How Colin Richardson Defined The Sound of Modern Metal

If you’ve ever cranked an album by Carcass, Fear Factory, Machine Head, or Bullet For My Valentine and marveled at the sheer punch and clarity of the mix, you have one man to thank: Colin Richardson. Before the era of endless plugins and digital perfection, Richardson was in the trenches, crafting a sound that was both brutally aggressive and astonishingly clean. He’s one of the architects of the modern metal sound, and his techniques are just as relevant today.

Forget sterile, over-produced tones. The Colin Richardson sound is all about raw power shaped with precision. Let’s break down some of the key elements of his production style that you can apply to your own mixes.

Profile: The Architect of Aggressive Clarity

Colin Richardson’s career is a roadmap of modern metal's evolution. He got his start in the late '80s, working with pioneering UK grindcore and death metal bands like Napalm Death and Carcass. On albums like Carcass's Heartwork, he set a new standard, proving that extreme music could sound massive and polished without losing its feral edge.

His influence exploded in the '90s. He was the go-to producer for the new wave of groove and industrial metal, helming iconic records like Fear Factory’s Demanufacture and Machine Head’s Burn My Eyes. In the 2000s, he defined the sound of the metalcore boom, producing seminal albums for Trivium (Ascendancy) and Bullet For My Valentine (The Poison). His ability to capture massive guitar tones, punchy drums, and vocals that sat perfectly on top of the chaos made him a legend. His work directly influenced a generation of producers, many of whom you can find among the list of Nail The Mix instructors.

The Guitar Tone: Power Through Purity

Richardson's guitar tones are huge, but they aren't built on a mountain of fuzz. They are defined by midrange authority and attack.

Less Gain, More Amp

A common mistake among producers is cranking the gain knob to 11. Richardson’s approach was often the opposite. The core of his guitar sound came from pushing an amp hard, not from pedal-driven, fizzy distortion. He was famously associated with Marshall amps like the JCM800 and the much-loved (and much-maligned) solid-state Valvestate 8100, which gave Heartwork its signature chainsaw grind. For bands like Machine Head, it was all about the thick, saturated power of a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier. By keeping the gain on the amp itself relatively controlled, the tone retains note definition and punch, preventing it from turning into a muddy mess in the mix.

The Classic Mic Blend

You’ll rarely get a world-class guitar tone from a single microphone. Richardson was a master of blending mics to create a complete picture.

• The Workhorse: A Shure SM57 is non-negotiable. Pointed at the sweet spot where the dust cap meets the speaker cone, it captures the aggressive upper-midrange bite and attack.
• The Body: This is where the magic happens. Blending the SM57 with a second mic adds the weight and body that the 57 alone can lack. A common partner microphone is a Sennheiser MD 421, known for its fuller low-mid response. On later records, you'd also see ribbon mics like the Royer R-121 used to capture a smoother, warmer character that complements the SM57’s edge.

When you blend these in your DAW, even a slight nudge of the second mic's fader can dramatically fill out the sound. Don't forget to check your phase!

EQing for Power, Not Scooping

While the classic "scooped mid" sound has its place, Richardson’s guitar tones are actually full of midrange. That’s where the power and aggression live. His approach to EQing metal guitars was more about surgical cleaning and strategic boosting.

• High-Pass Everything: The first move on any heavy guitar track should be a high-pass filter (HPF). Start around 80-100Hz and move it up until you feel the tone start to thin out, then back it off slightly. This instantly cleans up low-end mud and makes room for the bass guitar and kick drum.
• Tame the Fizz: Use a narrow-Q EQ band to sweep through the high frequencies (5kHz-10kHz) and find any harsh, "fizzy" spots. A small cut here can make the tone sound more expensive and less grating.
• Boost the Attack: Instead of just cutting low-mids (around 300-500Hz), find the frequency that enhances the pick attack and aggression. This is often somewhere between 1.5kHz and 4kHz. A modest boost here can make the guitars jump out of the speakers without making them harsh.

The Unmistakable Drum Punch

Colin Richardson’s drums hit. His approach to mixing drums resulted in tracks that were tight, powerful, and perfectly placed in the mix.

The Kick: Combining Click and Thump

That iconic metal kick sound is a careful balance of two elements: the "thump" of the low-end and the "click" of the beater.

• Mics: A classic setup involves an AKG D112 or Shure Beta 52a inside the kick for the punch and attack, sometimes paired with a large-diaphragm FET condenser (like a Neumann U 47 FET clone) outside the kick for the subby low-end.
• EQ: Boost the fundamental "thump" somewhere between 60-80Hz. Then, find the "click" of the beater hitting the skin, usually between 4kHz and 8kHz, and give it a healthy boost to help it cut through the wall of guitars.
• Gating: A tight noise gate is essential. Set the threshold so it only opens on direct kick hits, and adjust the release so it closes quickly. This cleans up cymbal bleed and keeps the low-end tight and focused.

The Snare That Defined a Decade

The Richardson snare sound is legendary. It’s got a massive crack and a powerful body, often achieved with a combination of heavy compression and gated reverb.

• Compression: Don’t be shy. Using a fast-attack compressor like a dbx 160 or an 1176-style plugin will tame the initial transient and bring up the body and ring of the snare. This is a crucial step when you learn how to compress metal snares.
• Gated Reverb: This is the quintessential ’90s metal trick. Send your snare to an aux track with a reverb plugin (a plate or a small hall works well). After the reverb, insert a gate. Set the gate's threshold so it's triggered by the snare hit, and then set a fast release. The result is a burst of reverb that adds huge size and space to the snare before being cut off abruptly, keeping it from washing out the mix.

See The Techniques of a Legend in Action

Colin Richardson laid the foundation for how modern metal is produced. The producers of today took his rulebook and built upon it, pushing the sound even further with modern tools and workflows.

This is exactly what you get to witness inside Nail The Mix. Instead of just reading about these techniques, you can dive into our massive catalog of sessions and watch world-class producers like Will Putney, Jens Bogren, and Andy Sneap build a mix from the ground up using these foundational principles. You get the raw multi-tracks from bands like Gojira, Lamb of God, and Architects, letting you apply these very lessons and mix them yourself. See how the pros blend mics, dial in drum samples, and use compression and EQ to craft mixes that punch you in the chest.