Humanity’s Last Breath: Unboxing Their Ultra-Heavy Multitracks

Mixing truly crushing, modern metal is an art form. When bands like Humanity's Last Breath and Thrown drop new material, the sheer weight and complexity can be mind-blowing. Ever wonder what goes into those dense, brutal mixes? Well, for August 2023, Nail The Mix is giving you the keys to the kingdom with a double-header featuring Humanity's Last Breath's "Labyrinthian" and Thrown's "Guilt," all mixed by the legendary Buster Odeholm. Let's crack open these sessions and see what sonic mayhem awaits.

Humanity's Last Breath "Labyrinthian": Deconstructing the Brutality

First up, "Labyrinthian" by Humanity's Last Breath. This track is a monster, clocking in at around 57 tracks, and it's packed with everything you need to craft your own destructive mix.

The Foundation: Pristine DIs and Shell MIDI

Right off the bat, you get the raw ingredients: clean DI (Direct Input) guitars and bass, plus Shell MIDI for the drums. Working with DIs is a fantastic way to learn because it forces you to build the tones from the ground up. It's your chance to go head-to-head with the pros and see if you can sculpt something even more devastating. This session is your playground to experiment and refine your sound design skills. Dive into these multi-tracks yourself over at Nail The Mix.

Guitar Mayhem: Navigating "Solo" Tunings

The guitars in "Labyrinthian" are tuned incredibly low – we're talking "tuned so low it's ridiculous" territory. When Joel Wanasek from URM Academy first unboxed these, he threw on a stock Neural DSP Gojira amp sim just to get a quick taste, and the result was instantly sick.

The real challenge with guitars this low is achieving a thick, punchy bottom end that's still clear and defined. It’s a delicate balancing act to keep the power without turning your mix into a muddy mess. This is where surgical EQ strategies for modern metal become absolutely critical. You’ll need to carefully carve out space for each element. Beyond the rhythms, the DI lead guitars offer another fantastic opportunity for creative sound design.

Bass Tactics: Low, Clean, and Stereo?

Naturally, the bass DI is also plumbing the depths. What’s interesting here is that the bass isn't just pure sub-rumble; it often plays in a higher octave, adding a different kind of texture and aggression rather than just low-end destruction. The DI even has some cool volume envelope work baked in.

This session features a triple-tracked bass. An interesting approach demonstrated during the unboxing was panning two of these bass tracks left and right, creating a wide, stereo bass effect. These are well-recorded DIs, giving you a solid foundation for your own tonal experiments.

Drum Powerhouse: Raw and Ready

The raw drum sounds in this session are, in a word, fantastic.

• Kick: The kick-in mic boasts a very clean signal-to-bleed ratio, and the kick-out sounds great.
• Snare: Both top and bottom snare mics deliver a powerful, crisp sound.
• Toms: The toms are clean and punchy.
• Cymbals & Overheads: You get well-recorded hats and ride, plus two distinct overhead mic options (Overhead 1 and Overhead 2, each with a slightly different character).
• Room: A nice mid-size room mic captures a natural ambience.
  Overall, these drums are exceptionally well-recorded, giving you plenty of options to shape your ideal drum sound.

Vocal Intensity and Atmospheric Post-Production

The vocals are, as expected, "ridiculously sick." On initial inspection, they don't appear heavily compressed on the way in. There might be some normalization or a gentle limiter just tapping down the peaks, but for the most part, you get dynamic, powerful vocal tracks to work with. If you're looking to understand how to treat such vocals, exploring metal compression secrets can provide valuable insights.

To add to the atmosphere, the session includes various post-production elements like risers, sub-drops, and even gunshot effects – all pretty standard fare for enhancing the impact in this style of music.

Thrown "Guilt": Grooves, MIDI Drums, and Raw Power

Next up in this double-header is "Guilt" by Thrown. This track is another super heavy hitter, but with a cool, groovy vibe and its own set of unique challenges.

