Allt’s Kick Drum Madness: Buster Odeholm on Blending Samples

Modern metal demands kick drums that are not just heard, but felt – a relentless punch that drives the track without turning into a muddy mess. Getting that perfect balance of attack, body, and consistency can be a real battle. In a recent session, Buster Odeholm, the mastermind behind the hard-hitting sound of bands like Allt and Oceano, shared his approach to conquering the kick drum, particularly focusing on the art of blending samples. Buster clarified that for this Allt track, he is indeed using a true one-shot in his blend, a technique he's refining and demonstrating with killer results. If you're looking to elevate your kick drum game, especially for dense, fast-paced metal, Buster's insights are pure gold. This isn't just about slapping a sample on top; it's a nuanced process involving careful listening, precise EQ, and an understanding of phase, all of which you can see firsthand in the Born of Osiris, Allt, and Oceano NTM session.

Why Blend Kick Drum Samples?

Buster's core philosophy is about getting the "best of both worlds." Why choose between a natural, dynamic kick and a perfectly processed, consistent one when you can have both?

The Dynamic Kick: Realism and Expression

This is your "real" sounding kick. It carries the natural velocity variations and the human element of the performance. It provides the organic feel and expressive nuances that prevent your drums from sounding robotic.

The One-Shot: Consistency and Punch

This is often a heavily processed, "perfect" kick sample. Buster emphasized that for the Allt track, he's using a true one-shot – just one single, super satisfying, processed hit. This differs from some other approaches where a multi-sampled library might still have some dynamic variation. The true one-shot provides unwavering consistency, especially in fast passages where a purely dynamic kick might lose definition. It’s the secret weapon for ensuring every kick hit punches through the mix with the same impact.

Combining these two elements gives you a kick drum that feels real and dynamic but also consistently cuts through even the most chaotic metal mixes.

Essential Techniques for Blending Kicks with Allt & Buster Odeholm

Buster walked through his meticulous process, revealing several key steps to achieve a killer blended kick sound.

Filtering: The Foundation

Low-Cut for Clarity

Before anything else, Buster often applies a high-pass filter to both kicks. For the Allt session, he started around 35Hz. This helps clean up unnecessary sub-bass rumble, tightening the low end and creating more headroom in the mix. Applying the same filter point to both samples is a good starting practice to maintain phase coherence between them.

Phase Alignment: The Crucial Step

This is where many kick blending attempts fall apart. If your samples aren't in phase, you'll lose low-end, punch, or experience weird cancellations.

Listening for Phase Issues

Buster emphasizes listening critically. Solo the kicks separately, then listen to them combined. If combining the two kicks results in a loss of certain frequencies (especially low-end), or if the combined sound is thinner than the individual parts, they're likely out of phase. You want the blend to sound fuller and more impactful, ensuring all frequencies are audible and reinforcing each other.

Manual Nudging & Tools

He demonstrated sliding the one-shot sample's timing manually (often by mere samples) to find the sweet spot where the waveforms align positively. For more stubborn phase issues or for a quicker workflow, a plugin like Sound Radix Auto-Align can be a lifesaver, helping to precisely line up the waveforms based on their transients. Don't forget to check the phase polarity switch on one of the channels too; sometimes a simple flip is all you need!

Triggering for Precision (Focus on the One-Shot)

Sometimes, the original kick performance might not be ideal for triggering a one-shot consistently, especially if there's a lot of bleed or if dynamic variations in the low frequencies cause the trigger point to shift.

Why Use a Trigger Plugin

Buster often opts to re-trigger the one-shot sample using a dedicated drum trigger plugin (like Slate Trigger or similar tools). This gives him much more control over how and when the one-shot is activated, independent of the original audio's less predictable elements.

Setting Trigger Frequencies

A key trick for consistent triggering is to adjust the detection frequencies within the trigger plugin. Buster mentioned setting the low-cut for detection around 300Hz and up. This tells the plugin to react primarily to the transient—the "click" or "beater attack"—of the kick, rather than the woofier low-end. This is crucial because the phase and timing of low-end frequencies can shift significantly with playing velocity, leading to inconsistent triggering and phase problems if those frequencies are included in the detection signal.

Managing Dynamics with Trigger

With a trigger plugin, you gain fine control over the dynamics of the one-shot. Buster showed how to make the one-shot completely non-dynamic (hitting at full velocity every time) using the plugin's sensitivity or dynamics controls. This ensures every triggered hit is identical in volume and impact. Alternatively, for more nuanced parts, he mentioned automating the "detail" knob (a common parameter in trigger plugins that adjusts sensitivity to lower-level hits). For instance, during super-fast sections, you might decrease this sensitivity so only clear, hard hits trigger, or ensure the trigger fires consistently. This takes time to automate perfectly, but the level of control it offers is invaluable for a polished sound.

