Jinjer Kick Drum Power: Max Morton’s Sample Layering Techniques

Getting a kick drum to absolutely slam in a dense metal mix is an art form. While some engineers opt to completely replace the original kick, what if you love the natural vibe but it just needs… more? That’s exactly the scenario top producer Max Morton (Jinjer, Shokran) tackles, showing how to enhance an already good kick by strategically layering samples to reinforce its strengths and fill in any missing sonic gaps.

Forget just slapping a sample on top; Max’s approach is about surgical precision and thoughtful blending. Let's dive into how he beefs up Jinjer's kick drum, turning a good sound into a great one.

The Golden Rule: Enhance Don't Replace (Unless You Have To)

A common pitfall for many budding mixers is reaching for samples too early. Max emphasizes a crucial first step: get the natural kick sounding as killer as possible on its own. The samples aren't there to salvage a weak recording; they're there to elevate something already powerful.

Of course, context is everything. If you're dealing with a super-dry tracking with a dead room, you might lean more heavily on samples to bring in ambience, especially for snares and toms. Or, if the drummer's performance is less than stellar, you might even build the entire drum mix around samples, salvaging what you can from the overheads. But for this Jinjer session, with a solid drummer and good tracking, Max is almost 100% happy with the natural kick. He’s just looking for a touch more coloration, low-end consistency, and fatness.

Precision Triggering: Manual MIDI vs. Automatic Detection

When it comes to triggering samples, Max often prefers a meticulous, manual approach, especially if the sample will be a significant part of the sound (like a 50/50 blend) or if the drummer's hits aren't perfectly consistent. His assistant will typically go through Cubase, identify all the hit points, and manually adjust each one to ensure perfect timing. These hit points are then converted to MIDI notes, with velocities carefully dialed in to feed the sampler. This guarantees ultra-precise triggering without any misfires or flams.

However, for the Jinjer track in question, where the sample will be blended in subtly and the drummer is tight, Max opts for a quicker workflow using a plugin like Slate Trigger. He's not shy about using well-known samples, even something as ubiquitous as the "Kick 10" (a popular, punchy sample you've likely heard, possibly from a Slate Drums pack or similar). The key is how it's used.

Dialing in the Kick Sample: EQ and Source Selection

Initially, Max boosts the volume of the Kick 10 sample to hear it clearly. He starts by applying a low-cut (high-pass) filter to the sample to focus on its transient. An interesting tweak he makes is changing the source that Slate Trigger is listening to. He first tries the D6 mic, but then switches to an Audix D6 or Shure Beta 91A (SM91) channel, as these mics typically capture more transient information from the kick, leading to more accurate triggering for the sample.

Since the sample will be blended quietly, he sets the dynamics on Trigger to 0, ensuring every triggered hit is at a consistent level. Then, it's EQ time! Max immediately identifies some "honkiness" in the Kick 10 sample that he doesn't want, so he carves that out. His goal is to retain the fundamental low-end punch and some of the "3k firmness" from the sample. He’s not afraid to make fairly drastic EQ moves on this secondary track because it’s going to be tucked underneath the natural kick.

Phase Alignment: The Key to a Fat Low End

One of the most critical steps in layering drums is checking phase relationships. If the sample and the live kick are out of phase, you can lose a significant amount of low-end. Max’s method is straightforward: he temporarily makes the live kick (in this case, the D6 track) and the Kick 10 sample equally loud to clearly hear their interaction.

He then flips the phase polarity on the sample track. If the low-end suddenly disappears or becomes thin, they were likely in phase (or close to it). If the low-end gets bigger, they were out of phase. For Jinjer's kick, the original phase setting provided a huge low-end, while flipping it made the low-end vanish. This confirmed the initial phase relationship was working well.

The High-Pass Debate: To Filter the Sample or Not?

Max often has a high-pass filter on his main kick drum group. He experiments by applying the exact same high-pass filter (same frequency and Q) to the Kick 10 sample. Sometimes, this can make the combined sound "prettier" or "more precise," but in this instance, it also made the overall kick sound a bit "thinner."

Interestingly, without the high-pass on the Kick 10 sample, the two kicks just "add up the way I want," as Max puts it. The blend delivers more "oomph" and an almost synthesized low-end quality that he loves, extending way down. This might be because the Kick 10 sample is already pre-processed and potentially has its own filtering. The lesson? Always use your ears and A/B different processing choices.

Fine-Tuning the Blend: Adding Power and Consistency

With the phase and basic EQ sorted, Max brings the Kick 10 sample down by about 6dB and brings the main D6 kick track back up, listening to the blend in the context of the entire drum kit. By toggling the sample on and off, he confirms that the fundamental character of the kick isn't changing. Instead, it instantly gains more low-end and sounds more even from hit to hit – precisely what he wanted.

He likens the Kick 10 sample in this context to something like the classic "Fat City" sample from SSD4 – it’s there to reinforce and does its job incredibly well without being overly distinctive.

A Final Touch of Firmness

To further enhance the attack and consistency, Max decides to add a tiny bit more of the 3kHz to 4kHz range on the Kick 10 sample.
His EQ approach here is insightful:

1. He starts with a 12dB/octave bell curve on his EQ to isolate a specific part of the 2-4kHz range in the Kick 10 that he likes – that classic, albeit somewhat "outdated," clicky firmness.
2. Realizing he wants a broader section of that character, he switches to a steeper 24dB/octave bell, which now encompasses more of the desirable frequencies (roughly 2kHz and 5kHz).
3. He boosts this by almost 5dB. It sounds firm, but now the Kick 10 sample itself is too audible. The goal isn't to hear the sample, but to feel its contribution.
4. He backs the boost down to around +2.5dB. Now, the kick has that added firmness and consistency, but the sample doesn't dominate the natural drum sound. Perfect.

This careful layering ensures Jinjer's kick drum has that signature modern metal punch and unwavering consistency, ready to cut through a wall of guitars and powerful vocals. While EQ and sample selection are huge here, remember that overall drum impact also heavily relies on dynamics. For a deeper dive into controlling those powerful transients, check out these metal compression secrets.

Bring Jinjer's Power to Your Mixes

Max Morton’s approach to Jinjer's kick drum is a masterclass in subtle enhancement. It’s about understanding what your source material offers, what it lacks, and how to use samples intelligently to bridge that gap without sacrificing the natural feel.

Want to see Max Morton mix Jinjer's "Pisces" from scratch and get your hands on the actual multitracks to practice these techniques yourself? That’s what Nail The Mix is all about. Every month, you get to learn directly from the producers behind your favorite metal albums.

Dive deeper into Max's complete Jinjer mixing session right here and see how he applies these concepts and many more to craft a world-class metal mix. If you're ready to move beyond presets and truly unlock your sound in modern metal mixing, there's no better way than learning from the best in the game. Don't just listen to incredible mixes; learn how to create them with Nail The Mix and the Jinjer NTM session.