Episode 3 - Layering Guitars 

Love it Ken!! Keep going my friend!

The fact that one of my favorite musicians and producers is now making youtube videos just made my day. Keep em coming!

your son crawling in the room is priceless.

Is Ronen petting the carpet or saying hello to the rug's topography?

Could you do a whole episode on Another Space Song? It's my favourite song of all time

Your Insight on Bass also would be cool, especially the FX and tone in Another Space Song, Thank you, Ken!

Listen up boys and girls. The master is ensuring his legacy.

The (not) automation point in this vid is actually amazing. I don't know why I didn't think about that. Thank you very much!

Ronan ftw! In addition to the layered guitars, the layered vocals at the end of Apocalypse Blooms never fail to give me chills. So lush, and yet strangely foreboding.

Apocalypse Blooms is my favorite track off the new album. Fascinating to see the breakdown of the mix. #RonenBomb

Great video! I've always layered my guitars mostly because my playing sucks, but also because I record solo and I just enjoy playing along. The timing being just a hair off does give the guitars that fuller richer sound! THX for the video!

My soul is regenerated from watching these. Thank you so much for sharing! Your band and talent are a great inspiration. #AndrewsKenFortheWin

Love you Ken! Thank so much for your channel.

An episode on the recording process/techniques of fantastic planet would be so awesome! It's one of my favorite albums and i don't think I'm the only one... anyways great channel, awesome to have you on youtube!

Sorry if anybody already posted this. But you and Beato should collaborate on a video about getting huge guitar sound.

Loving these videos, Ken. I'm sure I'm not the only one requesting this, but I'd LOVE to see an episode dedicated to vocal tracking and mixing. Given that you've mixed a wide range of vocalists such as yourself, Anthony G. and Hayley W., it could be extremely informative to see how you approach each of those timbres and tones with processing and mixing into the track. Thank you, sensei.

I stumbled on Ken's channel while looking for recording and mixing wisdom, and it's sent me down a wonderful rabbit hole of discovery... I'm embarrassed to admit I was completely unaware of Ken and Failure. I'm about Ken's age, and Failure would have been right up my alley during their first act in the 90's. It's a huge shame I missed them then, but I understand why. I moved from Austin to the Bay Area in the mid-90's. The Internet wasn't yet much of way to seek out music, I went from Waterloo Records to a ho-hum Tower Records, and I was exploring a lot of electronic music at that time. The silver lining to this sad tale is that now I've embarked on a fantastic musical journey working my way through Ken's and Greg's various projects. Failure's sound on the recordings I've listened to thus far is pure sonic and musical bliss. Ken, I hope you'll discuss your bass sound (well, *all* the sounds, really) on "Distorted Fields" and "Hot Traveler" at some point. Those two tracks nearly made my head explode! BTW folks, if you haven't checked out Failure's KEXP performance, you're in for a treat. The band is tight and the sound is superb. Best version of "Another Space Song" I've heard yet! The parent in me really enjoyed Ronen's stealthy army crawl...

This is my new favorite channel, all of these other pages about mixing have good snippets of info here and there but it’s never really my style. I honestly started losing hope in trying to learn more recently, but after coming home from a 14 hr shift last night and watching a few of your videos it’s like a new found energy to want to try again.

I definitely want to see your process for creating the segues that failure is known to do, how do you thread them from one song to another, how do you think about what it's going to be or how it's going to be composed? Really happy you're doing the RU-vid thing now man, it brightens my day to see one of my heroes showing me tips and tricks

I'll admit I've lifted from Fantastic Planet the doubling of acoustic guitars underneath the electric, it really does complete the atmosphere for what I do, so I roll with it.

These videos are great Ken, definitely keep them coming! Your Year Of The Rabbit album has one of my favourite drum sounds to date, so would love to hear a little about how you achieved that. Fantastic work on the new Jimmy album too - more awesome sounding drums (and everything else). Looking forward to more videos - and thanks!

Hi Ronen! 👋 That also added some humanity! Love these videos! Thanks so much! I'd like to hear the story behind "Undone" and its production. Start to finish it's a powerhouse of a tune!🤘🎸🎤🥁

Thank you for making my life a little less mundane by making fantastic planet.

