How to even out different bass parts?

[Adam Dempsey]

Hi I've had a bit of that lately (the need to even out bass parts, often from synth bass lines that haven't been through analogue output stages, amps, mics, pre amps, tape, transformers etc, which would naturally filter things a bit or affect harmonics). On one project last week I spent an hour (with breaks) just on the bass of one track.

It requires a really good, trustworthy room with full range monitoring, and careful EQ. To nail it, from a mixing point of view: lots of cross referencing on different systems, or some friendly feedback from your mastering engineer ahead of the session.

[Owen Gillett]

Originally Posted by kevin nowhow

I may be mastering some songs of mine on my own in the next couple of months,with a similar scenario & I'd love to be able to pull these two tasks off.I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Hi, Greg Reely might have used a combination of some multiband compression, selective EQ and maybe maxx bass but who knows really... Everyone has different ways of achieving results.

My advice is to get things perfect in the mix and don't leave things to fix in mastering. Even if you still need a pinch of this or that when you master it, it's ideal to have things as close as possible in the mix to minimise (or eliminate) mastering processing.

I realise this doesn't help you if receive a stereo mix which needs this kind of work but if you are mixing it yourself then you have the luxury of getting it right or remixing easily.

Also, if you are having trouble getting it right when mixing due to your room, then I imagine you will drive yourself crazy trying to master in the same environment! Guessing bottom end frequencies is recipe for disaster... Hence Adam's suggestion that a really well tuned room and great monitoring are basically a must.

Best,

Owen Gillett

[RKelly]

Automation's the best way to make sure all the transitions are smooth, multi-band compression and levelers (I like to use the MV-2 on a Bass sub group) can help with smoothing them out as well. Having a monitoring chain you can trust is definitely crucial.

Sent from my Nexus 7

[kevin nowhow]

I'll definitely mix it the best i can & in case room acoustics interfere too much i won't master it myself or right away.Making bass parts sound even requires careful monitoring but...

...the second part of the equation had me raise an eyebrow.Not THAT much of a difference but it really(or maybe 'Reely') sounded like a bass blanket covered the songs all over, in a beautiful manner.Parts that were bass-shy suddenly sounded fatter.And of course the transition to bass-heavy sections was so smooth it was almost frustrating!

I wish i had the pre-mastered versions around but a computer crash ensured that some of the files are lost...

[kevin nowhow]

Sounds like the mastering session involved automation in bypassing processors and/or changing settings.Is this something you guys have been doing a lot then, i take it?