Bass mixing

Are we talking about bass as in the instrument or the frequency? I think you mean the instrument, but just makin' sure.
 
I split an electric stand up bass on a live project where I was going for a sound stage image.
Put most of the lows center but made the string sound a second track placed a bit right to set next to the drums. Kind of a special case IMO though. The stage and image was 'small club and intimate enough to pull it off.
 
Ajrdileva said:
Do you always set the bass right in the center?
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Usually. That reduces distortion by sharing the load between with speakers equally. But you could do like mixsit said and pan the mids and highs portion (only) of the bass instrument away from center.

--Ethan
 
Almost always in the center.

Sometimes I want a little more movement out of the bass when I'm doing a funk kind of thing with a lot of slap and pop bass, then I will put two different mics on the amp and take a DI.

I pick the track that has the best low end and put that in the center. Then I will take the other two, high pass them around 200-300hz and pan them away from each other. I EQ them so that they accentuate different parts of the performance without making it lob-sided. I add those in with the bass track that is centered (which will be the core of the bass sound) just to add some sense of space and movement.

Obviously, this is a special case, and I had a lot of time on my hands...and I doubt any of the listeners really noticed. But I found it entertaining.
 
Usually in the middle, however the best example if the bass not being in the middle is "The Who Live At Leeds" where the bass was on one side and the guitar on the other, mad the mix very clear and easy to hear what was going on, which was hard with such a frantic performance. I am so tempted to do this on my bands next album, line up 1 guitar, bass, drums, voc, have tried it on rough mixes and it reminds me so much of the live at leeds album.

Cheers
Alan
 
I'll say most of the time, dead center. But, sometimes, in busy mix where even eq carvings doesn't make it totally to manage the bass and kick spaces, I may put these two tracks slightly left and right.

Also, I had great results one time, putting upright bass 50 left and all the drums 50 right. As it was recorded live in the same space, this radical panning produced a wonderful spread of the bottom of the mix.
 
Yep, always. Only once was the bass not dead centre and then, it didn't sound like bass as it was high harmonics.
Interesting what Chili said about "Bursting out" driving him nuts. Many of the albums I have from the 60s and early 70s pan the bass. I don't mind it at all. But I hate it on my stuff. It feels horrible, like a kangaroo licking the inside of my ear trying to suck a beetle out.
 
mixsit said:
Been a while since I heard Live at Leeds. Was the low end panned as well?
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Sorry for the late reply, yes it was. However the low end on a lot of the old recordings was not as low or sub as modern recordings so it made no difference. John Entwistle's sound was also quite bright for the day, and he played like he was playing lead, that's why in this case I like the spread of bass and guitar, as you can hear what is being played very clearly, John used a lot of 4x12" cabs and valve heads in those days. Having the bass to one side also left room for the drums and vocals. But the Who Live at Leeds is a different beast to most.

Alan.
 
Try this

Pan guitar and bass left and right, but make sure the guitar has lots of low end, and the bass has lots of high end and middle. Match the frequencies, you know? it can be kinda cool and leave lots of drum space. This works even better if the bass is going to be distorted.
 
AlecBeretz said:
Pan guitar and bass left and right, but make sure the guitar has lots of low end, and the bass has lots of high end and middle. Match the frequencies, you know? it can be kinda cool and leave lots of drum space. This works even better if the bass is going to be distorted.
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^thats just a cool idea by the way, and is very uncommon. usually bass is dead center.
 
I usually put the bass in the center. Sometimes I lay out the mix as just like the the band is on the stage. That sounds pretty cool, but probably only to me!
 
witzendoz said:
Sorry for the late reply, yes it was. However the low end on a lot of the old recordings was not as low or sub as modern recordings so it made no difference. John Entwistle's sound was also quite bright for the day, and he played like he was playing lead, that's why in this case I like the spread of bass and guitar, as you can hear what is being played very clearly, John used a lot of 4x12" cabs and valve heads in those days. Having the bass to one side also left room for the drums and vocals. But the Who Live at Leeds is a different beast to most.

Alan.
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since we're in flash back mode here another one that has that tilt is Cream's live 'Wheels of Fire cuts.
Just put it up. Man the low's light from what we're used to hearing now!
 
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