How'd they get this sound?

[losthighway]

Hey gang! I've posted before about how I have dozens of these, but I'll refrain from asking about all of them at once.

I've always wondered about how this Leatherface mix holds together as a totally jacked, punk rock mix:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OZaZLl4zPg

There are the obvious points:
Over cranked snare drum (which usually I hate), smashed room mic (yet the loud hi hats don't bother me here as they often do), huge guitars!

This whole release has shades of this sound, but this song is the slowest so you can pick around a little more.

How do you think they manage to first of all have such a massive guitar sound, and second for the vocals to be audible over all of that volume?

How are they getting away with so much squishing so well? Obviously this thing is compressed, but everything I've tried to jack up like this does not come across with this much life.

Obviously, this type of mix only works for 1 or 2 kinds of bands, but it's pulled off better than I usually hear it. Any observations would be illuminating.

[Magnetic Services]

The hard-panned guitars certainly help the vocal have its own space, and they don't have a ton of high- or low-end to compete with the cymbals or bass. The toms also seem to be panned pretty wide, helping them stick out from the bass. Seems like some no-frills, good-ol'-fashioned balancing from a competent mixer!

The mix doesn't actually sound that extreme to me, but it's really good and I think more punk acts should go for this kind of sound! This is coming from a guy who has worked with a lot of hardcore/screamo bands and definitely made things "too extreme" before .

BTW, what do you mean by over-cranked snare? Like tuned tight?

[losthighway]

BTW, what do you mean by over-cranked snare? Like tuned tight?

Yes, I realized that was not very specific. They tuned it really high and it has a bit of that "pong" sound to it.

Maybe it's not as smashed as I think, just the tones, panning, eq choices and room sound give it a lot of impact.

It might be, from a mix perspective, one of my favorite "aggressive rock" recordings. The only person I hear getting this balance is Kurt Ballou of Converge who was interviewed in TapeOp a year or so ago.

[vvv]

Not familiar with him; reminds me of a even rawer Mike Ness (Social Distortion).

[joninc]

guitars are LOUD

drums are crisp but not overly thick in comparison - more cutting with lots of attack.

bass isn't too loud either.

vocals aren't too loud.

makes more room for GUITAR