
Bloodbath’s Zombie Metal: Horror Sound Design & Vocal FX Deep Dive
Nail The Mix Staff
Adding creative post-production effects can be the secret sauce that takes a killer metal track from great to unforgettable. It’s about injecting personality and pushing the sonic boundaries. In a fascinating look into Bloodbath’s mixing process, Lawrence Mackrory (Nail The Mix) reveals how they layered in eerie zombie noises and unsettling horror sound effects to transform a death metal song into something straight out of a nightmare. Let’s dissect how they conjured this “Zombie Metal” atmosphere.
If you’re ready to see exactly how these effects were dialed in and integrated into the full Bloodbath mix, you can dive into the complete session on Nail The Mix.
Crafting the “Bra Snack”: Spoken Word Horror Ambiance
A standout element in the track is a spoken word section, which Lawrence affectionately calls “Bra Snack” (Swedish for “good talk”). The goal here wasn’t a clean, pristine vocal, but something deeply unsettling and atmospheric, as if ripped from an old, cursed videotape.
The “Found Footage” Aesthetic: The VHS Vibe
The core idea for the “Bra Snack” narration was to make it sound like a sample from a lost horror movie found in an abandoned building – think gritty, lo-fi, and undeniably creepy. Lawrence even mentioned a cool DIY trick for achieving a similar old-school vibe: recording audio with a phone through a TV speaker playing a VHS tape. This instantly imparts that degraded, nostalgic, and slightly off-kilter quality. For the Bloodbath track, this “found footage” feel was key to the narration’s impact, which features text from the Book of Revelations, as contributed by vocalist Nick Holmes.
Processing the Narration for Maximum Creepiness
To achieve this specific “VHS sample” sound on Nick Holmes’s spoken word, Lawrence employed a chain of plugins, each adding a layer to the horrifying texture.
Here’s a breakdown of the signal chain for the “Bra Snack”:
- Heavy Compression: The first step involved a significant amount of compression. This wasn’t just about controlling dynamics; it was about squashing the signal to give it an intense, almost overloaded character, contributing to that “old recording” sound. For more on how compression can be creatively used in metal, check out these metal compression secrets.
- Impulse Response (IR): An IR was used to create a specific sense of space around the vocals. Lawrence mentions using one of Daniel’s (Bergstrand, presumably) custom IRs. This places the voice in a distinct environment, moving it away from a dry studio recording and into a more cinematic, eerie space.
- Wavesfactory Cassette Plugin: This was a crucial plugin for achieving the lo-fi, vintage tape sound. The Wavesfactory Cassette emulates the saturation, wow, flutter, and noise characteristics of old cassette tapes. This plugin, from the same company that makes Trackspacer, played a huge role in degrading the audio just right, making it sound authentically aged and slightly unstable.
- De-Essing (DSR): Because the spoken word is prominent and heavily processed, sibilance (“s” sounds) could become harsh and distracting. A de-esser (DSR) was used to tame these frequencies, ensuring the creepy vibe remained without becoming unpleasant to listen to.
Turning these effects on one by one reveals the transformation: the dry vocal becomes increasingly unsettling, taking on the desired degraded, sampled-from-a-horror-movie quality. The goal was to make it sound like a sample, not like a freshly recorded vocal.
Unleashing the Undead: The “Zombie Bus” Effects
Beyond the narration, the track is crawling with actual zombie noises and other horror-themed sound effects, all routed to what Lawrence calls the “Zombie Bus.”
Sourcing Your Zombie Horde
The zombie sounds themselves were a band effort. Vocalist Nick Holmes contributed his own zombie impressions, providing some of the core gurgles and moans. For a bigger, more chaotic sound, other Bloodbath members—Thomas, Anders, and Jonas—gathered around a mic to create gang zombie noises. This layered approach creates a more dynamic and believable undead presence.
Another key sound effect is the “Falling Man” scream. This isn’t a zombie, but an anguished human scream, described as sounding like someone falling. It’s a classic death metal trope, with Lawrence referencing bands like Entombed as pioneers of such tormented vocalizations.
Processing the Groans and Screams
All these horror elements – the individual zombie sounds, the gang zombies, and the “Falling Man” scream – were sent to the “Zombie Bus” for collective processing. While the specifics of the bus processing weren’t fully detailed in this clip, one crucial effect highlighted was reverb, particularly on the “Falling Man” scream. Adding a fitting reverb to such a sound enhances its impact, giving it space and making it sound even more desperate and dramatic, like an echo from a desolate, horrifying place.
Why These Details Matter: Elevating Your Death Metal
What Bloodbath and Lawrence Mackrory demonstrate here is the power of creative sound design in metal production. These aren’t just throwaway effects; they are integral to the song’s identity, transforming it from “just” a death metal track into a full-blown auditory horror experience. The zombie noises, the “Falling Man,” and the unsettling “Bra Snack” narration, with its carefully crafted VHS-sample aesthetic, all contribute to a unique and memorable sonic signature.
These techniques show how thinking beyond traditional instrumental and vocal processing can add incredible depth and personality to your mixes. By incorporating thematic sound effects and creatively mangling audio, you can craft soundscapes that truly immerse the listener.
Inspired to see how these chilling effects and the entire Bloodbath track came together? You can watch Lawrence Mackrory mix this monster from scratch, explaining every plugin, decision, and technique in the Bloodbath mixing session on Nail The Mix. It’s a fantastic opportunity to learn from the pros and pick up tricks that can elevate your own productions.
If you’re serious about taking your metal mixes to the next level, exploring resources like Nail The Mix gives you access to a wealth of knowledge, from full multitrack sessions with legendary producers to in-depth tutorials. You can even unlock your sound by learning to mix modern metal beyond presets with comprehensive guidance.