Drum (kick) + Bass = Phase issue?

mactreouser

New member
Hi,
How to solve Drum + Bass phase issue? Tried to invert either but seemed either one might sound thin.

Your suggestions are appreciated! ?
 
Hi there,
How do you know you have a phase issue?

You can only really have a consistent phase issue if you've recorded the same thing with more than two microphones.

If this is the case then polarity flip isn't the solution as you'll be maintaining the phase difference.
All polarity flipping will do is let a different set of frequencies cancel/not cancel which may, by coincidence, sound better, or not.

Tell us a little more. :)
 
Appreciate your kind reply!
I got what you mean. In fact, this case, I was mixing the recorded bass with the programmed drums. I should say, when all instrument tracks mixed together, bass & kick seemed having phase issue. Crashing in same frequencies between kick and bass?
 
Ok, thanks for the info.
That you're using programmed drums is helpful because you can audition different kick samples.

This is one of these 'at the source' issues. In the ideal world the particular kick drum and bass guitar (and amp) will just work well together, so recording it is recording it...Easy.
In reality they don't always work as well as you'd want and/or microphone choice and position can lead to things not translating as you'd like.

Experiment with different kick drums - Even if they're not ones you particularly like, give a range of different kicks a fair audition with the rest of the mix going, and see if you notice how some just seems to fit better than others.

You may be able to do some work with eq and compression to make what you've got work better, but auditioning others and seeing what characteristics just work might help you to do that.

It works two ways - It may be that your bass guitar is really pronounced across the range where you'd want the meat of the kick to me.
Play around with sweeping an eq cut up and down the scale to see what you can reveal. :)
 
Post a sample of the problem. If you could, post the kick by itself, the bass by itself, kick and bass together and the rest of the mix.

If it is a real bass, not a sampled one, there is no way that you could be having consistent phase issues.

Clashing parts/frequencies, but not phase.
 
Most of the time there are a couple of ways to handle this. Eq, sidechain and gating. search "mixing bass and kick" in youtube.
 
We would really need to hear it. There is not one solution, it is all specific to what is going on.

Sometimes it's about adding some clarity to the bass at 800hz or so, or adding some more snap to the kick. Sometimes, that isn't the problem...
 
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