Toontrack Death & Darkness SDX

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A MATTER OF DEATH AND DARKNESS.
Two studios. Two engineers. All the death and darkness you can take.

The Death & Darkness SDX merges two world-class studios with two of today’s most in-demand modern metal producers: Mark Lewis (Cannibal Corpse, Whitechapel, Coal Chamber) and Tue Madsen (Meshuggah, Behemoth, Hatesphere). Combined, it gives you a truly diverse and all-encompassing collection of drums designed to cater to any facet of today’s fragmented scene – from the most brutal, blast beat-ridden and breakneck-speed death metal to hard-hitting metalcore, hardcore and all the fusion-inspired hybrids of progressive metal.

The SDX was configured as two separate libraries, one for each studio. The ‘Death’ portion of the SDX was recorded by Mark Lewis at his choice studio, the Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas. The Ranch’s perfectly crafted Vincent van Haaff-designed main room offers second-to-none acoustics – pristine and distinct but still dense and with a warm, resonant and balanced natural reverb. To contrast, the ‘Darkness’ part of the SDX offers a completely different experience – a darker, less polished and more raw-natured tone of drums. It was recorded in the empty swimming pool in Tue’s longtime and much-legendary Antfarm Studio in Aarhus, Denmark. With the reflective surface of the hard tile walls and floor in the pool combined with the surrounding room’s brick structure and high ceiling, the ambience of this unique room heard on countless albums is unlike any other.

Welcome to two studios, two schools of modern engineering and an almost insurmountable amount of drums ready for you to hone, mold and shape to literally anything you can imagine sound-wise. Get ready to produce drum mixes that have the power to pierce and cut through any thick wall of guitars or extremely layered production.

FEATURES

• Nine (9) complete kits

• A total of 19 bass drums, 19 snare drums, 35 cymbals and more

• Recorded at two different studios: Sonic Ranch, TX, (by Mark Lewis) and Antfarm Studios, Denmark, (by Tue Madsen)

• Sampled with extreme attention to detail and articulation

• Configured as two sound libraries, one for each studio

• Includes custom mix presets engineered by Mark Lewis, Tue Madsen and Toontrack

• Sampled by drummers Sean Reinert and Michel Svane

• Includes MIDI performed by Sean Reinert and Jay Postones (TesseracT)

Darkness. Antfarm.
By the sheer look of this regular two-story house in the suburban outskirts of Aarhus, Denmark, you wouldn’t guess that behind its modest facade is a studio where countless metal classics have been immortalized. At the helm was and has always been the biggest mojo of the place – Tue Madsen. We were lucky to capture his unique room before he just recently moved to a new location.

Notable Metal Moments.
Here is a small selection of albums tinted by that unmistakable Tue Madsen and Antfarm mojo ever-so-present in the ‘Darkness’ sound library.

• Heaven Shall Burn “Invictus” (2010)

• Sick of It All “XXV Nonstop” (2011)

• The Haunted “Unseen” (2011)

Death. Sonic Ranch.
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)

The Drums.
The drums for each session were handpicked respectively by Mark and Tue together with the Toontrack team. The aim was to supply the broadest possible palette of tones and difference in materials. In addition to the regular kits and cymbal collections, a large selection of additional instruments were recorded.

THE ENGINEERS.

Darkness. Tue Madsen.
Tue produced his first record in 1997 and hasn’t looked back since. With a production style that is distinctly personal, organic and with a strong pathos for musical vision, he’s helped shape the sound on anything from seminal hardcore classics to modern metal masterpieces.

A Selection Of Tue's Discography.

• Born from Pain “Sands of Time” (2003)
• Sick of It All “Death to Tyrants” (2006)
• Suicide Silence “The Cleasing” (2007)
• Dark Tranquillity “We Are the Void” (2010)
• Meshuggah “A Violent Sleep of Reason” (2016)

Death. Mark Lewis.
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.

