Intervals Lead & Solo Mixing: Sam Guaiana’s “Lock and Key” Approach

Ever wrestled with getting multiple lead guitars and solos to sit right in a dense metal mix? You want them full, distinct, yet glued to the track. It’s a common headache. The band Intervals is a prime example of intricate lead and solo work, and in his Nail The Mix session for "Lock and Key," producer Sam Guaiana unveiled his refreshing strategies for making every melodic line shine.

Forget cookie-cutter approaches. Sam’s techniques are all about giving each lead part its own identity while ensuring they all belong to the same sonic universe. Let’s dive into how he sculpted those killer Intervals guitar tones.

Crafting the "Album Lead": The Foundation for Intervals' Soaring Melodies

For Intervals, the main lead tone is a cornerstone of their sound, often being the first thing to grab your attention, sometimes doubled with a synth for extra impact. Sam explained that much of this "Album Lead" tone was dialed in at the source.

Amp Choice: The Core of the Tone

The journey starts with a high-gain lead amp – think the aggressive character of a 5150 or 6505. This became the go-to lead sound across the record. While Aaron Marshall (Intervals' guitarist) likely dialed it in, Sam mentioned potentially tweaking the cab later. The key is a lead sound that’s distinctly different from the rhythm guitars, ready to answer the call of creative, attention-grabbing lines.

Strategic Widening for Impact

To give the lead a sense of space and an almost '80s guitar vibe (but modern and not cheesy!), Sam employed a widener plugin. He ran this pre-fader, much like he’d treat a lead vocal.

Crucially, this lead wasn’t sent to the main guitar reverb bus. Why? To avoid a buildup of frequencies and keep the lead focused. The delay used on the lead already had its own reverb and delay baked in, so sending it to another shared room verb could easily become "too much of a good thing," as Sam put it. This keeps the lead more direct and articulate.

EQing for Clarity and Punch: Carving Space in the Mix

EQ plays a massive role in how the lead interacts with the rest of the mix. Here’s Sam’s philosophy:

• No Low-End Necessary: The lead guitar doesn't need its own low-end. The bass guitar already covers that territory, especially since both often sit down the middle. Adding lows to the lead would just create mud. He focuses on getting rid of those "ooky ghost frequencies."
• Mid-Management for Bass: With a preference for mid-forward bass tones, Sam carves out a little space in the lead guitar's midrange. This isn't a massive scoop, but a targeted cut to prevent the lead and bass from fighting for the same frequency real estate. For more general strategies on taming frequencies, check out our EQ hub page.
• Taming Shrill Highs: That super shrill top-end that nobody needs? Gone. Sam uses filtering to remove it, which also helps balance the dynamics of different notes. When Aaron jumps to lower notes, this prevents them from "popping out" harshly. Sam even calls this "compression through subtractive EQing" – a smart way to balance the tone before any actual compressors hit it.
• Thin in Solo, Full in Mix: It's funny, Sam notes, how this lead might sound thin on its own. But in the context of the full mix, it’s perfectly balanced. This is a testament to mixing with the bigger picture in mind.

The "Sam Start This Settings" SSL Polish

After the subtractive EQ, it's time for some classic console-style processing to pin the lead in place. Sam uses an SSL-style plugin (you know the one!) for a bit of compression and a touch of top-end. What’s cool is that by boosting something like an 8kHz shelf after already cleaning up the extreme highs, you get a pleasing bell curve. This brings out the best, musical part of that 8k shimmer without reintroducing the harsh fizz he already cut.

Dynamic Widening with Automation

The widener isn't an "always-on" effect. During the pre-chorus of "Lock and Key," where the rhythms are tight and the drums are flying, Sam automates the widener off. This helps the lead feel more focused and direct. Then, when the chorus kicks back in, the widener re-engages, pulling your ears out and creating a more surrounding, impactful vibe – similar to how he might treat a bass widener.

Elevating the "Album Solo": Same Tone, Different Attitude

When it's time for the main guitar solo, Sam uses the exact same "Album Lead" amp tone. The settings on the SSL compressor are even the same. The differentiation comes from slightly different EQ choices and one key plugin.

EQ Adjustments for Solo Space

During the solo, many other elements in the track (like rhythm guitars) often pull back or drop out entirely. This creates more sonic space. Sam takes advantage of this by being a bit more relaxed with his low-end cutting on the solo. While the truly annoying stuff is still removed, he allows a bit more of the solo's natural low-mid body to come through, as there's no rhythm guitar enforcing that area. He also mentioned touching the filter if the solo started lacking body, to bring some of that fullness back.

