Bass check please

  • Thread starter Thread starter WhiteStrat
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WhiteStrat

WhiteStrat

Don't stare at the eye.
Ever since I finished my studio, I've had trouble getting the bass just right. I'm almost always too heavy handed with it. I've taken the main progression from a little southern rock tune I'm working on and purposely put together three passes with different arrangements.

The first pass is kick, bass and acoustic. Then a full drum loop and electric come in for the second pass. The third pass is back to kick, with electric and acoustic--but no bass, just for reference.

Tell me how the bass sits on your listening setup. Too much? Too little?

Thanks!

 
First one: bass is too light.

Second one: about right.

Third one: needs bass. :D

I've been listening to bass a lot on my system because I've been mixing in too much bass on my stuff too. It's happened just because I haven't learned my monitors yet. So what I did was listen to bass on a load of my favorite commercial recordings through my monitors and what I found out was that in the late sixties and early seventies stuff, the bass was often mixed into the mix way lower than I like it. More recently, it's been mixed more prominently. I've also found that I like bass mixed prominently if it plays a prominent role in the arrangement, but that I like it mixed further down in the mix if it's just providing bottom and pulse but isn't doing anything worth paying great attention to. From the snippets you've posted of your tune, it sounds to me like the bass isn't doing anything very prominent in the mix, so maybe mix it further down. But that second clip sounds like you're dialing it in.
 
Well, the first two passes sound about right. Bass sits fine for both. Maybe there's a little psychacoustic going on, 'cause I know I should be looking at the bass level in particular.

In the first pass, maybe a little more top end on the bass to give it some definition, but the level is fine.
 
Sounds dialed in to me. There is room, if you want, to boost the bass volume. But I think you're on the cusp.
 
The bass is buried in there somewhere. I feel it but don't get much def. When I really wanted Mike's bass to stand out I copied the track, removed all the low end and boosted the highs. That really helped. Long Haired Country boy?
 
I agree with dobro on this one.

1st one is heard.
2nd sounds great.
3rd nothing.
 
Cool! Thanks for the input--this is helpful.

So the consensus was either a smidge too little or right, but not too much. (And no, the third pass didn't have any bass in it--in this revised version, it does).

No I feel like the eye doctor: How's this? Better? Worse? The same?

Seriously, I like a pumping bass (I'm trying to find the sweet spot somewhere before "too much") so I pushed it a bit:

 
I like the second one better, because the bass has better definition even though there's more guitar in the air.
 
Interesting listen to the 1st set - 2nd sounded fne but maybe needed a little boost at 3khz.
2nd set is AOK except the 1st run through with acoustics left a lot of bass info in both ears from the acoustics which seemed to boom & bury the bass generally. Listening back it was the same wth the 1st set.
May be a case of EQ carving the acoustics - adding the electric seemed to mask the issue as it attracted my attention being that it was the new boy in town.
End result - the acoutics are covering some of the same territory as the bass.
Nice playing by the way!
 
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