Meshuggah Guitar Tone: Tue Madsen’s EQ & Gain Mixing Methods

Meshuggah. The name alone conjures images of impossibly complex rhythms and guitar tones that could level buildings. That earth-shattering, precise, and djenty sound is legendary. Ever wondered how those guitars get that signature aggressive clarity in a dense mix? We got a peek behind the curtain as legendary producer Tue Madsen (The Haunted, Behemoth, Sick of It All) broke down his approach to mixing Meshuggah’s guitars during a Nail The Mix session. Forget overly complicated signal chains; Tue’s methods often revolve around smart gain staging, careful listening, and incredibly precise EQ.

Let’s dive into some of the key techniques Tue shared for taming and shaping those iconic Meshuggah guitar tracks.

Setting the Stage: Gain and Initial Levels

Before even touching an EQ, getting the foundational elements right is crucial. Tue emphasized that the core guitar sounds and their relative levels were largely dialed in during the recording session itself.

Balancing Multiple Amps

With a band like Meshuggah, it’s common to use multiple amps to build a massive wall of sound. Tue explained that the levels of these different amps were decided in the studio and largely maintained in the mix. All the main guitar tracks were routed to a guitar group bus, allowing him to control their collective level and apply processing to the summed signal if needed. This approach simplifies managing complex guitar layers and ensures they work as a cohesive unit.

The “Lower Gain” Trick with Meshuggah

An interesting insight came when discussing sections with “half-gainy” or lower-gain guitars. Instead of running back and forth to adjust multiple amp settings – a potential nightmare with four amps roaring – the band opted for a simpler, effective solution: they just rolled back the volume knob on the guitars themselves. This naturally lowered the input to the amps, cleaning up the tone. Tue pointed out that you can even see this reflected in the DI signals, which are visibly lower for these parts. It’s a great reminder that sometimes the simplest solution on the instrument itself is the best.

The Art of Subtle Enhancement: The “C-Word” and Noise Gating

Beyond the raw amp tones, a few subtle touches can add character and polish.

Adding Character with the “C-Word”

Tue mentioned using a particular effect he playfully dubbed the “C-word” (likely a chorus, phaser, or similar modulation). He fed this effect using the high-output DI signal. What’s fascinating is his description of its impact: you don’t particularly miss it when it’s bypassed, but once you’ve heard it in the mix, taking it away leaves a noticeable void. It’s a testament to how subtle, almost subliminal effects can contribute to the overall texture and vibe without being overtly obvious. This kind of nuance is something you can explore in your own mixes – sometimes less is more, but that “less” can be surprisingly vital.

Practical Noise Gating

To keep things tight, especially in a high-gain metal mix, noise gates are often essential. Tue had a gate set up primarily to eliminate noise during any potential breaks or silent passages in the song. While he noted that this particular Meshuggah track didn’t have significant guitar breaks where a gate would be dramatically noticeable, it’s good practice to have one ready to clamp down on hiss and hum when the guitars aren’t playing.

Tue Madsen’s EQ Philosophy: Precision and Subtlety

This is where Tue really dug deep, sharing his meticulous approach to equalization. His philosophy isn’t about broad, sweeping changes but rather surgical precision and, most importantly, constant critical listening. For more foundational EQ strategies, check out our EQ hub page: Carve Your Core: EQ Strategies for Mixing Modern Metal.

The Hunt for Annoying Frequencies

When faced with a dense guitar tone, certain frequencies can build up and become irritating, especially at high volumes or over extended listening periods. Tue’s method for finding these culprits involves using a parametric EQ with a very narrow Q (bandwidth) and a significant boost. He then slowly sweeps this peak through the frequency spectrum.
When a problematic frequency is hit, it will often jump out as a distinct, unpleasant tone or whistle. Once identified, he then carefully notches it out.

Avoiding the “EQ Vortex”

A crucial warning Tue offered is to avoid the “EQ vortex.” This happens when you start chasing your tail: you cut one annoying frequency, which then makes another previously masked frequency seem too prominent. You cut that, and another appears, and so on. Before you know it, your EQ curve looks like a mountain range, and the original tone is decimated.
His advice? Be judicious. Sometimes a small dip is all that’s needed, not a massive cut. The goal is to alleviate the annoyance, not to fundamentally change the character of the sound you initially liked.

