Saosin Snare Trick: Beau Burchell’s Phase Gate for Cymbal Bleed

Cymbal bleed. The eternal bane of punchy snare drum mixing, right? Especially in dense metal mixes, that wash of high-frequency hash can turn your killer snare into a mushy, indistinct thwack. Gating can help, sure, but sometimes traditional gates or even multi-band solutions can sound a bit choppy or artificial. But what if there was a seriously clever way to get super clean, natural-sounding snare isolation, using only the stock plugins you already own?

Enter Beau Burchell, guitarist and producer extraordinaire for Saosin. He’s got a "magical trick" up his sleeve for tackling cymbal bleed, particularly on snares (though he mentions it works great on toms too!). It’s a phase cancellation technique that’s surprisingly simple to set up but incredibly effective. We got the lowdown, and trust us, you’ll want to try this on your next mix. This is exactly the kind of practical, game-changing insight you can expect to find when you dive into a session on Nail The Mix.

The Problem: That Pesky Cymbal Spill

We’ve all been there. You dial in a snare sound with a nice bit of top-end snap, but every time the drummer whacks a cymbal nearby, your snare mic picks up a faceful of splashy, washy bleed. This makes it tough to EQ your snare effectively – boost the highs for crack, and you also boost the annoying cymbal hash. It can cloud up your transients and generally make your snare feel less impactful.

Beau Burchell's Phase Cancellation Gate: The Step-by-Step

Beau’s method sidesteps the common pitfalls of gating by using phase to your advantage. Here’s how to set it up:

Step 1: Dial In Your Main Snare Tone

First things first, get your primary snare track sounding awesome on its own. Beau emphasizes getting plenty of top-end and a bit of bottom. He’s not overly concerned if the track is clipping a little, as long as it’s not introducing any nasty, unwanted distortion. The goal is a snare that’s bright and punchy enough to cut through the mix before you even start this trick.

Step 2: Duplicate and Prepare the "Key" Track

Once your main snare is sounding good, duplicate the entire track – plugins, settings, everything. This duplicated track will become our "key" or "control" track for the phase cancellation effect.

Step 3: The Magic Compressor (Stock is King!)

This is where things get interesting. On your duplicated snare track, insert a stock compressor right at the beginning of its plugin chain (before any EQs or other effects copied from the original). Beau specifically recommends using a stock DAW compressor for this.

Here are the crucial settings:

• Attack: As fast as it will go.
• Release: As fast as it will go.
• Ratio: As high as it will go (effectively turning it into a brickwall limiter).

The idea here isn't subtle dynamic control; you're creating an ultra-aggressive, super-fast ducking effect. Beau finds that a stock compressor, set to be extremely aggressive, works better for this particular trick than just slapping on a standard limiter plugin. You want this compressor to be as utilitarian and characterless as possible – many stock compressors excel at this. For more on taming dynamics with intention, check out some metal compression secrets.

Step 4: EQ and Phase Flip

Still on the duplicated track, after all other processing (including any EQs that were copied over from the original snare), add one more EQ plugin.

• Engage a high-pass filter. Beau suggests starting around 700Hz, but you’ll want to experiment to find what works best for your material. This focuses the phase cancellation effect on the frequencies where cymbal bleed is most problematic.
• The absolute key to this whole trick: Flip the phase (or invert polarity) on this duplicated track.

If you're looking to master your EQ moves, our EQ Strategies for Mixing Modern Metal hub page is packed with insights.

How It Works: The Science Bit (Simplified)

So what’s happening here?

