Death By Design FL

I’m doing this for ME because I love Metal with a passion, and specifically have an acquired taste for Technical Death Metal. However, I’m sure that I am not alone in the world with this appetite for very unique styles that center around Brutal Death Metal. So here we are, YOU reading this, and me typing this to upload to the Internet to answer questions you may want to know about music that you may enjoy as much as I do.

I get this question quite often so here are all the details you may want to know. When sculpting the sonic chaos and immersive brutality I desire, every element of the production chain matters. From microphone choice to digital effects, the tools I use are carefully selected to enhance the vision that I have. Specifically for this debut album "Metal Multiverse” which is a high-speed, technically advanced death metal journey inspired by the Marvel Avengers universe. Here’s a detailed breakdown of the hardware and software gear that fuels my creative process.

Vocals: RØDE NT1 Signature Series Microphone - At the core of my vocal capture is the RØDE NT1 Signature Series, a microphone known for its incredibly low self-noise (just 4.5 dBA), wide dynamic range, and rich clarity. It’s ideal for harsh vocal techniques, especially the deep growls and layered screams that define tech-death metal vocals.
• Why I use it: - Its natural flat frequency response accurately captures the raw tonal character of my voice, from guttural lows to midrange snarls, with minimal coloration — providing a clean slate for post-processing.
• Paired With: - Vocal takes are tracked in a treated space to reduce reflections, allowing this mic’s nuance and detail to shine, especially once run through Logic Pro X’s suite of post-processing tools.

Low-End Destruction: Jackson JS Series 5-String Bass - For the crushing weight beneath each track, I rely on the Jackson JS Series 5-String Bass. Tuned for deep resonance and brutal articulation, this bass provides the subsonic rumble and percussive slap needed to hold down the chaos.
• Why I use it: Its extended range allows me to explore tunings that match the dark, cinematic atmosphere of songs like “Thunderforged” or “Serpent Tongue.” The pickups deliver a balanced attack, perfect for tight palm-muted chugs and fast finger runs alike.

Bass Tone Shaping: THRUST BQ250 Bass Head - This Bass Head is equipped with a MOSFET preamp and THRUST compressor, it's my secret weapon for fattening the bass and giving it that live-wire, tube-like grit.
• Key Features in My Chain:
• MOSFET Preamp: Adds warmth and punch, simulating analog tube distortion while retaining clarity.
• Thrust Compressor: Tames peaks and brings consistency to the performance, ensuring the bass sits firmly in the mix.

DAW of Choice: Logic Pro X
Everything I produce — from initial tracking to the final master — is handled in Logic Pro X. This powerful DAW becomes the multiversal control hub of Death By Design FL’s signature sound.
• Recording & Arrangement: Every track is recorded, layered, and organized using Logic’s robust timeline and take folders.
• Synths & Sound Design: For cosmic textures, ambient intros, and sci-fi-style atmospheres (like in “The Snap Eternal”), I rely heavily on Logic’s built-in synthesizers and software instruments to add layers of depth.

Plugins, Effects & Audio Tools Used
Death By Design’s music would be incomplete without an aggressive and sculpted mix. Here’s a look at the plugin arsenal I use in Logic Pro X:
Spatial & Dynamic Processing
• 3D Audio & Stereo Panner: Create immersive panoramas, making each guitar or synth element swirl and move within the stereo field.
• Auto Panner: Especially useful for glitchy rhythm parts and ambient sections.
• Dynamic Effects: Use of compression, limiting, and transient shaping helps control extreme performances while keeping impact.
EQ, Filtering & Shaping
• Equalizer: Surgical EQ boosts and cuts to carve space in dense mixes.
• Noise Reducer: Ensures vocals and bass recordings are tight and clean.
• Reverb & Delay: Custom-tailored to each track’s space — from tight chambers to massive, end-of-the-world cathedrals.
Creative FX
• Pitch Shifter: Detuning effects for monstrous vocals or alien textures.
• Reverse Audio: Often used for transitions or surreal breakdowns.
• Spectrogram: An essential visual aid for understanding harmonic buildup and removing unwanted artifacts.
Final Touches
• Bass Booster & Volume Changer: For emphasizing impact moments in breakdowns or chorus climaxes.
• Tempo Changer, Trimmer / Cutter: Fine-tuning riffs to lock in with drum grooves and shifting time signatures.
• Waveform Image Generator: Used to create clean previews or teaser content.
• Distortion Units: From subtle saturation to full-blown mayhem, used across synths, vocals, and even drums.

Conclusion: Digital Precision Meets Raw Power
With Death By Design FL, I don’t just aim to produce music — I aim to construct an experience. From the analog precision of the RØDE NT1 and Jackson Bass to the digital firepower of Logic Pro X and its vast effect suite, the result is a deeply layered, technically rich, and emotionally charged metal multiverse. Every tool I use serves the goal of sonic storytelling: to bring superheroes to life through blast beats, breakdowns, and brutal tone sculpting.

