Mixing Metal 101 with Buster Odeholm

The entire Beginner's Guide to Recording is included with all Nail The Mix subscriptions! ► nailthemix.com
Buster shows you the basics of mixing so you can create your own demos for your band!
NAIL THE MIX is an online mixing school created by Joey Sturgis, Joel Wanasek and Eyal Levi - the guys who produced bands like TDWP, Chelsea Grin, Blessthefall, Machine Head, Monuments, Miss May I, Of Mice & Men, Reflections, Born Of Osiris, Asking Alexandria and dozens more of this generation's best metal bands.
Every month, NAIL THE MIX members get exclusive access to the REAL MULTI-TRACK SESSIONS from a REAL ALBUM, and a 6-8 hour live streaming class from the producer who mixed it. These are the actual sessions by bands like Gojira, Meshuggah, Periphery, Opeth, Fall Out Boy, Bring Me The Horizon, A Day To Remember and more - and NTM is the only place in the world you'll get access to them!

[@sagarchawla8145]

That match eq completely changed the whole mix sound

[@Beyoki]

Do you/anyone know what the reference is? Never eq matched before

[@sagarchawla8145]

@@Beyoki I would like to know the reference as well

[@lunarhaze105]

@@Beyoki I think it's thrown's song: guilt

[@alrecks619]

Buster do be making demo mixes that sounded much better than most of them band releases out there.

[@blvdes]

you guys should get Buster to use all freeware on reaper lol

[@alrecks619]

Buster mixing entirely on Tukan plugins lol.

[@Xenbjorn]

Father Odeholm blessing again with his wisdom

[@ToxicMistOfficial]

Robins vocals are so sick even unmixed

[@adamdavis307]

spot on, love this quick guide. the really long mixing ones are too much to invest in.

[@darthvictor666]

Thank you EQ Lord Buster

[@dastobek]

when I use a group of guitars, and put there my finished guitar tracks. they are not panned left and right anymore. they are both in the middle and im to stupid to change it....

[@chriscarrillo967]

great video, anyone know of anything like this for ableton using stock plugins or free plugins?

[@ChrisThegodless603]

Just wondering, is your bass tone from the bass video previously? I love hm2 tone blending

[@djentleman2584]

does anyone know what song this is? because i recognized robin from allt, but its not one of their songs

[@patrix_guitar]

Can you explain why export in 16 bit?

[@matthuang4632]

the new Drumforge sampler is Buster's Signature Edition?

[@MiseryWorldwide]

I dig the Daath in the background

[@s.t.754]

Hi Buster, how do you go about capturing the reference audio into Pro Q2? I use Cubase Elements 9 so I don't have sidechaining available. I use Pro Q2.

[@fabiandtheink619]

Nice one, is this a new Allt Song?

[@northtimo666]

Does not sound like Allt to me. More like Thrown.

[@Zhanibek.S]

@@northtimo666 but vocals… i think it’s same vocalist, guy from Allt

[@northtimo666]

@@Zhanibek.S Hmm, good point. Instruments sound like Thrown more to me.

[@Darkscore8]

It's a song him and the guy from Allt threw together for the nail the mix video. Just a demo for mixing.

[@fabiandtheink619]

Yeah guys, that's what I thought as well :D Thrown feat Allt vocals maybe

[@CryingBlossom814]

I find this tutorial misleading. You wanna start with a mix that sounds the best possible without any effect, then proceed with adding all that stuff. Your mix is unbalanced, drums are absolutely in your face. Also, the processing you're doing isn't really helping. You're cutting about -9db in the guitar's low-mids. You're basically nuking the frequency that contains the most tonal information, that is also responsible for the dynamics of the guitar. Then you're doing the same on the bass. This one is good, because it allow the guitar to sit in that "empty space" of low mids... Given that the guitars have any of it left. The bass is also very boomy, that is terrible. If you plan on boosting the bass low end then you gotta compress it. Otherwise it's gonna be too bouncy. The drums sound very raw and thin, you campressed them but actually you pulled out the peaks. On a kit that was already very clicky. I'm not sure if this counts as a "taste" thing, but I feel like the drums would have sounded much better if you made them fatter, not clickier. I really don't think the eq matching is helpful. It's pulling out tons of low end, which is already ruined by the bass's bounciness. The bass and the kick are fighting for the low end. You can't just slap an eq match on an unbalanced mix. Finally, the limiter. With all that low end going up and down, the limiter is just adding low-pitched farts to your mix. You also went on to fix a scratchy frequency with the high Q technique, like... That's like cleaning a window with a microfiber cloth, but the entire house is still in construction.

[@rattlehead777]

I think that’s a big part of the appeal of Buster’s mixes: a lot of hit techniques go against conventional wisdom. The result is visceral and repugnant. HLB and Thrown sound absolutely insane and dissimilar to a lot of more polished modern metal mixes. I listened to a song on your channel, your most recent upload. Sounded great! Very clean and fat. You’re clearly talented. But I’ve already forgotten most of what it sounded like

[@the_albacr0ss]

Siiiiiick dude.

[@kingnary9th688]

hey man, i listened to some songs on your channel and you’re clearly not inexperienced, but i’m not sure what you’re trying to accomplish with this comment? you’re clearly just arguing taste against taste, but the person you’re arguing against is a very experienced and profecient producer, mixer and mastering engineer within the metal community, so i’m not sure where you think the this information is going

[@thedddemon]

Both guitars as well as bass *bypassed* sounded better in the mix.

[@ToxicMistOfficial]

that's quite an opinion you got there

[@CryingBlossom814]

The guitars sounded better without the scooped low-mids. That's where the most tonal information of the guitar is, as wella s the dynamics. That was one hell of a scoop. The bass sounded ok, even tho I prefer a little more OMPF (that's on the 200hz too). Drums are way too loud and clicky, I really didn't like the drums sound. Also, the eq matching at the end and the limiter fart completely ruined the mix for me. Like you can clearly hearing the low end buzzing, that is no bueno.

[@shdsky]

@@CryingBlossom814 damn bro you really did buster dirty, exposed his ass lulll

[@kingnary9th688]

@@CryingBlossom814i think you just don’t like buster’s mixes ahah

[@schleppvideos]

This is considered advanced? Christ the bar is low nowadays....

[@guitarmichael]

“Beginners guide” …”mixing 101”… who is saying it’s advanced brother?