Trying to get a kick/bass to work together!

R

rockabilly1955

New member
I am trying to get a kick drum and upright bass to sit more cleanly together in a mix. At times it seems pretty muddy and messy. What is the best way to do this? I don't wanna pan an upright bass left or right too much because it is the backbone rhythm and I think it should be pretty much centered. I know sidechaining might work but I am still trying to grasp that concept better. I use magix music studio and it does offer submix and aux busses. Not sure if that would be useful? There is also a plugin I been messin with by platinumears.com that is like a dynamic eq that seems pretty handy. Just gotta study its functions better. Any ideas and tips? Thanks.
 
try this for starters.......(EQ)

Bass--Boost 800hz by 5db

Kick--Boost 65hz by 5db, cut 800hz by 5db, boost 3k by 5db

Notice what you just did? you just created a notch for the bass guitar to come through........now experiment with this technique using different frequencies on those 2 instruments and create notches where you feel the instrument has its "strongest points/weakest points" and emphasis.

dont use my 5db boost/cut as a hard rule of thumb.......just try it for a starting point, and make adjustments once you find your nice frequency spots....
 
Look man ... it totally depends.

I'm not going to throw out random frequencies to cut and/or boost.

That kind of blind guess work ain't gonna' do no one a damn bit 'o good. :D

.
 
I have had luck shaping the attack of each. One example would be to compress the kick with a slow attack and medium release and the bass with a fast attack and fast release. what this will do is let the kick have the attack, and let the bass have the sustain. also, you shouldnt be afraid to pan the bass left or right. especially an upright...generally in jazz bands the bass is actually standing on the left side of the stage (next to the ride cymbal). just make sure it also sounds good in mono...panning shouldn't be used to compensate for muddyness.
 
Ideally if the bass and kick are recorded and played well then you don't have to deal with this issue.

The first thing I usually do is gate the kick and compress the bass, a lot if needed. If that doesn't do the trick then I'll compress the kick, a lot if needed. If that doesn't do the trick I'll look for boomy frequencies to cut between 80-400hz or hi-mids to boost around 1500-3000hz to pick up more attack. If that doesn't do the trick I'll try ducking the bass with kick as the trigger. If all that doesn't work I start getting pissed off and depressed and tell the band they suck.
 
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