1. By duplicating the snare and flipping the phase on the copy, then high-passing it, you're setting up a scenario where the high frequencies (above your high-pass filter setting – i.e., your cymbal bleed) from the duplicated track will phase cancel the same frequencies on your original snare track. Magic! The cymbal bleed largely disappears.
2. But what about the actual snare hit? This is where that aggressive compressor comes in. When the snare hits, the compressor on the duplicated (phase-flipped and high-passed) track slams down on the signal so hard and fast that it momentarily "ducks" or silences that duplicated track.
3. When that duplicated track is silenced, the phase cancellation effect on the top end stops for that split second. This allows the full, bright top end of your original snare track to punch through, clean and clear of bleed.
4. As soon as the snare transient passes, the compressor on the duplicated track releases, the signal comes back up, and the phase cancellation of the cymbal bleed resumes.

The result? The snare’s attack cuts through beautifully, while the cymbal bleed in the sustain is significantly reduced or even eliminated.

Why This Method Rocks (And When to Use It)

Beau champions this technique for a few good reasons, particularly when compared to other common gating methods.

More Natural Than Your Average Gate?

Many engineers, Beau included, find that some gating methods, like aggressive multi-band gates (he mentions the FabFilter Pro-MB as an example of a plugin often used for this), can sometimes have an audible "hang time" or a slightly "ratty" sound as the gate opens and closes. This phase cancellation trick, however, tends to sound remarkably smooth and natural. The top end of the snare just appears, clean and defined, without the artifacts some gates can introduce.

Fine-Tuning Your Cymbal Annihilation

A crucial aspect of this technique is the volume relationship between your original snare track and the phase-flipped, compressed "key" track. By adjusting the fader level of this duplicated key track, you can control the amount of cymbal reduction.

• Want more bleed to come through for a more live feel? Turn the key track down a bit.
• Need maximum cymbal extermination? Keep its level matched or experiment with slight boosts (carefully!).
  This gives you a lot of creative control over how "tight" or "open" the snare sounds in relation to the cymbals.

Printing for Posterity (And Further Processing)

Once you've dialed in the effect to perfection, Beau recommends committing it to audio.

Bussing and Printing Your Clean Snare

1. Route both your original snare track and the phase-flipped duplicated track to a new stereo bus (or group).
2. Create a new audio track and set its input to be that bus.
3. Record (or "print") the combined signal to this new audio track.

A little tip: When you combine two fairly hot tracks like this, the summed signal on the bus might be louder and could clip. You'll likely need to pull down the fader on the bus you're printing from by a few dB to ensure a clean recording without digital overs.

The Joy of a Bleed-Free Snare

Now you have a brand new snare track with significantly reduced cymbal bleed. The beauty of this is that you can now apply further EQ – like boosting the top end for more crack and air – without simultaneously boosting a load of unwanted cymbal wash. Your snare will sit in the mix with much more clarity and punch.

Stock Plugins: Your Secret Weapon

One of the best parts of Beau Burchell’s technique is its accessibility. He emphasizes that you don’t need fancy, expensive third-party plugins to achieve this.

• DAW Agnostic: You can do this in virtually any DAW – Pro Tools, Logic Pro X, Cubase, Reaper, Studio One, you name it.
• Stock Compressors for the Win: The key is a compressor that can be set to be extremely fast (attack and release) and doesn't impart a lot of "character" or color. Most DAWs come with stock compressors that are perfect for this utilitarian task.
• Focus on Technique, Not Gear: This aligns perfectly with the philosophy we champion at Nail The Mix: learning how to use your tools and understanding the concepts is far more valuable than just collecting plugins.

Take Control of Your Snare Sound

Beau Burchell's phase cancellation gating trick is a testament to creative problem-solving in the mix. It’s an elegant solution that delivers incredibly clean and natural-sounding results, all with tools you likely already have. Give it a shot on your next project and hear the difference!

Want to see more incredible mixing techniques from pros like Beau Burchell, working on real songs from massive artists like Saosin? That’s precisely what Nail The Mix offers. You get the original multitracks and watch as world-class producers build their mixes from scratch, explaining every decision along the way. You can dive deep into the full Saosin mixing session with Beau Burchell right here, and if you're ready to transform your productions, learn how to Unlock Your Sound: Mixing Modern Metal Beyond Presets.