Getting Realistic Metal Drums with Steven Slate Drums 5.5

Nail The Mix Staff

Steven Slate Drums 5.5 (or SSD 5.5) is a beast. It’s one of the most popular drum samplers on the planet for a reason—it’s packed with killer-sounding kits that are pretty much mix-ready right out of the box. But this is also where the biggest problem with modern metal drums comes from.

We’ve all heard it: the perfectly gridded, machine-gun blast beats that sound more like a typewriter than a drummer. That plastic, sterile sound that has zero vibe. The truth is, SSD 5.5 can absolutely create that sound if you let it. But it can also create punchy, dynamic, and realistic drum tracks that sound like a world-class drummer in a world-class studio.

The plugin isn't the problem. It’s a tool. And like any tool, it’s all about how you use it. Let's break down how to get the most out of Steven Slate Drums 5.5 for metal, covering its strengths, its weaknesses, and how to avoid that dreaded "drums in space" sound.

A Quick Look at SSD 5.5: Pros & Cons for Metal

Before diving into the techniques, it's good to know what you're working with. SSD 5.5 is a fantastic piece of software, but understanding its limitations is key to using it effectively.

The Pros: Why SSD 5.5 Kills for Metal

  • Mix-Ready Kits: This is the big one. You can load up one of the Metal, Deluxe 2, or Chris Lord-Alge kits and have a sound that instantly works in a dense mix. The samples are already processed with top-tier gear, giving you a massive head start.
  • Deep Sampling & Round-Robins: The reason a real snare doesn't sound like a machine gun is because no two hits are identical. SSD 5.5 uses multi-velocity samples and round-robins (cycling through different samples at the same velocity) to mimic this. This is non-negotiable for realism.
  • Powerful Internal Mixer: The built-in mixer is surprisingly capable. You get volume, panning, EQ, compression, transient shaping, and bleed control for every piece of the kit, including overheads and room mics. It's perfect for quick tweaks without leaving the plugin.
  • Flexible Routing: Need to send your kick to a separate bus for sidechain compression? Or process your snare with your favorite reverb plugin? SSD 5.5 makes it easy to route each drum element to its own track in your DAW for ultimate control.

The Cons: Where SSD 5.5 Can Fall Short (If You're Not Careful)

  • The "Same Sound" Syndrome: Because the kits are so well-produced, it's easy to fall into the trap of using the same snare or kick sound as hundreds of other producers. The default presets can sound generic if you don't make them your own.
  • Over-Programming Is Easy: With everything quantized to a perfect grid and velocities maxed out, you’re basically programming a robot. SSD 5.5 won't stop you from doing this; you have to consciously add the human element back in.
  • Grooves Aren't Always "Metal" Enough: While the included MIDI groove library is extensive, you’ll often need to heavily edit them or write your own parts to fit the specific needs of a tech-death or black metal track.

Beyond The Presets: Making SSD 5.5 Sound Human

Okay, so you’ve got your kit loaded. Now comes the fun part: making it breathe. This is where you separate a good production from a sterile one.

Humanize Your MIDI: Velocity is Everything

This is the most important concept to master. In your DAW's piano roll, velocity controls how "hard" a note is hit, typically on a scale from 1 to 127.

A common mistake is programming every snare hit in a blast beat at 127. No human drummer can do that. Drummers have to play lighter to achieve that kind of speed, meaning the actual snare hits are less powerful than on a slow, pounding backbeat.

Actionable Tip: Manually edit your velocities.

  • For a typical rock beat, make the snare on beats 2 and 4 the loudest (e.g., a velocity of 120-127). Make ghost notes significantly quieter (40-70).
  • For blast beats, bring the overall velocity down (maybe 95-115) and add slight variations between hits. A constant velocity is what creates that fake, machine-gun effect. Use your ears—if it sounds repetitive, change it.

The Power of Blending and Layering

Don't feel locked into a single kit preset. Think of the SSD 5.5 library as your personal drum locker.

  • Kit Bashing: Love the kick from the Metal Kit but prefer the snare from the CLA Kit? Load them both! You can easily mix and match pieces from different kits to create your own unique setup.
  • Layering for Impact: This is a classic studio trick. You can use SSD 5.5 to reinforce a live drum recording. Use a plugin like Slate Trigger 2 to convert the audio from a real snare into MIDI, then use that MIDI to trigger a sample from SSD 5.5. Blend the sample in underneath the real snare to add punch and consistency without completely erasing the human performance. It’s one of several killer drum replacement techniques for metal.

Dialing in The Room and Overheads

That "plastic drums in space" sound often comes from relying too heavily on close mics. Real drums exist in a physical space, and the room sound is what gives them depth and power.

Within the SSD 5.5 mixer, pay close attention to the Overhead and Room channels.

  1. Start with Overheads: Bring up the overhead fader until you get a nice stereo image of the cymbals and the overall kit.
  2. Add The Room: Slowly blend in the room mics. This will add depth and make the kit sound bigger. Be careful not to make it too washed out.
  3. Bus Processing: Route all your SSD 5.5 tracks in your DAW to a single drum bus. Here, you can apply some light bus compression to help glue all the individual elements together and make them sound like a single, cohesive instrument. This is a crucial step for a professional sound.

Case Study: Fixing a Robotic Blast Beat

Let's apply these ideas to a common problem: a stiff, unnatural-sounding blast beat. We'll use the same approach that top-tier mixers like Dave Otero (Cattle Decapitation, Archspire) use.

Step 1: Ditch the 100% Quantize

Quantizing to 100% on the grid is the fastest way to kill the feel. The drummer might be slightly ahead or behind the beat, and that groove is part of the performance.

Instead of snapping every hit perfectly, use your DAW’s "Quantize Strength" or "Tightness" setting. Try setting it to 85-95%. This will tighten up the performance and make it sound consistent, but it will preserve some of the original human variation, preventing it from sounding robotic.

Step 2: Strategic EQ for Punch and Clarity

A blast beat is a chaotic flurry of kick and snare hits. To keep it from turning into mud, each element needs its own space.

This principle of creating space is just as vital as it is for guitars. Learning how to apply surgical EQ to guitars can teach you a lot about how to approach your drum mix.

Taking Your Drums to The Next Level

Steven Slate Drums 5.5 is an incredibly powerful tool for modern metal production. By moving beyond the presets and focusing on humanizing your MIDI with velocity edits, blending samples, and using smart processing, you can create drum tracks that are both powerful and realistic.

These techniques are a huge step in the right direction. But there's nothing like watching a pro put them into practice on a real song. On Nail The Mix, you can watch world-class producers and mixers like Will Putney, Jens Bogren, and Nolly Getgood build a mix from the ground up, explaining every decision they make.

If you want to see how these concepts are applied in the context of a full mix with real multitracks from bands like Gojira, Lamb of God, and Periphery, check out the full Nail The Mix sessions catalog. It's the ultimate way to see how the pros get it done.

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