Need to tame the bass guitar!

Is it really a bass guitar? Doesn't sound like one!

Edited to add: I just saw the post that this was software bass - now that IS what it sounds like! No harmonics.
 
Totally! The new cans showed me part of my monitors deficiences. I think tha cranking up the bass control in the monitors to the maximum will help to find the proper intensity of the bass guitar.

Funny is that at first place I thiught that colored cans would be useless for me unless for enjoy listening, but ironically was this characteristic that catch my attention for this detail. A new lesson was learn here!

:)
why are the only two options turning the control all the way down or all the way up? What you want to accomplish is to get the monitors to sound neutral. You dont want too little or too much anything.
If you have no way to measure and calibrate the monitors, listen to some commercial cds that you know the sound of and adjust the control on the monitors until they sound right.
 
Sometimes I use synth bass if the part doesn't call for much, but I usually cut out a lot of mids and run the output through waves gtr bass amp modeller.
What a bunch of nice suggestions I am getting here! I never thought about amp it! Excellent clue, thanks a lot!

:)
 
why are the only two options turning the control all the way down or all the way up? What you want to accomplish is to get the monitors to sound neutral. You dont want too little or too much anything.
If you have no way to measure and calibrate the monitors, listen to some commercial cds that you know the sound of and adjust the control on the monitors until they sound right.
Well, the reason is because at first glance I thought that I should work with it at the minimum. But after this experience, I noticed that even cranking the bass to the maximum it still will show a lot less bass than my headphone. That's why I imagined that I should put it at the maximum. But of course it is only a guess of a total ignorant in music production (me) and I will try your suggestion.

Actually I didn't imagine that this thread would blossom with so many nice and valuable tips!!!!

:listeningmusic:
 
I noticed that even cranking the bass to the maximum it still will show a lot less bass than my headphone.

The reference for your monitors is best sourced from commercial CDs (as Farview says), and not your headphones. If your monitors have a 'flat' or zero setting, start with that.

If you mix with the bass level of your monitors at minimum, your mixes will tend to be bass-heavy in compensation. If you mix with the bass level set at maximum, the reverse will be the case, i.e. your mixes will generally be light on bass.

This, of course, does not take into account the effect that the room in which you mix has on how you hear things.
 
Good tip, Gecko! Yeah, they had a central 'click' in the bass compensation back pot. :)

Thanks, Fairview and Gecko!

:thumbs up:
 
It's definitely very, very heavy. It sounds unnatural but not bad.
Maybe turn it down a bit? I guess you were going for a really fat bass with little high end anyhow?
 
Yes, just turn it down a bit or as I suggested before cut some low end. As I previously said the bass is not my fav sound, but it does suit the music style.

Alan.
 
Cool, guys! Thank you very much!

:)

I will try to do this tonight. Yesterday I had a very harshy day with the fckng internet coming and going due to technical problems in the provider. It has stressed me so much that I didn't have my 'studio time' last night as I usual do.

:cursing:
 
So!

Recently I made some mixes and they seemed to be OK so far for me through my cheap monitors (Edifier R1000) and my garbage cans.

Happens that at the mix time I 'guessed' that my monitors had too much bass and that so I should atenuate them. So I turned completely down a pot in the back of the monitors that allows you control the ammount of the bass. Listening to the mixes on some sources I have in home (cheap phones, iPhone, iPad, TV, wife's stereo, etc) everything seemed to be fine until I listen to it with my new cans (Sennheiser HD 202). At first glance I thought that the cans were the culprit for the excess of bass but then listening to some commercial tracks I noticed that there is not the same amount of bass so the cans are not so many accentuated in the bass as I thought.

Long story short although there is definitively a peak in the bass section of the HD 202 mostly of the 'excess' I am hearing comes from my mix so I definitively have to tame the low frequencies on'em specially in the bass guitar (kicks are fine). Now I think that instead of cut the bass of my monitors I should have to do exactly the inverse, that is to crank it up to maximum!

Anyway, my question is: what is more effective to do in the mix in this particular case... reduce the volume of the bass guitar by fading out its track or cut its main frequency with EQ? I understand that if I use the fader I will cut all the bass guitar frequencies at once while EQing it I will fade out only that particular frequency.

Suggestions?

Thanks!

:thumbs up:

it really depends on the sound itself. does the problem lie frequency wise? use an EQ or even better re-record the sound and THEN play with the volume faders.

is the sound fine? just play with volume :)
 
First: remove bass from the bass meaning: put on a high pass (or low cut which sounds more logical to me) and make it cut at 20-50 Hz or so. this makes the bass more thight and less boomy but not less bass(y?), low frequencies eat headroom for lunch.

Next trick: again take a low cut filter and center it at 250Hz, pull down some 1.5-2dB. Then you take a bell filter (4dB) between 80 and 180 Hz and sweep around till your bass frequencies best fit the track. Play with the Q factor. Now you will have found the low end definition but you might find it lacking some bass (because of the 250Hz low-cut). Take another bell filter to find that bass frequency. remember: make room for the bass drum.

When mixing bass guitar I always add some 700-800 Hz, this gives some clarity. I always use the real thing so this might not work for this bass.

When you have definition you don't need that much volume.

And I would take a look at the EQ of your vocals (or better: a listen) like someone earlier said. This was the only thing that made it unprofessional, the rest is very nice sounding compared to what I hear sometimes (except for the horns, it is very difficult to get a decent sound out the box for that...)- but you didn't ask this so pretend it never happened.

you are on the right way so continue.
 
quite simply, I have the same problem. after recording , too much low end and muddy.. it was the room. bass traps cured that problem

Bass traps won't cure the problem. But they will allow one to make appropriate decisions and quit 'second guessing' what is going on.

In my room (quite well treated) I can hear all of the issues the OP has stated as problematic that he is not hearing while mixing.

A small investment for sanity. Treat the room and get out of the cans man! :)

I know, not always possible, but that is the best solution.


IMO/experience here it is in a nutshell. Your headphones are lying to you do to the limitations of the way you hear from them to begin with (not to mention the quality of them). Your monitors are lying to you if your room is 'sculpting' their ability to be heard without huge peaks and nulls of the frequency spectrum.

Until one controls the room acoustics, there will always be guessing and wasted time. I won't even go into headphone mixing because IMO it is absolutely stupid. I even hate tracking with them because of how unnatural they sound. It is a necessity at times as I find vocals are best recorded in my control room and not the treated drum room. I also like the direct contact with the singer. Even expensive headphones still seem to suck my head out of any point of good judgement.
 
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