808 Bass mixing and other bass mixing..

[tommy mas]

ok, the 808 bass, as well as many other basses, give me some trouble when mixing.

first issue, i have heard you are supposed to feel the bass, and not hear it. meaning, you should feel the thump and the low end, but you should not be turning up the bass just to hear it. does that make sense and is that correct?

also, sometimes i will be mixing, either on studio monitors, headphones, or home speakers, and the bass will be kinda hard to hear, or it just wont be as thumping as i would like, so i always end up turning the bass volume on it up. but then i will play the mix in my car, or on another system, and the bass is VERY intense, and very noticeable, and sometimes overwhelming. it is frustrating. any advice?

[7string]

Originally Posted by tommy mas

ok, the 808 bass, as well as many other basses, give me some trouble when mixing.

first issue, i have heard you are supposed to feel the bass, and not hear it. meaning, you should feel the thump and the low end, but you should not be turning up the bass just to hear it. does that make sense and is that correct?

It depends on the song. For instance, the Eagles' Hotel California wouldn't sound as good if you only felt the bass rather than feel it because the bass carry's that song with everything else built around it. Just something you should consider. If the song calls for the bass being very distinctive then you mix it that way.

[Cloneboy Studio]

The 808 is a special, unique sound that merits careful study to utilize correctly.

Freq analysis: the 808 is VERY powerful from 20hz-60hz... this is the strongest part of the signal where most of your energy is located. There is also a sharp attack around 6.8khz that provides your "click" sound.

I find that heavily compressing (8:1 ratio or more, with deep threshold) an 808 is the best manner in which to control the low end, yet allow it to have that earth shattering BOOM it is known for. Keep an attack time around 6-18ms so that the click can punch thru the mix... but not much longer because you will start having low end pumping. Keep release around 400ms or maybe longer. In general I recommend little or no EQ to the low end (and if you have to, stick around 60-120hz--any lower and you are asking for trouble).

Adding a sharp boost around 6.2-6.8khz will bring out the clicky attack of the drum.

I recommend cutting a narrow, but deep notch around 200-300hz. This will actually make the kick less boomy, and feel bassier.

If you are having difficulty getting the 808 to sound bassy when monitoring at low levels a slight 2-3db boost around 400hz can work wonders. Sometimes a boost around 4k can add to the 808's "punch" as well.

I often run a highpass and lowpass filter on 808's. Set the highpass around 35hz (to get rid of a lot of sub-20hz garbage that is clogging your mix). Lowpass around 8khz should be fine... anything up there that has been raised in volume via compression is mostly white noise anyways... you don't want a blast of that in your mix!

Hope this helps. I'm doing a lot of hip hop nowadays and these are tried and proven techniques I've developed. Let me know if they work out for you.