How do you EQ the low end on a bass guitar

SLy_drums · 28th February 2007

When I record some bass guitar for rock/heavy rock, I tend to use a DI and 2 mics in front of the amp.
When mixing time has come I'd compress a bit the sources that have a too dynamic sound, and would EQ every track individually, keeping only the best of each (low end, low meds, grownling around 800 Hz, clarity at 2,5 khz etc.).
Then I usually send the bass bus through a compressor (let's say Distressor or 1176) and compress it quite hard, without killing the low end though.

When I listen to my bass track I'm not really happy because it's lacking the low meds that makes the bass to stick to the guitars. I always need to boost A LOT around 100-200 Hz after the compression stage to get the bass in the mix.
It works like that but maybe I'm going wrong somewhere ? Do you also EQ the bass after compression ?

baikonour · 28th February 2007

I do some eq'ing after compression too...It seems to work better for bass. Some HF around 50hz sometimes higher and a bump in the mid for definition.

28th February 2007	#1
SLy_drums Lives for gear Joined: Jun 2005 Posts: 762 Thread Starter	How do you EQ the low end on a bass guitar When I record some bass guitar for rock/heavy rock, I tend to use a DI and 2 mics in front of the amp. When mixing time has come I'd compress a bit the sources that have a too dynamic sound, and would EQ every track individually, keeping only the best of each (low end, low meds, grownling around 800 Hz, clarity at 2,5 khz etc.). Then I usually send the bass bus through a compressor (let's say Distressor or 1176) and compress it quite hard, without killing the low end though. When I listen to my bass track I'm not really happy because it's lacking the low meds that makes the bass to stick to the guitars. I always need to boost A LOT around 100-200 Hz after the compression stage to get the bass in the mix. It works like that but maybe I'm going wrong somewhere ? Do you also EQ the bass after compression ?

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28th February 2007	#2
baikonour Lives for gear Joined: Apr 2005 Location: brighton UK Posts: 1,600	I do some eq'ing after compression too...It seems to work better for bass. Some HF around 50hz sometimes higher and a bump in the mid for definition.