Humanity’s Last Breath: Crafting Brutal Thall Bass Tones

When you hear the earth-shattering low-end of a Humanity’s Last Breath track, you know it. That distinct, surgically precise, yet utterly devastating Thall bass tone is a hallmark of Buster Odeholm’s production style. It’s not just about tuning low; it’s a meticulous process of layering, shaping, and controlling an immense amount of gain. Lucky for us, Buster himself broke down his approach, giving us a killer look into how he gets that signature sound, tracked on his trusty Dingwall NG3.

If you’re looking to inject some of that HLB brutality into your own mixes, get ready. We’re diving deep into the techniques Buster uses, from taming the initial DI to unleashing controlled chaos. And if you want to see this kind of magic happen live, you’ll definitely want to check out what’s happening over at Nail The Mix, where pros like Buster show you exactly how it’s done. For a deeper dive into this specific HLB session, head over to the Humanity’s Last Breath Nail The Mix page.

Taming the DI: Noise Control and Initial Aggression

Before you even think about distortion, getting a clean, punchy, and appropriately aggressive DI signal is paramount.

The High-End Noise Gate Trick

Noise can be the enemy of tight, percussive metal bass, especially in the high frequencies where pick attack lives. Buster employs a clever expander technique, similar to the “snare trick” many engineers use, but with a twist: it’s triggered by the high-end content of the bass, not the low-end.

This means the expander opens up lightning-fast when the pick hits the strings, letting that crucial transient through, then immediately clamps down. Any background hiss or unwanted string noise between notes gets pushed way down, leaving you with just the impactful click and the body of the note. Buster keeps this on his DI chain regardless of whether noise is a major issue, purely for the way it shapes the attack.

Aggressive DI Saturation and EQ

Inspiration struck Buster while tracking bass through an actual ’73-style preamp. He found that by getting rid of muddiness around 700Hz, boosting the low-end, and then cranking the high-end, he could achieve a really aggressive initial sound. This high-end boost on the DI is key because it feeds the distortion stages later, creating that signature sizzle. While it might sound a bit “assy” on its own, it’s a crucial ingredient. A touch of compression and gating is also present on the DI, but not doing any heavy lifting at this stage.

Crafting the Grind: Dual Distortion Layers

With a solid DI, it’s time to build the distortion. Buster uses a multi-channel approach, typically a “sub” channel and a “grit” channel, but the real meat comes from carefully curated saturation and distortion stages.

Pre-Distortion EQ and Saturation

Before hitting the main distortion, there’s some serious tone shaping. Buster uses what sounds like a powerful multi-band saturator (he jokingly calls it “Holier horses”). He focuses this heavy saturation on the midrange, specifically from around 145Hz up to about 1.2kHz. The lowest frequencies and some of the very top end are actually removed before this saturation, allowing the core frequencies to be pushed hard for maximum note clarity and aggression without becoming flubby or overly harsh.

The HM-2 Touch for Thickness

Then comes the iconic chainsaw character. Buster incorporates an HM-2 style distortion, but not full-bore. It’s blended in at only around 15%. The crucial part here is the EQ into and out of this distortion. By carefully sculpting the frequencies feeding the HM-2 and then shaping them again afterward, he tailors its response perfectly. Since the DI was made very bright, this HM-2 layer, even at a low blend, is specifically used to add some of the “thickness” back into the sound, complementing the aggressive top end.

Polishing the Mayhem: Post-Distortion Refinements

Once the core distortion sound is established, it’s all about refining it to sit perfectly in a dense mix.

Tone Matching for Consistency

Buster mentions using tone matching, referencing a bass tone he created for the album “Throne” and applying its characteristics here. This is a great way to ensure consistency or to quickly dial in a vibe you know works.

Taming Shrillness with Soothe2

With all that high-end information from the DI and distortion, things can get shrill. This is where a plugin like Soothe2 becomes invaluable. It dynamically reduces harsh resonances in the high frequencies without making the bass sound dull. You get to keep the brightness and aggression, but lose the ear-fatiguing shrillness. A true lifesaver for modern metal tones!

