Hello,
I've been banging my head against the wall trying to mix the kick and bass on most of my songs....I'm trying to get the right mix on the two. The sound I'm looking for is a nice full bottom. My genre of music is Jazz. If I could get the kick and the bass close to the sound on the attached Paul Hardcastle song "Inner Changes" I would be happy....
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-FqGz_jdkM
 
Here are a couple of my tracks....
 
https://soundcloud.com/plyrman/sunday-evening-flats-st-wv
 
https://soundcloud.com/plyrman/no-question-st-wv
 
Any frequency setting/suggestions or overall crits would be greatly appreciated.  
 
Thanks in advance...
 
Mike G....

This is nice...You're getting the Hardcastle thing. 
 
First thing you need to do is to not be afraid to make the drums louder...even though this is a mellow tune, as is Inner Changes, the drums on Inner Changes are hot and crisp.
 
There are a few tricks pertaining to the kick and bass marriage that you might or might not know.
One is to EQ them with their predominant frequencies notched to give them room in the total spectral field. 
Try taking 80hz (bass sweet spot) out of the kick drum and 60hz (Kick sweet spot) out of the bass part. Those are their frequency sweet spots and they interfere....taking the bass freq out of the kick and taking the kick freq out of the bass gives you more room to marry them.
 
Compression also helps make them "seem" louder, and meshes them together.
 
Also, high end on low parts are something people forget...Those parts can be crisp yet not harsh. The right high freqs can give you good definition and clarity....Ya gotta play with this to get what you want...but isn't that why we do this?...to play with stuff...
 
Good job though...I played guitar to the track for a little while..Twas fun
Jason216
 

Hi Mike, I do like the groove you got with these two songs. I agree with Jason, try to carve out some frequencies for each of the instruments you are working with, not just the bass and drums but your leads and rhythm as well. Try experimenting with some different compressors on your drums, especially your kick if you have that on a separate track, this can give it more weight and allow it to compete with the bass you've got happening. Give each instrument their own EQ space.
 
Volume automation over some of the parts can make them come alive as well; take some of the rhythm down and then bring it back up for the crucial parts of the song, give your lead parts a bit of boost when they're really going for it....etc.
 
Mixing can be just as rewarding as writing the song. You add your own flavour to the individual parts and then the overall sound. Experiment and practise is the order of the day with mixing. The more you do it the better you get, until one day you are doing things like getting a nice balance between your drums and bass without even breaking a sweat. There is not mixer alive that hasn't spent time perfecting their sound by practise and critical listening. Keep us up to date with your progress, I for one look forward to it.

Anyone else with tips/advise....??
 
Thanks in advance....
 
Mike G.....

WoW....I would have thought there would have been more than just two responses. I guess the forum has changed....??

Mike,
 
I agree that eq and compression can give clarity and definition to the kick and bass tracks... Also lately i´ve been using sidechain compression on the bass track ( triggered by the kick drum track ) nothing drastic, only a 2 to 3 db gain reduction can give extra room to the kick drum...
 
Pedro,