BlessTheFall Drum Bus Power: Tyler Smyth’s Slamming Mix Tips

Ever listen to a BlessTheFall track and wonder how those drums hit so hard yet remain so clear? Getting a powerful, punchy drum sound that cuts through a dense metal mix is a challenge every producer faces. In a revealing session, producer Tyler Smyth (Falling In Reverse, I Prevail) dove into his drum bus processing techniques for a BlessTheFall track, showcasing how to make the entire kit slam while maintaining definition. If you’re looking to elevate your drum mixes, these insights from the Nail The Mix session are pure gold.

Let’s break down Tyler’s approach to crafting that signature BlessTheFall drum impact. Check out the full session here.

Making the Drum Bus Slam: The Foundation

The first goal Tyler set was straightforward: make the whole drum kit slam. This wasn’t just about individual drum sounds, but about getting the entire bus to feel cohesive and powerful.

Initial Compression for Glue and Character

With the individual drum levels roughly set, Tyler turned his attention to the main drum bus. He noticed the snare was “absolutely drilling” the bus compressor and decided to lean into it, even going for something extreme.

His choice? An 1176-style compressor. Specifically, he opted for a cleaner, more transparent digital emulation – the kind that “doesn’t impart the little nuances of the hardware, but it still acts like the hardware.” This gives you the aggressive character of an 1176 without adding too much unwanted color right at the start.

• Attack Setting: Crucially, Tyler adjusted the attack to be a bit slower. This allows some of the initial punch and transients of the drums, especially the snare, to slip through before the compressor clamps down. This is key for maintaining impact while still getting that glued-together sound.
• Embracing the Warmth: He pushed the compressor, noticing a lot of “warmness sticking out.” While acknowledging it might be “too much,” he leaned into this to see where it would take the sound, aiming for a dramatic, glued effect. This often involves significant gain reduction, which you can learn more about in our metal compression secrets guide.

This initial, fairly aggressive compression set the stage for a powerful, cohesive drum sound.

Carving Out Kick and Snare Clarity

With the overall drum bus starting to slam, the next challenge, especially for a fast, punk-infused beat like the BlessTheFall track (around 148 BPM), is maintaining clarity. Tyler focused on the crucial relationship between the kick and snare.

Adding Sizzle and Presence to the Kick

Tyler felt the kick needed some “flavory stuff” and decided to brighten it up, feeling it was a bit “overly dull.” He used EQ to add “sizzle” and presence, ensuring the kick had the attack to cut through. Initially, he was puzzled why his EQ boosts weren’t audible, only to realize the EQ plugin wasn’t even active – a relatable moment for any producer! Once enabled, the kick came to life. You can explore more techniques like this on our EQ strategies for mixing modern metal page.

The Track Spacer Trick: Snare Dominance

One of Tyler’s go-to moves for kick and snare separation is using a plugin called Track Spacer. This nifty tool allows for dynamic EQ via sidechain.

• The Goal: To ensure the snare always “trumps the kick” when busy patterns occur, preventing muddiness in the low-mids.
• The Setup:
  1. Insert Track Spacer on the kick drum track.
  2. Set up a sidechain send from the snare track to Track Spacer on the kick track.
  3. Configure Track Spacer to duck a specific frequency range on the kick whenever the snare hits. Tyler targeted roughly 100Hz to 400Hz.
  4. He used a fairly high ratio for noticeable, yet subtle, ducking.

This creates a small pocket in the kick drum’s low-mid frequencies precisely when the snare hits, enhancing the clarity of both elements without making either sound thin. For fast-paced music, this kind of dynamic separation is invaluable.

Enhancing Individual Drum Elements

With the bus processing and kick/snare relationship addressed, Tyler fine-tuned individual components of the kit.

Boosting Snare Body with Low-Mids

One of the most “insane” transformations Tyler demonstrated was adding low-mid energy to the snare. He emphasized that the snare sounded “pretty thin without it.”

• The Magic: By simply boosting low-mid frequencies on the snare (he didn’t specify the exact frequency but it was clearly in the body range), the snare transformed from thin to full and impactful. He highlighted that this was achieved without adjusting the gain, purely through EQ enhancement. This “night and day” difference showcased how powerful targeted EQ can be for shaping drum tones.

Refining Cymbals

For the cymbals, Tyler noticed a significant amount of gain reduction happening from a previous compressor (around 10dB, even if the GUI didn’t look like much). His main move here was to remove a tape sim plugin that was on the cymbals. He felt it was adding “weirdness” to the sound and opted for a cleaner approach, focusing on EQ for flavor rather than relying on the tape emulation.

After these adjustments, he briefly revisited the snare, feeling it missed a little body. He experimented with DF-Clip to add “a little bit more of that room” to the snare, allowing him to bring the overall room mic level down slightly while retaining a sense of space.

Crafting a Massive Snare Accent

The final piece of the drum puzzle for this section was the “snare accent” track, designed to be a massive, roomy snare sound.

• Starting Point: Tyler copied the processing settings (EQ and compression) from the main snare track to the snare accent track as a baseline.
• Adding Reverb: He then reached for R-Verb, selecting a “Hall” preset to create a large space.
• EQing the Reverb: To get the specific character he wanted – something like a snare in the “back of a garage,” with a “metallicy” quality – he EQ’d the reverb return. This involved taking out some of the low frequencies and potentially shaping the highs to fit the desired metallic texture.

This layered approach to the snare – a tight main snare, a processed accent track, and carefully shaped reverb – contributes to that big, modern metal drum sound.

Bringing It All Together with Nail The Mix

Tyler Smyth’s approach to the BlessTheFall drum bus is a masterclass in balancing aggression with clarity. From foundational bus compression with an 1176LN-style plugin to nuanced kick and snare interplay using Track Spacer, and targeted EQ to bring out the best in each drum shell, every step has a purpose. The dramatic impact of adding low-mids to the snare and crafting a huge snare accent with R-Verb and EQ are just a few examples of how to achieve a professional, slamming drum sound.

These techniques, demonstrated by Tyler Smyth, offer actionable insights you can apply to your own productions. Imagine having this level of access to how pros mix iconic tracks every month! That’s what Nail The Mix offers. You can see Tyler Smyth mix this entire BlessTheFall song from scratch, explaining every decision, by checking out the BlessTheFall NTM session.

If you’re ready to go beyond presets and truly understand the art and science of mixing modern metal, it’s time to Unlock Your Sound with Nail The Mix. Get access to real multi-tracks, hours of tutorials, exclusive plugins, and a community of like-minded producers.