Mixing Born of Osiris w/ Buster Odeholm

Born Of Osiris has a signature sound that’s hard to miss: a technically brutal metalcore foundation fused with massive, cinematic orchestral arrangements. It’s a dense, powerful combination that requires serious precision in the mix to make every element hit hard. Taking a look under the hood of their track “The Other Half of Me” reveals some killer production techniques you can apply to your own sessions.

We’re breaking down the raw multitracks from the Nail The Mix session with producer Buster Odeholm to pull out some key insights on how to handle razor-sharp guitar edits, get ultra-clean gated drums, and seamlessly blend metal with epic symphonic textures.

Nailing the Rhythmic Foundation: Tight Edits & Clean Gates

In a genre this precise, the rhythmic pocket is everything. The guitars and drums need to lock together into a single, aggressive machine. The Born of Osiris session shows how meticulous editing and smart processing are the keys to achieving that.

Getting Aggressive, Clean Guitar Chugs

Have you ever edited a heavy, staccato guitar riff and found it sounded weak or thin? It’s a common problem. When you chop up those chugs, it’s easy to create fades that cut off too early, killing the low-end power of the palm mute.

A key takeaway from these multitracks is how to maintain that power. When you’re tightening up those stop-start riffs, listen critically to the tail end of each note. A great edit shouldn’t just create silence; it should preserve the natural “oomph” and low-end resonance of the guitar right before it cuts off. If your edits are making the chugs lose their thump, your fades are likely too aggressive. Use these tracks as a reference—the editing is so clean that you get maximum rhythmic impact without sacrificing any of the guitar’s weight. It’s a perfect example of how to make your edits groove rather than just sound sterile.

Using Triggers for Flawless Drum Gating

These tracks feature a great-sounding live drum kit, but like any real recording, there’s some bleed between the mics. A little bit is fine, but for the hyper-clean sound of modern metal, you need control. The session includes dedicated kick and snare trigger tracks, which are your secret weapon for perfect gating.

Here’s the pro move: instead of using the audio from the snare mic to trigger its own gate (where a loud cymbal hit could accidentally open it), you can use the separate, perfectly clean trigger track as the gate’s “key” or “sidechain” input.

Set up a gate on your live snare top track, but route the snare trigger track to its sidechain input. Now, the gate will only ever open when the trigger signal is present, giving you a perfectly isolated snare sound with zero false triggers from hi-hats or crashes. You can apply the same logic to the kick drum. This is an essential technique for advanced dynamic control, ensuring your core drum shells punch through the mix with maximum clarity and consistency.

Building the Atmosphere: Blending Metal and Orchestra

One of the most impressive parts of the Born Of Osiris sound is how the orchestral elements feel completely integrated, not just tacked on top. This session reveals how they pull it off.

Making Synths and Guitars Speak the Same Language

A standout moment in “The Other Half of Me” is a track labeled “omni bending indonesia” — a bell-like synth line that perfectly mimics one of the lead guitar melodies. This is a brilliant arrangement technique.

By having an orchestral instrument double a core melodic part from a traditional metal instrument, you create a powerful connection between the two worlds. It subliminally tells the listener that the orchestra is part of the song’s DNA. Instead of just adding pads or strings in the background, try finding key guitar or vocal melodies in your own tracks and doubling them with a synth, a choir, or a brass sound. It’s a fantastic way to make your layers feel more intentional and cohesive.

Crafting a Cinematic, Soundtrack Vibe

The session is packed with high-quality orchestral layers, from tracks labeled “evil orchestra” to a massive “mega horn” that gives you instant Hans Zimmer vibes. These sounds are huge and can easily dominate a mix if you’re not careful.

Getting these cinematic elements to sit right in a dense metal track is a masterclass in EQ strategy. You need to carve out space for everything to be heard. This often means making surgical cuts in your guitars to make room for a specific horn frequency or using EQ to tuck the low-midrange of a string section underneath the bass guitar. Sourcing high-quality sounds from libraries like Omnisphere or Spitfire Audio is a great start, but it’s the careful arrangement and EQ that makes them truly work in the final mix.

Bring These Techniques To Your DAW

Mastering these production methods—from the precision of guitar edits to the art of layering—is what separates a good mix from a professional one. You can start applying these tips today:

• Check your guitar edits: Are you preserving the low-end “oomph”?
• Try sidechain gating: Use a trigger to get a perfectly clean snare.
• Integrate your layers: Double a guitar lead with a synth to glue your arrangement together.

But what if you could watch the producer who mixed this record apply these concepts and more, explaining every move along the way?

With Nail The Mix, you can. Subscribers get the actual multitracks from this Born Of Osiris song and watch a full mixing masterclass from Buster Odeholm. You’ll see exactly how a top-tier producer balances these dense layers, dials in aggression, and achieves a polished, massive final sound.

If you’re ready to move past presets and generic tutorials, it’s time to unlock your sound and learn from the pros who created the albums you love.

Get access to the Born Of Osiris multitracks and see how it’s done.