Bring Me The Horizon’s Kick Drum Impact: Dan Lancaster’s Pro Tools Sample Pasting Workflow

Ever listen to a Bring Me The Horizon track and get floored by the sheer power and precision of the drums? That kind of impact doesn't happen by accident. While a killer drummer like Matt Nicholls lays down the foundation, a lot of studio magic goes into making those kicks hit just right in a dense metal mix. We got a peek into how producer Dan Lancaster tackles this, specifically focusing on supercharging his sample pasting workflow in Pro Tools to get consistent, punchy kick drums. If you're looking to tighten up your drum mixes, these techniques are gold.

The Challenge: Taming the Wild Kick Drum

Even with well-recorded drums, individual hits can vary. Sometimes, a kick drum sample might have a sub-bass tail that’s just a bit too long and "flappy," muddying up the low end. Other times, you might want the attack and body of a specific sample but need to ensure it sits perfectly across every single hit.

Dan Lancaster encountered this exact scenario with a Bring Me The Horizon session. One kick sample had a "brutal like sub that goes on for basically too long." While he liked the rest of the sample's character, that extended decay was a problem. Simply cutting and fading each instance would be tedious and might not yield the most consistent results. His solution? A refined, manual sample pasting approach.

Dan Lancaster's Kick Drum Sample Replacement Technique

Instead of relying solely on trigger plugins, which can sometimes introduce phase issues or miss nuances, Dan opts for a more hands-on method in Pro Tools to ensure maximum control and consistency. Here’s a breakdown:

Step 1: Crafting the "Perfect" Kick Hit

The first order of business was to address that problematic long decay.

1. Isolate and Edit: Dan found an instance of the kick sample and edited it to his liking. This involved shortening the tail to remove the "flappy extra bit," creating a tighter, more controlled sound. He visually checked the waveform and listened critically to ensure the decay was just right – punchy but not lingering unnecessarily.
2. Consolidate: Once he had this perfectly edited kick, he'd consolidate it (Option+Shift+3 on Mac or Alt+Shift+3 on PC in Pro Tools) to make it a single, clean audio clip ready for pasting.

Step 2: The "Tab and Paste" Blitz for Consistency

This is where the speed and efficiency come in.

1. Duplicate Track: He duplicated the original kick drum track. This new track would house the pasted, edited samples.
2. Prepare for Pasting: He'd clear the duplicated track or work on a new empty one.
3. Tab to Transient & Paste: With the edited "perfect" kick sample copied to the clipboard (Command+C or Ctrl+C), Dan used Pro Tools' "Tab to Transient" function. By placing the cursor before the first kick on the original track and hitting the "Tab" key, Pro Tools jumps the cursor to the beginning of that transient. He'd then switch to the new sample track and paste (Command+V or Ctrl+V).
4. Repeat: He'd then quickly repeat this process: Tab on the original track, switch track, paste. Tab, switch, paste. He mentions doing this "mindlessly" for the whole song, building up a rhythm. This method is incredibly fast for replacing all kicks with the edited, consistent sample.

Step 3: Preserving Musical Dynamics

Replacing every kick with the exact same sample at the exact same level would sound robotic and kill the drummer's performance dynamics. Matt Nicholls, for example, incorporates softer ghost notes and dynamic variations in his playing.

1. Identify Softer Hits: After pasting the new sample across the entire track, Dan would visually scan the original kick track (or listen through) to spot the softer hits.
2. Adjust Velocity/Clip Gain: For these softer hits, he would then go to the corresponding pasted sample on the new track and reduce its clip gain. This way, he maintains the drummer's intended dynamics while still benefiting from the consistent timbre and tightened decay of his edited sample. He emphasized that "the groove itself is going to sound better" by taking care of these nuances.

Step 4: Final Touches and Organization

A few extra steps help keep things tidy and sonically smooth.

1. Consolidate Again (Optional but Tidy): After pasting and adjusting dynamics, the new sample track will be made up of many individual clips. Consolidating these again can make the track visually cleaner, though it's not strictly necessary for the sound.
2. Quick Crossfades: Dan often applies very short crossfades (around 3 milliseconds) between these pasted clips. He admits it’s often more of a "habitual thing" and might not always be strictly necessary to prevent pops or clicks with well-edited samples, but it's a good safety measure.
3. Playlist Management: He'd create a new playlist in Pro Tools for this edited kick drum track (e.g., "Kick Sample EDITED"). This allows him to easily A/B with the original or revert if needed. He also mentioned keeping the original track, but hidden and inactive, just in case.

Why This Manual Approach Over Sample Trigger Plugins?

While plugins like Slate Trigger or Drumagog are powerful tools for drum replacement, Dan pointed out a key reason for his manual method: "I'm not going to start putting it in triggering engines and risking phase." Manual pasting directly onto the grid (or aligned with the original transients) gives him precise control over the timing and helps avoid potential phase coherency issues that can sometimes arise when a plugin is interpreting transients and placing samples. A consistent, phase-aligned kick drum is crucial for a punchy low end, and this directly impacts how well your EQ strategies for metal will work.

Checking Phase: The Final Frontier

Even with careful pasting, it's good practice to check the phase relationship between your new sample track and any other live kick mics or samples you might be blending in. Dan quickly zoomed in on the waveforms to visually inspect if the pasted samples were aligning well with other drum elements. He noticed a slight overall timing discrepancy and simply nudged the entire pasted kick track slightly to lock it in better. A tight, phase-coherent kick drum makes subsequent processing, like dialing in your metal compression settings, much more effective.

Supercharge Your Own Drum Mixes

Dan Lancaster's Pro Tools sample pasting technique for Bring Me The Horizon's kicks offers a fantastic blend of precision, control, and efficiency. By:

• Perfecting a single kick sample (especially its decay).
• Utilizing "Tab to Transient" for rapid pasting.
• Carefully adjusting clip gain to maintain the original performance dynamics.
• Employing good practices like crossfades and playlisting.

You can achieve incredibly consistent and impactful drum sounds in your own productions. This hands-on approach ensures every kick hits exactly how you want it, forming a rock-solid foundation for your mix.

Want to see exactly how pros like Dan Lancaster build these colossal metal mixes from the ground up? At Nail The Mix, you get to watch Grammy-winning producers mix actual songs from bands like Bring Me The Horizon, Gojira, and Lamb of God. You even get the multitracks to practice on! Dive deeper into the session where Dan Lancaster mixed Bring Me The Horizon's "Parasite Eve" (similar techniques were used for their track on the Bring Me The Horizon – Hammerfall NTM session). If you're ready to move beyond presets and truly unlock your sound in modern metal mixing, this is where you learn from the best in the business. See how they tackle everything from initial drum editing, like the techniques discussed here, to final mastering touches for a radio-ready sound. You can grab the full Bring Me The Horizon "Hammerfall" session from Nail The Mix to see these concepts in action.