It’s just me. - Well, Me, my Jackson 5-String Bass, Amp, some sick Shure Dynamic MicroDriverIn-Ear Monitors, RØDE Microphone, a bunch of adapters, and my MacBook Pro. In all fairness, I’ve been making music since for 20 Years (damn, I should old) and I’m running a 16” Mac Book Pro with the M1 Max Apple silicon with 64GB Ram, 2TB Hard-Drive, and the latest Apple Developer Beta MAC OS. The CORE of what I do is in Logic Pro X.

How I do it all? Let’s break it all down;

Lyrics - I write all the lyrics out on my computer at random times when I’m working on a song, or even randomly during the work day. I should be using Notes or Word, but I often find myself tying out my ideas in the body of an empty email, just like I’m doing right now. Often times I will run my lyrics through an AI Software to put better structure to it and substitute words or phrases for synonyms, and then I let it flow.

Composition - I usually map out how I’m envisioning the song to go by actually picturing it and writing it all out on paper, until getting to a place I feel it is solid enough and then I save it as a word doc in my Death by Design FL folder. (I keep it on my iCloud Desktop in case I want to add or edit it from my phone at any random time.)

Vocals - I do all the vocals, usually wayyyy too many times until I feel satisfied. Then instead of using Auto-Tune like a lot of Rappers and such use, I modify it differently but in a similar way. Depending open the track and what character I’m trying to channel and emotions I’m aiming to convey, I run my vocal tracks through an AI Modulator that can alter them in dozens of ways. I’ve been able to go as far as taking my vocals and making them female such as on the song ‘Core Resolve’. Obviously since Captain Marvel is a female, that’s what I wanted to convey to the song and the story.

Guitar(s) - As I mentioned before - I usually play a Jackson JS Concert Series 5-Sting Bass. As many of my past & present bandmates will tell you. I generally play what they jokingly refer to as “Lead Bass”, meaning I like to get technical & creative with my style. So I often adjust my tuning and record sections of what I want the guitar tracks to sound like. Then I run my guitar tracks in Logic Pro X, through a number of experimental pre-amps, effects, distortion, reverb, and such until I achieve as close to my desired outcome as I can get. Then I run it though a different AI software to put it together seamlessly based on my structure and composition of the song.

Bass - The Bass tracks I lay down myself and record them in Logic Pro X. Then I run my bass tracks in Logic Pro X through a different yet similar and complementary set of experimental pre-amps, effects, distortion, and such until I achieve as close to my desired outcome as I can get. Then I run it though a different AI software along with the guitar tracks and soon to be mentioned Drum track to put it together seamlessly based on my structure and composition of the tone and style I’m trying to achieve in the song.

Drums - This is where it gets fun. I have a fun little program I found online where I can use my MacBook Pro’s Touchpad as a sort of electronic drum kit! What I do is basically just create short samples of the speed & tempo I desire to got with the song and save a bunch of samples to Logic Pro X. Then I rearrange them based on time signature and style composition until (yes, you know what’s coming) until I achieve as close to my desired outcome as I can get. Then I run it though a different AI software to put it together seamlessly based on my structure and composition of the song. On a few tracks such as 'Heart of the Arc’ and ‘Rockets Requiem’ for example that I wanted to give a more metallic feel to. I recreated my version of what I call the ‘Motograter’. I basically took and OLD plumbing snake that my dad had buried in his garage, grabbed a leftover 4’x4’ I had in the garage from a Pergola Project, and mounted it on there very tight. I had an old set of electronic pick-up’s from an old Fender P-Bass laying around, so I wired those up to a 1/4” input, adjusted the height and got excited. I ended up using and old branch that I had cut down that my daughter saved (probably as a wand or something) that had been laying in the garage that I had carved all the bark off years ago and was now nice and dry and hard. I would play thing 1 “string” instrument like a drum to get a unique sound for songs that needed a metallic feel to them.

Everything Else - You would be surprised (or maybe you wouldn’t be) at how many things you can find online to create something new, unique, and exciting, just by Google Searching something like "audio tone changer free online” and trying things out. Yes, “FREE ONLINE” is clutch for me because I’m usually broke. I have found so many different website with Tools that people have created or even experimental software on GitHub that renders a sound/tone/feeling that is hard to replicate any other way. The important part was to avoid anything that said “NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE” so that I may share these creations that came out almost exactly as I had hoped with You. I hope you truly enjoy listening to these songs as much as I loved making them.

