Dr. Tweedbucket
Well-known member
Do you have to notch the bandwidth down in a pretty tight space? I have it fighting with both the kick and the guitar! :evil:
How do you get the bass guitar to have it's own space?
- Thread starter Dr. Tweedbucket
- Start date
Help Support The Boogie Board:
this is what separates the men from the boys.
it's way too much information to try to teach on a guitar forum.
bottom line:
after about a 1,000 mixes, you'll start to get it.
until then, at the very least, carve frequencies for your bass to sit, and your kick to sit, and they don't share.
high pass on kick, let the bass fill in below.
distortion can be your friend, on the high mids of the bass.
START--with a killer bass sound.
DON't-- fix it in the mix.
it's way too much information to try to teach on a guitar forum.
bottom line:
after about a 1,000 mixes, you'll start to get it.
until then, at the very least, carve frequencies for your bass to sit, and your kick to sit, and they don't share.
high pass on kick, let the bass fill in below.
distortion can be your friend, on the high mids of the bass.
START--with a killer bass sound.
DON't-- fix it in the mix.
Trey Blue
Active member
I usually use my EQ to CUT frequencies. To answer your question about a tight notch, I would only do that if I need to eliminate a specific frequency, such as when there is an undesirable ring in a snare drum that I want to lower a bit.
gonzo is right about experience though, like anything else a deep exploration will show you what works and what doesn't. High pass and low pass filters can help narrow the field where different instruments need to sit. While it is 100% subjective, I will state that IMO there isn't much useful information on guitar tracks under 200Hz, so I would cut anything below that, same thing for a snare track; things like that can help clean up those ranges for low frequency instruments.
I don't know what type of music you play, but since it seems that an awful lot of Mesa owners play heavy guitar, I think that those low frequencies are probably considered key to that sound. I have had bands come in doing that kind of guitar stuff, and I still cut out the lows. The end result has always been a nice and tight guitar section leaving room for the Bass and Kick. But by only listening to the guitar track I could see how it sounded like something was missing, it nevertheless was working in the whole mix.
Everybody has different ears though... the bottom line is to get things out of the way that don't need to be there.
gonzo is right about experience though, like anything else a deep exploration will show you what works and what doesn't. High pass and low pass filters can help narrow the field where different instruments need to sit. While it is 100% subjective, I will state that IMO there isn't much useful information on guitar tracks under 200Hz, so I would cut anything below that, same thing for a snare track; things like that can help clean up those ranges for low frequency instruments.
I don't know what type of music you play, but since it seems that an awful lot of Mesa owners play heavy guitar, I think that those low frequencies are probably considered key to that sound. I have had bands come in doing that kind of guitar stuff, and I still cut out the lows. The end result has always been a nice and tight guitar section leaving room for the Bass and Kick. But by only listening to the guitar track I could see how it sounded like something was missing, it nevertheless was working in the whole mix.
Everybody has different ears though... the bottom line is to get things out of the way that don't need to be there.
D2dark
Well-known member
Experiment with EQ and low cut, but try not to over eq things.
If you like recording, try to look at : http://www.limitless-studios.com/phpbb/index.php
And look for them on YouTube.
If you like recording, try to look at : http://www.limitless-studios.com/phpbb/index.php
And look for them on YouTube.
markblasco
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2006
- Messages
- 54
- Reaction score
- 0
Definitely don't be afraid to cut a lot of bass from the guitars. They may not sound fantastic by themselves, but with the rest of the band, the bass and kick will fill in what they are lacking.
Try to boost the bass in frequencies where you would normally cut the guitar, such as 600-1k. This can help it to stand out a bit, since the mid range frequencies which make a guitar rip your ears apart are not nearly as nasty with a bass.
Try to boost the bass in frequencies where you would normally cut the guitar, such as 600-1k. This can help it to stand out a bit, since the mid range frequencies which make a guitar rip your ears apart are not nearly as nasty with a bass.
boogieman60
Well-known member
Quick fix...pan Bass 5 degrees left and kick 5 degress right... listen to them together and then eq. one or the other so that they have some space. add a LITTLE mid to the kick..
Dr. Tweedbucket
Well-known member
Good idea. The Beatles used to pan bass right and kick left in the early stereo days .... it did work and was unique.boogieman60 said:
I've been just recording bass and drum tracks and getting a good mix on them, then I'll add the rest in later. Thanks for the tips.
guitarfish56
Member
Here is a great video on instrument in their own space http://youtu.be/TEjOdqZFvhY
Dr. Tweedbucket said:
guitardom
Well-known member
It is pretty normal to roll the guitar off at times 80 to 100hz to give the bass room. Rolling off the kick by 60-80hz helps. Using kick samples to blend w the kick can also be a lifesaver. In metal added a slight bit of dist to bass can help as well. Also experimenting w a bit of flanging can help it stick out. I usually split my bass over 3-5 aux tracks and treat them differently w distortions, effects, compression, eq, and blend them together and automate them in and out in different parts of the songs.
^^^^This.markblasco said:
Also during mixing high and low pass filters are your good friends. Clean up everything first by high passing or low passing every instrument's track to get rid of the unnecessary frequency ranges not used by the instrument.
Decide whether the kick or bass is going to occupy the low end 80-300Hz. If the kick occupies the low end range, high pass the bass around 200Hz and boost it in the mids around 1-3 Khz. Use your ears with these ranges while cutting and boosting. At the correct eq points the kick and bass will start to separate soundwise from each other = the clutter in the low end will diminish.
Add compression to further the separation and add flavor. There's a lot more to mixing the low end, but your mixes should become clearer and better the more you mix.
Trey Blue
Active member
Dr. Tweedbucket said:
Keep in mind that as you add tracks the mix changes. You can isolate a track and get to to sound how you like, but then add another to the first and the first sounds different. This effect increases the more you have in the mix.
Indeed, get it to sound good to your ears, then add other tracks and go back and tweak to taste. Often its back and forth many many times.
What's more, when you EQ tracks alone and then add the rest of the mix, you might turn off that EQ and realize that you can't tell the difference whether it's on or off...
Mozencrath
Member
Remember one thing: Unless you have very High Fidelity audio equipment or a subwoofer, you are not even going to hear much below 80hz.....Even headphones have a 6db drop on avg at 80hz and 20db drop at 50hz. The lowest note on a guitar is about 80hz. Most of your bass guitar notes are going to be between 40hz and 100hz...Therefore, if you want to be able to HEAR the bass guitar on ANY sound system (for example your friend with the 1992 Corolla w/4" speakers), you need to give a very nice boost above 100hz on the bass guitar.
Another good tip is this...Since the bass and kick drum occupy the same frequencies, tune the kick drum so that it is at a frequency NOT being used in the particular song you are recording...For example:
Your song has 7 different bass notes at 40hz, 44hz, 49hz so on and so forth. Choose a note at say 47hz and tune the kick drum to that note...That means your kick drum will have its first octave at 94hz and then 188hz and then 376hz. You can now BOOST those particular frequencies with a very low Q and you can do the same for all of the bass note harmonics and octaves up the ladder....
Another good tip is this...Since the bass and kick drum occupy the same frequencies, tune the kick drum so that it is at a frequency NOT being used in the particular song you are recording...For example:
Your song has 7 different bass notes at 40hz, 44hz, 49hz so on and so forth. Choose a note at say 47hz and tune the kick drum to that note...That means your kick drum will have its first octave at 94hz and then 188hz and then 376hz. You can now BOOST those particular frequencies with a very low Q and you can do the same for all of the bass note harmonics and octaves up the ladder....
Similar threads
