Does The Bass Sound OK In This Mix?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robertt8
  • Start date Start date
Robertt8

Robertt8

Well-known member
Hey people!

We're getting our album mixed by a guy who sounds great to us, but we have questions about the mix/eq of the bass.

I'm just throwing up a tune to give you an idea, but it seems to have plenty of low end, but seems to be lacking in definition. Would you guys mind checking it out and letting me know what you think?

By the way, this is still a mix in progress, so disregard the harmonies in the first verse...

************************************************
UPDATED TUNE
OK, well the mixer guy took another stab at it and tried to punch up the bass. He also too care of a couple other tweaks. If you get a chance let me know if you think it's any better. It sounds a bit better to me.


************************************************

Original Posted Tune:



Thanks!
Robert Tait
 
Last edited:
Isn' that what people mean by "fat and round"? :)

Sounds ok to me, but maybe it's not the sound you're going for?

I was frustrated with the bass sounds my band gets, but eventually realized that that was just the way our bass player played through his setup.

tv
 
Hey thanks! yeah, i'm sure it's just the way i recorded it. I let the bass player set the settings, which sounded fine when recording, but not so great now that the mix is here. i guess the mixer guy is going to try some tricks or re-amping...hopefully that helps a bit.

thanks
 
Hey, beautiful tune by the way. Love the lyrics, vocals, percussion, feel. I think the bass suits this tune, but you might not want to have a whole album with that sound. Just take it one song at a time and see if some tunes might need a punchier sound. But for this tune, it works nice. If anything, I would just say the bass should be louder. Very nice stuff. Got to bop your head and puts a smile on your face.
 
yea, the bass sticks out a little compaired to the rest of the production

the answer you're looking for is probably playing with compression, but i'm not sure.

sweet song.
 
Nice clear door closing... :)

Yes, the bass is a bit wallowy, and lacking the crisp, transparent definition the drums have. Slight mismatch of curves there... Roll off from 63hz down fiddle with some multiband compression too, boost the upper mids and edge withouth giving it that "EQed" sound.... REALLY great groove. MAN, this is a sweet tune and a sweet sound you guys have. I LOVE your drummer, he's so deep in the pocket he's gonna be gone for weeks. Make sure you let us know when you're finished OK? I want to hear mroe of this!!!
 
I think it sounds alright, maybe add some more high end to it, but then it might stand out too much... It sounds good as more of a low end bass for this style of music though. I guess it's more of personal preference.

Cool song too...
 
RAMI: Thanks! Yeah, the whole album won't sound like this...I think...anyway, feel free to check out that re-mix above. I think it sounds a little punchier.

GIRAFFE: Thanks for replying! Yeah, I guess the mixer used a few tricks to make it pop a bit more. i've got the new mix up.

LLARION: Our drummer will be pleased to hear your comments! thanks! He's pretty damn good. Anyhoo! thanks for the specific comments! I've consolidated all your feedback and sent that off to our mixer and he's remixed. thanks!

MONKEYMANX: True, and it wasn't doing it for us. Our bass player is very good, and you just couldn't hear anything he was playing. I think this new mix has things set much better. Thanks for taking the time to listen and respond.
 
Very nice song. What you said about not being able to hear everything the bassist is playing.....I think it's more of a "feel" in the song rather than an "part". While you won't be able to hear all the subtleties, they'll add to the music in such a way that you'll notice it if you take them out. Gah, I'm having difficulty with words today, sorry.
 
that seems to sit a little better to me, and i dig the quality of the low end
but i just don't like the sound of active pickups and a modern (bass) amp in this type of music.

is just me.
 
Hey people! Thanks for your feedback! I think it's helped us get this more where we like it. I do have a worry that maybe there's too much low end now...i'm talking sub bass, like 60Hz and under. I'm playing it on my shitty car stereo, and it's rattling my speakers a bit even with the bass turned down a bit. Then again, there are some com,ercial CD's that do this as well. Any of you people with monitors have any comments on this?

IRONFLIPPY: Thank you sir! I hear you...I think the bass is kind of where we want it now. we didn't want it to be in your face or anything, otherwise we'd recorded him with the tone way up. we just wanted more definition than we were getting. Thanks for listening!

GIRAFFE: So...what would you suggest as an alternative in this type of music?
 
Robertt8 said:
GIRAFFE: So...what would you suggest as an alternative in this type of music?
Click to expand...

a passive bass mostly, less of that super-upper mid quality that active pickups can have (maybe even experiment with half wounds?.... or maybe not)

but it's just me, i'm sure plenty of people would disagree.
(plenty of them are probably better engineers then me too)
 
I've listened only to the newer mix, and not on nice studio monitors.

It's a great, fun song. Nice sounding. The bass is very large in the mix for sure. Totally appropriate for this kind of music. If anything, you might want to chip away at the lowest lows with some eq. I could stand to hear the drums/percussion a little, tiny bit louder, maybe.

I am a bass player myself, but I use a more mid accentuated tone with a little drive and play a different style. What you have here is very 'right' for this song. Just my opinions. . .

Good job!
 
Love the song, makes me want to grab a drink and sit out on the beach :) and don't hear anything wrong with the mix. Good stuff! Nice vocals too.
 
This is just lovely. Nothing helpful to say I'm afraid, just that this is one of the most enjoyable things I've heard here. I am a bass player and the sound and part you've got on the remixed version is exactly what I would have envisaged.

By the way - did I mention how much I like this? ;)
 
Ok so im a little out of practice as ive had a wee break from this site for a few weeks.
But the kick seems ok to me. It is kinda hidden and lacks punch though. Suits the style although i would try and get it to stand out a bit more. A little more volume, add some more hi end and maybe cut a little tiny bit of the lo mids both with wide Q. Could be the bass guitar that is hiding the kick. Because when the bass goes louder the kick is less noticeable.

Good mix overall.
 
GIRAFFE: interesting view...

INCANUS: Thanks. I was starting to think that the bass was kind of clouding up the bass drum now and could use a little less on the very low end as well. Good to see i wasn't the only one. Thanks!

SNAKEDOG5050: Thanks for listening!

GARY SHARP: Damn! That's very nice of you to say! Thank you very much!

ECKTRONIC: I think that's what Incanus was mentioning as well. the kick does seem a little lost in all that low end...I'll see what can be done. Thanks for the feedback!
 
Just realised that you were asking about the bass guitar!! Well the tune sounds good in the lo end department and the bass lacks a little presence, although nothing serious. Could try setting the compresser with a longer attack time and shorter release for more attack and punch. Boost as much hi mids as you possibly can without the sound degredating. If its the way it was recorded then there may be no hi mids frequencies to boost and then by boosting the hi mids you will only get noise and no more presence.
Sounds like a good mix though.
 
Yeah, the bass is what we were worried about. We're pretty happy with the rest. We've got a fairly decent mixer working on this and he's dealing with working with my tracked files, which sounds like i might have been a little low on the presence end of things. He was mentioning something about re-amping, and some other tricks he had to deal with this sort of thing (what is re-amping?). I didn't think i was that far off originally with my tracks. They seemed really big and fat, but maybe it was all just low end stuff going on. Thanks for listening!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top