Jinjer’s Ghost Notes: Max Morton’s Precision Drum Mixing

Ghost notes. Those super-subtle snare hits that add groove and feel, but can be a nightmare to get right in a dense metal mix. How do you make them audible and impactful without cranking up a load of unwanted hi-hat bleed or making them sound unnatural? If you've ever wrestled with this, you're not alone. In a track as dynamic and powerful as Jinjer's, every element needs to hit just right. Luckily, we got an inside look at how producer Max Morton tackled this very challenge, and his approach is a goldmine of techniques you can apply to your own mixes.

This isn't just about slapping on a compressor and calling it a day. Max's method for Jinjer's ghost notes involves meticulous editing, clever routing, and some seriously smart plugin usage to achieve clarity and power. Let's dive in!

The Foundation: Isolating for Impact

One of the first things Max emphasized was the need to hear ghost notes clearly in the context of the full mix, especially with other percussive elements like shakers (he mentions quieting an "egg" shaker by a dB or two to create space). Before even thinking about major processing, getting a good relative balance is key.

Max's first big move for the ghost notes themselves was a masterclass in dedication: he painstakingly edited every single ghost note onto its own separate track.

Why a Dedicated Ghost Note Track?

This might sound like a ton of work (and it is – Max notes he couldn't just pass this off to an assistant!), but this separation is crucial. It allows for completely independent processing, tailor-made for those delicate ghost notes, without affecting the main snare track's body and punch. You're essentially creating a specialist track designed to do one job perfectly: deliver clear, audible ghost notes. He manually checked each hit to ensure it triggered cleanly, a testament to the level of detail required.

Initial Shaping: Filters and Phase

Once isolated, the ghost note track got some initial treatment:

• Low-Pass Filter: To focus the sound and remove unnecessary high-frequency content that might just be noise or bleed from other cymbals. This helps the ghost notes feel more like a "thump" or "tap" rather than a "tick."
• Fundamental Boost (Initially): Max added a little boost to the fundamental frequency of the ghost notes to give them some weight. (Spoiler: he revisits this later, which is a great reminder that mixing is iterative!)

Critically, when blending this dedicated ghost note track (sent to the main drum group) with the regular snare track, Max flipped the phase on the ghost note track. This is a common but vital step. If the phase isn't aligned correctly, the ghost notes might partially cancel out frequencies from the main snare or just sound weak. By flipping the phase, he found it "instantly starts adding instead of just doing nothing," reinforcing the snare sound.

The "Aha!" Moment: Dynamic EQ on the Snare Bottom

Even with the dedicated track, Max noticed the ghost notes sounded "a little unnatural… very dull and midrange comparing to the rest." They weren't quite sitting right. This is where things get really interesting. Instead of just EQing the ghost note track itself into oblivion, Max turned to the snare bottom mic and some clever sidechaining.

Unleashing FabFilter Pro-Q for Dynamic Brilliance

Here’s the magic:

1. Targeted Mic: Max put an instance of FabFilter Pro-Q3 on the snare bottom track. The snare bottom mic naturally captures a lot of the crispness and "rattle" of the snares.
2. Sidechain Input: He then activated the sidechain input on this Pro-Q3 and fed the snare ghost notes track into it.
3. Dynamic EQ Band: He created a dynamic EQ band within Pro-Q3, focused on the higher frequencies that would add snap and clarity.
4. Expansion, Not Compression: Instead of cutting, he set this dynamic band to expand (boost) whenever a signal came through the sidechain (i.e., whenever a ghost note hit).

The result? The snare bottom mic's high frequencies are momentarily boosted only when the ghost notes occur. This adds that missing snap and sizzle to the ghost notes, making them sound much more natural and integrated, as if they're an organic part of the main snare performance, all without bringing up constant bleed from the ghost note track itself. It’s a surgical way to enhance articulation precisely when needed. If you're looking to get deeper into these kinds of EQ techniques, exploring EQ strategies for mixing modern metal can really open up your options.

Max also did some further tweaks on the snare bottom EQ, like taming a specific "funny" high frequency with a wider Q and slightly decreasing a boost, ensuring the overall snare bottom tone remained balanced. He also found the ghost notes were a bit "hollow" – plenty of highs and fundamental, but lacking midrange. A gentle boost in the mids on the ghost note track helped fill them out.

Taming Wild Dynamics: The Power of Drum Leveler

Even with precise editing and clever EQ, ghost notes can naturally vary in volume due to the drummer's performance. Some might poke out too much, while others get lost. Max's solution? Not a traditional compressor, but a drum leveler.

Why Not Just Compress?

While compressors are essential tools, for hyper-specific dynamic control of individual hits like ghost notes without squashing their transient or bringing up noise, a dedicated leveler can be more transparent and effective.

Sound Radix Drum Leveler to the Rescue

Max turned to what sounds like Sound Radix Drum Leveler (a popular choice for this task). This plugin excels at evening out the volume of drum hits without the typical artifacts of heavy compression. He mentioned how, before tools like this, he’d have to manually detect silence in Cubase, chop up regions, crossfade, normalize, and blend tracks – a crazy amount of work! Now, a plugin can achieve this consistency much more efficiently.

By using the Drum Leveler on the ghost note track, he ensured that all the delicate hits were audible and consistent, not jumping around wildly in the mix. This kind of dynamic control is crucial in metal, and understanding tools beyond basic compression can be a game-changer. For more on taming dynamics, check out these metal compression secrets.

Final Polish and Key Takeaways

Remember that initial fundamental boost on the ghost notes? Towards the end, Max decided they sounded "a little too deep" and "weird," so he disabled that boost. This is a perfect example of how mixing is a process of constant evaluation and adjustment. Don't be afraid to revisit earlier decisions!

So, to recap Max Morton's killer approach to Jinjer's ghost notes:

1. Isolate: Meticulously edit ghost notes to their own track.
2. Prepare: Use a low-pass filter and check phase when blending with the main snare.
3. Enhance Naturally: Use a dynamic EQ on the snare bottom, sidechained from the ghost note track, to expand high frequencies only when ghost notes hit (using FabFilter Pro-Q).
4. Control Dynamics: Use a drum leveler to even out the volume of individual ghost notes transparently.
5. Listen & Refine: Continuously check in context and adjust EQ (like mids and fundamental) as needed.

These techniques, while requiring attention to detail, can elevate your drum mixes from good to pro, ensuring every nuance of the performance shines through.

Want to see exactly how Max Morton dials in these sounds and mixes the entire Jinjer track from start to finish? On Nail The Mix, you can watch world-class producers like Max mix real songs from bands like Jinjer, Periphery, Gojira, and many more. You get the multitracks, the plugins, and hours of detailed instruction. Check out the full Jinjer NTM session with Max Morton to see these techniques in action and learn a ton more. If you're ready to move beyond presets and truly unlock your sound in modern metal mixing, seeing how the pros do it is invaluable. Don't miss out on learning these game-changing techniques directly from the source on the Jinjer "Pisces" Nail The Mix session!