Mixing Bass

wordizbon said:
TO ME ALL I MEANT IS, WHEN I ADD BASS, IT SOUNDS LIKE A SONG WITH SOMEONE PLAYING THE BASS ALONG SIDE. I'M PRETTY NEW TO MIXING AND NEED TO KNOW HOW TO MAKE IT SIT IN THE MIX. THATS IT!!!
Click to expand...


Your question is a little vague. If your bass doesn't "fit," then it's likely an arrangement or tone issue. Like if you've got an entirely electronic mix with all samples / synthesized instruments . . . except for the bass, which is tracked with a real instrument, then yea, it might sound out of place. Best thing you can do in that case is to either lay down a synth bass line instead . . . or maybe add some effects to your bass to make it sound more electronic -- maybe some chorus or phaser.

I keep waiting for Seifert to chime in with something about his tone of tubeness technique he learned from his buddy, Jack Ortman.
 
From the description given it sounds like the bass is dry. You may want to try a small amount of ambient room to the bass track to help pull it back with the other instruments.

If it's a sound quality issue, EQ, strings, the DI or preamp you are using etc. all make up components of the final recorded sound.

Again, without knowing what sound you are shooting for it's difficult to prescribe a remedy. Do you want your bass to sound like Korn, Bootsy Collins, Jaco, James Jamerson, Entwhistle ...
 
The sound I'm looking for, I guess I'm not really sure. Just wanted to make sure that I know what I was doing when recording bass. But since you brought it up. HOW DO YOU GET THAT BOOTSY COLLIN SOUND?
 
wordizbon said:
The sound I'm looking for, I guess I'm not really sure. Just wanted to make sure that I know what I was doing when recording bass. But since you brought it up. HOW DO YOU GET THAT BOOTSY COLLIN SOUND?
Click to expand...

New strings.:D He used a Mu Tron envelope filter alot.
 
wordizbon said:
The sound I'm looking for, I guess I'm not really sure. Just wanted to make sure that I know what I was doing when recording bass. But since you brought it up. HOW DO YOU GET THAT BOOTSY COLLIN SOUND?
Click to expand...

This:

Bass

Pedals like ring modulators, Electro-Harmonix - Bass Micro Synth, and other funky effects

Plus Ampeg SVT.
 
Newer strings will make a difference, but also remember that when you are getting your sound sometimes the tone that sounds totally fat and killer will be complete shite when mixed; and conversely, it might sound crappy as hell when solo'd but be the perfect sound when blended with the other instruments...at least that has been my experience.
I like to mix a direct signal with a mic'd up cabinet-fully cranked!
jah

(and yah, get a Rick)
 
mixing bass other problem

----------------------------------------------------------------------
hi all,
I am recording a bass guitar into my roland vs1880 by plugging it straight into the desk and the result sounds very boomy/muddy/ not very well defined.
I have a decent set of monitors (PMC) and I know these monitors are very 'true' i.e. they will give an accurate (as opposed to good) representation of the sound being played.
The bass itself is a fender precision bass (very light, active pickups) and it's going into the desk as a 1/4 inch cable as I don't have a bass amp.
I know a bass DI box would probably do wonders but given what I have, I thought this problem could be minimised by some creative equalisation. I have tried to cut all frequencies below 60Hz and to boost those around 100-150 Hz.
I have also boosted the 2kHz frequencies simply because I like this sound.
Any help in demudding?
greatly appreciated
padoBack to top
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top