Great stuff, thanks Ken. Would certainly love to see a video on dialing in bass tones, your use of over driven and distorted bass sounds is great as there is so much grit yet tonal clarity. After hearing your comments on how you all approach song writing possibly a longer video on that process with some lessons learned on how to get the process to flow. Again, thanks so much for the music and these videos.

I was really hoping to find a new vid from you today and boom there it was . My shitty day was rescued ! THANKYOU !!!!!!!

THANK YOU KEN!!! i cant say how thankful i am that you made this video,this made my YEAR. Apocalypse Blooms is the best sounding track i have ever heard, the drums,bass,the chord progression and then vocals kind of float on top, its a perfect mix. This song got me through a rough period of my life, and being a guitar player to hear it like this is really special. thanks again for putting the time into these videos! we all look forward to the next one.

Just want to say thank you Ken for this video and for all of the music over the years that has helped me more than you'll ever know THANK YOU 🙏🏼

I’d love to see a mini series breaking down one Failure song from start to finish. I think it would be a great way to get a wide view on your workflow

Awesome! What comes to mind after the outro is: Please make a video about the synths in Distorted Fields! In a strange way this is a song I always knew I'd like to hear on a Failure record, and then there it was when LP5 came out.

Ken, your channel couldn't have come at a better time. I recently started to explore recording, mixing and experimenting with whatever I come across. Can be quite overwhelming being so green in this subject, so I appreciate anything and everything you can shine a light on. Thanks in advance.

Ken, You’ve always been a badass and currently you are an older and wiser yet greater Badass ! I love that your doing this. All the best to you bro ! Steve

Nicely done Ronen!

Really glad & appreciate you doing this Ken. Cheers.

Ever since I first listened to Fantastic Planet, I started a rewarding journey into gear, guitars and now recording. Thanks for the work you’ve done!

Hi, Ken! If I had the opportunity to take a peek into the process of creating music, by any artist I know, I would definetely choose you. Everything you produce has a really significant sound, which resonates with me on so many levels. By making this channel you've made a lot of people happy, just like with the music you release. If I can make a request, I would love to see how you record and tweak bass guitar. Cheers!

Emphasize, texture, sonic chaos! That's what it's about. Every song doesn't have to be dense, and it doesn't have to be dense by using a lot of overdriven guitars, mostly playing the power chords. Finding the right thing to play over the chords, that's not easy. I love the atmosphere of this song, and it's great to see a little about the building blocks of it.

Another amazing episode, thanks so much! One thing that really leapt out at me on the recent record was the vocal treatments. Dunno if it's just me, but I really hear a lot different approaches to how the vocals were handled on "In the Future..." in terms of effects and also levels. It would be amazing to hear you talk about your approach to the vocals at some stage if you wanna! Many thanks for reading the comments!

Ken it's truly amazing to see you embrace the social video space like this and share what clearly all of your fans and fellow musicians already knew....that your skills are unique and have resulted in amazing, timeless music. As a drummer that LOVES the way your drum sounds translate to finished music I'd love to see you spend some time on how you generate your drum sounds in a bit of detail. I'm from the same peer group as Molly McGuire, when I lived in KC in the late 90's for a spell, I got to talking to Jason Gerken about working with you and we geeked out on the sounds. Let me also say Lime is a GREAT SOUNDING album too. Anyway, would very much enjoy you unpacking your technique on recording drums because I can't recall a more massive sound than what you dialed with Kelli on Fantastic Planet.

When that kick drum comes in, it's bliss. Best track off of the record.

Became a fan of your's in just this past year. I'm 19 and I've been getting all my friends hooked on your records. ON, YOTR and Failure are all such huge influences on the music I'm writing. You, Greg and Kellii are all legends.

failure's sound is a huge inspiration, so stoked to stumble upon this channel. Was hoping you could do a video on how you get your bass and lower guitar frequencies to sound so huge without making it muddy. keep the videos coming!

This is a great series of information Ken!! Since I was a kid I always wondered how it all came together, constructing the FAILURE albums.

I’m sure it has been asked for already, but I would love for you to talk about drums. Specifically, how you add weight and size. Your snares have a body and snap to them that hits like a punch to the face(in the best possible way). Mulholland Drive is a great example of this. Also, thanks for doing this. It’s a unexpected dose of inspiration each time a video drops.

So cool! Thanks for sharing!

One of the most badass dudes ever! Loving it, Ken! Your mixes and songwriting are mindblowing!

