Best Cubase Plugins For Pro-Level Metal Mixes

So you’re running Cubase and you’re trying to make modern metal that sounds absolutely crushing. Good news: you’ve picked a killer DAW. Cubase is a beast, with some seriously powerful stock tools. But let’s be honest, to compete with the insane production standards of today’s metal, you need an arsenal of plugins that can handle high-gain guitars, inhumanly fast drums, and bass that registers on the Richter scale.

The days of dodgy-sounding demos getting a pass are long gone. The expectation now, even for a band just starting out, is a polished, professional sound. That means your mixes have to be tight, punchy, and clear, even when you’re dealing with eight-string guitars tuned to Drop Z.

This isn’t about just grabbing random plugins. It’s about choosing the right tools for the job. Here are some of the best Cubase plugins—both stock and third-party—that will help you craft brutal, modern metal mixes.

EQs For Surgical Metal Mixing

In a dense metal mix, EQ is everything. It’s how you carve out space for each instrument so that pummeling kick drum doesn’t get lost beneath a wall of low-tuned guitars. You need precision and flexibility.

FabFilter Pro-Q 3

There’s a reason you see Pro-Q 3 in almost every pro producer’s session: it’s the undisputed champion of surgical EQ. For modern metal, its features are non-negotiable.

• What it’s for: Cleaning up mud, taming fizz, and creating space.
• Actionable Tip: Use the spectrum analyzer to identify the fundamental frequency of your palm-muted chugs. Then, find the fundamental of your bass guitar and carve out a small, narrow notch in the guitars where the bass fundamental sits. This tiny move can create massive clarity in your low end. Pro-Q 3's dynamic EQ is also a lifesaver for taming harsh cymbal wash or controlling palm mutes that get too "woofy" without affecting the rest of the guitar tone.

If you want to go deeper on this, we've got a whole guide on EQing modern metal guitars for max impact that breaks down these concepts even further.

Cubase Stock: Frequency 2

Don’t sleep on Cubase’s built-in EQ. Frequency 2 is surprisingly powerful, offering 8 fully parametric bands, linear phase mode, and even dynamic EQ functionality for each band. It’s perfect for quick, clean adjustments and is incredibly light on your CPU.

• What it’s for: General tone shaping and quick clean-up jobs.
• Actionable Tip: Load Frequency 2 on your tom tracks. Use the dynamic EQ mode on a mid-range band to scoop out some boxiness, but set the threshold so it only activates when the tom is hit. This cleans up the tom sustain without thinning out the initial transient hit.

Compressors That Slam

Modern metal requires dynamic control, but more importantly, it requires character and punch. From gluing your drum bus to leveling out aggressive vocals, the right compressor is crucial.

Slate Digital VBC (Virtual Buss Compressors)

This bundle gives you three distinct flavors of bus compression, but the "FG-Grey" (an SSL-style compressor) is a monster on a metal drum bus. It adds that classic, punchy glue that makes a drum kit sound like a cohesive unit.

• What it’s for: Making your drum bus sound explosive and tight.
• Actionable Tip: Set the FG-Grey on your drum bus with a slow attack (around 30ms), a fast release (auto or .1s), and a 4:1 ratio. Aim for just 2-4dB of gain reduction on the loudest hits. This will let the initial transients of your kick and snare crack through before the compressor clamps down, adding punch while controlling the overall dynamics.

Arturia Comp FET-76

Every metal mixer needs a good 1176-style FET compressor. The Arturia FET-76 is a fantastic emulation that delivers that aggressive, fast compression perfect for screaming vocals, snare drums, or parallel processing.

• What it’s for: Adding aggression and energy.
• Actionable Tip: For an in-your-face scream, chain two FET-76s. Use the first one with a medium attack and fast release to just tickle the transients. Then, slam the second one with the classic "All Buttons In" mode for grit and intense compression. Blend to taste.

Mastering compression is a huge topic. You can check out our metal compression secrets hub for more advanced techniques.

Drum Samplers and Triggers

Modern metal drum sounds are a combination of incredible playing, surgical editing, and sample reinforcement. Whether you’re programming from scratch or enhancing a live kit, these plugins are essential.

GetGood Drums (GGD)

Founded by Periphery’s Misha Mansoor and Adam "Nolly" Getgood, GGD libraries are basically the sound of modern metal in a box. The samples are expertly recorded and pre-processed, meaning they drop into your mix already sounding 90% of the way there.

