Acle Kahney’s Tesseract Guitar Mix: Layered EQ & Dynamics

Let's be honest, Tesseract's guitar tones are a masterclass in modern metal production. They’re complex, articulate, and sit perfectly in those intricate progressive soundscapes. Ever wondered how Acle Kahney, the band's guitarist and a phenomenal producer in his own right, wrangles those intricate guitar parts into a cohesive and powerful sound? We got a peek into his process, and it’s all about a multi-stage approach, especially when it comes to EQ and dynamics.

If you're looking to elevate your own metal mixes, understanding these kinds of detailed techniques is invaluable. Acle doesn't just slap on a preset; he meticulously sculpts his guitar tones at various stages. Let's dive into how he dials in that signature Tesseract guitar sound, which you can see him demonstrate in depth during his Nail The Mix session for Tesseract.

H2: Stage 1: The Foundational Cleanup – Making Space and Controlling Chugs

Before you even think about adding vibe or character, Acle emphasizes getting the raw tracks clean and controlled. This means tackling problematic frequencies and ensuring the percussive elements of the guitars are tight.

H3: Kicking Out the Mud and Boxing Up the Boxiness

Like any dense metal mix, the first order of business is to carve out space. Acle mentions that some initial EQ moves are often about dealing with that all-too-common "boxy" sound that can creep into distorted guitars. This typically involves surgical cuts in the low-mid frequencies to prevent muddiness and allow the bass guitar to do its job.

He also speaks about taming "uck" – those specific, unpleasant resonant frequencies that can make a guitar sound harsh or cheap. This isn't about broad strokes; it's about identifying those annoying spots with a precise EQ band (think something like a band on a FabFilter Pro-Q 3) and pulling them down. This kind of targeted EQ strategy is crucial for modern metal.

H3: Dynamic Taming for Tight Palm Mutes

Palm mutes are the rhythmic engine of many metal tracks, but they can also be dynamically all over the place. Acle employs a modern take on the "old school C6 trick" (referring to the Waves C6 Multiband Compressor). Instead of a traditional multiband, he often uses a dynamic EQ.

This allows him to specifically target the frequencies where the palm mutes have their weight and "thwack," applying compression only when those frequencies exceed a certain threshold. He’s not looking for extreme squashing – just a few dB of gain reduction to keep the palm mutes punchy and consistent without them jumping out of the speakers too much. This ensures you still get that satisfying "cab weight" but in a controlled manner. This is a great example of how dynamic control can shape your metal tracks.

H2: Stage 2: Sculpting Character – From Harshness Removal to Smooth Brightness

With the foundation laid, Acle moves on to more character-driven EQ decisions. This involves further refinement and then adding back desirable qualities in a more musical way.

H3: Cutting the Harsh, Boosting the Bite (The Smart Way)

Acle isn't afraid to make significant EQ cuts to remove harshness, "nasty whistles," and other undesirable resonances. While this cleans up the tone considerably and makes it smoother, it can sometimes leave the guitars sounding a bit dull or lacking bite.

This is where a plugin like the Kush Audio Clariphonic DSP mkII comes into play. After surgically removing the problematic high frequencies, he uses the Clariphonic to add back top-end sparkle and aggression, but in a broad, smooth, and musical way. It's a clever push-pull: take out the bad, then enhance the good, resulting in a tone that’s bright and aggressive but not harsh.

H3: The Classic Pultec Low-End Trick & Airy Highs

For shaping the low-end and adding some "air," Acle turns to a classic technique often associated with Pultec EQs (like the EQP-1A, with great emulations from UAD, Waves, and others). This involves boosting and attenuating the same low frequency. It sounds counterintuitive, but it creates a unique resonant shelf that can tighten and focus the low end in a very musical way. You can really hear it if you exaggerate the settings.

To further enhance the top end, he’ll often add a boost way up high, around 16kHz. He admits it can seem "a little bit over the top," but it acts almost like a high shelf, injecting that sought-after "air" and sizzle without adding harshness in the presence region. For more on using EQ to shape your metal tones, check out our EQ strategies guide.

H2: Stage 3: Final Polish – Width, Smoothness, and Context

The final touches involve placing the guitars in the stereo field and ensuring they sit well within the overall mix, especially when dealing with multiple layers.

H3: Adding Width and the "Shred Control" Phenomenon

To give the guitars a sense of space and width, Acle uses stereo imaging plugins. He mentions this is a similar principle to what he might do on the main mix bus. It’s not about making them artificially wide, but just enough to enhance the stereo picture.

Interestingly, he also mentions a "shred control" on one of his processors (possibly part of the stereo tool or a dedicated saturation/exciter plugin). He candidly admits he's not entirely sure what it's technically doing, but he likes how it tames harshness and smooths out the top end, all while adding a little bit of stereo width. This subtle smoothing helps the added brightness sit nicely.

H3: Main Guitars vs. Layers: Filling the Gaps

Acle often thinks of his main guitar tones (which he mentions might come from something like the Neural DSP Quad Cortex, referred to as "Cortex ones") as the core sound. Additional guitar layers are then treated as supplementary, filling in the gaps. This means he’s not afraid to EQ these layers even more aggressively if needed, sculpting them specifically to complement the main tones and the rest of the arrangement. Sometimes a layered guitar that sounds thin or overly processed in solo can sound perfect once everything else is in.

H3: The "Robust" Bus: Automated Impact for Choruses

Here's a killer trick for adding impact: Acle sends his main guitar group to an auxiliary bus, a technique he attributes to Andy Sneap (misheard as "Andy Ship" or "She Technique" in the raw audio, but the "Robust" reference points to Sneap's common methods). This bus has its own processing, crucially including compression to keep all the palm mutes and chugs tightly in check, making everything feel louder and more powerful.

He then automates the send to this "Robust" bus, bringing it in, for example, during choruses or heavier sections. This creates a subtle (or not-so-subtle) lift and sense of build-up, making those sections hit harder without just cranking a fader. It's like "clean automation," as he puts it, providing a controlled dynamic boost. This is a fantastic way to use bus compression creatively.

H2: Bringing Acle Kahney's Tesseract Guitar Approach to Your Mixes

Acle Kahney's method for mixing Tesseract's guitars is a fantastic illustration of how a detailed, multi-stage EQ and dynamics process can yield incredible results. It’s about:

• Corrective EQ: Cleaning up mud, boxiness, and harsh resonances first.
• Dynamic Control: Using tools like dynamic EQ to keep percussive elements tight.
• Character EQ: Using specialized EQs like the Clariphonic and Pultec-style boosts to musically shape the tone.
• Width and Polish: Employing stereo imaging and subtle smoothing.
• Contextual Mixing: Treating layers differently and using bus processing for automated impact.

These are powerful techniques you can start experimenting with in your own productions right now. Seeing how Acle meticulously dials in each setting, from the initial EQ cuts on individual tracks to the powerful parallel bus processing, is something you can experience firsthand.

Want to see Acle Kahney himself break down his entire mix for Tesseract's "Nocturne," track by track, explaining every plugin, every decision? At Nail The Mix, you get exactly that. Each month, we bring you sessions with the world's top metal producers, giving you the raw multitracks and an in-depth mixing masterclass. It’s your chance to learn directly from pros like Acle.

Check out the full Tesseract "Nocturne" mixing session with Acle Kahney and if you're serious about taking your productions to the next level, explore how to Unlock Your Sound: Mixing Modern Metal Beyond Presets.