Why hasn't Ken scored and narrated audiobooks? I would love to hear his voice and music for the audiobooks of Solaris and Roadside Picnic (Stalker).

Ken! Thank you so much for these! You guys give back so much to your fans. It's greatly appreciated.

You have to do one on a full mix! Love ya pal. -Kenny Swirl360

First off, the fact that you’re doing RU-vid videos now is *awesome*. Secondly, your section about using so many tracks as opposed to automation makes so much more sense and kind of validates my own habit to do the same XD

Ken, I love the inclusion of the airy keyboard notes underneath the guitars/mix. Subtle inclusions like that RULE, especially with brevity. It makes the listener's ears perk because there's something else going on there. It's just so cool! It's impossible for them to decipher what it is, hee hee hee, because there are endless ways to do it. That's one thing I've always loved about Deftones' Frank Delgado. He does such a fantastic job with very subtle undercurrents of badass sounds. If you remove it from the mix, it ruins the texture as well as that moment in the song (in my humble opinion). SO glad you're doing these episodes. Exciting!!!!!!

new to the channel, new to you, new to your band Failure. 3 very good things i discovered by accident today. Great channel, and the layering in this (fantastic) song is brilliant. definitely going to steal your ideas. Sorry.

Thanks for making these videos Ken, officially my favourite channel. I'd love to see how you setup your main guitar and bass tones in the AxeFX as I'm a tone nerd. Also loving the inside look into your recording process. I'm primarily a writer/player but always trying to learn the engineering and mixing side of things. I would be very interested to see which plugins you use regularly and how you utilise them. Loving the content so far, awesome work.

Well man, thanks for sharing your ideas because I find them really inspiring and original. Also they seem to work. I´m working nowadays mostly with layers of guitars, some programmed drums and basses, and you gave me very interesting ways of facing the mixing task. Best regards

This info is invaluable! Thank you so much for these videos and your wonderful music!

Dude, these videos are so cool, I’m late to the party, but I was just thinking the other day how layering acoustic guitars and electric guitars (or some variation on clean+distorted layers) always sounds really good. This is a perfect example of that. Thanks Ken!

Hi Ken! I'm currently an audio production student and wow, it's awesome to see a video like this from you: the person who has inspired me the most to pursue this path. I really enjoyed this video and I'm excited for more to come

Yes, hello Ken! This is so rad I found your channel. Me and my buddy would always cruise to see you guys at the Casbah down in San Diego. Those were the days. Keep on creating my friend.

Hey Ken. Longtime fan of both your music and production. I would love to see a video of how you treat Sid chain compression with the kick and bass guitar. Distorted Fields is the song that comes to mind where both the bass and drums are really locked in both musically and mixed together well.

This channel is so fucking good I feel like you're just being such a bro for all of us and helping us out a ton

This is amazing!!! Thank you so flipping much

So glad Ken finally decided to do a RU-vid channel! The man himself opening up a PT session and walking through guitar tracks of a Failure song? Smashed the subscribe button immediately

Thanks so much for posting. You're responsible for some of my favorite guitar & bass tones of all time. Huge bottom end while being super controlled. I'm always striving for it, but never quite get it in my own mixes. Also, that spitty fuzzy tone at the chorus of Found A Way...👌

Ronen stealing the show! The mix and layering on 'I can see houses' blows my mind every time I hear it. everything isolated on it probably sounds pretty plain but it's so epic sounding. Thanks again Ken! if you keep making 'em I'll keep watching 'em.

Awesome. Hoping to see a video on your vocal chain, and how you processed vocals on your last couple of failure albums.

love you ken! you mentioned in your first vid about enjoying the engineering/mixing aspect as much as the writing and playing aspect when you began with failure. I too have a passion now for these aspects since the guys i jam with and I have started writing and recording a lot and getting more into gear. I've taken the lead on everything from setting up mics to learning studio one and to mix our tracks. I am still extremely green but have been going down this rabbit hole for the better part of a year now. Just wanted to say thank you for starting this channel. Failure has always been one of my alltime favorite bands and you are really the guy i look up to when it comes to writing music w my band and recording us and so on. Very much looking forward to your videos! Thanks for everything you've done sir!

LOL, love the unprompted cameo of your little guy in the background.

Failure has meant so much to our band through the years, so this is such a goldmine of knowledge and an amazing thing to watch. Thank you!

