Sleeping With Sirens: Analog Drums & Outboard Latency with Kris Crummett

Nail The Mix Staff

Getting massive, punchy drum sounds like those on Sleeping With Sirens records often involves more than just in-the-box plugins. Legendary producer Kris Crummett (known for his work with bands like Dance Gavin Dance, Issues, and, of course, Sleeping With Sirens) often incorporates analog outboard gear to achieve that signature impact. In a sneak peek from his Nail The Mix session for Sleeping With Sirens’ “Tìlian”, Kris breaks down his approach to parallel drum compression using hardware, and crucially, how he tackles the ever-present issue of latency.

If you’re venturing into the world of hybrid mixing – combining the flexibility of your DAW with the character of analog gear – understanding latency compensation is key. Let’s dive into how Kris gets his analog drum bus thumping in time and in phase.

The Magic of Parallel Drum Compression

First off, what’s parallel compression? It’s a technique where you blend a heavily compressed version of your drums (or any instrument) back in with the original, uncompressed (or lightly compressed) signal. This allows you to add serious punch, aggression, and sustain from the compressed signal without completely squashing the natural dynamics of the original drums. It’s a go-to move for impactful rock and metal drums, and you can learn more about various metal compression secrets beyond just making it loud to up your game.

For his parallel drum bus, Kris Crummett turns to a pair of legendary hardware units: the Empirical Labs EL8 Distressors. These versatile compressors are studio staples, famous for their ability to be transparent or aggressively colorful.

Setting Up the Hardware Send in Pro Tools

Kris routes his drum bus to the Distressors using the I/O inserts in Pro Tools. This feature allows you to send audio out of your interface, through your analog gear, and back into Pro Tools on the same channel strip or an aux track.

  • In Pro Tools, under the plugin inserts, you’ll find the I/O section. This is your gateway to the analog world.
  • Kris has his Distressors physically connected to his Prism A/D converters.

Here’s where things get interesting. Sending audio out of your computer and back in takes time – a tiny amount, but enough to cause phase issues if not handled correctly. This is latency.

The Avid vs. Non-Avid Converter Speed Bump

Kris points out a critical detail for Pro Tools users: Avid’s own hardware converters (like HD I/O) have a certain amount of inherent latency that Pro Tools is programmed to automatically compensate for. However, many other high-end converters, like Kris’s Prism units, are actually faster than Avid’s.

This means when Pro Tools sends audio out and expects it back with a certain delay (based on Avid hardware), the faster Prism converters return the audio earlier than Pro Tools anticipates. If you don’t correct this, your processed signal will be ahead of your dry signal, leading to phasing and a weak, filtered sound.

Your Secret Weapon: The Time Adjuster Plugin

To counteract this, Kris uses a simple but essential Pro Tools plugin: Time Adjuster. This plugin allows you to add small amounts of delay, measured in samples, to a track.

  • Purpose: By inserting Time Adjuster on the track returning from his outboard gear, Kris can delay it slightly so it perfectly aligns with the rest of his in-the-box audio.
  • Finding Your Number: For his setup, running at a 96kHz sample rate, Kris has determined he needs to add a 15-sample delay to his parallel drum bus returning from the Prism converters and Distressors.
  • The “Blip Test”: How do you find your magic number? Kris mentions the “blip test.” This involves sending a short, sharp sound (a “blip” or “tick”) out to your converter and back in, recording it to a new track. You then zoom in on the waveforms and measure the offset in samples between the original blip and the recorded one. This tells you how much delay you need to add.
  • Plugin Placement: Kris places the Time Adjuster before the hardware insert on his aux track. While delay is delay, placing it first also allows him to use the Time Adjuster’s gain control to adjust the level he’s sending into his Distressors, which is handy for gain staging.

The Sound of (Mis)Alignment

Why is this so important? Kris demonstrates the difference:

  • Without Time Adjuster: When he bypasses the Time Adjuster, the parallel compressed drums sound thin, phasey, and “awful.” The two signals are fighting each other.
  • With Time Adjuster: Once the 15-sample delay is engaged, the parallel bus snaps into focus. It adds the desired compression and character without any weird tonal changes, just pure, phase-coherent punch.

Dialing In Those Distressor Settings

With the latency sorted, Kris can focus on crafting the compressed tone with his Distressors. For this Sleeping With Sirens track, he’s using them in a pretty aggressive way:

  • Ratio: Both Distressors are linked for stereo operation and set to 20:1. This is a heavy ratio, bordering on limiting. (Many engineers achieve a similar “nuke” effect on Distressors by engaging all ratio buttons).
  • Input: Set to 6. This control on the Distressor effectively acts like a threshold – higher input means more signal hits the compression circuit.
  • Attack: Set to 5. This is a relatively moderate attack for Distressors, allowing some initial transient through before clamping down.
  • Release: Also set to 5.
  • Output: Around 5.75. This is just to set a healthy level coming back into Pro Tools without clipping.
  • Gain Reduction: Kris aims for around -12dB of gain reduction on the Distressors. He even uses the gain on the Time Adjuster plugin to push an extra 4dB into the Distressors to achieve this, showing how interactive gain staging is.

The resulting sound from just the parallel bus is super squashed and punchy – pretty funny on its own, but perfect for blending.

Sample Rate Sensitivity

A crucial takeaway: your specific delay compensation value (like Kris’s 15 samples) will change depending on your session’s sample rate. A 15-sample delay at 96kHz is a different amount of actual time than 15 samples at 48kHz or 44.1kHz. So, if you switch sample rates, you’ll need to re-measure or have presets for your Time Adjuster settings.

Blending It All for Maximum Impact

Once the parallel bus is sounding great and perfectly in phase, Kris blends it underneath his main drum bus. The result? The snap, aggression, and sustain of the heavily compressed Distressors enhance the drums without sacrificing their natural body and transients. It’s a classic technique for a reason, adding that professional polish and power.

While Kris handles the dynamics with these compression techniques, remember that shaping the overall tone of your drums often involves careful EQ. After getting your compression dialed, precise EQ strategies are essential for carving out space and character in your mix.

Go Deeper Than Just Settings

Understanding how Kris Crummett sets up his analog parallel drum bus, manages latency with his Prism converters and Time Adjuster, and dials in his Distressors for Sleeping With Sirens offers some killer insights. These are the kinds of details that separate pro mixes from the rest.

Want to see Kris apply these techniques and many more while mixing “Tìlian” by Sleeping With Sirens from scratch? On Nail The Mix, you don’t just get tips; you get the entire multitrack session and watch world-class producers like Kris Crummett mix it live, explaining every decision. It’s an unparalleled way to learn.

Check out the full Sleeping With Sirens “Tìlian” mixing session with Kris Crummett and explore our comprehensive guide to Unlock Your Sound: Mixing Modern Metal Beyond Presets to take your productions to the next level.

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