How to Mix Palm Muted Guitars: Taming Low-End Chug

Palm mutes are the rhythmic engine of modern metal. That percussive “chug” sound is what makes a riff hit you in the chest. But in the mix, that same aggressive chug can be your worst enemy. It creates massive, uncontrolled blasts of low-end energy that make your guitars sound uneven and muddy up your entire mix.

If you’ve ever set your guitar fader to a level that sounds great during a sustained chord, only to have the palm mutes blow your head off, you know the struggle.

The secret isn’t just about carving out frequencies with EQ—though that’s part of it. The real power move is to use dynamics processing to clamp down on just the palm mutes, leaving the rest of your guitar tone intact. Let’s break down two killer ways to do this.

The Problem: Why Palm Mutes Wreck Your Guitar Levels

When a guitarist digs in for a palm mute, the string produces a huge, percussive burst of low and low-mid energy. This peak can be significantly louder than any other part of the riff.

This creates a massive dynamic range problem. If you automate the fader to control every single chug, you’ll drive yourself insane. If you use a standard compressor on the whole track, you risk squashing the life out of your open chords and leads just to control the mutes.

The solution is to attack the problem with surgical precision. This is where you move beyond basic fader levels and into smart, targeted metal compression techniques.

Option 1: The Fast Fix Using a Limiter

For a quick and effective way to get those peaks under control, a simple limiter can work wonders. Think of it less as a mastering tool and more as a "peak chopper" that only acts on the loudest parts of the signal.

How to Set It Up

1. Place a limiter plugin (like FabFilter Pro-L 2, Waves L1, or even your stock DAW limiter) on your rhythm guitar bus.
2. Play a section of the song that has both palm mutes and open, sustained chords.
3. Pull the limiter’s threshold down until you see it only reacting during the palm mutes. The goal is to have the meter show 0dB of gain reduction on the sustained parts and then jump into action to "bat down" the "chunk, chunk, chunk" of the mutes.
4. Aim for a few dBs of gain reduction on just those peaks.

This approach quickly evens out the performance, tucking those explosive chugs back in line with the rest of the riff. It’s a huge improvement, but since a limiter affects the entire frequency spectrum, it can sometimes feel a bit blunt. For more nuanced control, we need to bring out the big guns.

Option 2: The Pro Move With a Multi-Band Compressor

This is the most flexible and powerful way to tame palm mutes. A multi-band compressor lets you apply heavy compression to only the muddy low-end frequencies of the chugs, without touching the mid-range bite and high-end clarity of your guitar tone.

Let’s use a classic like the Waves C4 or a modern powerhouse like FabFilter Pro-MB as an example.

Dialing in the Settings

The magic here is in isolating the problem and being aggressive with your settings in a very narrow window.

Step 1: Isolate the Problem Band

First, you need to find where the "boom" lives.

• Enable a single band on your multi-band compressor.
• Set the crossover points to create a band in the low-mids, starting somewhere around 80Hz up to 250Hz. This is a common zone for palm mute mud.
• Use the "solo" or "listen" function on that band to hear exactly what you’re affecting. Sweep the frequencies until you’ve zeroed in on that boomy, percussive energy from the mutes.

Step 2: Set Your Threshold and Range

Just like with the limiter, you want this band to react only when the palm mutes hit.

• Set the threshold so the compressor doesn’t trigger on the open chords.
• Be aggressive with the Range (or Ratio). Don’t be afraid to set it for heavy compression, like -10dB or even more. Since you’re only affecting a narrow band of frequencies, you can get away with much heavier processing than you could with a standard compressor.

Step 3: Nail the Attack and Release

This is the most critical part. Your attack and release times will determine whether the effect sounds tight and controlled or sloppy and unnatural.

• Attack: Start with a very fast attack time (e.g., 1-5ms). This will clamp down on the transient of the palm mute instantly, providing maximum control. If it sounds a little too choked, you can slow the attack slightly to let the initial "thump" of the pick attack through before the compression kicks in.
• Release: The release needs to be fast enough to recover before the next palm mute hits, especially in a fast 16th-note riff. If the release is too slow, the compressor will hold the gain down, sucking the life out of the low end and creating an obvious, ugly pumping effect. Start fast and adjust by ear until it feels rhythmic and tight.

Putting It In the Mix

When you A/B this setup, the "before" should sound wild and boomy, while the "after" sounds controlled, tight, and punchy. The guitar should feel more "locked in" with the kick and bass because its low end is no longer fighting for space.

If your guitars suddenly sound thin, you’ve likely gone too far. Try slowing the attack, reducing the range, or adjusting the frequency band. The goal is to control the "gel" of the low-end, not eliminate it. A bit of that low-end excitement adds a ton of dynamic power to the mix when it’s properly reined in. For more on shaping this part of the tone, check out these advanced tips for EQing modern metal guitars.

Why This Control Makes Your Mix Better

By using a limiter or a multi-band compressor, you can transform your palm mutes from a messy problem into a rhythmic asset. Your guitars will sit in the mix consistently, allowing you to lock in a level and move on. The chugs will provide punch and power without overwhelming the bass or kick drum.

Mastering techniques like this is what separates a decent mix from a professional one. It’s the kind of detailed problem-solving that producers like Joey Sturgis, Will Putney, and Jens Bogren use every day.

Want to see exactly how they do it?

At Nail The Mix, you can watch the world's best producers mix iconic metal tracks from bands like Gojira, Lamb of God, and Periphery from scratch. You get the raw multitracks to practice on yourself and can see every plugin, every setting, and every decision explained in real-time.

There are over 1,500 hours of tutorials just like this waiting inside URM Enhanced. Stop guessing and start learning the techniques that take your mixes to the next level. Check out our full catalog of Nail The Mix sessions and see who's mixing this month.