The Producer's Hat: DIs and MIDI Drum Crafting

Like the Humanity's Last Breath track, "Guilt" provides DIs for guitars and bass, allowing you to shape your own tones. However, a key difference here is the drums: they're entirely MIDI. This means you're not just mixing; you're effectively acting as a producer, building the drum sound from scratch.

The session includes a drum map, and during the unboxing, Joel quickly loaded it into Drumforge Bergstrand. He noted that the original programmer might have used some GGD (GetGood Drums) samples for symbols. The challenge here is deciphering the MIDI map and potentially remapping it to your preferred drum sampler. This is an incredibly valuable skill for any modern mixer, as MIDI drums are common in heavy music production.

Streamlined but Punchy: Session Overview

The Thrown session is a bit more straightforward in terms of track count, with around 24 audio tracks. The DI guitars (again, tested with a Neural DSP Gojira sim) sound "super sick" and are very well played. The bass DI has a lot of transient information, which will make it hit a distorted amp sim beautifully. For leads, there’s some cool tremolo and whammy octave pedal action going on.

Vocal Impact and Minimalist Post

The vocals on "Guilt" are described as "damn powerful." The post-production is relatively minimal and effective, featuring sub booms, impacts, and reverse reverbs to accentuate key moments. It’s more of a direct, kick-your-teeth-in kind of track.

The Buster Odeholm Factor: Learning from a Master

Having access to these multi-tracks is one thing, but seeing how a master like Buster Odeholm tackles them is another entirely. Buster is renowned for his ability to mix this style of incredibly heavy, complex music, and his in-the-box workflow is second to none. This Nail The Mix session is your chance to watch him work his magic on both "Labyrinthian" and "Guilt." See how he handles these monstrous tracks here.

Beyond the Multi-Tracks: What Else Nail The Mix Offers

Getting your hands on these multi-tracks is awesome, but a Nail The Mix subscription offers a whole universe of learning opportunities designed to elevate your production skills.

Build Your Portfolio & Hone Your Craft

Subscribers get access to the Portfolio Builder, a massive library with dozens of songs spanning everything from death metal and nu-metal to alt-rock and pop. These are perfect for practice and for building a professional portfolio.

Bite-Sized Learning with Mix Lab

Mix Lab features a collection of short, focused videos (usually 5-10 minutes) on very specific topics. Want to learn about guitar DI editing, advanced tone building, or how to use plugins like Soothe on guitars? Mix Lab has you covered with insights from top pros.

For the Guitarists: Riff Hard Included

If you're a guitar player, your subscription also includes access to Riff Hard, the ultimate place to learn metal guitar. Get lessons on techniques, warmups, and riff dissections from incredible players like Zakk Wylde, Dave Davidson (Revocation), Dan Sugarman (Ice Nine Kills), and many more.

Supercharge Your Skills with NTM Enhanced

For those looking to seriously level up, there's NTM Enhanced. You can often try your first month for just $1 and unlock even more content. This includes:

• The Fast Track Vault: This is one of the most comprehensive audio education libraries available, designed to take you from beginner to pro. With dozens of deep-dive courses, you can spend weeks mastering EQ, compression, realistic drum programming, and much more. It's the perfect way to unlock your sound beyond presets.
• One-on-Ones: Get personalized feedback on your mixes or career advice directly from NTM staff pros.
• Mix Rescue: Watch as seasoned producers like Dave Otero or George Lever take a member's raw session and remix it, showing you how to elevate a mix to a professional level.

Join the Community

Nail The Mix isn't just about videos and multi-tracks; it's a vibrant, supportive community. It’s a beginner-friendly space where you can ask questions, share your work, and connect with everyone from hobbyists just starting out to seasoned pros with chart-topping hits.

Mixing tracks as intense as Humanity's Last Breath and Thrown presents unique challenges, from taming ultra-low-tuned guitars to crafting compelling MIDI drum sounds. By diving into these sessions, you're not just getting files; you're getting a masterclass in modern metal production.

Ready to take on these beasts and learn from the best? Head over to Nail The Mix and enjoy mixing these killer tracks with Buster Odeholm!