YOUR QUESTION

08/22/2020 Earworms

The new recording of Raping Your Mind is such a mindfuck because musically/stylistically it sounds *exactly* of its (mid ‘80s) time, as it should, but the production/engineering is unmistakably 21st century. This contrast is what makes it such a peculiar listening experience, unlike anything I’ve experienced before in the context of metal (a genre where musical style and production style seem to be married to each other more so than any other). My question is what was your whole bass rig in the studio for the new record? As much gear/tech/studio geekery as you’re willing to divulge and indulge!

MY ANSWER

I went in there planning on using a big SVT with an 8x10. The classic one that was in the studio didn’t have a master volume, so it was impossible for me to not play excruciatingly loud and that didn’t work with us all being in one room. The assistant engineers suggested the Verellen Meat Smoke which I had never used. It worked nicely. That was it! They buried the cab in blankets, mic-ed the thing up, took a direct line and then I adjusted the mix of those to my liking. I also kept additional distortion to a minimum as to avoid being sucked into the guitar mids.