If you are following the Faderhead Facebook page then you probably saw me give status updates on how many songs are done and heard me mention that I hate mixing my own songs. This is because I’m generally lazy and once I am done with the general demo of the song ideas, I don’t want to turn it into a finished song. The reason being that I can hear the finished song in my head when it’s playing, so personally for me there’s no need to finish it! I’ve been asked very often about how I produce/mix my songs so in this post I want to quickly outline what I do to mix a track.

DISCLAIMER #1: mixing a song in the studio is not the same as mixing two songs like a DJ. I am going to be talking about how I turn 50-80 tracks of audio into one song. Not how I mix the end of one song into the beginning of another.

DISCLAIMER #2: my demos generally sound pretty good. Not great – but easily good enough to be played in a club without anyone noticing a difference to most other songs. That is achieved by choosing good sounds from the beginning as opposed to trying to bend them into shape come mixing time. Seriously: if your tracks sound like crap, the problem is most likely the source material aka crappy synth sounds, kickdrums with no low end, washy cymbals or vocals that are whispered into a mic instead of screamed. Fixing that goes a long way!

 

STEP 1: THE LEGWORK

I usually work with production templates that have my regular synths, busses, compressors, reverbs, delays etc. set up already. This is just a timesaving mechanism. I don’t have any synths set to regular presets or drumsamples loaded. If you have an idea when you come home drunk from the club at 5am and you need to route 8 Battery outputs, load 6 synths and set up all your inserts just to get started then you’ll forget the idea. For the sake of this blog entry we’ll assume that none of my usual stuff is there and it’s just VSTis and vocals. So I’ll begin with the menial work which is boring and needs no creativity at all. The reason for this is so that I can get it out of the way before starting the creative process. I like to mix quickly and aggressively, so nothing bothers me more than having to stop mixing to do something I could have done in the beginning. Typically this means:

a) set up busses/groups for certain instruments and route the instrument channels correctly. In my case these are usually called Battery/Stylus/Drums/Bass/Synths/Verse Vocals/Chorus Vocals

b) set up FX sends. These are usually: 1/8note delay, 1/4note delay, Small Room, Medium Hall, Large Hall, Chorus for Vocals, Chorus for Synths, NYC compression bus

c) go through every single vocal track in solo mode and clean up background noise, clicks, pops and out-of-tune syllables

d) automate the main vocal tracks to lower the volume on harsh esses or loud t’s – because my voice produces a lot of sibilance.

e) pull down all the faders from the positions that they were in the demo.

f) save the project file under a new versionname, for example “faderhead_songname_v10_mixprep” … if you do not save your files in progressive versions, start doing it now. It saves you a lot of grief when you lose your mixfile because it gets corrupted or when you accidentally remove a synth without remembering what sound it was on etc.

g) load Sonimus Satson on the first insert of every channel and tweak the gain so that the signal comes in at around 0dBVU. If you don’t have Satson, get it. It’s worth 20x the $39 it costs!

h) load my go-to compressors into the busses/groups that I set up in step a

Done. This takes an assload of time, which is why I like working with templates where I only have to do the vocal cleanup and the gain staging for step g.

 

STEP 2: FIGURING OUT WHAT IS WHAT

I pulled down all the channel faders a little earlier so I’ll now start listening to each channel on its own, just to see what’s there and decide on what the focal points of the song are. If it’s a dance tune it’ll definitely be the kickdrum, if it’s a ballad it might be be the vocal line and the strings.

 

STEP 3: START WORK ON THE FOCAL POINT

A lot of mixers start with the drums first and then add bass, guitars, synths, etc. simply out of habit. I prefer to start with the focal points and then build the rest of the track around it. That might be the vocal. I’ll play the focal point in a loop and use EQ and compression to get it to sound like I want it to sound. Then I add the 2nd focal point to the first one and work on that in interaction with the first focal point. For club tracks I very often start with the kick, then the vocal and then the bass. Then the rest. But it really depends on what is important in your song.

