Converge’s Drum Punch: Kurt Ballou’s Turbo Sample Blending

When you think of Converge, you think of raw, unadulterated aggression. A huge part of that sonic onslaught comes from Ben Koller’s powerhouse drumming, and making those drums hit hard in the mix is paramount. We got a peek into how the legendary Kurt Ballou dials in drum samples, specifically for their track “I Can Tell You About Pain,” revealing a killer technique he calls the “Turbo Track.” If you’re looking to add serious impact and character to your drum samples, you’re going to want to steal this. You can check out the full session right here.

Let’s dive into how Kurt crafts that signature Converge drum sound using sample enhancement, focusing on his “Turbo Track” method.

Kicking Things Off: The Foundation of the Kick Sound

Kurt starts by loading up a virtual drum instrument. For this track, he’s working with a kit he calls “Mystery Wood Plastic,” which he believes is an old 70s Slingerland mahogany shell. A cool feature he immediately highlights is the sustain control on the samples. Wide open, the kick is ringy, but he tightens it up to keep it natural, aiming for character rather than a sterile, sine-wave-like decay. This is Converge, after all – character is key.

Inside the Virtual Mixer: Mic Choices and Blends

Within the sample instrument’s mixer, Kurt has access to multiple mic emulations for the kick:

• Kick Inside: A Beta 98, which he’s favoring heavily. He later mentions the specific model used for sampling was likely a Shure Beta 91A.
• Kick Outside: A D12, kept pretty quiet, just adding a bit of boom.
• Kick Sub: The classic Yamaha Subkick, for that low-end foundation.

He also shows off the built-in processing: an EQ skinned to look like a De-King (which he likes to track drums through) and a compressor styled after a Distressor, a popular choice for drums in his studio, GodCity. There’s also a tape saturation blend for extra crunch. These tools are essential for shaping the initial tone, and you can learn more about EQ strategies for mixing modern metal to refine your own drum sounds.

The Secret Weapon: The Kick “Turbo Track”

This is where things get really interesting. Kurt introduces the “Turbo Track,” a technique he learned from Matt Ellard during the mixing of Converge’s iconic album, Jane Doe.

What Exactly IS a Turbo Track?

Back in the Jane Doe days, mixing on tape with a Neve 8078 console, Matt Ellard would mult the kick, snare, and tom tracks. “Multing,” for those unfamiliar, is a patch bay term for splitting a single audio source into multiple identical outputs. He’d then send these multed signals through a separate chain of aggressive processing:

• Gates: Drummers Gates (like the DS201s) were used for their characteristic “pop” when they open, adding attack.
• Compressors: Gnarly compressors like Valley People Dynamites or something FED/VCA-based (maybe a DBX) for a real “smacky” sound.
• EQ: This heavily processed signal would then be EQ’d on its own channel.

This “turbo” signal was then subtly blended underneath the main dry tracks, acting as a reinforcement hit to add attack and character—similar to how one might use one-shot samples, but all done with the live drums in an analog environment.

Kurt’s Sample-Based Turbo Implementation

Kurt has adapted this concept for his sample library. Within the library, alongside the clean multi-samples (which already have tons of velocity layers and left/right variations), there’s a separate set of all those hits pre-processed through an analog chain including EQ, compression, and saturation (though not gated, as the sustain control in the sampler handles that).

You get three main controls for this Turbo Track:

1. Threshold: A velocity threshold. This means the turbo hit only gets triggered when the incoming MIDI velocity is above a certain point. Softer hits remain clean, while accented hits get the turbo treatment.
2. Volume: This controls how much of the turbo sample is blended with the primary sample.
3. Sustain: Dictates how long the turbo track’s processed sound rings out.

For the kick on “I Can Tell You About Pain,” Kurt demonstrates blending in the turbo track. He keeps the sustain relatively short to prevent low-end buildup, especially if there were fast double bass sections. The result? The kick tightens up, the level becomes more consistent, and it gets that crucial 2kHz cut-through that helps it punch through a dense Converge mix. This kind of parallel processing using metal compression secrets can make a huge difference.

Snare Shaping: Turbo Power for Crack and Character

The same principles apply to the snare, but the impact can be even more dramatic, especially for dynamic parts.

Dialing in the Snare Turbo

Kurt solos up the snare top mic. Again, the Turbo Track is the star. He emphasizes how this pre-processed layer adds a lot of high-mid presence and crunch.

The velocity threshold is particularly useful here. He sets it so that only the harder, accented snare hits trigger the turbo track. This means that during something like the fast snare roll that kicks off “I Can Tell You About Pain,” the ghost notes remain more natural and dynamic, while the main backbeats get that extra “crack” and weight. You could automate the threshold down for blast beats where the drummer might be hitting lighter, ensuring every hit gets reinforced if needed.

The sustain control on the snare’s turbo track offers creative flexibility. You could crank it for a dirty, ringy, noise-rock snare vibe (think Unsane), but Kurt generally prefers a tighter sound and backs it off.

He then blends the turbo snare in with the primary snare top and also brings in the snare bottom mic, which helps lessen the tonal shift introduced by the heavily processed turbo layer, making it sit more naturally.

Beyond the Turbo: Other Key Considerations

Kurt touches on a couple of other important points that contribute to a great sampled drum sound:

The Importance of Velocity Editing

He notes that achieving such a natural and dynamic snare sound would be incredibly difficult without detailed velocity editing on the MIDI. Trying to get that level of dynamic control from raw audio triggers would be a serious challenge, likely requiring extensive clip gaining of individual hits.

Multi-Output Flexibility

The sample library also offers full multi-output routing. While Kurt simplifies his setup by sending all kicks to one output, snares to another, and ambient mics to a stereo output, users have the option to break out each sample (kick in, kick out, snare top, snare bottom, individual cymbals, etc.) to its own track in the DAW. This allows for using your own EQs, compressors, and other plugins on individual drum elements instead of relying solely on the sampler’s internal processing.

Bringing Converge’s Drum Intensity to Your Mixes

Kurt Ballou’s “Turbo Track” technique is a fantastic way to add punch, character, and consistency to your drum samples, drawing inspiration from old-school analog mixing tricks and applying them in a modern, sample-based workflow. By carefully blending these pre-processed layers, especially using velocity thresholds, you can enhance your drums dynamically and make them cut through even the densest metal mixes.

Want to see exactly how Kurt Ballou mixed Converge’s “I Can Tell You About Pain” from start to finish, explaining every plugin, setting, and decision? You can dive deep into this session and many more with a Nail The Mix subscription. Get access to the original multi-tracks from Converge and learn directly from Kurt himself.

If you’re serious about taking your metal productions to the next level and want to Unlock Your Sound: Mixing Modern Metal Beyond Presets, seeing pros like Kurt Ballou work their magic is invaluable.