25 of the best Nail the Mix sessions.

Ever found yourself agonizing over how much to edit your tracks? You love that tight, punchy sound of modern metal, but you also don't want to suck all the life out of a performance. You hear your favorite records and wonder, "Just how much did they quantize those drums? Are those guitars really that perfect?" It's a common dilemma. You want precision, but you also crave that human element, that elusive "feel."

To get some real answers, we dove deep into 25 Nail The Mix sessions, loading them up to see exactly how aligned everything is – from bone-crushing drums to intricate guitar riffs and thundering bass. The goal wasn&#39t to judge bands as "better" or "worse" based on editing, but to understand what we're actually hearing and how to replicate those sounds and feels. What we found might surprise you and could definitely help you refine your own editing taste.

The Great Debate: To Grid or Not To Grid?

We all know the pressure. You want your kicks to hit like a sledgehammer, your snares to crack with authority, and your chugs to be perfectly in sync. But then you hear a killer groove that just breathes, and you wonder if you're strangling your own music with an overly aggressive grid.

So, we categorized these 25 sessions based on their level of editing:

• Absolutely Gridded: Locked in, tight as a drum (literally).
• A Little Bit of Feel: Clearly edited, but with some intentional looseness.
• Mostly Natural: Some editing apparent, but the original performance shines through.
• Virtually No Editing: If there are edits, they're incredibly subtle.
• No Click: Pure, unadulterated human timing.

Let's break down what this NTM session analysis revealed.

What We Learned: Key Editing Trends in Modern Metal

Across a wide range of metal subgenres, some clear patterns emerged.

Drums: The Backbone of Tightness

No surprises here: in most modern metal, the core drum elements are heavily edited.

• Kicks & Snares Locked In: For a vast majority of the sessions, kick drums and primary snare hits were dead on the grid. Think of tracks like Angels & Airwaves' "The Adventure" (mixed by TLA) or Obscura's technical masterpiece. Even Suicide Silence (mixed by Machine) had those kicks hitting precisely, despite some interesting left/right kick panning. Devin Townsend's "Lightworker" featured a stereo drum stem that was incredibly tight, with even hi-hat clicks perfectly aligned. This precision provides the solid foundation that modern metal often demands.
• MIDI & Triggers are Common: It's no secret that MIDI drums and triggered samples are huge in achieving that consistent, powerful drum sound. Humanity's Last Breath's "Lĺthien" (mixed by Buster Odeholm) was a prime example, with shell MIDI showing just how insanely gridded the core drums were. Similarly, tracks from Memphis May Fire (using MIDI for shells, live cymbals) and Spiritbox (likely Superior Drummer) showcased perfectly programmed and gridded drum parts. This approach ensures every hit has maximum impact.
  • Pro Tip: If you're editing live drums, tools like Logic Pro X (as Machine uses) or Pro Tools' Beat Detective offer robust workflows. For ultimate control, many producers turn to sample replacement or MIDI programming.

The Feel Factor: Where Looseness Lives

Even in the most heavily edited tracks, there's often more "feel" than you might realize, especially outside the core kick and snare.

• Fills & Fast Passages: This is where drummers often get to let their personality shine. Archspire's "Drone Corpse Aviator" (mixed by Dave Otero) showed that while main beats were tight, super-fast passages (like 32nd notes) and little "flippy-flappy" fills were often left more natural. Lamb of God's "Redneck" (another Machine mix) also kept snare fills sounding human, avoiding that overly robotic feel. The lesson? Don't be afraid to let those quick embellishments breathe.
• Flam Variation: Even when main hits are on the grid, the exact timing and consistency of flams (kick and snare hitting almost simultaneously) can vary. Suicide Silence showed interesting variations in their snare flams – sometimes a little late, sometimes closer, adding a subtle groove.
• Guitars and Bass: Finding the Pocket, Not the Grid Line: This was one of the biggest eye-openers. Even in sessions where drums were absolutely slammed to the grid, guitars and bass were rarely perfectly quantized.
  • Obscura: While the drums were gridded, the bass showed more natural variation, and the guitars, while incredibly tight, weren't snapped to every single transient.
  • Periphery's "Prayer Position" (mixed by Nolly): Drums were very gridded (especially on their triplet patterns), but the bass and guitars, while tight, had space to move. You could even spot a few manual cuts and fades in the guitar tracks – evidence of editing, but not necessarily hard quantizing.
  • Left To Suffer: Drums were 100% on, but guitars, while close and clearly edited for cohesion, still retained a natural performance feel rather than being rigidly snapped.
  • The Power of DIs: Having Direct Input (DI) signals for guitars and bass makes it much easier to see what's actually happening with the performance and any subsequent edits. For many of these sessions, even if the amped tone was all that was used in the mix, the DIs revealed the true timing.