 

STEP 4: EQ/COMPRESSORS/DELAY/REVERBS

There are a million articles/books/etc. about these things. Google is your friend. I don’t use anything special here. I use the built-in Cubase EQ 99% of the time, I use the old Waves RComp compressor on vocals and the old/discontinued Steinberg Double-Delay for Delays. I like to use different reverbs to create different spaces because as you saw above, I have at least 3 different reverbs set up. And I like to use different manufacturers too so I can make them as distinguishable as possible. That’s really it. I am not afraid to boost or cut the shit out of my signals, so anyone that tells you to use mainly EQ-cuts can keep doing that. I use both and I just added a 9,5db boost at 25hz on a kickdrum because it sounded good. So: fuck what you heard.

STEP 5: MONO MIXING

I have a single small speaker in the middle above my screens and I recently started mixing in mono on one speaker which improved my sound considerably. I basically turn off my main (stereo)speakers, convert the signal to mono and send it to my little speaker. Half the time most of my synths disappear because they are stereopatches that don’t fold down well in mono (back to “choose your source wisely”). The advantage of mono mixing is really in finding out how to EQ sounds so they are all audible on that very restricted spectrum in my little speaker. The same goes for panning. It’s quite easy to find a good pan position in mono because the sound is either there or it isnt.

STEP 6: MASTER BUS

I always mix with these plugins on the 2bus: Sonalksis Free G Stereo (to reduce the incoming level), Sonimus Satson Bus, Voxengo TapeBus (I know it’s just impulses but I like the sound of it), Duende Native SSL-G Compressor, Fabfilter PRO Q, Fabfilter PRO L (only to check how the track sounds when severely limited), Voxengo SPAN and Brainworx TTL-Meter. There’s nothing special going on here. I hit the Satson at 0dbVU and the SSL is on from the start so that it compresses 2-4db. I use an output level that peaks below 0dbFS so I get no limiting while mixing. The SPAN is just to see my frequency curve and the Brainworx meter is only for mono-switching.

STEP 7: AUTOMATION

Automation is where songs really become interesting because automation allows me to make changes to everything throughout the song and that way I can create excitement. I don’t believe in having everything in balance at all times. I think that makes for a boring mix. That’s why I’ll automate a lot of things. Turn delays on and off on different syllables of words or bring whole sections of the song down in volume so that the next section kicks in louder. If you are not automating, start doing it. It makes a big difference!

STEP 8: MIX REVISION

I always plan on spending 30 minutes the next day on mix revision. After a few hours the mind gets so clogged up with details that I lose focus on the big picture of the song. So when I am done on one day, I render the mix to a stereo WAV file (24 bit 44khz) and don’t expect it to be good the next day. Every now and then it actually sounds good the next day but most of the time something is off and I can quickly fix it with fresh ears. When I started mixing I got very frustrated because I thought I was doing something wrong when my mix had problems the next day. Now I only accept it as part of the process.

 

That’s it for now. I gotta go to bed. 5 songs for the new album are mixed and I’ve got 8 more to go!

UK Online Retailer MusicNonStop has published their top selling albums of 2012:

01 Grendel – Timewave Zero
02 Assemblage 23 – Bruise
03 Mind.In.A.Box – Revelations
04 Emilie Autumn – Fight Like a Girl
05 Zeitgeist Zero – Blackout EP
06 Nitzer Ebb – Live at the Markthalle
07 And One – S.T.O.P. + Treibwerk EP
07 FADERHEAD – THE WORLD OF FADERHEAD
07 In Strict Confidence – Utopia
07 The Cruxshadows – As the Dark Against My Halo
11 Fields of the Nephilim – Ceromonies
12 Front Line Assembly – Airmech
13 De/Vision – Rockets & Swords
13 FGFC820 – Homeland Insecurity
13 Hocico – El Ultimo Minuto …
16 Modulate – Robots
16 The Birthday Massacre – Hide and Seek
16 Velvet Acid Christ – Maldire
19 Mind.In.A.Box – Revelations Club Mixes
20 Suicide Commando – Attention Whore
20 Various Artists – Endzeit Bunkertracks [Act VI]

Not bad at all :)

This was in my inbox today (from Seth Godin). I know he’s talking about marketing and economics, but it really rings true (in most parts) for the “Industrial” music scene.