Thank you, maestro! I’m currently enrolled in Audio Engineering, and your work was a major influence in my decision to enter this field. Your insights are absolutely invaluable!

Kind of reminda me of my audio/video class I took back in the day. I've always been fascinated by this sonic stuff.

Thank you so much Ken for your talented vision of sound!

Hey Ken, I’ve been a huge fan since the early 90’s (yeah that makes me feel old too). Just wondering if you can talk about Year of The Rabbit and why the project didn’t pan out? You guys released some great work there and I loved the vocal similarities between you and Jeff Garber. Thanks for doing these videos!

this is pure gold.thank you

Hi Ken, your music is incredible. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. Love Failure and Year Of The Rabbit.

I loved it when you said to just experiment. I think that's why recording and mixing is an art. Some people might think it's straight engineering, and when you listen to their music it really sounds like. But when I listen to Failure or for example Desert Sessions, I listen to the art of sound mixing.

First off thank you so much for these! Extremely helpful. I'm in the process of setting up a new studio. 2nd, and may be my favorite part, the young one "snaking" behind you.

Awesome that you are doing these Ken. I was always a fan of the octave up parts you do, what did you use for this effect back in the 90's? Was it an overdubbed "whammy pedal up an octave"? I liked the raw lofi quality... is it even guitar, on the intro to "Stuck On You", or keys?

I found refuge on Failure band thru out the grunge days. I was sitting at RAJI's in Hollywood drinking a beer, & I remember Paul *old Tool bassist telling me, "Hey, you should check the next band, they're really good" & They truly were. I myself earn a living as a sound engineer. I find your platform extremely interesting & inspiring as well as educational. Thank you so much

Thank you so much for these videos.

Well this is priceless! Mixing my latest E.P. and took a break to see what Ken had to say about it...damn man you just lay it out in the real terms of creativity flowing...Love it!

My brother and I really enjoy these videos. I have been following the bands music since back in the day...Good stuff Ken.

Man! Thanks so much for this channel! I can't wait for a vocal episode. It seems that you see vocals as an integral part of the song and don't just mix around them. And of course: love your Music! 🤘😎

Loving these videos. Excited to see more!

Awesome as always, thanks ken!

Ken Andrews you're a hell of a musician. Have yet to see Failure live one day...been wanting to since the heart is a monster comeback album!

Thanks for making these videos

Thank you for doing this.

Welcome to the world of RU-vid. It’s got to be said (and I’m sure I echo the words of subscribers) that if money or the right project ever came up to have you working on it, then it would be absolute audio sonic magic man! In the mean time, I shall watch your channel, keeping an eye out for bass and drum tones!

Just gold, my mixes are backwards staircases but I’m ending up with a lot of “muddy’ sounding guitars, this helps so much and I’d love to see an episode on taming Kelly’s drum kit! Especially bass drum gets me.

Enjoying this series so far! Keep up the good work! Thanks!!

Can we get an episode on your recording/songwriting process for Shifting Skin? Especially songs like Slingshot or Perfect Imposter? So many aspects of those songs immediately catch my ear. Specifically you blending synth lines with Rock rhythms, and your use of vocal effects. These videos are really interesting and fun to watch! Thanks Ken!

Thanks, Ken! These are great!

Seriously inspiring, love this Ken!!!!

Perfecto Ken!!!!. Gracias!!! a la espera de otro episodio!!!.

This is awesome Ken! Keep on rocking!

This channel/series is literally a dream come true. I've been waiting for something like this forever. Ken, you are hands down my favorite producer / mixer / engineer, and hearing Fantastic Planet for the first time completed changed the game for me. Plus, Apocalypse Blooms is my favorite track off of In the Future...and I especially loved the guitar work. Keep it up man. I would love to see an episode on how you achieve that gnarly Failure bass tone (Heliotropic, No One Left, etc). To second another commenter here, this video also made my day. Thank you for this.

I love this!!! Really enjoyed your explanation of putting the song together and how to layer the different tracks.

Ken, these videos rock! TY!

Awesome video. You just changed my work flow forever. Many thanks!

Would love to see a video on the roomy drum sounds of the Paramore Self Titled record. Love those drums!

Hey Ken: Love these 3 episodes so far. I might suggest throwing in a vocabulary lesson here and there and what a listener hears and listens to when you do the work you do.