Erra’s Vocal Power: Chain, Compression & Tuning with Grant & Carson

Erra's sound is iconic, partly thanks to their dynamic dual vocal attack featuring JT Cavey's ferocious screams and Jesse Cash's soaring cleans. Ever wondered how producers Grant McFarland and Carson Slovak (the duo behind Atrium Audio) capture that vocal intensity, especially on tracks like "Snowblood"? We dove into their process, and it’s packed with insights, particularly their aggressive approach to input compression and smart tuning strategies. If you're looking to elevate your own metal vocal recordings, you’ll want to take notes.

Grant and Carson have a clear division of labor: Carson typically handles the music, while Grant takes the lead on vocals. Let’s break down how Grant crafts those polished, powerful Erra vocal tracks.

The Erra Vocal Recording Chain: Gear Breakdown

The foundation of any great vocal recording is the signal chain. For Erra’s self-titled album, both JT and Jesse utilized the exact same setup, ensuring consistency whether screaming or singing.

The Mic of Choice: Manley Reference Cardioid

This isn't just any mic; it's a studio champion. Grant and Carson landed on the Manley Reference Cardioid after a comprehensive shootout years ago. They put it up against heavy hitters like an Ocean Way, a Bock, a Telefunken 251, a C12, various Neumanns (U87, U67) – the works. In blind listening tests, with objective ears in the room, the Manley consistently came out on top.

Why the Manley?

• "Hi-Fi" High End: Carson notes it has a hyped high-end, which can lend a "hi-fi" quality and tons of detail to vocals without sounding harsh.
• Full Body: Despite the prominent highs, it retains a really good full body, making it versatile for all sorts of vocal styles, from guttural lows to airy cleans.
• Consistency: It’s been their go-to for both singing and screaming, proving its mettle across a wide dynamic and timbral range. While some engineers have a love/hate relationship with this mic, for Grant and Carson, the blind test results spoke volumes. It sits in a sweet spot price-wise too (around $2500), outperforming even more expensive options in their experience.

Preamp Purity: Avalon 737

From the Manley, the signal flows into an Avalon 737. However, Grant is primarily using it for its pristine preamp section. The EQ and compression circuits on the Avalon were disengaged during the Erra sessions. The goal here is clean, uncolored gain before hitting the next crucial stage.

Aggressive Input Compression: The UA 1176 (Rev D)

This is where things get interesting and perhaps a bit "controversial" for some. The signal then hits a Universal Audio 1176 (a Rev D model, to be precise), and Grant isn't shy with it. He mentions getting the needle "pretty much dimed," aiming for around 20dB of gain reduction on the way in. Yes, you read that right – 20dB! This is a core part of their vocal sound. For more on how to wield such powerful tools, check out these metal compression secrets beyond just making it loud.

"Compress the Sh*t Out of Vocals": Grant McFarland's Input Philosophy

Slamming a vocal with that much compression on input might make some engineers nervous, but Grant has very specific reasons for this approach.

Why Go So Hard on Input Compression?

• End Goal in Mind: Grant emphasizes that he knows what they're aiming for in the final mix. This aggressive input compression is a deliberate step towards that polished, controlled sound.
• Vocalist Confidence & Performance: Heavily compressed vocals in the headphones can actually help the singer. When performing highly dynamic parts – from quiet, breathy sections to full-blown screams – the compression evens things out, allowing the vocalist to hear themselves more consistently. This can lead to a more confident and nuanced performance.
• Downstream Benefits for Editing & Mixing:
  • Plugin Performance: Vocal processing plugins, especially tuning software, tend to respond much better to a signal that's already controlled. If a note sustains and gets very quiet, tuning algorithms might lose track. A compressed signal keeps the level consistent, allowing the software to track the note for its entire duration.
  • Visual Editing: A compressed waveform is visually much easier to work with. When it comes to comping takes, aligning vocals (vocal-aligning), or even just seeing breaths and other noises you might want to edit out, a "brick-like" (but dynamically controlled) waveform makes the job faster and more precise.
  • Hardware Sound: Grant loves the sound of the hardware 1176 and prefers to commit to that sound upfront rather than trying to replicate it entirely with plugins later, though additional compression might still be added in the mix if needed.

Is It Risky? Committing to the Sound

Committing to such heavy processing on the way in means you can't undo it. But with experience and a clear vision, it's a powerful workflow. The key is knowing your gear and what you want to achieve.

Tuning Tactics: From Tracking to Final Polish

Vocal tuning is a staple in modern metal production, and Grant employs a multi-stage approach.

Real-Time Tuning for Performance Assessment

While tracking, Grant often uses tuning software live, but not necessarily for the vocalist to hear. For the Erra sessions, he likely used Autotune EFX. His current go-to for this task is Slate MetaTune.

• The Setup: He'll typically set this up on an auxiliary track. Grant monitors this tuned signal, while the vocalist hears their raw, unaffected performance.
• The Purpose: This isn't about the vocalist "needing" autotune to sing. Instead, it allows Grant to mentally separate the pitch accuracy from the emotional delivery of the performance. If a take is incredibly passionate but slightly off-key, the live tuning helps him hear the potential of that take once it's properly tuned. As Carson puts it, it’s like "pre-visualizing" how a take will respond to tuning – the less weird artifacts, the more spot-on the take.

The Nitty-Gritty: Manual Tuning with Waves Tune

About 80-90% of the time, once tracking is done, Grant will disable the live tuning plugin and meticulously tune vocals by hand. His tool of choice for this surgical work is Waves Tune.

• Why Waves Tune? He got familiar with it years ago and appreciates its feature set and workflow, finding he can achieve results faster and with fewer clicks compared to other options like Melodyne (which he used in the past). For highly detailed, graphical tuning on singing, he finds Waves Tune gives him the precise tools he needs.

When to Keep it "Imperfect": The Role of MetaTune in the Final Mix

For the remaining 10-20% of cases, or for specific stylistic choices (like some indie productions where a bit of natural "drift" is desirable), Grant might stick with the sound of Slate MetaTune in the final mix. Sometimes, a vocal that looks "out of tune" on a graph can still sound perfectly fine and characterful to the ear. It’s about knowing when to be a perfectionist and when to let a little "humanity" shine through.

Capturing Erra's massive vocal sound is a combination of smart gear choices, a bold approach to compression, and meticulous tuning. Techniques like slamming the input with an 1176 and using live tuning for performance assessment are killer strategies you can experiment with in your own productions.

Want to see how pros like Grant McFarland and Carson Slovak actually put these concepts into practice, dialing in every nuance on real-world sessions? At Nail The Mix, you get to be a fly on the wall. Every month, we deliver full multitrack sessions from huge metal bands (like the Erra "ERRA" session itself!) and you get to watch the original producers mix the songs from scratch, explaining their every move. It's an unparalleled way to learn.

Dive deeper into crafting professional metal mixes with our comprehensive course, Unlock Your Sound: Mixing Modern Metal Beyond Presets, and see these exact Erra vocal techniques in action by checking out the Nail The Mix "ERRA" session here. Stop guessing and start learning from the best in the game at NailTheMix.com.