• SONAR
  • Getting the Bass Guitar to sit in the mix correctly (p.3)
2012/09/11 16:05:59
TraceyStudios
Thanks all!   I copied and pasted into a text file and printed and saved. this is exactly what I was hoping for.  I have been learning mostly on my own as I go. It is great to see how others work thru their process. Always a learning experience. I really wish there was a user group that meets here in the Phoenix Area.

@Jamsyoyo, I have downloaded and will play with that.
2012/09/11 16:08:24
jb101
TraceyStudios


Thanks all!   I copied and pasted into a text file and printed and saved. this is exactly what I was hoping for.  I have been learning mostly on my own as I go. It is great to see how others work thru their process. Always a learning experience. I really wish there was a user group that meets here in the Phoenix Area.

@Jamsyoyo, I have downloaded and will play with that.


Let us know how you get on..
2012/09/11 16:42:56
indravayu

Wow, thanks for posting a link to this - trying it out on one of my mixes and am really liking it!

jamesyoyo


After you follow everyone else's fine advice, try using this


2012/09/11 17:03:21
dlesaux
This month's Sound on Sound magazine has a great article on mixing the low end..
2012/09/11 17:08:01
Dave King
dlesaux


This month's Sound on Sound magazine has a great article on mixing the low end..

This month's Sound on Sound magazine has a great article on mixing the low end..

 
+1
2012/09/11 17:20:01
Jeff Evans
This is so easy to answer. Firstly all the tips provided here are good. But a really good tip is simply turn the bass down! Everybody, and I mean everybody has the bass way too high in the mix, it is simple as that! (As a sound engineering instructor every time I walk into a room where students are mixing, the bass is the loudest thing in the room!)

Getting rid of a lot of boom or deep rumble low end is the first thing you have to do. Second is setting the bass level correctly.

TIP: Set the bass to where you think it should be. Then pull the fader down to zero and listen to your mix for 10 minutes without the bass. Switch over to a small mono speaker at low volume. Slowly bring the bass level back in to where you can just hear it nicely in the small speaker. That's it. You will find you are about 6 dB down now compared to where you started. Switch back to your main speakers and readjust to suit but often you will find the bass level is correct and it may only need to be tweaked up a dB or so.
2012/09/11 17:22:02
Blogman
 Waves Bass Rider.... brings out all your tidbits of Gold.
2012/09/11 17:26:40
LANEY
Sound on Sound magazine this month is all about mixing bass. Sept. 2012
Yes, Thanks for the link Basslane is cool! Thanks!
2012/09/11 17:57:26
mattplaysguitar
FYI, the correct forum would have been found here -->  http://forum.cakewalk.com/tt.aspx?forumid=9

Some good stuff has already been said. I'd mainly put it down to good use of compression and eq. If you can't get there (or at least close) without those tools, then something is wrong and re-recording certain components may be necessary. If you're using an amp sim for your sound, that's fine too, as it's an important part of your sound - but I'm talking after you have that sound.


One little point I wanted to make was to do with monitoring. Spare bedroom usually means small bedroom. A little bit of foam usually means high frequency attenuation only. As I'm sure you're aware, the end result is bad bass response. As for some personal opinion, the KRK Rokit 8's... They SOUND good. The bass on them sounds really good. For the price. But I think the bass in particular is a problem with these as far as ACCURATE MONITORING is concerned. I find the bass appears to be VERY separate from the rest of the mix. It's like there is a big hole/gap around 200-300Hz where it doesn't connect with everything else. I must admit I have only listened to these in a listening room in a store (reasonable room, set up well), but compared to other monitors, that's what I heard. This relates directly to what you are attempting to judge here. What I'm getting at is that in my opinion, your room and those monitors are going to make bass decisions very difficult. It's difficult to trust what you're hearing. Solution? Just keep in your mind to check your mix on numerous other systems and with a good set (or a few sets) of headphones. This is especially important to remember as what you hear in your room is likely to translate completely differently in another room. Just something I think is very important to keep in mind as you try out some of the above techniques. You don't want to forget it or you might waste a lot of time and then realise it works no-where else!
2012/09/11 18:19:58
joshcamp
to the OP, it sounds as if you are having a monitoring problem. I was experiencing the same troubles with bass for way too long. i have a small 10x10x10 box room. i built DIY bass traps using OC73 panels and other foam sound boards here and there. while that helped, nothing compared to the drastic improvement in my ability to believe in what i was hearing from my monitors (adam a5x and a krk sub) until i installed and used ARC (from IK multimedia) it has single handedly made mixing low end much easier for me. of course, all of the other tips and practices mentioned above are critical.
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