“Industrialists are not capitalists.

Capitalists take risks. They see an opportunity, an unmet need, and then they bring resources to bear to solve the problem and make a profit.

Industrialists seek stability instead.

Industrialists work to take working systems and polish them, insulate them from risk, maximize productivity and extract the maximum amount of profit. Much of society’s wealth is due to the relentless march of productivity created by single-minded industrialists, particularly those that turned nascent industries (as Henry Ford did with cars) into efficient engines of profit.

Industrialists don’t mind government regulations if they write them, don’t particularly like competition or creativity or change. They are maximizers of the existing status quo.

Of course, they can’t abide humanity when it comes to work, because humanity is inconsistent and interested in things other than the last zero. The best employee is a robot that can be plugged into a wall.

The stock market rewards the single-minded industrialist with short-term applause and then the relentless desire for ever more of the same growth and productivity that got them applause yesterday.

Today’s industrialists define our economy, but they offer very little promise for tomorrow. They’ve long bought ads to polish their image, but mostly work to alter the culture in ways that will ensure they’ll get just a little bit more yield out of each of us. 64 ounce Coke, anyone?

As long as industrialists are measuring productivity, engaging in scientific management and focused on ROI and predictability, there will always be a gap between the dreams of those they interact with and the demands of their shareholders.

There are lots of ways to justify the work of industrialists, to point to the efficiencies and productivity they create. That doesn’t meant that we must aspire to nothing more.”

Don’t fear, I’m not gonna turn into a motivational, scene-critical blogger. As you know, I mostly care about myself and my music regardless of scenes. I just think that he really nailed it and that the transfer to “the industrial music scene” is so incredibly easy to make that it’s almost eerie.

A short while ago I did an interview with Chris Anderson which is online as a podcast now! Luckily Chris was one of the few journalists who was actually very familiar with my stuff, so he had some interesting questions for me! :)

Hope you like it!

Thanks to everyone who voted on the poll earlier this week! I’ll split the upcoming 2CD compilation into one disc with clubtracks and one disc with “home”-songs :)

The compilation will be called “Two Sides To Every Story” and here’s the tracklisting (order might still change slightly):

CD 1:

01. Tanz Zwo Drei Vier
02. Dirtygrrrls/Dirtybois (feat. Ultimate MC)
03. Destroy Improve Rebuild
04. The Way To Fuck God
05. Pussy Rules (feat. Shaolyn)
06. Horizon Born (Electric Paradise Mix)
07. Swedish Models And Cocaine
08. Zig Zag Machinery
09. Fistful Of Fuck You
10. Electrosluts Extraordinaire
11. The Protagonist
12. I Got My Bass Back (feat. Shaolyn)
13. Burning/Dancing
14. Houston
15. Acquire The Fire
16. Join Us
17. Baby Firefly
18. O/H Scavenger

CD 2:

CD 2:

01. Older Now
02. Fuck What You Heard
03. Sentimental Again
04. Mono Man (feat. Dr. T)
05. Naughty H
06. Coke For My Ass
07. Friday Night Binge
08. The Lines
09. Girly Show
10. Here With You
11. Inside Of Me
12. Hot Bath And A Cold Razor
13. Vanish
14. Still Missing
15. The Moth And The Fire
16. Horizon Born (Orchestral Version)
17. Exit Ghost

That’s 2 x 75 minutes of music and if nothing goes wrong the CD should be available at the end of November!

Because World Of Faderhead, Black Friday and Trilogy are very close to being sold out – and because we won’t reprint any of these – I’m planning on releasing a 2 CD compilation with the most popular songs from all my albums.

