Two drum kits, tailored for modern death metal production of the highest order.
In the mid-to-late ’80s, death metal was a peripheral genre of underground bands. Then, by the early 1990s, acts like Death, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse and a handful other US bands predominantly from the Florida and East Coast areas started gaining traction. At the same time on the opposite continent in the UK, the likes of Carcass, Benediction and Napalm Death advanced with their own breed of death. On the other shore of the North Sea, in Scandinavia, bands such as Entombed, Therion and At the Gates all added their own blend to the mix. By then, the rest of the world had caught on and death metal as a phenomenon was a fact. Ever since, trends in heavy music have come and gone, but death metal has stayed its course and stood its ground. Arguably no genre has evolved in a more organic way, with a constantly rejuvenating fanbase and steady increment of bands. Today, although fragmented and more of an umbrella to a host of sub-genres, death metal has never been more alive.
This is where the Death Metal EZX takes its vantage point – to bring you timeless drums, tailored for modern death metal production. It was recorded by acclaimed engineer/mixer/producer Mark Lewis at the impeccable room at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, and sampled by legendary drummer Sean Reinert (Death, Cynic). The two featured kits, handpicked from the Death & Darkness SDX, display two kindred but fundamentally different beasts of razor-sharp, pristine and crystal clear drums designed to cut through in anything from rampant tempos to dense walls of guitars and extremely layered productions.
With the Death Metal EZX, you get the touch and stroke of a legendary drummer combined with Mark Lewis’ engineering applied on two meticulously sampled and tuned drum kits, ready to bring your music into the future and add some new life to your death metal.
In the midst of pecan orchards, grape vines and breathtaking panoramas, the Sonic Ranch has a truly a one-of-a-kind setting for a recording studio. Bordering the Rio Grande and Old Mexico, located on a a 2,300 acre secluded property, this is not just a place to record, it’s a place to create.
“Sonic Ranch has been one of my favorite places to work since I first did a record there. It’s one of the world’s premiere studios with the best gear, incredible rooms and the most focused and inspiring work environment I’ve ever been in. From the equipment to the people and the food to the vibe, it was a no-brainer to create this important project there. I am thrilled with the results,” commented Mark Lewis.
NOTABLE METAL MOMENTS.
Here are just some of the albums on which you can hear the sonic fingerprint of the Sonic Ranch.
Bullet for My Valentine “Scream Aim Fire” (2008)
DevilDriver “Beast” (2011)
Cannibal Corpse “Torture” (2012)
Mark Lewis is originally from the Southern Maryland area but spent a big portion of his recording career in Orlando, FL, working out of Audiohammer Studios. Today, he has relocated to Nashville, TN, and works in studios all over the world as well as from his own room.
How did you get started in the business and how come you ended up behind the console as opposed to on stage?
I was always fascinated with how things sounded once i started playing guitar. Growing up, my dad had a pretty amazing stereo system with some old JBL 4311 studio monitors as his main setup. I would listen to his records all the time and eventually, they started buying me my own at a pretty young age. Once I really started getting serious about guitar, I got deeper and deeper into how things sounded and how those things were achieved. Between my dad pointing things out to me and my guitar teachers really schooling me on production and tones, I really got deep into the audio world pretty early. I would spend hours tweaking my amps and trying all kinds of different things. I would probably have been a much better guitar player if I hadn’t been so fascinated with audio! In reality, I always wanted to be a performer, but when people started noticing how seriously I took sounds I sort of became the person they would go to about tones and recording advice. I figured out I could actually make a living doing this instead of relying on four or five other crazy people to keep a band together. So far it’s worked out OK, I think.
There are tons of engineers and producers out there doing records with mid-sized bands, but only a handful of go-to, A-level guys producing the bulk of what’s topping the US modern metal scene. You’re definitely one of them. Is there a specific moment or project that helped push you on to the next level?
Well, I was lucky to start engineering under my super-talented best bud Jason Suecof, and from the moment I started at Audiohammer we were working on some really cool stuff. I would say the records that really put us on the map as a team sonically were Bury Your Dead’s “Beauty and the Breakdown” as well as Black Dahlia Murder’s “Nocturnal. Those were the early landmarks that sort of blazed my trail, I suppose.
If you weren’t producing records, what would you do?
Good question. I don’t really know anything else. I taught guitar before I did this, and I liked it. But I didn’t get the same satisfaction as I do from this. If I had to start over, I think maybe I would get into electronics of some sort. My knowledge now is so limited, but it really fascinates me.
In a mix, where do you usually start: the drums, guitars, vocals or something else?
I usually start with the drums, getting those right. The snare, overheads and toms usually take the longest to sit right. I have a very rough guitar and bass mix going that whole time too and once I feel good about the drums, I move onto the guitars and bass. I’ve been known to take days dialing in a guitar sound and EQ. It gets tedious beyond even what most people would think or tolerate.
Listening back to the drums now that they’re done and prepared for the software, how do you think it all turned out?
I couldn’t be happier with the raw tones. We have a huge variety of drums and mics that will allow you to achieve pretty much anything with these kits. The thing I can’t stress enough is the flexibility here. You have great presets in the EZX that are mix-ready and will sound killer dropped right into a mix and then on the SDX you get the presets and all the raw tones. There are four different kick mics, three snare mics, two different stereo overheads, three sets of stereo rooms at varying distances, four different mono room mics and a mic on every cymbal. Not to mention four different kits, nine kicks and loads of snares. The possibilities are endless and there is an infinite variety of incredible sounds within this library. Between Sean’s hands and Toontrack’s attention to detail, it feels like the most real of any library I’ve ever heard.
