Carl Bown’s Bullet For My Valentine Kick: A Natural Metal Drum Mix

Getting a kick drum to punch through a dense metal mix without sounding overly processed or clicky is a modern production challenge. We want power, we want clarity, but we also crave that natural feel, especially for bands like Bullet For My Valentine. Carl Bown, the man behind the console for BFMV, has a distinctive approach to taming and shaping acoustic kick drums, and we got a peek into his method. Forget rigid rules; this is about “jazz mixing heavy metal,” as Carl puts it – an intuitive yet precise workflow. Let’s dive into how he gets that signature BFMV kick sound.

Starting Point: The Acoustic Core & “Feeling” the Low End

Counterintuitively for some metal mixers who might reach for samples first, Carl Bown begins with the acoustic kick drum. His initial steps are all about understanding what he’s working with before any heavy processing.

More Than Just Loud: Checking Speaker Response

First things first, Carl cranks the speakers. Not just to hear it loud, but to see what the kick is physically doing to the speaker cones. If the speakers are flapping wildly (“going nuts” or “being baggy,” as he describes it) but you’re not hearing a proportionate amount of low-end punch, that’s a red flag. It indicates “misinformation” – sub-bass frequencies that are eating headroom and making mud, but not contributing useful impact. He’ll also check the kick out mic in a similar fashion. This initial physical check is crucial for diagnosing issues before even touching a plugin.

Gentle Control: “Kissing the Kick” with a Limiter

Before any EQ or aggressive compression, Carl applies a touch of limiting to the main kick drum track. We’re talking subtle – just “gently kissing” the peaks. The aim isn’t to slam it, but to slightly even out the performance, creating a more consistent foundation. He notes that if you look at the meters, it’s just holding it in place, maybe 1-2 dB of gain reduction at most. This tiny bit of control helps prepare the kick for the next stages.

Shaping the Dynamics: Strategic Gating & Compression

With the kick’s initial level somewhat tamed, Carl moves on to refining its envelope and impact.

Gating with Nuance: Keeping it Real

Next up is a gate to clean up bleed from cymbals and snare. However, Carl emphasizes not taking all the bleed out. While he might dial in a significant amount of reduction (he mentions around 18dB in the session), completely sanitizing the kick can make it sound unnatural and disconnected. Leaving a hint of that bleed, or “room tone,” helps the kick sit more organically within the full drum kit.

Bringing Back the “Front”: Compressor for Transient Punch

The initial limiting might slightly round off the initial attack, or “front” as Carl calls it, of the kick drum. To counteract this and even enhance it, he introduces a compressor. This isn’t just for level control; he specifically uses the compressor’s attack setting to shape the transient and bring back that leading edge. By carefully setting the attack time, he allows the initial crack of the beater to pass through before the compression clamps down, effectively emphasizing the punch. This is a classic trick for adding aggression and definition, and if you want to dive deeper into how compressors can sculpt your metal tracks, check out these metal compression secrets beyond just making it loud.

EQing the Kick: The No-Filter (At First) Approach

Carl’s EQ strategy for the kick, especially when dealing with multiple kick mics and samples (like an EZdrummer sample he incorporates), has a crucial rule: no high-pass filtering on individual tracks initially.

Phase Coherency is King

Why the no-filter rule? Phase. Kick drums, kick out mics, and kick samples are all trying to reproduce low-frequency information. If you start applying high-pass filters (or any drastic EQ, for that matter) to these individual sources, their phase relationships can go “all wacky,” leading to cancellations and a weaker, hollow sound. Carl prefers to get the blend and initial shaping right, then address overall low-end filtering on a drum bus at the end of the process, ensuring all elements remain in phase. It’s a testament to getting good sounds at the source so you don’t have to do crazy corrective work.

Surgical Strikes: Tackling Problem Frequencies

Once he’s ready to EQ the acoustic kick-in mic, Carl targets specific issues. He mentions the EZdrummer sample and the kick out mic often having “tons of low end,” so he’ll sculpt some of that “tub” out of the acoustic kick to make space. He also identifies and removes a “chirp” that sounds like microphonic feedback – a common gremlin in kick drum recordings.

When hunting for nasty resonances, he’s not afraid to make big temporary boosts to find the offending frequency, then make a precise cut. He jokingly mentions that if you actually left “18 dB of that or any of this shit in, it’s going to sound terrible,” but it’s part of the diagnostic. For this task, he often reaches for a classic like the Waves SSL E-Channel (using the Legacy version in this session).

The “Looks Nuts, But Works” EQ Philosophy

Carl also touches on a common mixing experience: sometimes your EQ moves might look a bit crazy in hindsight. You might take a narrow dip out at, say, 2.9kHz, and then later, to harden the whole kit, add a wider boost around 3kHz. It seems counterintuitive, but it’s often about addressing a specific problem precisely, then making a broader tonal enhancement. This iterative process is part of finding what works. For more advanced EQ strategies for mixing modern metal, Carve Your Core has plenty to explore.

Building Your Own Killer Kick Drum Sound

Carl Bown’s approach to the Bullet For My Valentine kick drum is a blend of technical know-how and experienced intuition. Key takeaways include:

• Listen (and watch!) critically: Pay attention to how your kick affects the speakers.
• Subtle initial control: A touch of limiting can go a long way.
• Gate, but don’t obliterate: Keep some natural bleed for realism.
• Use compression for punch: Manipulate the attack to enhance transients.
• Prioritize phase: Be careful with individual track filtering on low-end sources. EQ on a bus later.
• EQ surgically: Identify and remove specific problem frequencies before broad tonal shaping.

These techniques offer a fantastic roadmap for achieving a natural yet powerful metal kick drum. But imagine seeing Carl Bown apply these concepts, tweak the knobs in real-time, and integrate the kick with the rest of the thundering Bullet For My Valentine mix.

That’s exactly what you get with Nail The Mix. You can watch Carl Bown mix this very Bullet For My Valentine track from scratch, explaining every decision and plugin choice in his exclusive NTM session. You get the raw multitracks to practice on your own system, applying what you’ve learned.

If you’re serious about elevating your metal mixes and learning from the pros who crafted the albums you love, Nail The Mix is your gateway. Beyond just kick drums, you can Unlock Your Sound: Mixing Modern Metal Beyond Presets with comprehensive tutorials and a community of like-minded producers.

Ready to hear how this kick drum anchors the full Bullet For My Valentine track? Dive into the full mixing session with Carl Bown on Nail The Mix and transform your drum sounds.