My question now is: would you rather prefer to have the songs in chronological release order or two different CDs: CD 1 with only clubtracks and CD 2 with only pop-songs and ballads?

If you got 5 seconds, please let me know in this poll:

Thank you! :)

Yesterday I posted this on my Facebook page:

I am looking for an opening band for the upcoming North American tour. If your band (2-3 performers) wants to be the main support for 3-4 weeks in April 2013, then please contact: booking@faderhead.com. This is a buy-on slot, but the buy-on is essentially a tourbus share, so you won’t need transportation/hotels, etc. – If you think you can go hard with The Lord and me for a month, hit us up!

Basically I am asking if anyone wants to pay to support us on 20 shows in April 2013.

This is a very normal thing and almost every support band you see on a tour is a buy-on band unless they are very close friends of the main act or are at a similar level of public recognition so that the tour is beneficial to both acts. And then you mostly have a 3rd band that buys on.

Within a few hours of my post I had a bunch of emails from random people saying “You capitalist pig! Charging bands to play is a crime!” and from some bands who are completely misjudging the costs of touring by thinking that the whole buy-on will be costing “around US$ 500 for 20 shows“. The real cost for a buy-on slot such as this is US$ 300 per show.

Why? It’s quite simple, because that’s just what it costs to travel. To express it more clearly, I took out my pen and paper and made this little infographic to illustrate the subject matter:

As you can see from the piechart at the bottom, the costs for tourbus and gas combined are approximately US$ 17500. And since there is room on the bus for more people than The Lord, me and our crew, it just makes sense to offer the remaining bus space to a band who wants to raise their profile by playing more and bigger shows than they usually could on their own. It’s not like they could play 20 shows cheaper in a van themselves and The Lord and I are buying mansions with the buy-on money (I wish!!) …

Tour buy-on’s are real because they help the newer bands gain a following from a more established band’s fanbase while they help offset tour costs. In more commercial scenes that means you pay big bucks on top of the tourbus-share/fee.

If you want to do that or not is up to you of course.

… and I can’t decide on a setlist! What do you play when you only have 40 minutes? It used to be much easier when I only had 1-2 albums out – but after 6 albums it’s tough. Obviously I want to play some new stuff, something we don’t play all the time and some hits – but I can’t decide …

What songs would you want to hear in a short 40 minute set?!?

Haha, Festival Kinetik is barely over and already a few friends bring back word of me being the most hated man in the industrial scene, at least according to the backstage chatter that took place. It always amuses me because the stories are always the same and since I’m bored at home, I give you a little guide to determining the truth about Faderhead by telling you the most common “stories”:

“He’s such an asshole! He thinks he’s better than everyone else!” – almost true, “better than most” would be true.

“He once hit on my girlfriend, but she rejected him and then I beat him up!” – false, I don’t think I have ever even been threatened by anyone, let alone attacked. For some reason this one comes up constantly. According to this rumor, I get beat up on a monthly basis.

“He was really drunk!” – probably true.

“He was so drunk he couldn’t walk or talk anymore” – absolutely false, has happened only once in my life.

“He’s got beef with Ronan Harris!” – true. Actually, Ronan Harris has some sort of beef with me. I don’t know what about exactly but I don’t care either. I don’t like the guy, but I respect him as a performer.

“He did coke in the toilet!” – might be true, but very dependent on availability.

“He fucked girl xyz in the toilet!” – most likely untrue, unless said toilet stall is big and somewhat clean. I don’t like to fuck while standing.

“He talked shit about XYZ!” – depends on what constitutes “shit”. If I said I don’t like his music/artwork or his production is crap or his music is generic, then probably true.

“He bitched at the promoter!” – might be true (last time it happened was Chicago)

“He threw everyone out of the backstage like a diva!” – might be true (last time it happened was Chicago). Most of the time I just ask non-band members to leave 15 mins before and after the show, so we can get ready or relax.

