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My Top 7 Waves Plugins for Mixing Metal Guitars

Plus some EQ, Compression, and Limiting Tips!

For a long time, Waves plugins were ridiculously priced and were only for those “top metal mixer” guys.
Thankfully, Waves has recently adopted a completely new pricing model and they have made their
plugins much more accessible to everybody. Oh, and using Waves Central is a big plus, which means
you don’t need an iLok anymore to use Waves plugins!
Anyway, the top 7 Waves plugins for mixing metal guitars, in my opinion, are:
1. Q10 Equalizer;
2. API 550;
3. API 560;
4. SSL E-Channel;
5. C4 Multiband Compressor;
6. Renaissance Axx
7. L1 Limiter.

How to EQ Hi-Gain Metal Guitars

One of the big reasons why I like the Q10 Equalizer so much is because of the very narrow bandwidths
that you can set up. You literally can EQ a single point of the frequency and that kind of accuracy is
amazing.
This is also one of the most a ordable EQs out there now, since you’ll find the Q10 Equalizer on sale for
as low as $29 quite o en. You can click here to see what kind of price it is at the moment.
When it comes to actual EQ of hi gain metal guitars, you want to employ the EQ Sweeping technique.
This basically means that you’ll grab a band on the Q10 Equalizer, increase the gain and narrow the Q,
and as the guitar is playing, you will look for annoying resonances or frequencies. The best way I can
explain this is that you’ll know it’s a bad frequency when it’s a whistling noise that just doesn’t seem to
go away regardless of what is happening on the fretboard.
Now that you found the frequency, you’ll want to adjust the width of the Q to either include more of the
frequency range (if it’s a bigger area than just the narrow Q you’re working with) or to keep it the same.
From there, you want to start attenuating.
Now it’s never a good idea to just blast a frequency and kill it with -18dB of attenuation. That frequency
is still important to the overall sound of the guitar, you’re simply trying to neutralize the annoying
 aspects of it. You’ll want to very slowly attenuate the
frequency until you basically can’t hear the o ending
sounds anymore.
As you are doing this process, you should A/B the sound
o en and quickly so that your ear doesn’t have time to get
used to the sound.
In my online course for creating metal tones with amp
simulators, I dedicate quite a bit of time showing this exact
process. Click here to check that out (and get a big discount
as well!)

Adding Color to Metal Guitars

It’s one thing to clinically EQ hi-gain metal guitars and get rid
of annoying frequencies, it’s altogether a whole di erent
thing if you want to add color or unique character to the
tone. This is where 3rd party plugins like the SSL E-Channel,
API 550, and API 560 come into play as they will not only EQ,
My go-to EQ plugin, the Q10. but introduce their own characteristics into the guitar
sound. I’m basically giving away my secret recipe again.
I love to use the API 560 to add a boost to either the 7K or
10K on guitars. Only 2dB or so. It just does something for
me that I really like the sound of. Additionally, sometimes
I may even dip out some of the 800Hz region of guitars to
see how it sounds. I’m a bit of an old school guy so I do
enjoy a nicely scooped sound.
The API 550 has specific frequency ranges that you can
adjust, o en you may be doing work in the 2kHz or 4kHz
range, so it’s just convenient to have that already there.
The API, in general, is a favorite in the metal genre
because you can get a kind of edge to your sound when
you push them a bit. Again, this is all about taste and I
generally like the way the API sounds.
Both of these plugins quite o en can be found, again, for
$29 on sale. Especially during holiday sales.
- Check the price of the API 550 here.
- Check the price of the API 560 by clicking here.
Sometimes, however, I reach for the SSL E-Channel. I will
use this if I want to add some so hi-mids in the 3kHz to
5kHZ range. It boosts the area but still remains quite
neutral and so . I may even boost around 12kHz
sometimes if I feel the guitar may be lacking some air.
However, when it comes to guitars, I typically stick to
using the APIs.
A long time ago, the SSL E-Channel was only found in the
SSL 4000 Collection, which was a he y price. They
recently allowed you to buy it all on its own, and I wish I
could have picked it up in the same manner when I got
the SSL 4000 Collection!
Anyway, since then, I’ve seen this thing go on sale once
for $29, which was ridiculous. Typically, it will go on sale
for about $100. It could dip even lower on Black Friday
sales or holiday sales. Click here to see what Waves has The API 550 - I love adding color with this.
the price at right now.

Metal Guitars: To Compress or Not to Compress

So, basically, here is the deal. With down-tuned metal guitars, you’ll want to employ some kind of
compression somewhere in your chain to help keep things smooth and uniform. I mean, you’d still
have to compress if you were playing in Standard E, but you wouldn’t have to be so careful about it.
A er you’ve double or quad tracked your guitars, you’ll start to really hear some low-end build up
around the 150Hz-300Hz area. There are two ways you can deal with that.
The first way is to do preliminary compression with the Renaissance Axx to do about 3dB of gain
reduction on the really loud chuggity-chug-chugs and the end of each guitar chain.
The second way is to put the C4 multiband
compressor and employ a version of the Andy
Sneap trick. I prefer to have only the first band
enabled up to 250Hz, and maximum the range.
When the guitars get to super chug parts, I’m
looking for about 3-5dB of gain reduction, or until
I hear the boxiness and muddiness disappear.
In combination of both working together and with
proper EQ, you’ll be able to get the low end of
your guitars tightened right up.
Once again, thanks to the new Waves pricing
policy, you’ll find these on sale literally all the
time. The C4 and Axx regularly go on sale for $29.
- Check out the price of the C4 Multiband
Compressor.
- Check out the price of the Renaissance Axx.

Brickwall those Metal Guitars with

Waves L1
Yep. I literally can’t work on guitars without the
L1. There is no magical science or any secrets
Slap this on your guitar tracks to even them out. here. Using the L1 to decrease the last levels of
dynamic range of the guitars really brings them
up in the mix and makes them sound loud, fierce,
and in your face. The added benefit of the L1 is the Output level which you can adjust, allowing you to
keep your main instrument faders and unity.
The L1 Limiter, again, goes on sale quite o en but the lowest I’ve seen it is usually only $39. However,
by the time you’re reading this that could have changed. In any case, Black Friday and holiday sales will
be the best time to grab the L1, as well as all of the plugins I’ve mentioned in this article.
- Click here to check the current price of the L1 Limiter.
And thanks to Waves for finally coming up with a decent and normal pricing policy!
If you guys have any questions, you can contact me and I’ll be happy to help out as much as I can.
‘Till next time, have a good one!
-Scott
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