• What it’s for: Creating pro-level programmed drum tracks or replacing weak drum recordings.
• Actionable Tip: Use the "P IV" or "Modern & Massive" kits for instant djent and metalcore tones. Don't be afraid to automate the velocity and use the built-in grooves to humanize the performance. The key to realistic programmed drums isn't just the sounds, but the performance nuances.

Slate Trigger 2

If you're working with live drum recordings, Trigger 2 is the industry standard for sample replacement and reinforcement. It’s incredibly accurate at detecting drum hits and allows you to blend in samples to add consistency and punch.

• What it’s for: Beefing up live kick, snare, and tom tracks.
• Actionable Tip: Don't fully replace your live snare; reinforce it. Find a great snare sample in Trigger (like one from the Chris Lord-Alge expansion) and blend it in at about -6dB to -9dB below the original snare track. This adds a consistent "crack" and body while retaining the human feel of the original performance.

Guitar and Bass Amp Sims

The days of needing a cranked amp in an expensive studio are over. The quality of modern amp sims is staggering, allowing you to get release-ready tones directly in Cubase.

Neural DSP Archetype Series

Neural DSP has completely changed the game. Plugins like the Archetype: Gojira, Archetype: Petrucci, or Archetype: Nolly are more than just amp sims; they are complete suites with pre-effects, amps, cabs with a massive IR selection, and post-effects. The tones are phenomenal and mix-ready right out of the box.

• What it’s for: Dialing in virtually any modern metal guitar or bass tone imaginable.
• Actionable Tip: For an ultra-tight modern rhythm tone, use the gate on the front end of the plugin. Then, place a Tube Screamer pedal model before the amp. Set the drive to 0, level to 10, and tone around noon. This tightens up the low end and adds mid-range clarity before the signal even hits the "amp," a classic metal production trick.

Submission Audio DjinnBass 2

What do you do when your 8-string guitars are so low they're practically bass guitars? You need a bass tone that can cut through that low-end madness. DjinnBass is a meticulously sampled virtual instrument that delivers a perfect, aggressive, and articulate modern bass tone that’s designed to sit perfectly in a djent or metalcore mix.

• What it’s for: A mix-ready bass tone that requires minimal processing.
• Actionable Tip: DjinnBass is already processed to cut, so you often don't need much distortion. Instead of adding a heavy amp sim, try adding a saturator like Soundtoys Decapitator in parallel to the DI signal to help it slice through the guitars without losing low-end clarity.

Saturation and Other Essentials

Sometimes you need more than just EQ and compression. Saturation, reverb, and delay add the final polish and vibe that separates an amateur mix from a professional one.

Soundtoys Decapitator

This is the Swiss Army knife of saturation. It can go from subtle warmth to full-on distorted destruction. In a metal mix, it’s invaluable for helping sounds cut through without just turning them up.

• What it’s for: Adding harmonics, grit, and attitude.
• Actionable Tip: Put Decapitator on a parallel bus for your kick and snare. Crush them using the "P" (EMI TG console) style, filter out the lows, and blend it back in just enough to add aggression and presence. The drums will hit harder without getting louder.

ValhallaVintageVerb

You need reverb, but you don’t need to spend a fortune. ValhallaVintageVerb offers an incredible array of lush, character-rich reverbs for an unbeatable price.

• What it’s for: Creating epic vocal spaces and subtle ambient textures.
• Actionable Tip: For huge, atmospheric vocal leads, send your vocal track to a bus with ValhallaVintageVerb set to a large hall or plate algorithm. Add a de-esser before the reverb so that harsh "s" sounds don’t create nasty reverb tails. Then, use an EQ to cut the low end below 200Hz and the highs above 8kHz from the reverb return to make it sit nicely behind the vocal.

Putting It All Together

Having the best Cubase plugins is a great start, but the real magic is in how you use them. Techniques like gain staging, bus processing, and automation are what bring a mix to life.

Imagine watching producers like Will Putney, Jens Bogren, or Joey Sturgis use these exact plugins on real multitracks from bands like Gojira, Knocked Loose, and Every Time I Die. At Nail The Mix, that’s exactly what you get.

Every month, we give you the raw multitracks from a massive metal song and you get to watch the original producer mix it from scratch, explaining every plugin, setting, and decision along the way. If you’re serious about leveling up your metal mixes in Cubase, it’s the ultimate learning experience.

Check out our full catalog of past sessions to see what you can learn.