Balancing the Blend: Volume Ratios

There's no magic fader position for the volume ratio between the dynamic kick and the one-shot. It’s all about context and careful listening.

Avoiding the "Static Clicky Sound"

Buster’s advice is to tinker with the balance until it sounds good within the mix. A common pitfall is having the one-shot too loud. This can lead to an unnatural, "static clicky sound," especially on fast kick drum parts, where the transient of the one-shot becomes overly dominant and artificial, losing the weight of the original kick.

Letting the Real Kick Dominate

The general goal is for the "real" sounding dynamic kick to be the dominant element in terms of tone and body. The one-shot then comes in to support it, adding that consistent punch and attack, ensuring the kick cuts through without overpowering the natural feel and groove.

Compression for Punch and Control

Once the blend is phase-aligned and balanced, compression comes into play to further shape the kick and make it sit right.

Multi-band Compression for Fast Parts

Buster often employs multi-band compression. This is particularly useful for taming any low-end buildup that can occur during very fast kick patterns, keeping the kick tight, defined, and preventing muddiness.

EQing in Relation to Compression

The decision to EQ before or after compression depends on the goal. Buster mentioned that he'll often EQ after compression to shape the overall tone once the dynamics are more controlled. However, if he wants to add specific high-end "click" or air, particularly from the more natural-sounding kick sample, he might place an EQ before the compressor. This allows him to enhance the desired frequencies of the real kick's top end before it hits the compressor, rather than trying to brighten an already clicky one-shot or the compressed signal later.

Adding Space with Kick Room

To give the kick some dimension, help it sit naturally within the overall drum sound, and provide a sense of space, Buster adds a touch of kick room or ambiance.

EQing into Saturation

He demonstrated a technique of EQing into a saturation plugin, like FabFilter Saturn, on the kick room send. This can add harmonic richness, density, and character to the room sound, making it more interesting and helping it blend into the mix.

Filtering the Room for Air and Tail

The kick room isn't meant to be a prominent, boomy sound that clouds the main kick. Instead, it’s about adding "air" and a subtle tail that blooms after the initial transient of the kick. High-pass and low-pass filtering the room send is crucial here—removing excessive low-end mud and overly bright fizz helps the room provide a sense of space and depth without cluttering the direct kick's impact.

Putting It All Together: The Allt Kick Drum Sound

By skillfully combining a dynamic, real-sounding kick with a carefully triggered and phase-aligned one-shot, Buster Odeholm crafts a kick drum sound for Allt that is both immensely powerful and impressively articulate. The dynamic kick provides the essential body and organic feel, while the one-shot ensures every single hit cuts through the dense instrumentation with unwavering consistency and punch. Advanced techniques such as high-pass filtering both kick elements (e.g., starting around 35Hz), precise trigger detection (focusing on frequencies like 300Hz and above), meticulous phase alignment (achieved by manual nudging or with specialized tools like Sound Radix Auto-Align), strategic compression (including multi-band control), and the subtle, tasteful addition of an EQ'd and saturated kick room all contribute to a final kick sound that can stand up to the most demanding modern metal arrangements.

Learn From The Pros, Mix Like A Pro

Achieving that perfect modern metal kick drum is a journey of meticulous tweaking and critical listening, but Buster Odeholm's approach with Allt provides a clear and actionable roadmap. By understanding how to effectively blend dynamic kicks with potent one-shots, and by focusing on crucial details like EQ, phase relationships, and precise triggering, you can significantly elevate the impact and clarity of your own productions. These aren't just abstract concepts; they are practical techniques you can implement in your DAW right now.

Want to see exactly how pros like Buster Odeholm dial in these earth-shattering sounds, make those critical mixing decisions on the fly, and transform raw tracks into polished metal anthems? At Nail The Mix, you get an exclusive, over-the-shoulder view. Each month, we provide the original multi-tracks from huge metal songs – including the very session where this Allt kick drum technique was showcased (check out the incredible Allt, Born of Osiris, and Oceano NTM session for even more insights!) – and you get to watch the original producers mix them from scratch, explaining every plugin, setting, and strategic thought process. If you're ready to move beyond presets and truly unlock your sound in modern metal, seeing these advanced techniques applied in real-time is invaluable. Dive deeper into sessions with artists like Allt and a massive roster of metal titans, and learn the nuances that make a professional metal mix hit with devastating force. Don't just read about it; see it happen and then try it yourself with the exact same multi-tracks the pros used!