Zenith Passage Guitar Tones: Amp Sims, Custom IRs & EQ Insights

Getting that face-melting, articulate, and downright heavy guitar tone is the holy grail for many metal producers. And when you hear the precision and power in a band like Zenith Passage, you know there’s some serious sonic alchemy at play. Lucky for us, producer Dave Otero (the man behind the board for their latest) recently peeled back the curtain on how these modern metal tones come together, especially when leveraging the power of plugins and Impulse Responses (IRs).

If you’re still on the fence about amp sims or wondering how to get the most out of your IRs, this one’s for you. We’re diving into Dave’s workflow and pulling out actionable tips you can use to elevate your own guitar productions. You can even hear these techniques in action and get the multitracks from the session by checking out the Zenith Passage NTM session.

The Modern Guitarist’s Arsenal: Amp Sims & Modelers

Long gone are the days when “digital” was a dirty word in guitar tone. As Dave Otero demonstrates, today’s tools are more than capable of crafting release-ready sounds.

Why Amp Sims Are No Longer a Compromise

Dave mentions that the guitarist for Zenith Passage has developed his signature sound primarily using plugins, and it’s “perfect for what he does.” This is a testament to how far amp simulation technology has come. Plugins like the Fortin Cali Suite, which Dave uses as a starting point in the session, offer incredible realism and tweakability, capturing the essence of legendary high-gain tube amps. He even mentions bouncing the original DI tracks with some Slate Digital VTM (Virtual Tape Machines) style processing, adding that analog warmth and saturation right in the box.

Beyond the Computer: The Power of Modelers

The beauty of these plugin-based tones is their portability. You don’t necessarily need a beastly computer rig to access them. Dave points out that you can get “pretty much probably this exact tone on a Quad Cortex or any one of the other modeling options out there.” These hardware modelers sound fantastic these days, meaning there’s “no excuse to not be practicing with something that’s pretty close to how you’ll be performing either in the studio or live.” This consistency between practice, stage, and studio is invaluable.

Sculpting the Core Tone: Essential EQ Moves

Once you have a solid amp sim tone dialed in, EQ is your next critical step. Dave Otero walks through some “standard moves” that many engineers apply, particularly when using a versatile EQ plugin like the FabFilter Pro Q3.

The “Standard Moves” with Pro Q3

For heavy guitars, certain frequency areas almost always need attention:

• High-Pass Filter: Cleaning up unnecessary sub-low rumble to make space for the bass guitar and kick drum. This tightens the low end significantly.
• Low-Pass Filter: Taming excessive high-end fizz or harshness that can make guitars sound thin or annoying.
• Tackling the Low-Mids: This area (often around 200-500Hz) can get muddy and congested quickly. Careful cuts here can improve clarity and punch.
• Controlling the Upper-Mids: While important for aggression and pick attack, the upper-mids (roughly 1kHz-4kHz) can also become harsh or “honky.” Strategic adjustments are key.

These are foundational steps to ensure your guitars sit well in a dense mix. For a deeper dive into these concepts, check out our EQ Strategies for Mixing Modern Metal hub page.

Finding the Sweet Spots for Your Mix

Dave emphasizes that these are “the areas that you just have to deal with on guitar.” Getting a good balance with these initial EQ adjustments sets the stage before you even think about more creative processing or blending. It’s about carving out space and enhancing the core characteristics of the tone.

Diving Deeper: The World of Impulse Responses (IRs)

Impulse Responses are digital snapshots of a speaker cabinet and microphone setup, and they play a massive role in the final sound of an amp sim. Dave Otero shows the power of experimenting with different IRs, including his own custom creations.

Stock vs. Custom IRs: Dave Otero’s Experiment

While the stock IRs in plugins like the Fortin Cali Suite sound great (and were used on the album mix), Dave got curious and decided to try an IR he made from his own cabinet. He’d recently started messing around with creating his own IRs and wanted to see how it would compare. This highlights a crucial aspect of modern tone shaping: the IR choice is as significant as the amp head itself.

