Any good EQ for Bass sound?(plugin)

[SPORT]

Recommend please a good EQ(vst) for the bass sound.
I use Nuendo for to master my tracks(is my hobby), but i not find any good EQ for the bass sound.
An example of bass sound i'm looking for:
YouTube - ‪It's Not Me - 3 Doors Down‬‎

Regards!

[Red Mastering]

Originally Posted by SPORT

Recommend please a good EQ(vst) for the bass sound.
I use Nuendo for to master my tracks(is my hobby), but i not find any good EQ for the bass sound.
An example of bass sound i'm looking for:
YouTube - ‪It's Not Me - 3 Doors Down‬‎

Regards!

I hope it's not a joke !
there's no such thing like EQ for this or that
use proper bass sound at first place
that's it
EQ is for shaping, but could be for creating as well
any EQ will do,
LPF with sharp Q comes to mind,

but I think you should start from a good sound in the first place,
then eventually tweak

[CJ Mastering]

Yea, if you want that bass sound, you need to record it that way. There are no magic bass EQ sAn iq is an EQ. It cuts and boost frequencies at a specific Q (width)

Like the other poster said, any EQ can do these things (cut and boost).
I think you just need to learn a bit more about EQ and ten you'll see why a question like this isnt going to get you your bass sound.

So to reiterate, You need to record that bass sound, not create it afterwards.
Cj

[SPORT]

Originally Posted by SPORT

An example of bass sound i'm looking for:
YouTube - ‪It's Not Me - 3 Doors Down‬‎

I may not have explained well, sorry...
I mean powerful and transparent bass sound, not the same bass sound of the track It's Not Me.
I am currently using URS N Series EQ.

[Bubbagump]

EQ is a flavor thing. That said, you may want to look at some of the Pultec models out there as the low end is dealt with a bit differently on Pultecs. However, as others said, Eq is shaping/flavor. If the tracking is crap or you don't know how to use basic EQ, plug ins aren't THAT different that they will over come those issues.

One thing that can be of help at times, especially when dealing with DI bass tracks is an amp modeller. Not purist ideal, but at times it does the job.

[Table Of Tone]

Originally Posted by SPORT

I may not have explained well, sorry...
I mean powerful and transparent bass sound, not the same bass sound of the track It's Not Me.
I am currently using URS N Series EQ.

Maybe checkout the Sonoris LPEQ.

[Manuel75]

... especially for a given task. The question is not about how they operate, but rather how easily you work with them, like drawing unusual shapes with them ... especially for bass which is one of the most important EQ part in the mix (I would say the most important part in fact: fighting the bass is the key to powerful mixes). So you can put an unreadable UI like a SSL channel on a bass track, but you'd rather be ultra-good to know where you're going.
This is a question of UI (user interface) in my opinion, totally: if you're a good pilot you can make fly anything, if you're not you'd rather have visual feedback/help too to know what you're doing and avoid to crash.
Some plugs are easy to use and give good feedback, others don't.

Now, Pro are saying that they usually spend 2 hours working on bass and its relation with the kick.
A good EQ as nothing to do with it's "transparency", IMO. And you probably don't want to EQ you bass with a linear phase for instance.

Very handy and inexpensive plugs I found for making my bass more "flat" under 200-300 Hz (I put an analyzer before — and sometimes after — the EQ to check where I'm going, that's because I'm not good pilot ) :

— DDMF's
— Fabfilter's

For starters.
Then, I guess you know it, but you'd rather mono your subs most of the time and compress the low/subs like a _smart_ fool in the end.

[ciro]

This is a killer "not "transparent" EQ

de la Mancha QB-3

Ciro

[Manuel75]

Originally Posted by ciro

This is a killer "not "transparent" EQ

de la Mancha QB-3

Ciro

Typically the kind of EQ you will not use to achieve great lows.
Damn ... if you want to add harmonics, saturation or non-linearity-you-name-it on your sound go get decapitator, nXtasy or VCC, but that's not the point here. The point is about sculpting/fighting the lows.
A typical EQ curve for a bass that will not override and mud everything in a mix looks like this (check the part below 200 Hz):



How do you achieve this using a plugin that will mainly offer 3 poor bands of control, and no UI to help your workflow and A/B testing ?
Hence the question of good plugins for specific tasks... and their UI.
Why do you thing guys like waves a releasing stuff like that ?
Check the keyboard below the Freq/dB graph ... now ask yourself, why do they do that ?

[George Necola]

The decapitator from soundtoys is awesome.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Gearslutz.com

[Manuel75]

Originally Posted by George Necola

The decapitator from soundtoys is awesome.

Indeed, I think I use it — more or less — on 1/4 of my tracks on average now... we will all (ITB) sound the same soon . I'm looking forward for their Juice coming out ...

[ciro]

Originally Posted by Manuel75

Typically the kind of EQ you will not use to achieve great lows.
Damn ... if you want to add harmonics, saturation or non-linearity-you-name-it on your sound go get decapitator, nXtasy or VCC, but that's not the point here. The point is about sculpting/fighting the lows.
A typical EQ curve for a bass that will not override and mud everything in a mix looks like this (check the part below 200 Hz):



How do you achieve this using a plugin that will mainly offer 3 poor bands of control, and no UI to help your workflow and A/B testing ?
Hence the question of good plugins for specific tasks... and their UI.
Why do you thing guys like waves a releasing stuff like that ?
Check the keyboard below the Freq/dB graph ... now ask yourself, why do they do that ?

