Bass Woes

[mikemoritz]

So this band I've been recording is done with the instrumental tracks, and I'm putting those all together. Problem is that the bass guitar is kind of inconsistent. The notes are all there, but the low notes are killing the mix because when I turn down the bass far enough so the low notes sit right, the rest is too quiet. I tried some compression, but still the low notes stand out pretty sorely. Any ideas? The problem range is right around 120-180hz. Would multiband compression work better? If so, what's the best way to work it (I actually tried it, but wound up more confused than when I started).

Hopin for help,
Mike

 

[Teacher]

sounds like a simple compression problem...if it didn't work the first time try again if it still doesn't work u prolly need to use a higher quality compressor

 

[LooneyTunez]

It's hard to say without hearing the track (and the rest of the mix), but I would say a combo of EQ and compression (possibly multi-band) will be your solution. Try pulling some of the boominess out of the bass with EQ first (maybe corner the freqeuncy around 150hz with a fairly wide Q), and take it down 3-4db. (You may also want to apply a high pass filter at about 40-50hz to keep unwanted rumble from messing with you) Then apply compression...use a ratio of about 6:1 or so, set the attack to maybe around 20-50ms, and set the release around 50-80ms. Set the threshold so it's compressing about 1/2 the time.

If that's still not enough to smooth it out, you could try putting it through yet another compressor with similar settings and hitting it again.

Also, make sure you've got the rest of the mix under control (dynamics/EQ wise), as that will contribute a lot to how the bass fits in. Make sure guitars and drums don't have a lot of shared frequencies fighting each other.