How To Get Brutal Metal Drums with Toontrack Underground EZX

The Toontrack Underground EZX is a killer drum library for one big reason: it’s not overly polished. In a world full of pristine, mix-ready samples, this EZX gives you something raw, punchy, and aggressive—the perfect foundation for punk, hardcore, and modern metal.

But having great sounds is only half the battle. We’ve all heard programmed drums that sound fake, robotic, and just… off. The classic “plastic drums in space” sound, especially on blast beats, can completely kill the vibe of a heavy track.

The secret isn't avoiding samples; it's learning how to make them sound human. The Underground EZX gives you the right raw ingredients. Now, let’s talk about how to cook them into something that sounds like an absolute monster behind the kit.

What is the Toontrack Underground EZX? A Quick Breakdown

Before we dive into the techniques, let's quickly cover what you're working with. Recorded by the legendary producer/engineer Forrester Savell (Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus), the Underground EZX is all about capturing a vibe.

• The Kit: It’s centered around a Ludwig Keystone series kit, known for its warm, focused, and powerful sound.
• The Sound: These samples aren't drenched in processing. They're captured with a sense of realism and roominess, giving you the flexibility to shape them however you want. You get multiple snares, kicks, and a full suite of cymbals that sound organic and real.
• The Vibe: This isn't a library for clean pop-rock. It’s gritty, has character, and excels when you want your drums to have a bit of dirt and attitude.

It’s the perfect starting point. But a great starting point can still end up sounding like a drum machine if you don't treat it right.

Beyond the Presets: Making the EZX Sound Human

The difference between amateur and pro-sounding programmed drums lies in one word: variation. Real drummers are not machines. They're wonderfully inconsistent. Their timing fluctuates, the velocity of each hit changes, and where their stick lands is never exactly the same. Your job is to recreate that beautiful imperfection in your DAW.

The Problem with "Perfect" Drums

When a sample is triggered at the exact same velocity, dead-on the grid, over and over, our brains tune out. It’s repetitive and lifeless. The first step is to break free from the obsession with making everything 100% perfect. That "perfection" is what makes programmed blast beats sound like a machine gun firing plastic pellets. The goal is controlled chaos, not sterile precision.

Velocity is Everything

In a multi-sampled library like the Underground EZX, velocity does more than just control volume. A MIDI velocity of 80 doesn’t just play the same sample as a velocity of 127, only quieter. It triggers a completely different recording of a drummer hitting the drum softer.

This is your most powerful tool for humanization.

• Ghost Notes: Don't just program the main snare hits on 2 and 4. Add subtle ghost notes in between with very low velocities (think 20-50). This adds groove and realism.
• Vary Your Blasts: Instead of having every blast beat snare hit at a max velocity of 127, alternate them. Maybe one is 127, the next is 118, the next is 125. These tiny changes add up to a performance that breathes.
• Build Dynamics: A fill leading into a chorus should build in intensity. Gradually increase the velocity of the snare and tom hits throughout the fill to create a natural crescendo.

Smart Quantizing: The 90% Rule

Quantizing your MIDI to be 100% on the grid is a surefire way to make it sound robotic. It sucks all the life and push/pull out of a performance. Instead, try quantizing to a lower percentage.

A great technique used by top-tier producers like Dave Otero (Cattle Decapitation, Archspire) is to use a quantize strength around 85-95%. This tightens up the performance by pulling the notes closer to the grid without snapping them perfectly into place. It preserves some of the original human feel while still delivering the precision modern metal requires. You get the best of both worlds: power and groove.

Sample Reinforcement for Maximum Power

Sometimes, even a real drum performance needs a little help. During an intense blast beat, a drummer physically can’t hit the snare as hard as they would on a slow, pounding backbeat. The result? The snare can get lost in the mix during the fastest parts.

Instead of just turning up the live snare track (which also turns up all the nasty cymbal bleed), you can use a sample from the Underground EZX to reinforce it.

1. Use a drum trigger plugin like Slate Trigger 2 or Drumagog to generate MIDI from your live snare audio track.
2. Load up a punchy snare from the Underground EZX (the 14×7” Ludwig Copper Phonic is a great choice for this).
3. Blend this sample in underneath your real snare. You're not replacing the original sound; you're just adding the weight and consistency it needs to cut through the wall of guitars.

Shaping the Tone: Processing the Underground EZX

Once your MIDI performance feels human, it’s time to mix the sounds. The raw tones in the Underground EZX are great because they take processing really well.

Getting the Snare to Crack

A metal snare needs to have impact and cut. A great way to achieve this is with parallel processing.

1. Set up an aux/bus track and send your snare channel to it.
2. On the aux track, "smash" the snare with an aggressive compressor. A FET-style compressor like the Arturia Comp FET-76 or Slate FG-116 works perfectly. Aim for 10-20dB of gain reduction with a fast attack and release.
3. Blend this heavily compressed signal back in underneath your main snare track. This adds body and sustain without sacrificing the initial transient punch of the original hit. It's a classic move in our guide to metal compression secrets.

Drum Bus Glue

To make your individual drum pieces sound like a cohesive kit played in one room, send them all to a master drum bus. On this bus, subtle compression can work wonders. Use a VCA-style compressor (like the SSL Bus Compressor from Waves or Universal Audio) with a slow attack and fast release, aiming for just 2-3dB of gain reduction. This "glues" the elements together, tightening up the low end and making the whole kit punch as a single unit.

Bringing It All Together

Getting massive metal drums from the Toontrack Underground EZX isn’t about finding the magic preset. It’s about:

• Starting with a great, raw library like the Underground EZX.
• Humanizing the performance with realistic velocity changes.
• Using smart quantizing to keep things tight but not robotic.
• Applying pro-level mixing techniques like parallel compression and bus processing.

These techniques are killer starting points you can apply to your productions right now.

But imagine watching the producers behind bands like Gojira, Trivium, or Periphery actually dial this stuff in—programming velocities, blending samples, setting compressors, and getting that perfect drum sound in the context of a full mix.

At Nail The Mix, that’s exactly what you get. Every month, you get the real multi-tracks from a massive metal song and watch the original producer mix it from scratch, explaining every single move they make. See how the pros really build those session-winning drum tones from the ground up by checking out our full catalog of mixing sessions.