Bass RUMBLES on certain speakers... EQ??

  • Thread starter Thread starter kinetik
  • Start date Start date
K

kinetik

New member
Hello,
I am writing some acid-techno type music that has some very low, droning bass. The bass sounds fine on a real nice stereo that can handle it, but on cheaper units, car stereos, boomboxes, it rumbles & is too harsh.

I'm using Soundforge for 'mastering,' and I'm wondering if I should either use a soft limiter in the dynamics, 'remove rumble below 80Hz,' or something else? I obviously don't want to lose the 'power' or 'umf' of the bass, but obviously I can't have it crackling or distorting on certain speakers.... HELP!!!!

Thanks

Rimas
 
That could be.....I mean the high pass thing but most stereos won't reproduce below 40hz anyway. So I 've been told by folks more experienced than myself. It's probably the mastering. I've had similiar problems with mixes. Try a flat eq when mastering and just compress and saturate the signal if you want it ballzie.

In other words....dont' boost the eq even further when you master. Test your mix before mastering on a boombox and see how the bass sounds. If it's ok then....well don't boost it anymore when you master.

Hope that helps

Rusty K
 
Thank you BOTH! I did try the pass filtering (so far 50Hz seems best w/ the sound I'm working with) -- I haven't tested on a Bbox yet (just car) but there is definitely an improvement!
 
monitors

I know that's part of my problem, I use HEADPHONES, which I know is a big no-no, but I have no other choice other than the computer speakers & sub-woofer which is perhaps just as unrealistic.

Thanks for asking.
 
Im not gonna tell you you cant mix on headphones or computer speakers with a sub.....i know whats it like to have to make do with what you have....my best advice is to pick out a CD or 2 that have similar content to what you are mixing, with a bass sound that you are looking for......start with fresh ears and listen to that CD for awhile and get the feel of what the low end is sounding like on whatever you will be monitoring on....when you mix your song, go for that similar sound....you can go back and forth listening to the CD and your mix til you get it right......
 
Just get a parametric and notch out the annoying frequncy. chances are its just one resonant frequency and its not even the lowest one comeing out of the speakers.
 
parametric vs paragraphic

Darrin, thanks for the tip, but I'm not familiar w/ the parametric window (it looks complicated to me) -- what's the difference between, say doing a paragraphic low pass of 30Hz versus the band reject(notch) if I set the f2 & f3 to 30Hz as well???

Thanks for your time
 
Sounds like a software question. Im strictly hardware.

on your parametric you should have a freqency knob, a bandwith knob, and a level knob.


Lets say the annoying frequncy is 30Hz, you will only have to set one of the f1 knobs to 30Hz, thin out your bandwidth to about 1 octave and lower the level knob about half . keep adjusting the bandwidth thinner and move the freqency knob till the Q is as thin as it can get without the annoying frequency.

As I dont know how the parametric is laid out Im sure that controls are typical of all parametrics.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top