Powerful IR Loaders: More Than Just Playback

Dave also touches upon the capabilities of modern IR loaders. He describes a “pretty new plugin” that he considers “probably the sickest IR loader.” These advanced tools offer features far beyond simply loading an IR file:

• Built-in EQ: Some come with extensive EQs, even mimicking the flexible interface of FabFilter’s Pro Q3, allowing you to shape the IR’s character directly within the loader.
• IR Blending: Many allow you to load multiple IRs and blend them, often using an XY pad to intuitively find the perfect mix between different cab/mic combinations.

Even though he didn’t have this specific advanced loader fully set up in the video for a complex blend, the mention underscores the creative possibilities these tools unlock.

Blending for Perfection: Combining IRs & Phase Coherency

After A/B-ing his custom IR with the stock Fortin Cali IR, Dave decided to explore blending them to get the best of both worlds. This is where things get really interesting.

The Art of Blending: Finding the Right Balance

Dave noticed distinct characteristics in each IR:

• Custom IR: Liked the top-end characteristics.
• Stock “Cali” IR: Appreciated how the low-end saturated.

Instead of choosing one, he opted to blend them, aiming for a slightly different outcome than the album mix, but still powerful. He didn’t feel the need for individual EQ shaping on each IR before blending, instead focusing on finding a good level balance between the two IR tracks, which were then bussed together for overall processing. He set them both to -4dB to maintain headroom going into the guitar group channel.

Ensuring Phase Coherency with Tools like Auto-Align

When blending different IRs (or mic signals), phase relationships are crucial. Even slight phase discrepancies can lead to a thin, hollow, or comb-filtered sound. Dave uses a tool like Sound Radix Auto-Align to check and correct this.

Interestingly, with amp sims and IRs, there’s often no significant time adjustment needed because there’s no physical space for sound to travel between mics. However, Auto-Align can still offer benefits through its spectral phase optimization. Dave notes, “I hear the slightest improvement in the low mids and how direct they feel together.” This subtle improvement can make a noticeable difference in the solidity and punch of the combined tone. He simply applied the same Auto-Align settings across all the rhythm guitar tracks after finding what worked on one.

Putting It All Together: Dialing in the Rhythm Guitars

With the blended IRs and phase alignment sorted, Dave moves on to integrating these new rhythm guitar tones into the mix with bass and drums. He mentions some pre-existing processing on the main rhythm guitar bus, which he then tweaks further to accommodate the new cab character. This iterative process—making a change, checking it in context, and refining—is key to a polished mix.

Your Turn: Applying These Techniques

Crafting killer metal guitar tones like those on Zenith Passage records involves a blend of great source tones (whether from real amps or amp sims like the Fortin Cali Suite), smart EQ choices (using tools like FabFilter Pro Q3), and careful IR selection and blending. Don’t be afraid to:

1. Embrace Plugins & Modelers: They are more than capable of pro results.
2. Master Foundational EQ: High-pass, low-pass, and tackle those tricky mid-range frequencies.
3. Experiment with IRs: Try stock IRs, third-party IRs, or even make your own!
4. Blend IRs for Unique Tones: Combine the best aspects of different IRs.
5. Check Your Phase: Use tools like Auto-Align to ensure your blended tones are solid and punchy.

These techniques, demonstrated by Dave Otero, can significantly level up your guitar sounds.

Want to see exactly how Dave Otero sculpts these tones, makes his mixing decisions, and brings a full Zenith Passage track to life? At Nail The Mix, we provide you with the original multitracks from massive metal songs and let you watch the actual producers mix them from scratch, explaining every move. Dive into the Zenith Passage NTM session with Dave Otero to get hands-on experience. And if you’re ready to truly transform your productions, explore how to Unlock Your Sound: Mixing Modern Metal Beyond Presets with our comprehensive resources.