+1 Mike and Bat,

Some great pomp oft occurs (for me), if the bass and kick command the low sonic EQ space in a clean manner ... as bass solidifies a groove into beatz funk (to me)

I subjectively *ponder* the following for my busy mixes:

1) Trillian/Trilogy (acoustic) samples are proven (for me) ... and need little or no downward compression, nor limiting, IMHO. 

2) Other Trillian basses are a complete redundancy and have little place in my selections ... since they seem only great for counters ... and not so much for solidifying a wall of music (I may be change my mind on that)

3) I HPF them with Q=1 at about 35 Hz, to allow room for kick rumble.  (That is a must for 100% of my schemes.)

4) I LPF them at 1200 Hz more gently (Q= 0.5 or something) ... but, then again, Spectrasonics has already smartly done this for the Trilogy stuff.

5) Currently, I'm supposing that the kick/snare/hats percussives are much more important than the bass for solidifying 'most' grooves ... so I reduce/notch down at 100Hz +/- with a narrow Q and rely on the 1st harmonics

6) I increase the bass in hooks, middles, finales, choruses, and counters.   I decrease them or widen gaps in verses.

7) They are dead center, no reverb ... (too low for the ears to play games with)

8) The get double tracked via a send to the parallel compression buss; again, they don't get as much upward compression as the percussives.

9) I try to keep them at least an octave or 2 below middle C.

10) Because bass chants are so robust, I tweak them repeatedly for dynamics, variety, velocity, melody, counter, rhythm, and legato, etc.  (Though I haven't learned to control sliding legato to well yet in Trilion)

I don't have X1, but on a real 1176 compressor where the knobs work the opposite way of every other compressor in the world, the attack is around 3 (about 70% toward the slow side) and the release is at 5 (or around 70% toward the fast side).  Ratio is 4:1.

In my limited experience both chorus and flanger are about the last things I'd add to a bass track. There are some methods described here that make me curious, though.

Kalle, I'm with you on this one. I'm one of those guys that....hmmm...let me see how I can explain this. LOL!!

Bass to me, is like a female. One of the things I love about the female body is how it is/looks coming right out of the gate. I don't like massive piercings, I don't like cake-face make-up, and I absolutely cringe when I see tat's all over such a work of art that is already complete. That's exactly how I feel about the great, natural sound of a bass guitar.

I don't like it distorted, I don't like it phased, I don't like it with a wah, I don't like it with chorus or flange. I like it when it sounds like a deep piano. You know...that new bass strings sound on just the right bass to where it sounds nearly piano-like with the deep rich lows it needs.

That said, there are ways to use chorus, flange and other effects the right way, but to me, the answer isn't "in line" on the track. The first thing needed, is the right bass sound without all that stuff on it. From there, you create a bus and place the effect on that bus and eq the effect so that the dips in the wave forms that effect puts out, do not walk on the bass guitar frequencies.

When a chorus or a flanger or phaser dips down, there are artifacts from that if you are not careful that will bring in some nasty low end. It just sounds horrible to me. Having these effects in a bus with strict eq control on them stops this issue from happening.

But to me, the greatest bass tones are the ones that just sound like a bass that is nice and clear with a nice 80Hz to them with a little bit of 2.5k clack...new strings to give it that piano type sound, a little compression and if you feel the need for a bit thicker sound, a very gentle and slow stereo chorus that is eq controlled. That's pure bliss and exactly what I call the dream bass sound.

A note on compression: I like to consider myself a pretty decent bassist who has always gotten good tones from my basses. I've been playing for years, but I'm primarily a guitarist/singer/drummer. That said, a guy like bapu would need less compression on his sound than I would. The reason being? He's a real bassist, is much better than I am in his execution, and the dude makes love to the bass and is always conscious of how hard he is pulling on the strings dynamically. Me, I'm a guitar player. I can't use my fingers, so I have to use a pick. The second you use a pick, you just raised your compression needs. I have since switched over to felt picks which really make an incredible difference and make the initial transient attack execution, way less apparent. A guy like Ed is aware of all this stuff constantly because he makes love to the instrument like I would if I played a guitar. This stuff is really important as far as choosing how to process a bass.

Another thing to consider....proper bass set up. Some guys have their strings at all different heights. This is going to make certain notes leap out more than others. Both because of the way they will pull harder on some of the strings as well as how much closer or further the pick-ups are. So definitely keep all this stuff in mind when mapping out how to record, mix and process your bass guitar. You usually can't go wrong with going into a nice mic pre, or even a high end compressor and straight into the soundcard. From there you can clone the track and re-amp as well as mix in the DI signal at once and come up with some neat stuff too. Some stuff to think about....best of luck. :)

You're too kind Mr. Flipper Sir. :) That's a HUGE compliment coming from you....much appreciated Dave. :)

Danny Danzi


You're too kind Mr. Flipper Sir. :) That's a HUGE compliment coming from you....much appreciated Dave. :)

Ditto (sez The Bapu to "The Daniac")

LOL bapu...that "Daniac" thing cracks me up. Between you and phil z....you guys kill me. ;)

Geno: Thanks for the kind words brother, much appreciated. Looking forward to doing that mix video for you one of these days. :) From listening to your stuff though, you are starting to get this stuff down now man. Keep up the great work.

As for me and clean bass, I'm strange when it comes to things I like. For example, if I eat something and I like it, and then eat the same food made by someone else, it's just not the same. I'm expecting that taste that made me like it and if it's not there, I'm just not into it. The same with bass. When I first heard that piano type bass sound with new strings, a killer player and just the right amount of low end, it was just unreal. I just don't understand why some bassists feel the need to distort that sound. It just gets loose and nasty sounding to me. Add that in with a distorted guitar...especially like the stuff you and I play with high gain and man, it just really can dirty up a mix to the point of sonic mess to my ears. It turns a song that would make me say "bravo" into "bravuggh". 

My first experience with this was on one of the Dream Theater albums where they offered stems of it. John Myung (never noted for his bass tone, but is a fantastic player) had so much dirt on his bass, it didn't even sound like a bass. I can't even describe what it sounded like, but it was so bad, I sat there in awe listening to it wondering who on earth could have actually said "yeah man, that tone's a keeper..let it fly on the record". I dunno bro...when I hear stuff like that, it just reminds me of frustrated guitar players that couldn't quite cut it so they switched to bass and thought they'd use over-drive on top to fight with the guitar player in the band.

I try like heck to embrace new technology as well as what the "in" thing is. I know I have to change with the times especially in this field, but there are some things I just cant stomach no matter how hard I try to accept them...and bass over-drive is one of them. A slight amount of dirt for some sustain is perfectly fine...but some guys are really pushing it these days.