So Yes - Me, my Jackson 5-String Bass, Amp, In-Ear Monitors, RØDE Mic, a bunch of adapters, my MacBook Pro, Logic Pro X, and the power of the internet. 🤘🏼

I don’t believe that I have a “Main Influence”. I believe I am influenced musically by ALL the different music I consume. Now if you’re asking what I listen to the most regularly, then I would have to say; 1349 / (HED) P.E. / 200 Stab Wounds / 2Pac / 50 Cent / Aborted / Acid Bath / Alestorm / Alien Weaponry / All Shall Perish / All That Remains / Alterbeast / American Head Charge / Amon Amarth / Angelmaker / Anthrax / Arch Enemy / Archeon / Archspire / August Burns Red / Austrian Death Machine / Avatar / Bad Omens / Bad Wolves / Beartooth / Behemoth / BIG ASS TRUCK / Big Tymers / Black Sabbath / Bloodbath / Bloodywood / Bob Seger / Body Count / Bon Jovi / Brain Drill / Brendon Small / Bring Me The Horizon / Bronco / Bryce Savage / Bullet for My Valentine / Burzum / Busta Rhymes / Butcher Babies / Cannibal Corpse / Carnifex / Cattle Decapitation / Cheap Trick / Chimaira / Cold / Coolio / Corrosion of Conformity / Cradle of Filth / Cypress Hill / Darkthrone / Death / Decapitated / DED / Deicide / Demons & Wizards / Dethklok / DevilDriver / Diecast / Dimmu Borgir / DIO / Disturbed / DJ Khaled / DMX / Dope / Dr. Dre / Dream Evil / Dying Fetus / Eazy-E / Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros / Efterklang / Eluveitie / Eminem / Ensiferum / Equilibrium / Exmortus / Exodus / Explosions In the Sky / Faith No More / Fear Factory / Fever Ray / Filter / Finntroll / Fit for a King / Fit for An Autopsy / Five Finger Death Punch / Flo Rida / Gates to Hell / Ghost B.C. / Glass Casket / God Dethroned / God Is an Astronaut / Godsmack / GOJIRA / GWAR / Halestorm / HammerFall / Hatebreed / HDninja / High On Fire / Hollywood Undead / Hypocrisy / I Prevail / Ice Cube / Iced Earth / IKILLYA / In Flames / Insane Clown Posse / Iron Maiden / JAY-Z / Jinjer / Job for a Cowboy / Jon Lajoie / Jungle Rot / Kataklysm / Kenny Rogers / Kerry King / Kid Cudi / Killswitch Engage / King 810 / Kittie / Knife Party / Knocked Loose / Kreator / Krisiun / Kublai Khan TX / Lacuna Coil / Lamb of God / Leo / Lil Jon / Lil Wayne / Limp Bizkit / Linkin Park / LMFAO / Lorna Shore / Ludacris / Machine Head / Marilyn Manson / Mastodon / Mercyful Fate / Meshuggah / Metallica / Mickey Avalon / Mindead / Ministry / Monstrosity / Moonspell / Morbid Angel / Motionless In White / Motograter / Motörhead / Mudvayne / Municipal Waste / Mushroomhead / N.W.A. / Nailbomb / Nas / Necrophagist / Neil Young / Nevermore / Nile / Nine Inch Nails / Nonpoint / NWA / Obituary / Of Mice & Men / Opeth / Orgy / Otep / Outkast / Overthrust / Ozzy Osbourne / P.O.D. / Petey Pablo / Pierce the Veil / Pop Evil / Pro-Pain / Psychostick / Public Enemy / Queen / Rage Against The Machine / Rammstein / Rob Zombie / Sanguisugabogg / Satyricon / Scar Symmetry / Sepultura / Sevendust / Severed Existence / Shadow of Intent / Shadows Fall / Sigur Rós / Six Feet Under / Skinless / Skrillex / Slaughter to Prevail / Slayer / Snoop Dogg / Social Distortion / SOiL / Soilwork / Sonata Arctica / Soulfly / Spite / Suffocation / Suicidal Tendencies / System of a Down / Tenacious D / The 2 Live Crew / The Acacia Strain / The Black Dahlia Murder / The Black Eyed Peas / The Devil Wears Prada / The Game / The Haunted / The Lonely Island / The Prodigy / The Soggy Bottom Boys / The Zenith Passage / Thy Art Is Murder / Trivium / Tupac / Týr / Unearth / Upon a Burning Body / Vital Remains / Volbeat / Vulvodynia / Whitechapel / White Zombie / Wutang Clan / Ying Yang Twins / and Zeal & Ardor just to name a few.

Being INDEPENDENT means managing everything myself: album production, PR, distribution, recording, music videos; you name it. It’s a massive amount of work, but it allows me to create heavier & more experimental music that I like compared to what LABELS want to push out to generate revenue. Plus, this allows me to find time around my work career to create & share amazing music with you all.

Did you know the industry standard royalty split is 80-85% in favor of the label? This means if an album sells for $29.99, after manufacturing costs and the label cut, the band might get as little as $3.00. Labels provide an advance on royalties, but it often takes years (or never) to recoup.

While most of the music I create is FREE for most everyone in the entire world to enjoy if they wish, monetizing my work on certain platforms will allow this creation to grow. My love for the music I create doesn’t cost much and it is 1000% worth it to me. However the music I create requires a lot of skill, precision, dedication, and effort to perform LIVE. So, in order to bring the music to YOU, I will need to hire very skilled touring musicians that can learn the songs and deliver you the performance & quality you want and deserve.