Dynamic Control for Choppy Riffs

For those signature Thall-tastic choppy riffs, where the bass needs to punch hard with every stop and start, Buster uses a compressor with a slow attack and fast release. This setting allows the initial transient of each note to pop through uncompressed, then quickly clamps down, accentuating the percussive nature of the playing. This kind of dynamic shaping is essential for clarity in fast, syncopated passages. For more on how compression can shape your metal tracks, check out these metal compression secrets.

Sculpting the Foundation: Low-End Precision

The low-end of a Thall bass needs to be huge but also incredibly tight.

Strategic Filtering and Leveling

Buster employs a specific filtering strategy for his low-end, often focusing the energy between 55Hz and 130Hz. He might then gently shelve down frequencies from 80Hz upwards within this band to shape the contour.

To ensure the low-end is consistent and impactful, he uses leveler-type plugins. Even if the exact settings are a bit of a mystery (as he humorously admits for one of them!), the goal is to create a more even response, often clipping the signal heavily to achieve maximum density and perceived loudness without unruly peaks. These processed low-end signals are then filtered again to maintain that tight 55Hz-130Hz window. Want to learn more about surgical EQ? Our EQ strategies hub page has you covered.

Adding Width and Punch: Bus Processing and Automation

The final touches involve placing the bass in the stereo field and adding some extra punch where needed.

Subtle Bus EQ and Gating

On the main bass bus, there might be some last-minute EQ tweaks, like removing a bit more low-end if things are getting muddy. Buster also mentions using an unnamed plugin that subtly enhances the low-end without drastic changes, along with more gating for ultimate tightness.

Creating Stereo Spread

To help the bass connect with the wide guitars, Buster uses a clever spread technique inspired by “Hanszen settings.” This involves taking the bass signal, filtering out the low-end (to keep the fundamental mono and solid), then feeding it into a doubler (with basic settings) and a very short reverb. This processed signal, with the short reverb at 100% wet, is then blended in subtly (around 40%) with the main bass sound, giving it a sense of width that helps it sit nicely in the overall mix image.

Kick Sidechaining

Of course, kick sidechaining is part of the recipe, ensuring the kick drum and bass can coexist powerfully without clashing in the low frequencies.

Automated Distortion for Maximum Impact

For certain parts of a song that need to be even more extreme, Buster automates an additional layer of distortion. His first thought was to crank a Warm Tube plugin, but that drastically altered the EQ curve he’d carefully crafted. The solution? He used a Tone Match process. This allowed him to capture the EQ curve of his main distorted bass tone and apply it to the signal after the heavily cranked Warm Tube. The result is a bass that gets significantly more distorted and aggressive for those intense sections, but without losing its fundamental tonal character.

Get That Brutal Bass Tone In Your Mixes

Achieving a bass tone as colossal and intricate as Humanity’s Last Breath’s involves a deep understanding of signal flow, gain staging, EQ, and creative effects processing. From the initial DI treatment with high-frequency gating and aggressive EQ, through layered distortion stages featuring HM-2 style grit, to meticulous post-processing with Soothe2, dynamic compression, and precise low-end sculpting – every step is crucial. Add in stereo widening tricks and automated distortion boosts, and you’ve got a recipe for pure Thall devastation.

These techniques offer a fantastic starting point for your own heavy bass explorations. Experiment with high-frequency gating on your DIs, try blending subtle HM-2 character, and don’t be afraid to use tools like Soothe2 to keep aggressive tones listenable.

Want to see exactly how producers like Buster Odeholm dial in these complex tones, make critical mix decisions, and bring a track to life? At Nail The Mix, you get to be a fly on the wall as world-class producers mix actual sessions from bands like Humanity’s Last Breath, Periphery, and Gojira. You get the raw multi-tracks and watch them mix it from scratch, explaining every plugin, every setting, every decision. It’s an unparalleled way to Unlock Your Sound and Mix Modern Metal Beyond Presets.

Dive deeper into this specific Humanity’s Last Breath session and grab the multi-tracks by checking out the full session details here. Go make some noise!