EQ Magazine - February 2008 - (Page 30) Drummer The Rev works out a piano riff. genuine and impassioned rock band. But the cynics would be full of whale poop. First, consider that only extremely dedicated wackos would dare play loud guitars if they were seeking fame and fortune in the current music culture. Check out the charts— unless Alicia Keys and Carrie Underwood and Fergie are shredding (they’re not), then guitar-based music is not exactly conquering the download generation. Then, there’s the fact that Avenged guitarists Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance made the cover of the October 2006 issue of Guitar Player because they mastered the incredibly intricate and technically brutal art of sweep picking, stole licks from Steely Dan, and crushed nu-metal convention by taking long, blistering guitar solos. They even played—gasp—harmony lines that would have made Thin Lizzy and Lynyrd Skynyrd cry tears of joy. And let’s not underestimate the band’s old-school work ethic and lofty creative aspirations. These guys seem to work as hard to make their music absolutely right as Bruce Springsteen does. And, arguably, they might even be a bit more, um, progressive than The Boss. Finally—and here’s the f**k you moment for the cynical militias of the world—Avenged Sevenfold’s sweat has actually paid off. They have a rabid fan base, their songs consistently hit the Top 40 of U.S. singles charts, they copped Best New Artist honors at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, and they clocked tons of acts to reach the final four of FUSE’s “Best of 2007. ” For its recent self-titled album [Warner Bros.], the group upped its game some more, deciding to produce the record itself—a move that also inspired the members (which, in addition to Gates and Vengeance, includes vocalist M. Shadows, bassist Johnny Christ, and drummer The Rev) to crank up the excitement level by incorporating their varied stylistic influences into the band’s signature sound. The result is a soundscape that slams rock hard, while simultaneously molding progrock, hip-hop, electronica, orchestral, and music-theater elements into its core. Here, engineer Fred Archambault and Gates detail how Avenged Sevenfold crafted a metal epic. What made the band want to take on the production duties for Avenged Sevenfold? Gates: The easy answer is that we met with a bunch of producers, and no one really worked out. But there’s also the fact that we’re really into audio production. When we listen to CDs, we listen to all the elements. As much as we check out other artists, we follow producers, as well. When you met with those producers, what were some of the things that prompted the band to think, “We don’t want these guys. Let’s do it ourselves”? Gates: There were a couple of things. One producer was like, “I’m there to challenge you. One of the coolest things a band said to me was that I’m the best arguer around—I could talk them into anything. And we thought, “Whoa, that’s ” a little too much for us. We’ve grown up ” together, we’re all really great friends, and we didn’t want to argue about anything. We’re all pretty much on the same wavelength regarding tones, lyrics, and performances—there’s never a struggle. We also had a clear vision of the record, and we didn’t want anything to mess with our chemistry as a band. What types of records were you referencing during pre-production? Gates: We listened to lots of hip-hop records, as well as to Metallica to check out the bigger sonic stuff. A lot of metal records don’t really sound that huge, and we really wanted to produce a big and diverse sound—just like our favorite hiphop records. If you play this record on a really nice stereo, it’s going to give you everything from the lowest lows to the highest highs. Fred, what was your first impression of the material when you were confronted with it? Archambault: I’ve been involved with the band since Waking the Fallen in 2003, so I’ve gotten to know the guys not only as musicians, but as friends. I know how musically diverse they are, so the album’s mix of influences and styles was not really a surprise to me. If you hang out in their tour bus when the band is on the road, you hear everything from Big & Rich to Danny Elfman. We actually talked about this record quite a bit—starting six months before the band decided to produce it. There was a lot of preparation and forethought going on. I’d listen to the demos, meet with the band, and talk with David Schiffman—who was the other engineer on the project—to start developing a game plan for the studio. And, ultimately, our job became trying to get the sounds the band was talking about out of the speakers. Did you and David develop any overriding strategies to manifest the band’s sonic ideas? Archambault: We quickly determined that we couldn’t rely on defaults. The normal things we often do—such as 30 EQ FEBRUARY 2008 www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.