The Golden Rule: A/B Your EQ Moves

This is paramount. Whenever you make EQ adjustments, always bypass the EQ to compare it with the unprocessed signal. Did it really get better, or just different? Or, crucially, did it just get louder?
Tue shared a pro tip: adjust the input or output gain of your EQ plugin so that the level is consistent whether the EQ is active or bypassed. This prevents you from being fooled by a simple volume increase, which our brains often perceive as “better.” Ensure your EQ choices are genuinely improving the tone, not just making things louder.

Surgical EQ in Action on Meshuggah’s Guitars

Applying his philosophy, Tue demonstrated how he’d clean up and refine the Meshuggah guitar tones.

Eliminating “Noise Filters” for Clarity

He identified a specific high-frequency resonance in the guitars that acted like a persistent “noisy filter” – a kind of whistling or static overlay that wasn’t harmonically related to the guitar notes themselves.
By surgically removing this, he described an immediate sense of relief, like “my shoulders just relax.” The key here is that this type of cut doesn’t drastically alter the core guitar tone; it just removes an irritating layer, allowing the actual musical content to shine through with more clarity. He also stressed that “annoying” is subjective – what bothers one engineer might not bother another. It’s about trusting your ears and taste.

Taming Highs to Boost Highs

Sometimes, if you want to add more overall brightness or “air” to guitars, simply boosting the high shelf can introduce harshness or accentuate unpleasant frequencies. Tue’s approach is more nuanced. He first identifies and attenuates any specific “spiky” or annoying frequencies in the upper register with narrow cuts. Once these problem spots are tamed, he can then apply a broader high-frequency boost more aggressively without the sound becoming harsh or fatiguing. This allows the desirable “bite” and “scratchiness” to come through cleanly.

Dealing with Multi-Amp Bleed and Phase

Recording multiple cranked amps in the same room, as is often done for sounds like Meshuggah’s, inevitably leads to bleed between microphones. Each mic predominantly captures its intended amp, but it also picks up sound from the other amps. This creates phase interactions.
Tue acknowledged that while these phase issues can technically be “wrong,” there’s sometimes “something nice about something being wrong.” It can add a certain character or width. However, excessive phase incoherence can lead to a messy, unfocused sound. His surgical EQ work helps to clean up some of the problematic frequency build-ups and cancellations caused by this bleed, resulting in a guitar sound that feels tighter, more focused, and ultimately, even louder and more powerful because the clarity is improved. It’s like removing that “annoying guy whistling in the background” so you can just enjoy the music.

Bringing It All Together for That Meshuggah Crunch

Tue Madsen’s approach to mixing Meshuggah’s guitars, particularly his EQ techniques, highlights a blend of technical precision and artistic intuition. It’s about:

• Solid Foundations: Getting levels and basic gain structure right from the start.
• Subtle Enhancements: Using effects like modulation thoughtfully to add character.
• Surgical EQ: Identifying and addressing specific problem frequencies with narrow cuts rather than broad, tone-altering strokes.
• Critical Listening: Constantly A/B testing and trusting your ears to guide your decisions.
• Managing Complexity: Using EQ to clean up issues arising from multi-amp setups, like phase and bleed, to achieve a tighter, more focused sound.

These insights show that achieving a massive and clear metal guitar tone isn’t always about piling on more distortion or aggressive processing. Often, it’s the careful, subtractive work and attention to detail that makes the biggest difference.

Want to see Tue Madsen mix this Meshuggah track from scratch and explain every decision in real-time? You can get access to the full session, along with the multi-tracks, exclusively in this Nail The Mix session. It’s one thing to read about these techniques, but watching a master like Tue apply them is a whole different level of learning.

If you’re serious about taking your metal mixes to the next level, explore everything Nail The Mix has to offer. And for a comprehensive journey into modern metal mixing beyond just presets, check out our Unlock Your Sound: Mixing Modern Metal Beyond Presets guide.