The "Mostly Natural" Crew

Some bands walk a fine line, delivering incredibly tight performances that might have some subtle editing, but largely rely on their sheer playing prowess.

• Arch Echo: These instrumental prog metallers showcased incredibly tight playing. While there might have been some nudges here and there, the feel was predominantly natural, especially in the guitars.
• Animals As Leaders: Known for their virtuosity, their session was super tight but not perfectly on the grid. Lots of feel, showcasing how close world-class musicians can get without heavy editing. This is a great reference for "tight but human."
• Leprous "The Price" (mixed by Jens Bogren): Jens is renowned for his comping-heavy approach, prioritizing energy and performance. While there's editing, it’s about crafting the perfect take from multiple performances rather than hard quantizing everything to a grid. The result is tight but breathes with musicality.

Raw Power: Virtually No Editing & No Click

And then there are the purists, the bands that embrace the natural ebb and flow of a live performance, sometimes even ditching the click track altogether.

• Bloodbath "Zombie Inferno" (mixed by Lawrence Mackrory): While some kick drum hits seemed to be tightened, the overall feel, especially in the fills, was incredibly raw and natural. The multiple guitar tracks weren't perfectly aligned, creating a massive, organic wall of sound.
• Meshuggah "Marrow": While not explicitly stated as "no click" in this analysis, their performance was just that tight. It’s a testament to their legendary precision. If there's editing, it's virtually imperceptible because the playing is already at such a high level.
• No Click Heroes – Cephalic Carnage & Deafheaven: These sessions were confirmed to have no click track. Looking at the waveforms for Cephalic Carnage's "Dying Will Be The Death Of Me" (Dave Otero) or Deafheaven's "Honeycomb" (Jack Shirley) gives you a fantastic visual of what a truly unedited, fantastic drummer sounds like. There's natural variance, pushes, and pulls – all part of their signature sound.

So, How Edited Should Your Tracks Be?

The big takeaway? Most modern metal has highly gridded kick and snare drums. This provides the power and precision that defines the genre. However, guitars and bass are almost never perfectly gridded, even in the most intensely edited songs. There's a surprising amount of human feel left in the stringed instruments.

• Genre Matters: Deathcore like Humanity's Last Breath will likely be far more gridded than a more rock-leaning band or a black metal act embracing rawness.
• Listen, Don't Just Look: Your eyes can deceive you. A "raw" sounding mix (like Obscura) can still have heavily edited drums. Use the grid as a guide, but let your ears make the final call. Does it groove? Does it hit hard?
• Avoid Over-Editing Guitars: This was a personal revelation for the video's creator – realizing he was often over-editing guitars compared to these pro sessions. Let those guitars breathe a bit! The slight imperfections between doubled tracks or against the bass can actually add width and character.
• Impact on Downstream Processing: Tightly edited tracks, especially drums, provide a consistent signal that can make your EQ adjustments for clarity more effective. Similarly, consistent dynamics from well-edited (or well-played) performances react more predictably to compression techniques used in metal, helping you achieve that punch and glue.

Ultimately, these 25 sessions show there's a spectrum. The "right" amount of editing is what serves the song and the artist's vision.

Refining Your Editing Taste with Nail The Mix

Watching this kind of analysis is one thing, but getting your hands on the actual multitracks and seeing how these decisions play out in a full mix is invaluable. That's where Nail The Mix comes in. You get the raw sessions from bands like these every month, allowing you to experiment, compare, and truly understand the impact of editing choices.

Want to learn how to edit drums to be tight but still feel natural? We've got Fast Tracks like "Editing Drums with Feel with John Douglas" that dive deep into these techniques. If you're looking to go beyond just editing and truly Unlock Your Sound, our "Mixing Modern Metal Beyond Presets" course covers the A-Z of pro metal production.

This deep dive definitely blew our minds a bit and will absolutely impact how we approach editing moving forward. Hopefully, it gives you a better framework for your own productions. What are your go-to editing philosophies? Let us know!

Happy mixing, and remember, Nail The Mix is here to help you hone your craft.