Adding Grit with Radiator

Here’s where the solo gets its unique character: the Soundtoys Radiator plugin. Sam loves this for adding a very pleasing preamp-style distortion. It’s not harsh saturation, but a musical grit that adds a "purposeful hiss" – think the top end you get from a guitar amp, but without the extreme, often annoying, fizziness.

This Radiator treatment does a few cool things:

• It makes pinch harmonics pop, creating an almost "mightiness" by layering harmonics on harmonics.
• It gives the solo a raw, "amp in the room, just plugged in and playing" vibe, even though it’s highly processed.
• It helps fast runs sound clear and cool.
• It emulates that classic '80s rock guitar sound where you can hear the actual console being pushed hard on a solo.

This distinct processing helps the solo stand out from other lead moments that use the same core tone.

Supporting Roles: Mixing "Answer Guitars" and "Verse Leads"

Intervals' music is full of layers and interplay. Beyond the main leads and solos, Sam detailed his approach to other melodic guitar parts.

"Answer Guitars": Subtlety is Key

There are "answer" guitar lines that pop in, often an octave up, playing off the main melodies. For these, Sam clones the main lead settings but with two crucial differences:

1. No Extra Top End: The SSL's 8kHz boost is bypassed. Brightness can make things sound closer, and the goal here is for these answer guitars to sit a little further back, like background vocals.
2. No Radiator: Again, these parts aren't meant to jump out aggressively, so the extra distortion from Radiator isn't needed.

They are there to enforce and add texture, not to steal the spotlight.

The "Verse Lead": A Darker, Riffier Voice

For verse sections, Sam often employed a different lead tone altogether – what he calls a "riffy lead." This isn't the bright, flashy lead of the chorus; it's more subdued, darker, and intimate, almost like a filtered vocal.

The EQ moves start similarly to the main lead (addressing common guitar problem frequencies), but then he'll tailor it. For instance, he might bring back a bit more low-end if the part calls for it. He also mentioned using dynamic EQ to tame a specific problem frequency in this tone. A nice reverb (Sam noted it might have been built into the amp sim he was using for this DI'd part) adds to its character. Vocal-style delay throws were also added to these verse leads late in the game to give them extra movement and interest.

The "Lo-Fi Boy" Texture

Briefly, Sam touched on a "Lo-Fi Boy" sound, built using Neural DSP's Archetype: Nolly. This was essentially the album lead tone, but EQ'd to function more like a rhythm part for a specific section. He even used a Gamechanger Audio Plasma Pedal (via its "lo-fi switch") to get some "spank" and a Waves OneKnob plugin (likely Pumper or Filter) for some movement. This shows how versatile even a core lead tone can be with creative processing.

The Power of Automation: Bringing Leads to Life

One of the most crucial, yet sometimes overlooked, aspects of mixing intricate guitar parts is automation. Sam emphasized this for making production decisions truly pop.

Level Automation for Seamless Transitions

You'll see on his lead bus that the volume often pops up by about a dB whenever the main left and right rhythm guitars disappear. This is a manual balancing act. While a slow compressor like an LA-3A might sometimes handle this, Sam found that direct volume automation was far more effective for these intricate parts. When things get busy, don't be afraid to get in there and draw in those level changes. It’s the key to ensuring leads maintain their presence and impact as the arrangement shifts.

These detailed automation moves, applied directly to the tracks rather than just master buses, ensure that every moment has the space it needs to be heard clearly.

Making Your Own Leads & Solos Soar

Sam Guaiana’s approach to mixing Intervals' leads and solos in "Lock and Key" is a masterclass in creating distinct, impactful, and well-balanced guitar melodies. From amp selection and strategic widening to meticulous EQ, characterful distortion, and precise automation, every decision serves the song.

Want to see how pros like Sam actually dial in these sounds, make those critical EQ choices, and automate their way to a polished mix? With Nail The Mix, you get to be a fly on the wall. Each month, you receive the actual multi-tracks from huge rock and metal songs and watch the original producers, like Sam Guaiana mixing Intervals (grab those Intervals multitracks and Sam's full session here!), mix them from scratch, explaining every move. It's an unparalleled way to unlock your sound and learn to mix modern metal beyond presets.

If you're ready to take your lead and solo mixing to the next level, applying these concepts is a great start. And if you want to dive even deeper into how Sam sculpted the entire "Lock and Key" mix, definitely check out his full Nail The Mix session with Intervals.