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Post by Tony on Jul 6, 2014 10:51:28 GMT
This is something that I have always struggled with in any context.
I know that we have a few members on here that are into production or do it for a living so what tips do you guys have?
I'm mainly interested in metal as it's what I do but any help is appreciated.
My main issues are either the bass just sounds really out of place kind of as if it's floating above the rest of the instruments or it just gets buried justice style.
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Post by MDV on Jul 7, 2014 19:33:47 GMT
From your clips, I think your bass sounds could do with being brighter. You want clank from the strings bashing just a little against the frets. It starts in the setup of the bass.
That high-mid presence then needs to be worked into and blended with the pick attack of the guitars.
Also, distortion. Band-passed distortion, in the mids. Choose carefully. Use it for frequencies too low and you get mud. Too high and you fuzz up your clank. No one wants that. In the mids and it helps blend with the guitars.
Carving a whole in the bass low end so the kick can sit in it helps immensely as well.
Those are the keys to bass mixing. Very rudimentarily speaking. imo. In the lowest lows, it works with the kick, in the mids and high mids, the guitars.
Some people like to go for really separated bass thats clearly independently audible. I'm not really one of them. I think that the function of the bass is to make the kick and the guitars sound better, and glue them together.
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Mattayus
New Guy
Sir Groove-A-Lot
Posts: 13 
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Post by Mattayus on Jul 7, 2014 20:57:33 GMT
I tend to find the problematic areas with bass aren't too dissimilar from guitar, but merely shifted down on the EQ spectrum. They still have mud/boom, boxiness/honk, they're just in different areas.
I find the 'magic' happens around 200-500hz (where exactly depends on the bass, the strings, the pickups, and of course; the tuning). This is where, generally speaking, the 'amateurish' sound is taken out of guitars, generally in the 500-800 range (again, depending on... lots of stuff). A small scoop here cleans up a lot of midrange junk that eats up a lot of necessary breathing space for drum clarity.
If you play with this region on bass you'll notice clarity in the upper mids of the bass, less of that 'bulbous' nature that makes your mix fat and bloaty, and the guitars get to have a little meat to them without having to be squished flat to make space for obtuse bass nonsense.
Also, what Mark said.
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Post by MDV on Jul 7, 2014 21:15:06 GMT
carving a whole?
I said carving a whole.
That was silly. Don't try to do that.
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Mattayus
New Guy
Sir Groove-A-Lot
Posts: 13
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Post by Mattayus on Jul 8, 2014 10:41:51 GMT
Yeah, don't do that.
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