Whitechapel “This Is Exile” (2008)
DevilDriver “Winter Kills” (2013)
Six Feet Under “Undead” (2012)
Cannibal Corpse “A Skeletal Domain” (2014)
Coal Chamber “Rivals” (2015)
Sean Reinert is regarded as one of the most influential drummers of all time and a pioneer of the “technical death metal” genre.
“Sean is a legend – a true innovator of the genre in both musical output and sound. I knew he would be perfect for this because he’s a true musician, and his hands sound amazing. He understands the dynamics of the drum from 0 to 127 and I think we made the most realistic library because of it. Not to mention he’s played on a couple of my favorite albums of all time.”
Mark Lewis
What’s your background and how come you ended up behind a drum kit?
Ever since I can remember, I was always interested/engaged by music. I started out playing piano at age seven when my mom finally got me a piano. Soon after I began to feel the urge to branch out. At age ten I started playing drums. Drums just made sense to me – after all I had already been playing a percussion instrument (piano) for three years. When I was 15 I auditioned and was accepted into New World School of the Arts (NWSA) in Miami, which was a performing arts high school where I also graduated. From there on there was no turning back.
Your drumming with Death and Cynic is widely acknowledged as having established the “tech death metal” genre. Looking back, how did this all come about? It’s a pretty unique style that differed a lot from what was going on back then in the early 1990s.
This new hybrid style was basically the product of the different styles that I was exposed to throughout my musical studies. I was really into jazz/fusion, classical/20th century, electronic and world music. So I was naturally taking bits and pieces from those styles and incorporating them into my style. At the time, it just seemed obvious to me that there was plenty of room in the extreme metal drumming category for some technique upgrading. It was pretty unconscious to be honest.
What is your relation to death metal and the metal scene today?
I still get hired to play and record in my so called signature “Reinert” style. It’s kind of been the shadow I can’t escape (which is fine by me). It’s actually quite humbling to still get drummers asking about me and getting inspiration from some of the recordings and performances I have made over the years. It will always be a part of me and my legacy.
This is your first time sampling drums. Was it what you expected it to be like?
It was and was not. It was in the sense that I sort of knew the process and “theory” behind it, so I understood I was in for some long and repetitive days. It wasn’t in the sense of what I learned about the software and how innovative and versatile it was. Also, I didn’t expect EVERYONE involved in the project to be so professional and cool. It was demanding yet incredibly rewarding. We got some badass tones, if I do say so myself!
What is your relationship to e-drums?
I’ve been using electronic drums since the late ’80s, so I have a pretty good knowledge base of what the evolution and history of electronic drums and sampling. I’ve used them live and in the studio. I still use them to compose with. Regardless of trends and fold-backs to “real drums,” sampling and electronic drums are here to stay and the future is incredibly bright!
Double-pedal or double bass drums?
Double-pedal
Click track or no click track in your headphones live?
Click track (99% of the time)
You can only keep one cymbal on your kit – which one?
21″ SABIAN HHX Legacy Ride
Club gig or festival – what do you prefer?
Club gig
Dream team band (with you on the drums!)
Jaco Pastorius, bass
Igor Stravinsky, keys
Frank Zappa, guitar
John Zorn, sax
Trilok Gurtu, percussion, vocals
Sean Reinert, drums
Selected discography
Death “Human” (1991)
Cynic “Focus” (1993)
Aghora “Aghora” (2000)
Æon Spoke “Above the Buried City” (2004)
Cynic “Kindly Bent to Free Us” (2014)
KICK 1
16×24” Gretsch Square Badge 1980s
KICK 2
16×24” Gretsch Square Badge 1980s
SNARE
6×14” Sonor Artist Series Cast Bronze
RACK TOM 1
8×10” Gretsch Square Badge 1980s
RACK TOM 2
10×12” Gretsch Square Badge 1980s
RACK TOM 3
12×14” Gretsch Square Badge 1980s
FLOOR TOM 1
14×16” Gretsch Square Badge 1980s
FLOOR TOM 2
16×18” Gretsch Stop Sign Badge 1981
HI-HAT
14” Zildjian K Custom Session
RIDE
22” Zildjian K Dark Medium
CRASH 1
18” Zildjian A Custom
CRASH 2
18” Zildjian A Custom Fast
CRASH 3
19” Zildjian A Custom
CHINA 1
18” Meinl Byzance
CHINA 2
19” Zildjian A Ultra Hammered
SPLASH
10” Zildjian A Custom
KICK 1
18×22” Yamaha Recording Custom 1990s
KICK 2
18×22” Yamaha Recording Custom 1990s
SNARE
6.5×14” Tama Bell Brass
RACK TOM 1
9×10” Yamaha Recording Custom 1990s
RACK TOM 2
10×12” Yamaha Recording Custom 1990s
RACK TOM 3
12×14” Yamaha Recording Custom 1990s
FLOOR TOM 1
14×16” Yamaha Recording Custom 1990s
FLOOR TOM 2
16×18” Yamaha Recording Custom 1990s
HI-HAT
15” Meinl Byzance Medium
RIDE
20” Zildjian K Custom
CRASH 1
18” Meinl Byzance Medium Thin
CRASH 3
19” Meinl Byzance Medium Thin
SPLASH
12” Zildjian K Custom Dark
6.5×14” Drumcraft Bell Brass
7×13” Dunnett Cast Iron
6.5×14” Ludwig Black Beauty
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2.3 GB free disk space, 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended).
A working EZdrummer 2.1.8 or Superior Drummer 3.1.4 (or above) installation.
