Bass is boomy....now highs are too tiny!!! ??

[vic91218]

Hey guys,
Been a while since I visited last but things look the same. Now off to my new question.
I've lately been having problems getting the bass to sit well in the mix. It usually starts off by sounding too boomy. I try to find the offending frequency using parametric EQ and pull it down. However...when I go back and listen to how it effects the entire mix it now sounds a bit too thin...or the high end frequencies sound to pearcing. This has become very frustrating...and I'm wondering if there are any tricks of the trade on getting a good balance. I keep telling myself "I'll fix it when mastering" but it never works the way I want it.
I'm using CEP2.1....usually mixing blues-boogie-rock. Piano player has a heavy left hand and the bass is usually very loose sounding. "Boomy"
I have the waves mastering plugins.

Thanks a mill guys....you've always come through for me....don't let me down now!!!! =)

-Vic
www.victorwainwright.com

 

[Ethan Winer]

Vic,

> I've lately been having problems getting the bass to sit well in the mix. <

You're looking in the wrong place by trying to fix this with EQ. The real problem is no doubt a lack of acoustic treatment, especially bass traps. Have a look at the Acoustics FAQ, second in the list on my Articles page:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

It's a fair amount to read, but it's exactly what you need to take your mixes to the next level. Once you can actually hear what the heck you're doing, great mixes will flow forth.

--Ethan

 

[masteringhouse]

Hey guys,
Been a while since I visited last but things look the same. Now off to my new question.
I've lately been having problems getting the bass to sit well in the mix. It usually starts off by sounding too boomy. I try to find the offending frequency using parametric EQ and pull it down. However...when I go back and listen to how it effects the entire mix it now sounds a bit too thin...or the high end frequencies sound to pearcing. This has become very frustrating...and I'm wondering if there are any tricks of the trade on getting a good balance. I keep telling myself "I'll fix it when mastering" but it never works the way I want it.
www.victorwainwright.com

This is normal, it's called masking. Bob Katz has a good write-up on this in his book.

I wish I had an article on my site I could refer you to (like someone we know does for nearly every answer he gives), but I'm sure you can find lots of info on this by searching google for "masking effect" +EQ.

 

[bsanfordnyc]

why don't you just use EQ on only the bass track? THen it shouldn't have any effect on the highs for the rest of the mix

get the bass track sounding right on it's own before you mix it

 

[Qwerty]

By removing the strong bass frequencies, even from the individual bass track, you are thereby allowing more highs to be heard from the entire mix -> those higher frequencies are no longer being "masked".

Ethan also speaks the truth and his designs work well. I built a number of traps, (living in Australia - nothing local), and managed to tame peaks and dips by +/- 15-20dB in the 50 - 400 Hz range.

Being able to hear the bass is a revelation.

Q.

 

[DaveDrummer]

multiband compression maybe? Are you using digital? Ive found mixdown to analog tape to fix a lot of the boomy bass and tinny highs.

Dave