RECORDING TECHNIQUES WITH CALLAN ORR

M etalcore is a dangerous genre for most producers to play with, primarily since its key characteristics – huge walls of frenetic, effects-laden riffage and punishingly heavy wallops of bassy, down-tuned juts and seismic drum fills – are impossibly easy to bake in the mixing process, leading to muddy, overblown messes of sound. Rising up the ranks throughout the 2010s as one of Australia’s leading forces in metalcore mayhem, Dream On Dreamer are one such band whose sound is nearly impeccable from an audiophile’s perspective, their lashings of grit and grunt sewn together with the faultless finesse of the finest out there. And there’s one conclusive reason why their sound is so dialled-in: they call the shots themselves, with lead guitarist and backing vocalist Callan Orr leading the charge behind the decks.

The band themselves are getting ready to close up shop, with album