First, I don´t even know why I posted on this thread. Serious, the audio file was deleted, and then I started to imagine what was the op intention. (damn, this is an old thread)

For cutting frequencies with a transparent eq you´re right .I use the QB3 for shape the bass guitar sound (bus - stems) but on other things it also works very well (a question; do you know it?).
Ciro

[Cellotron]

Beyond the very good recommendations already given to get the bass sound right in tracking, and the use of any of the multitudes of EQ's available to help with enhancing this - one dedicated "bass enhancer" VST plugins I've actually found occasional use for in mastering chores is the Voxengo LF Max Punch plugin -
Low-frequency audio band enhancer plugin (AU, VST) - LF Max Punch - Voxengo

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Manuel75]

Mainly, with bass sound: I started, like everybody that did not have the opportunity to learn directly from studio pros, to try what seems natural to me: to add, add, add "things" to the sound to make it bigger ... in the meantime my mixes were going thinner, ugly and muddier. Nothing substantial came out of this method even by using the best usual suspects for "enhancing".

When I finally understood that I have to cut, cut, cut just using a simple but readable EQ it has changed everything.

Thus all these enhancing plugs (harmonics adders, saturators ... ) are really great sound design, creative, flavoring or makeup tools. But that's not thanks to them that your Bass will sound amazing _in_ your mix. That's my point.

@ciro: no I haven't tried it, and I can't: I'm under OSX/AU system. My approach now is to try plugins when lot of my pairs (guys that are doing work that I love) are saying, with no brand-endorsing, that the dude is a real game changer (ie: Soundtoys Decapitator). For the rest, it seems to me that the question about plugins is more: what are the one that really help you saving lot of time (ie: Waves Vocal Rider), give you a lot of flexibility (ie: DDMF Metaplugin - a bit buggy to my taste) or are really innovative (Izotope S. Edit) than the new fashion EQ, verb or comp. The main breakthrough with EQ in my opinion is on their UI and flexibity (their readability, more or less unlimited editing points, phase options and M/S handling) not in their "sounding".

[VCrane]

Originally Posted by Manuel75

A good EQ as nothing to do with it's "transparency", IMO. And you probably don't want to EQ you bass with a linear phase for instance.

You have written very good stuff here, but gotto ask, why not linear? I use linear phase eq for low end in mixing all the time... in my opinion, when you are not going for analog sound, linear phase eq is the way to go when it comes to bass. Phase shifting can be a lot of trouble if you want to make your muddy lows clear.

[dropd9]

Originally Posted by Cellotron

Beyond the very good recommendations already given to get the bass sound right in tracking, and the use of any of the multitudes of EQ's available to help with enhancing this - one dedicated "bass enhancer" VST plugins I've actually found occasional use for in mastering chores is the Voxengo LF Max Punch plugin -
Low-frequency audio band enhancer plugin (AU, VST) - LF Max Punch - Voxengo

Best regards,
Steve Berson

I also use this plug on occasion. Pretty impressive for shaping and extending low end, however, as mentioned above there is no better magic than a clean capture and mix to begin with! Good luck.

[Manuel75]

Originally Posted by VCrane

You have written very good stuff here, but gotto ask, why not linear? I use linear phase eq for low end in mixing all the time... in my opinion, when you are not going for analog sound, linear phase eq is the way to go when it comes to bass. Phase shifting can be a lot of trouble if you want to make your muddy lows clear.

Well I might have been a bit quick on this one... Tutorials I've bought were showing that phase shifting was not an issue, but rather part of the sculpting process, and after testing (some years ago) both approaches, I ended using everything except non linear phase EQ for mixing.
But since you're asking, I take it as a heads-up, and I will try again, because part of the issue I've noticed with LP EQ might have been caused by the fact that I had no idea where I was going at the time.

Now, since we're talking about phase and Bass, here's something I'm doing more and more and which sounds good in my ears — I'm mixing rock and metal mainly : I duplicate the bass track, focus on the lows on one track, as usual, then focus on the grit (2 - 3 KHz) on the other while removing all its low end. Then I put a sample delay on the first track (lows) and shift it in time. What it provides : it keeps the attack of the bass (grit) on the beat but let the mud come later where the drums (and other instruments attack) are not kicking. By playing with the sample-delay shift it gives sometimes a great separation and readability. A trick to test IMHO.

And in general when I duplicate tracks I always put a sample-delay and play with it a bit to see what happens with the phase. Very interesting with guitar (as expected).

[Slug1]

been playing around a lot with the Voxengo LF Max Punch and haven't looked back for treating bass. That and using the 'Trim' plugin in ProTools. Also the ProTools EQ7 has a 'bass di' preset that I've found to work great in conjunction with trim and voxengo.

[raymondwave]

I'm not a mastering guru by any means, but to my ear Softube Passive EQ and Waves HLS sound good on low freqs.

[Ecktronic]

The youtube link is down. No song.
It's more so about your talent as an ME as to the model of EQ.

G

[jeff_free69]

(for those in UAD-land)

....The Voice of God

Little Labs® Voice Of God Bass Resonance Tool

[freequency]

Stillwell 1973 has a huge and tight lowend. It uses oversampling but it´s not 100% mastering grade, but worth a try...it is cheap!
Nebula DW Fearn´s low end is also good, not as tight as stillwell but better overall soundquality.
Pulse Techniques EQM-1A3 is THE BEST but...not a plugin tutt