Mixing Cognizance’s Brutal Death Metal Drums with Joel Wanasek

Getting death metal drums to sound both powerful and clear is one of the biggest challenges in modern metal production. You need a kick that pummels the listener and a snare that slices through a wall of guitars, all without turning the low-end into a muddy mess. It’s a delicate balancing act of raw aggression and surgical precision.

We got a front-row seat to watch producer Joel Wanasek tackle this exact challenge while mixing the track “Malignant Domain” by the UK tech-death titans, Cognizance. Instead of just slapping on his usual presets, Joel’s process was a masterclass in listening, reacting, and making bold decisions to serve the song. Let’s break down how he built a foundation of pure brutality, starting with the snare and kick. And if you want to see him mix the entire song from start to finish, you can do just that in his full Nail The Mix session.

The Snare: Punch from the Trigger, Body from the Rooms

Right out of the gate, Joel makes a tough call: the natural snare has to go. Well, not entirely. While the close mic wasn’t delivering the punch and “balls” needed for a mix this heavy, the philosophy isn’t to just erase the real drum. The plan is to use a sample for the primary attack and punch, while blending in the overheads and room mics to provide the natural body, tone, and dynamics.

How to Choose the Right Sample

This is where the process gets interesting. Instead of just scrolling through his library for the “coolest” sounding snare, Joel takes a moment to listen to and memorize the tone of the original live snare. His goal is to find a sample that sounds like that drum, just a better, more mix-ready version of it.

After auditioning a few options, he lands on the “Sarah Levi” snare sample. It has the excitement, attack, and punch he’s after, but it still sounds natural and tonally similar to the source drum. A huge plus is that it requires very little post-processing. A sample that already fits the sonic character of your mix means you won’t have to wrestle with drastic EQ moves later on, saving you time and potential processing artifacts.

Finding a More Brutal Kick Drum

With the snare providing the crack, the kick drum needs to deliver the weight. But even for a veteran producer, the first choice isn’t always the right one.

When Your Go-To Kick Doesn’t Cut It

Joel initially loaded up one of his favorite, go-to kick samples. It’s a workhorse that sounds great in many metal mixes, but for this Cognizance track, it just wasn’t “brutal” enough. The lesson here is crucial: always serve the song, not your habits or presets. This particular track demanded a kick with more sub-bass energy and a character that would lock in perfectly with the low-tuned guitars.

Auditioning Kicks with JST Kick Forge

To find the right sound, Joel turns to JST’s Kick Forge. This tool is perfect for dialing in aggressive, modern kick tones because it allows you to blend multiple samples and characteristics, rather than just picking a single static sound. He knows he wants more “oomph” around 50 Hz and plans to high-pass the bass guitar to sit just above the kick’s fundamental sub-frequency.

He auditions a few presets, including a classic “Colin Richardson” sounding kick—very clicky and aggressive, but not quite the modern, hyped sound he envisions. For this mix, he wants something with more sub-power.

Why the “Robo Kick” Won

The winning sample, which Joel dubs the “Robo Kick,” is a departure from the old-school metal sound. It’s more in the vein of a band like Atilla—super-hyped, scooped, and full of sub-bass. Here’s why it works for this brutally fast track:

• Tight, Distorted Sub: The sample has a ton of controlled low-end. The harmonics and distortion add a unique texture that actually makes the sub feel tighter and more focused, which is essential for maintaining clarity during rapid-fire kick patterns.
• Powerful Character: The kick has a brutal, scooped sound that feels incredibly powerful, reminiscent of the iconic kick tones from Eric Rutan’s mix on a Through The Eyes of the Dead record.
• Controlled Dynamics: A great kick sample is just the start. Keeping that powerful sub-bass tight and consistent requires a mastery of dynamics and compression to ensure it hits hard without becoming a flabby, uncontrolled mess.

How Better Drums Expose Other Mix Weaknesses

Here’s one of the most valuable takeaways from the session: once the new kick and snare samples were in place, the drums suddenly sounded massive. But this created a new problem—the guitar tones, which sounded pretty good before, now sounded weak and thin in comparison.

This is the “molding process” of a mix in action. Every element is connected. A significant improvement in one area will immediately expose the weakest link in another. As you dial in a more powerful and hyped rhythm section, you’ll likely need to go back and re-evaluate your guitars, bass, and vocals to ensure they can compete and contribute to the now-elevated sonic landscape.

Learn from the Pros

Building a drum sound like this is an art. It’s about making bold choices, knowing what to listen for, and understanding how every decision impacts the entire mix. These techniques are a fantastic starting point for your own death metal productions.

But imagine watching Joel Wanasek make these moves in real-time, explaining every plugin choice, automation move, and processing trick he uses to take these raw Cognizance tracks to a finished master. With Nail The Mix, you can do exactly that. Every month, you get the real multi-tracks from a massive metal song and watch the original producer mix it from scratch. It’s the ultimate way to go beyond presets and unlock your own sound.

Ready to see how the rest of this brutal Cognizance mix comes together? Check out the full session on the Nail The Mix Cognizance page.