I almost always (98% of the time) high-pass and low-pass.
Assuming you have stereo rhythm guitars (when you say, “heavy”), I often listen to just the guitars as a submix until I like ’em.
I bring that back into the mix and carve around it, mebbe having to drop some mids offa the toms (300-400-ish), and sometimes having to boost some top on the bass (900, or 1.1kHz, etc.); I start with relatively narrow 1.3 Q. Less often do I have to add top to the snare, or adjust the lead with anything other than the same pass-filters and level, but I do a fair amount of EQ on the vocals, last. All else (keys, percussion, BV’s, candy) is itself EQ’d to fit the basic mix. I really almost never carve into the guitars, but then, I’m a guitar player, and like my sound!
Next, I ride the rhythm guitars’ level (often as a submix), down 2-3dB mebbe under the verse, etc.
And yeah, mic choice is a great place to start. A 57 is a 57 – it’s a predictable kinda thing, and you go from there. I also like various old AKG’s on heavy guitars, EV N/D’s, the E609, even the Superlux 609-type. About 10-20% of the time I’ll also use a ribbon about 4′ off the speaker – height can change the sound, also, remember (ceiling vs. floor, for example), as well as what location (against a wall, in a closet, mid-room, etc.), and aim (point at the wall vs. the amp, etc.). Rarely do I use a condensor, altho’ I sometimes like a SDC for the distance mic, I more often use a MDC, LDC or tube, and sometimes as the only mic.
Mic distance (for me close = < 3″, mid = 4-12″, 12″+ = distance), and aim (usually brighter if straight at the center of cone, angle and towards the edge is often darker) also factor.
I sometimes think of all of that stuff as EQ.
Which reminds me to remind you of the old saw about “less distortion might = heavier”, or at least more clarity; same goes for FX, especially time-based stuff like reverb, etc.
Another concept, besides varying guitars/mic’s/amps (or try not varying them – I been doing that a lot lately! Altho’ I do tend to vary the pick-ups and the on-board EQ as well as pick attack and chord inversions) to get heavy, is mix depth; IOW, a stereo pair with reverb, a pair with less reverb, a pair with no reverb, can sound heavier than all in the same mix-space. It doesn’t hafta be reverb, either – delay, chorus, etc., can work, including in combination.
I’ll note that, more esoterically, (read: head further up arse) the recording pre-amp can make a pretty big difference. On guitars I like to go between a ISA 1 and a UA710 or 110, or sometimes a Altec 1589b or a PM1000 – I do believe they make a difference altho’ subtle, but the 710 with the tube gained up is much different than the 110 with the gain down. Plus, I like to pad after the pre externally, and work the tranny if available. I do tend to use the same pre set-up for all electric guitars on any given song.
Also, if ya have a few bucks laying around, try sompin’ like a Cloudlifter on yer dynamic mic. I use the Cathedral Pipes Durham – in some ways it’s sorta kinda like using an exciter, except it’s so much cleaner and better and certainly less “phasey”, but it is also brighter and usually with it seems to have more depth. Again, if I use that, I use it on all the guitars, but it might help to use it on only some in the submix.
Finally, I almost never compress electric guitar (unless it’s like a Scofield thing or jazz-box sound) but almost always peak limit 3dB or so. But if it’s high-gain, there’s no need other than mebbe some gain-rides on solos … That mix approach, of course, is different than playing into the compressor on my pedal board(s).
vlayman 