musician. Without knowing certain hidden details of the process when recording Heavy Rock and Metal Guitars, Drums, Bass, Vocals, Keys, one may easily fall into the trap of over-analysis, self-doubt, and just average heavy records.
To solve this, I created this comprehensive checklist for you in order to avoid pitfalls, save studio costs, and navigate the process of creating your next release with ease and efficiency. This works both for studio sessions, as well as DIY home recording.
These recording tips and tricks are based on years of my own experience as a Metal Guitarist, Composer, Producer and Mix Engineer. I hope you find it useful and if you have any questions or clarifications, never hesitate to get in touch with me.
TOP Rock and Metal songwriting mistakes that I’ve seen consistently while working on music for my clients. Want your heavy band to stand out? DON’T make these mistakes, and work on these areas to improve your songs!
In this video, I compare Heavy Rock and Metal Guitar Recording Technique: Double Tracking vs Quad Tracking. I demonstrate how Double Guitars display maximum tightness, and Quad Guitars make material more blurred and atmospheric.
Mike Trubetskov is a music producer, mixing engineer, guitarist, and artist and based out of Melbourne, Australia! Mike is the owner of EOL studios and focuses primarily on heavy music.
