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Recording Metal with Eyal Levi: A Bootcamp

Lesson 47 of 74

Lead Tones


Recording Metal with Eyal Levi: A Bootcamp

Lesson 47 of 74

Lead Tones


Lesson Info

Lead Tones

Okay, I just need to work out what note it is if you don't mind. I can tell you one thing. It's two notes right next to each other. It is. (click track and guitar music) Sounds like that. Are those the right notes then? That's cool. (distorted electric guitar music) Lead part's going to be really hard to play. The what? This lead part's going to be really hard to play. Is it? Yeah. (laughs) How many times does this happen? It's on the blue, isn't it, so there's that. Oh, this many times in the song? Yeah, and what's that bit there, what's that bit there? Where, this? This one, yeah. Whoa, wow, I didn't even realize it did that, cool. Tasty, and now what's this? (electric guitar riff) Tasty. Sounds like there's a wah on that. (click track and guitar riff) Okay so yeah, I'll do that bit first then. (distorted guitar riff) Do you reckon it needs more reverb? I don't think it does, does it? No, no, I can add some. I feel like with a distorted tone like that, d...

on't drown it, let me drown it. Okay, ready? Yeah, do it. (driving heavy metal music) Hate, but it's far enough. (laughs) Here, double that. Yeah, I'm gonna do it an octave higher, okay? Okay. (piercing guitar riff) There you go. Here, I'm gonna actually go a little higher. Ready? Yep. (driving heavy metal music) I love that. Yeah, you like that? Yeah. Let's do it again then. Yeah. No, that was good, that was almost good, but yeah, should we do the chorus then? Yeah. Well, do you wanna do... Take care of these first? What do you mean? Like, the minor seconds? Yeah, okay. There's only one more to do, so... The one after the break, so right at the end. (guitar riff) Are you starting with the lower one first? Yeah. Okay. Right after the break, got it. Yeah. And you kinda build it up a little, don't you? I can't remember. It looks like you do, I see... Oh yeah, maybe I do, so let's play from halfway through. Okay. (click track and guitar music) (drums kick in) I can't remember if I played it all the way through. Yeah, I did. Damn, but you can punch this in. Yeah, that's not the same, that's not at the end though, That one's where it goes into, (guitar riff) And then I do it an octave higher, (guitar riff) We should do that an octave higher halfway through. Okay. Yeah. Ready? It increases it, yeah. Okay, I'm gonna fade this in real quick just so you know. (piercing guitar riff) (laughs) Even these guys are laughing. That's because it sounds awesome. I don't know about that. It's very, it makes you feel a bit uneasy. (discordant guitar squeals) I'm giving it a bit more extreme fade. Yep, that's fine. Ready? Yeah I'm gonna play through the second half of it though, okay? Yeah. (driving heavy metal music) (electric guitar joins) (laughs) I'll probably play the first one again. You wanna do the first one again? Er, nah, it's okay. Yeah, it's fine, it's fine. It's only gonna be really quiet anyway isn't it? It's just an uneasy texture. All right, so you play right after that? Yeah. Then I'm gonna make two new tracks. And it sounded like you had like a, like a wah thing happening on one of these? Play it, let me have a listen? Yeah, one second, let me just make two new tracks. It may be nothing, okay. Planning on gonna be one though, I only did one for this, because it's got all the clean parts as well, so it's literally to reinforce the clean parts. Yeah, but yeah, better to have and not need then. (door creaks) Exactly. So this is the last little bit of the song. Last tiny little bit. I know, it's sad. What's that? I know you're sad. Totally. So sad. You said it had a wah on it, right? Kinda, yeah. Let's have a little look at what I've got in here then. Sure it's a wah? I dunno. Hang on one second, I'm almost done making this group. Might be a bit of rotary drone. (guitar riff with effects) I don't know about that. But I respect you if that's what you think it was. That was it, got it. Ooh! (laughs) All right, you wanna... I don't think it was any of them. Do you wanna hear what it was? Yeah, please. (click track and solo guitar) Hold on. Yeah... It's not got anything on it. Actually it kinda does. I'm just hearing a difference in the EQ is all. I think so, yeah. Okay. Let's do the last bit then. We've got two bits to do. Yeah, last two bits. (guitar riff) Let's tune quickly. Let's do it. That one first? Yeah. Ready? To do an octave lower or an octave higher? I'll do an octave higher. Hang on, wait, wait, wait. (click track and guitar music) All right, you ready? Cool. (driving heavy metal music) Can you turn it up a little bit, please? (electric guitar solo) Cool. And the second one is... Right after the... There's the, uh... Oh, right here. Right at the end there, we've already done that. Oh no, there's three times there. Yeah. You can just copy and paste that bit, since it's exactly the same, isn't it? This one? Yeah. Sure. This. Yeah. Bridge, same thing? Technically, you could copy and paste it three times, as it's exactly the same. Okay, why not? (driving heavy metal music) All right, that would fit. And then we've got the one at the end. A'ight? Yeah, a'ight. A'ight. Let's see. (driving heavy metal music) And then you've got didge, on the end of that. Yeah, uh huh. Awesome. Good job. Good job, mate. Yeah.

