Dan Lancaster on Mixing Bring Me The Horizon Drums: The ‘Core Section’ Strategy

Mixing a band like Bring Me The Horizon is no small feat. Their tracks are dense, dynamic, and demand a powerful, polished sound. When faced with a high track count and complex arrangements, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure where to even begin. Luckily, acclaimed producer Dan Lancaster (who mixed BMTH’s Sempiternal and That’s The Spirit) shared some killer insights on how he tackles these mammoth sessions, starting with the drums, during a Nail The Mix session. His approach? Find the sonic core first.

The Core Conundrum: Why Starting Drums Right is Crucial for BMTH

Bring Me The Horizon’s music often features intricate programming, sudden dynamic shifts, and a whole lot of layers. Just looking at the session file can be intimidating. Dan’s method is all about cutting through that initial chaos by zeroing in on the most critical part of the song for the drums.

The Overwhelm Factor in Modern Metal

Let’s be honest, modern metal productions, especially for bands like Bring Me The Horizon, can have an insane number of tracks. You’ve got acoustic drums, samples, electronic layers, multiple guitar tracks, bass, vocals, and a universe of synth programming. It’s easy to get lost in the sauce, tweaking a synth line in the intro before you’ve even got the main groove hitting hard. This is where many home studio producers stumble, leading to mixes that might sound cool in isolation but fall apart when everything comes together.

Dan Lancaster’s “Core Section” Philosophy

So, how does Dan Lancaster navigate this? He starts by identifying the “ultimate sonic collection” for the drums – essentially, the busiest, most representative, and most sonically important section of the song. More often than not, this is the chorus.

Why? Because this section usually features the drums at their fullest: cymbals crashing, snare cracking, kick pounding, and the groove locked in. If you can make the drums sound incredible here, that processing and vibe will generally translate well to less intense sections. The reverse, however, is often not true. If you meticulously craft your drum sound based on a sparse verse or a programmed intro, you’ll likely run into a wall of problems when the chorus hits and everything opens up. Your carefully balanced snare might get buried, or your kick might lose its punch.

For example, in the BMTH track Dan was working on, the intro featured a lot of programming with a specific snare roll groove building tension. Then, it drops into a more open, cymbal-heavy halftime feel in the chorus. The processing choices for that intense, open chorus (think big room sounds, impactful transients) are very different from what you’d do for the tighter, programmed intro. By focusing on the chorus drums first, Dan ensures the foundation is solid for the song’s peak moments.

Finding Your Drum “Tone Riff”: The Key to Cohesive Drum Mixes

This idea of finding a “core section” for drums is remarkably similar to a concept many guitarists and engineers use: finding the “tone riff.”

What’s a Drum “Tone Riff”?

When dialing in guitar tones, especially for an album, top engineers often search for a “tone riff” – a part of the song that truly allows the guitar to shine and encapsulates the overall desired character. They build the core guitar sound around this riff. Dan Lancaster applies this same logic to mixing drums. He identifies the part of the song where the drums are most themselves, playing the most defining groove or fills, and uses that as the sonic benchmark.

Why This Section Dictates Your Processing

Once you’ve identified this core drum section, your processing decisions here will act as the blueprint for the rest of the song.

EQing for Impact

The EQ choices you make on the kick, snare, toms, and cymbals in this full-throttle section will define their character. For instance, you might use a Pultec-style EQ like the Tube-Tech PE 1C on the kick for that low-end thump and a touch of click, or an API 550A on the snare to bring out its crack and body. If your snare needs to cut through a wall of guitars and synths in the chorus, you’ll EQ it accordingly. That punchy, well-defined snare will then likely sit perfectly in sparser sections, perhaps needing only minor automation tweaks rather than a complete overhaul. You might find yourself using a versatile digital EQ like FabFilter Pro-Q 3 for surgical cuts to remove boxiness from the toms or tame harsh cymbal frequencies.

Compressing for Power

Similarly, your compression strategy for the core section will set the dynamic feel. Perhaps you’re using an 1176-style FET compressor (like a UAD 1176LN) on the snare for aggressive smack, or an SSL-style bus compressor (such as the Waves SSL G-Master Bus Compressor) on the drum bus to glue everything together and add punch. Getting this right in the busiest part ensures your drums maintain energy and impact throughout. If you compress too lightly based on a verse, the chorus drums might sound uncontrolled and messy. Compress for the chorus, and you can always ease off or automate for quieter parts.

By making these critical decisions on your “drum tone riff” section, you create a robust starting point that helps everything else fall into place more easily.

Building the Beast: Layering Around Your Core Drum Sound

Once Dan has the drums in that core section sounding powerful and clear, he then starts to build the rest ofthe mix around them. This methodical approach prevents getting sidetracked by less critical elements too early.

Drums First: The Unshakeable Foundation

With the core drum sound established, you have your rhythmic and dynamic anchor. This isn’t just about getting levels; it’s about the groove, the feel, and the overall sonic impact. This foundation will inform every subsequent mixing decision.

Adding the “Meat and Potatoes”: Bass and Guitars

Next, Dan would typically bring in the “meat and potatoes” of the song – the bass and guitars. With the drums already punching, you can focus on how these elements interact with the established drum groove. How does the bass lock in with the kick? How do the rhythm guitars sit against the snare and cymbals? Making these elements work with your powerful core drum sound is much easier than trying to fit drums into an already busy guitar and bass mix.

The “Salt and Pepper”: Synths and Programming Last

Finally, come the “extra fancy things” – the synths, the programming, the strings, and all the atmospheric layers that are so characteristic of Bring Me The Horizon. Dan emphasizes that these are the “salt and pepper.” They add flavor and excitement, but they shouldn’t overpower the core elements. Many aspiring mixers make the mistake of pushing these elements too loud too early, simply because they sound cool in isolation. This often leads to choruses that feel smaller or cluttered. By bringing them in last, you can carefully blend them around the established foundation of drums, bass, and guitars, ensuring they enhance rather than detract.

For instance, in the BMTH track Dan references, the programming is lighter in the chorus, supporting the guitars, while it’s more prominent in other sections where the drums are less busy. This awareness of arrangement and focusing on the core elements first helps make those decisions clear.

Beyond the Drums: Learn the Full BMTH Mix

Dan Lancaster’s approach to starting with the core drum section is a game-changer for tackling complex modern metal mixes. It’s about strategic decision-making to avoid overwhelm and build a powerful mix from the ground up.

Want to see exactly how Dan Lancaster applies these principles and mixes a full Bring Me The Horizon track from scratch? You can dive deep into his entire workflow, see every plugin, every EQ move, and every automation trick in his exclusive Nail The Mix session. Get access to the Bring Me The Horizon “Throne” multitracks and Dan’s full mixing masterclass and transform your understanding of how pro metal mixes are crafted.

If you’re serious about taking your mixes to the next level and learning from the best in the business, check out what Nail The Mix has to offer. And for an even broader look at modern metal mixing techniques beyond just presets, explore our guide on Unlocking Your Sound: Mixing Modern Metal Beyond Presets.