A Selection Of Mark's Discography.

• Whitechapel “This Is Exile” (2008)
• DevilDriver “Winter Kills” (2013)
• Six Feet Under “Undead” (2012)
• Cannibal Corpse “A Skeletal Domain” (2014)
• Coal Chamber “Rivals” (2015)

Uncompromising Instrument Detail.
To us, sampling sounds for an SDX is more than merely recording instruments. It is the craft of capturing the essence and every unique voice of each instrument to give you, the user, the ability to produce limitless and stunningly real performances.

Hi-Hat.
Due to the complex nature and immense variation in voicing this instrument offers, the hi-hats were recorded with up to 27 unique multi-sampled articulations.

Ride.
The ride cymbals were sampled with up to eight articulations and include all the detail and nuance this instrument calls for when played with a regular drumstick.

Snare.
The snares were sampled with eight unique articulations and include all the detail and nuance you need to produce anything from the most subtle snare rolls to explosive rim shots.

Crash.
The crashes were sampled in up to six articulations, allowing you to produce anything from detailed crescendos to using any crash cymbal essentially as a leading instrument.

THE PRESETS.

To enable you to start making music right away, the Death & Darkness SDX includes in excess of 40 presets individually engineered by Mark Lewis, Tue Madsen and Toontrack.

Mark Lewis' Presets.
Mark’s collection of presets is based on the ‘Death’ part of the SDX and showcase an incredible width. “With the presets, I tried to give a good flavor of what I’ve done with drums throughout my career as well as deliver a variety of different sounds to cover needs from amateurs to pro. So the sounds may have been inspired by past albums, records I loved growing up, a certain subgene or something I was really feeling at the moment. The versatility of the product is almost indescribable, it’s so vast. I think everyone from rock to extreme metal will find this incredibly useful. There is everything from quick and tight to huge and roomy and everything in between,” commented Mark.

Tue Madsen's Presets.
Tue’s presets are based on the ‘Darkness’ library and include anything from tight to more ambient-sounding mixes, all capturing the unique tone of the original Antfarm pool. “For the presets, I tried to get close to the original recordings and also did my best to make each one as different from the other as I could. For some, I got carried away with all the options and cool things I could change and mess around with, so sometimes I went off-road. What really amazed me was how recognizable the sound of the pool is. When I hear just one tom hit or cymbal, I instantly fly back in time to recording there. These presets are already a starting point and go-to for me now when I need to add something to mixes I am working on. Such a powerful tool, and I love that I now have my very own drums right at my fingertips,” commented Tue.

Toontrack's Presets.
This selection of presets was produced by two of Toontrack’s most seasoned in-house engineers, Mattias Eklund (Toontrack co-founder and Head of Sound Design) and Martin Kristoffersson (Sound Design). In order to ensure that the preset content would work on the fly, all presets were engineered to stems of already mixed music. “We used a broad range of songs to mix to and came up with a very versatile selection. I’d say that there are presets that’ll cater to most walks of metal and heavy rock. The good thing about Superior Dummer 3, though, is that anyone can use these settings as a starting point and simply pick up where we left off,” commented Martin Kristoffersson.

Darkness.
The ‘Darkness’ library was played by Jay Postones (TesseracT). Expect MIDI where the complexity of fusion, the subtlety of jazz and the raw power of metal intertwines to a form a polyrhythmic alloy of hard-hitting, ghost note-riddled sophistication.

Death.
The ‘Death’ portion of the MIDI was performed by Sean Reinert and loosely based around his own discography. Expect a diverse collection of grooves and fills that best can described as a melting pot of jazz, fusion and metal!

System Requirements.
For the full Installation of this product you will need approximately 184 GB of free hard drive space, plus an additional 184 GB is required for the installation process.

8 GB RAM (16 GB RAM or more recommended).

A working Superior Drummer 3.1.4 (or above) installation.

For more information, click here to visit the manufacturers website.