Learning to balance bass + kick finally

[badhorsie777]

High passing other elements a bit more aggressively (using my ear as a guide, not just gong by what I've been told "works"), boosting 2-3 DB at 60-ish hz on the kick, cutting 2-3 DB at 120-ish hz ( semi wide q), doing the OPPOSITE EQ in the bass track, and intelligently blending a distorted version of either kick, bass, or both into the mix. Layering samples I've sampled myself with logic stock ultrabeat stuff... Quickest mix I've ever done happened the other night and it's translating perfectly to stereos, car with sub, and more...... Thanks to some nice YouTube tutorials, a bunch of helpful GS folks, and a LOT of practice on this project I just finished... Winning

[beat you down]

congrats.

my struggle continues lol.

[manysounds]

Originally Posted by badhorsie777

High passing other elements a bit more aggressively (using my ear as a guide, not just gong by what I've been told "works"), boosting 2-3 DB at 60-ish hz on the kick, cutting 2-3 DB at 120-ish hz ( semi wide q), doing the OPPOSITE EQ in the bass track, and intelligently blending a distorted version of either kick, bass, or both into the mix. Layering samples I've sampled myself with logic stick ultrabeat stuff... Quickest mix I've ever done happened the other night and it's translating perfectly to stereos, car with sub, and more...... Thanks to some nice YouTube tutorials, a bunch of helpful GS folks, and a LOT of practice on this project I just finished... Winning

Mixing really is all about intentionally having frequency space for all of the different sounds to sit in.
Grats!

I showed some students in class this thing where you take your entire mix except one instrument and put it on a buss. Then you notch filter that buss for some frequencies and bandpass that one instrument for the same frequencies. Result? No matter how quiet that one instrument is you can still perceive it and it doesn't get "eaten" by the rest of the mix. This is an extreme example of what you've discovered.

/"slight" exaggeration but still accurate

[fingerbeats]

Really good to hear! When you manage to nail this the rest should piece together alot quicker ! What utube vids did u check out ?

[badhorsie777]

recording revolution has a series of 31 daily mix tips going on right now - one per day in january. That's been a big source of help. They have an older series from last year that's solid, too. That and just watching a ton of "in da studioz" stuff... you know how every producer likes to talk about random crap and feel important to the camera? Well, in between the "Yeah, it's your boy cheez whiz, na mean? For reelz, reppin' the 90210, okay? okay?" BS posturing... you can learn a lot

Lesson - there's something to be learned from folks if you pay attention.

[Shobiz]

Being self taught, the 1st 30 Day series of Recording Revolution single handily made my mixing and knowledge of ProTools better.

[Gary Ladd]

Enjoy the honeymoon

[Tnevz]

It took me forever to figure out that high passing and letting either the kick or bass win the battle in the low end is the way to go. lol.
Congrats.

[pabloaugustus]

Originally Posted by manysounds

Mixing really is all about intentionally having frequency space for all of the different sounds to sit in.
Grats!

I showed some students in class this thing where you take your entire mix except one instrument and put it on a buss. Then you notch filter that buss for some frequencies and bandpass that one instrument for the same frequencies. Result? No matter how quiet that one instrument is you can still perceive it and it doesn't get "eaten" by the rest of the mix. This is an extreme example of what you've discovered.

/"slight" exaggeration but still accurate

Have I finally found a section on this site with some sane discussion?
Thank you very much.

I've been on here about a week trying to find good info, instead I find people with 3,000 plus posts on their record hijacking threads, injecting extreme opinions, trashing anybody who doesn't use all outboard.

Should I just stick in the Rap forum? lol, thanks

Pablo

[bgrotto]

Originally Posted by badhorsie777

Quickest mix I've ever done happened the other night and it's translating perfectly to stereos, car with sub, and more......

Wanted to quote this, because it illustrates how easy it can be to overwork a mix to the point where you're doing more harm than good. My best mixes almost always come together the quickest, particularly in the low end. If I find myself spending more than a few minutes getting the basic balance of the rhythm section together (which would of course include the kick/bass relationship), I pull the faders down, zero the desk, and start again.

[KeMiKaL]

@ 125 HZ theres a nice Punch for any kick, bass should really dip below that. It is hella confusing, but just sweep around and find your kicks sweet spots. where u boost on your kick, cut a little on your bass.

I see myself cutting a lil more around 400-500 HZ on my kicks.

Boost around 1-3k makes your kick cut through the mix, I like big kicks and making them prominent in the track is a top priority of mine.

If you want to hear some massive kicks, just check my soundclick.

Did I mention wavs RBass is the best plugin ever made for kicks and bass?

[badhorsie777]

Yeah - my next goal is to learn how to beef it up and NOT cross back over into no-man's land (aka sub-mess) Although I'll take my current situation of "not the bassiest thing on the planet" over my previous mess. High-passing and layering of different sounds... funny thing is I KNEW that I should be doing that, but I had in my head that I couldn't do anything too drastic.

Nope. Drastic enough to WORK - that's how far you high-pass em!

[ltjohnrambo]

I think the reason that a lot of people have trouble with low end clarity, at least for me, is inadequate monitoring. It's hard to get precise with low end sculpting, and to find the right spaces for sounds to reside, if you're not hearing things accurately.

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by ltjohnrambo

I think the reason that a lot of people have trouble with low end clarity, at least for me, is inadequate monitoring. It's hard to get precise with low end sculpting, and to find the right spaces for sounds to reside, if you're not hearing things accurately.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

[PettyCash]

I found the best way of balancing kick and bass is knowing when to stop trying to balance them. Less is more can apply here.

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by ltjohnrambo

I think the reason that a lot of people have trouble with low end clarity, at least for me, is inadequate monitoring. It's hard to get precise with low end sculpting, and to find the right spaces for sounds to reside, if you're not hearing things accurately.

It would be quite logical to think that, if it weren't for the fact that people still get great results mixing on bass shy monitoring setups all the time. Having a setup that can reproduce audio all the way down to 20Hz is great, but not absolutely necessary, and IMO not the reason most people screw up the low end of their mix. In this case, proper acoustic treatment in a room can get you a lot further than adding midfields or a subwoofer to a setup.

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by ltjohnrambo

I think the reason that a lot of people have trouble with low end clarity, at least for me, is inadequate monitoring. It's hard to get precise with low end sculpting, and to find the right spaces for sounds to reside, if you're not hearing things accurately.

Reading this again, I think I get what you mean now when you say inadequate, but that would apply to more then just the low end.

[Reggmail]

Originally Posted by badhorsie777

High passing other elements a bit more aggressively (using my ear as a guide, not just gong by what I've been told "works"), boosting 2-3 DB at 60-ish hz on the kick, cutting 2-3 DB at 120-ish hz ( semi wide q), doing the OPPOSITE EQ in the bass track, and intelligently blending a distorted version of either kick, bass, or both into the mix. Layering samples I've sampled myself with logic stock ultrabeat stuff... Quickest mix I've ever done happened the other night and it's translating perfectly to stereos, car with sub, and more...... Thanks to some nice YouTube tutorials, a bunch of helpful GS folks, and a LOT of practice on this project I just finished... Winning

I'ts great when someone shows appreciation.

Now go grasshopper and show and teach the world....Lol.

& blessings.

[ltjohnrambo]

Originally Posted by PettyCash

Reading this again, I think I get what you mean now when you say inadequate, but that would apply to more then just the low end.

Sorry for being a little unclear, but I meant to include room treatment as part of inadequate monitoring. I totally agree that room treatment should be the first step before getting a sub or bigger speakers. A sub in a bad room is just gonna give you even more mud to fight your way through.