Class Description




  • Record rhythm guitars
  • Record clean and lead guitars
  • Record bass guitar
  • Mix and master from session setup to final bounce


  1. Intro to Bootcamp
  2. Purpose of Pre-Production
  3. Technical Side of Preproduction
  4. Pre-Production: Setting Up the Tempo Map
  5. Pre-Production: Importing Stems
  6. Pre-Production: Click Track
  7. Creating Tracking Templates
  8. Intro and the Tone Pie
  9. Drums - Lay of the Land
  10. Bearing Edges
  11. Wood Types
  12. Depths and Sizes
  13. Hoops
  14. Sticks and Beaters
  15. Drum Heads
  16. Drum Tuning
  17. Drum Mic Placement Intro
  18. Basic Drum Mic Setup
  19. Cymbal Mic Setup
  20. Touch Up Tuning
  21. Microphone Choice and Placement
  22. Drum Tracking Intro
  23. Getting Tones and Final Placement
  24. Primary Tracking
  25. Punching In and Comping Takes
  26. Guitar Setup and Rhythm Tone Tracking
  27. Amplifiers - Lay of the Land
  28. Amplifiers & Cab Shoot Out
  29. Guitar Cab Mic Choice and Placement
  30. Guitar Tracking and Signal Chain
  31. Finalizing Amplifier Tone
  32. Guitar Mic Shootout Round Robin
  33. Intro to Rhythm Tracking
  34. Setting Up Guitars
  35. Working with a Guitarist
  36. Final Guitar Tone and Recap
  37. Guitar Tracking with John
  38. Guitar Tracking with Ollie
  39. Final Tracking
  40. Tracking Quads
  41. Intro to Bass Tone
  42. Bass Tone Setup
  43. Bass Tone Mic Placement
  44. Bass Tracking
  45. Intro to Clean and Lead Tones
  46. Clean Guitar Tones
  47. Lead Tones
  48. Vocal Setup for Tracking
  49. Vocal Mic Selection and Setup
  50. Vocal Mic Shootout
  51. Lead Vocal Tracking
  52. Writing Harmonies
  53. Harmony Vocal Tracking
  54. Vocal Warm Ups
  55. Scream Vocal Tracking
  56. Vocal Tuning and Editing Introduction
  57. Vocal Tuning and Editing
  58. Routing and Bussing
  59. Color Coding, Labeling and Arranging Channels
  60. Setting Up Parallel Compression
  61. Setting Up Drum Triggers
  62. Gain Staging and Trim
  63. Drum Mixing - Subtractive EQ
  64. Drum Mixing - Snare
  65. Drum Mixing - Kick
  66. Drum Mixing - Toms
  67. Drum Mixing - Cymbals and Rooms
  68. Drum Mixing Recap
  69. Mixing Bass Guitar
  70. Mixing Rhythm Guitars
  71. Basic Vocal Mix
  72. Mixing Clean and Lead Guitars
  73. Mixing - Automation
  74. Mastering - Interview with Joel Wanasek



I'm on lesson 19! Already worth every dollar!!! Priceless insight! I have already incorporated some of the ideas (preproduction common sense stuff that I never thought of, but damn). VERY HAPPY with this course! ALWAYS LEARNING and looking forward to the next 50 (or whatever) lessons!!! Excellent course! GREAT PRODUCER/ENGINEER, GREAT DRUM TECH, and GREAT BAND!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!