“He tries to score with every girl he sees!” – false, if you know my past girlfriends, you know that at least my visual standards are rather high and the promise of sex alone just makes me yawn (ask The Lord!) – I’d rather sit down and have a drink.

“He contacted me on the internet to have sex!” – false. Usually said by girls I have never seen in my life.

“He puked on everyone!” – false, never happened. The worst I ever did was puke on someone’s sofa where I was sleeping when I was 18.

“He said Thomas Rainer (Nachtmahr) is a Nazi!” – true. Listen to him when he gets drunk. I’ve personally heard him spout racist “Untermensch”-stuff on one occasion (Amphi 2010 backstage) and I know a bunch of others who have too. So I don’t buy his “it’s all provocation in the name of art!”-shtick. If I had known this in 2009 (when I met Thomas at Mera Luna) I would have never done the “Mädchen In Uniform”-remix. But hey, if you play in a band, dressed up as a Hitler-lookalike, you’ll have to live with the fact that people call you out on your shit.

“He asked me to be in his next video!” – could be true. Most likely not if you are not from Hamburg (where I usually recruit extras) or are not an amazing dancer/performer.

“He was fired from Accession Records!” – false. The contract was terminated on my request and we are still in good standing. Adrian (owner of Accession Records) only recently sent some remix work my way. Astoundingly this came up just a few weeks ago, despite being 4 years old!

“He’s too much of an arrogant egomaniac to have a real band! That’s why he hires musicians from other bands!” – true. Well “arrogant” is in the eye of the beholder, but I am not interested in the opinion of the drummer or bass player regarding my songwriting or production. I’ve had enough of that in previous bands. That’s why I write and record my songs and hire my friends like The Lord or Daniel & Joe Meyer for live shows. It’s easy for everyone, everyone is having fun and getting paid. No fights. Tough life :)

“Everyone in Combichrist hates him, which is why he put them in the “Fistful Of Fuck You”-video!” – false. I asked them before if they wanted to be my opponents in the video and they said yes. So it’s officially approved.

“He’s worked as a fish salesman at the Hamburg fishmarket!” – false. This is a joke Kai Hawaii made in 2007 when introducing us before the show.

“He destroyed Kenny Pardo’s (ex-Everything Goes Cold) drumset backstage in a fit of rage on the US tour 2011!” – false. I was super pissed off and punched a stacked up case with a tom that fell down. I picked it up and later told Kenny that I had thrown it down and would definitely pay for it if broken/damaged. We checked it out and all was fine. Kenny and I are still friends.

“Daniel Graves (Aesthetic Perfection) beat him up and wanted to kick him off the tour on three occasions!” – false. Daniel has never done that. There were almost no arguments on that tour and we had one sitdown for about 10 minutes to clear-up some stuff. For a tour with 8 guys in a van for 3 weeks that’s like total peace. The fact that Jason Fiber (AP’s very capable manager) still comes out to Faderhead shows when we are in LA attests to that.

“He’s related to Steve Naghavi (And One) – that explains why he gets so much attention!” – false, we get along well and I’ve jokingly called him “my brother from another mother!” but my real brother lives in South Germany and works as a doctor.

“He lets people speak to his hand when they want to congratulate him on a great show. He does that because he’s bored by those statements!” – false. Never done that. I think someone with an overactive imagination has read the “How To Hang With Faderhead”-post a year ago and then made this up.

“He doesn’t listen to cybergoth at home! Only hiphop!” – half true. No electro, but not only hiphop. I mean, how is that news? I’ve said it 50 times in interviews …

“He’s dating my sister/best friend!” – could be true when I’m actually dating someone who has a sister or a best friend. And even then, who cares?

“Faderhead is not real industrial” – true. And that’s a good thing.

GOT MORE COOL RUMORS? Let me know in the comments :D

Part 2:

March 28 – Philadelphia, PA
March 29 – Milwaukee, WI
March 30 – Nashville, TN
March 31 – New York, NY
April 01 – Toronto, ON
April 02 – Ann Arbor, MI
April 03 – Chicago, IL