Kyle Black’s State Champs Drum Mix: Taming Bleed & Punching Up Pop-Punk

Getting that punchy, energetic, and clean drum sound is crucial for pop-punk and rock. It's the backbone that drives the track. In a recent session, producer Kyle Black (State Champs, New Found Glory, Paramore) dove into mixing the drums for State Champs, offering some killer insights. If you've ever struggled with pesky cymbal bleed or getting your kick to really crack, then grab a coffee, because Kyle laid down some serious wisdom. Let's break down some of the key moves he made to get those State Champs drums sounding tight and powerful, straight from his Nail The Mix session.

Tackling Snare Bleed: The Pesky Cymbal Problem

One of the first things Kyle noticed was an annoying "shhhh" sound from cymbal bleed in the snare top mic. This is a super common issue, and if left unchecked, it can make your snare sound washed out and unprofessional. As one of our NTM hosts pointed out, this kind of detail is what separates pro mixes from the rest.

The Culprit: Parallel Compression

Kyle quickly identified that his parallel compression bus was really accentuating the cymbal bleed. Parallel compression is a fantastic tool for adding punch and excitement to drums, but it can also bring up unwanted noise if you're not careful. You can learn more about how to dial in your drum bus and parallel compression effectively on our compression hub page.

The Fix: Adjusting Sends & Levels

The solution was multi-faceted but started with the parallel compression:

1. Reduce Send to Parallel: Kyle realized he had an "abundance of top snare going to the parallel" bus. He backed off the send level from the snare top mic to the parallel compression bus. This immediately helped reduce how much of that bleed was getting squashed and amplified.
2. Lower Parallel Bus Fader: He also dropped the overall level of the parallel compression bus fader a touch.
3. Post-Fader Sends: A quick housekeeping tip: Kyle mentioned switching his sends to post-fader after dialing in the parallel compression. While he noted it wasn't a huge deal in his specific instance due to faders being near unity, it's generally good practice for sends to effects like parallel compression to be post-fader so their level relative to the dry signal remains consistent if you adjust the source track's fader.

These adjustments significantly cleaned up the snare sound, minimizing that distracting cymbal wash.

Punch Up Your Kick: Getting That Snappy Attack

Next up, Kyle wanted to make the kick drum "a little snappier and crackier." This is all about enhancing the transient and the top-end information.

Compression for Bite

He started by adding a bit more compression to the kick. This helps to even out the dynamics and can be used to emphasize the attack, making the kick "bite a little harder." The key is to find the right attack and release times to shape the transient just how you want it.

EQ for Brightness

To bring out the "crack," Kyle turned to EQ:

• Live Kick: He added some top-end to the live kick mic, making it brighter and helping it cut through.
• Kick Sample: He applied a similar EQ boost to the kick sample. Someone even suggested trying a bell curve on the sample, which Kyle tried, settling on a sound that complemented the live kick. Adding brightness to both the acoustic mic and the sample ensures the kick has that attack across its entire sonic footprint. For more on carving out space and enhancing frequencies, check out our EQ strategies hub.

Mastering Room Ambience for In-Your-Face Drums

Room mics play a huge role in the overall vibe and space of your drum kit. Kyle demonstrated how to balance them for impact and realism.

Balancing Room Mics

An easy way to make drums sound more "in-your-face" is by simply turning down the room mics. Kyle experimented with this, even muting his "fake rooms" (likely room reverb plugins or samples) for a moment to assess their contribution.

Enhancing Cymbal Wash (The Good Kind)

While too much bleed in close mics is bad, the right kind of cymbal wash in the room mics can be great. Kyle noted his cymbals seemed "a little small" and brought up the room mics to get them "a little washier in a good way," making the drum kit sound more live and real. He also panned the cymbals a bit more to the center temporarily to better hear what the room mics were contributing to their sound.

EQing the Room for Clarity

Room mics capture the entire kit, and sometimes they can sound a bit dull or muddy. Kyle felt his room mics were "feeling a little dull" and went in to readjust the EQ on them, likely adding some top-end or cutting some mids to bring back some life and clarity.

Fine-Tuning the Snare: Gating with Precision

Even after addressing the bleed, Kyle felt the natural ring on the snare was "a little annoying." This is where a gate comes in handy, but using it artfully is key.

Understanding Gate Controls: Threshold, Release, and Range

Kyle emphasized the power of the range control on a gate (like the Avid Pro Expander/Gate or similar).

• Threshold: Sets the level a signal must exceed to open the gate.
• Release: Controls how long it takes for the gate to close after the signal drops below the threshold.
• Range: This is crucial. Instead of the gate slamming shut and cutting off all sound (which sounds unnatural), the range control determines how much the signal is attenuated when the gate closes.

Dialing in Natural Sustain

1. Tighten Fully: Kyle started by setting the gate super tight (range likely at maximum attenuation, fast attack, fast release) to hear the extreme effect.
2. Set Release: He then loosened the release time to get the desired amount of sustain from the snare hit itself.
3. Adjust Range: This is where the magic happens. By loosening up the range (reducing the amount of attenuation), he allowed some of the snare's natural ring and the "everything else" to come through, but at a controlled, lower level. It's like having control over the very tail end of the snare's decay.

This approach gives you a snare that's controlled and tight but still sounds natural and breathes, avoiding that choppy, artificial sound. This concept applies beautifully to kick drums and toms as well.

Finally, Kyle made a quick adjustment to the ride mic level, bringing it up slightly with some automation.

Bringing It All Together (And Learning More with Nail The Mix)

Kyle Black's approach to mixing the State Champs drums highlights the importance of attention to detail and smart application of fundamental mixing tools:

• Controlling bleed by managing send levels, especially to parallel compression.
• Shaping transients with compression and targeted EQ boosts for punchy kicks.
• Balancing room mics for an "in-your-face" sound while retaining natural ambience and cymbal wash.
• Using gates intelligently with the range control for natural-sounding snare control.

These are the kinds of nuanced techniques that elevate a mix from good to great. Want to see exactly how Kyle Black set up his session, dialed in these settings, and mixed the entire State Champs track from start to finish? You can dive deep into his complete workflow with the State Champs Nail The Mix session.

At Nail The Mix, we bring you these kinds of in-depth sessions every month with the world's top rock and metal producers. You get the raw multitracks and watch them mix, explaining every plugin, every decision. If you're ready to move beyond presets and truly Unlock Your Sound: Mixing Modern Metal & Beyond Presets, then NTM is where you need to be.