EQ'ing heavy bass

thewifey

thewifey

New member
In theory, if you have a piece of equipment that generates lots of bass, if you ran that piece through an equalizer, could you "notch" out the heavy bass? Wouldn't that be better than a final EQ'ing on entire mix because IF only one part is too heavy with bass, wouldn't EQ'ing the entire mix make the other parts sound funny? Or would EQ'ing the final mix take care of the problem without messing up the sound of the other parts - don't want to make them "thin or tinny".
 
Generally, best results are obtained when getting the sound right "going to tape", rather than EQ'ing or messing with it at mixdown or worse, during mastering.

The things is, if it doesn't sound the way you want it to as you record it, when will it ever? ;)


BTW, welcome to the site!
 
Thanks for the info - course I know what that means - more equipment (hubby will only shake his head). It's one of the keyboards/synths that I can't get the bass to decrease and I feel it's too much.
 
As usual, Bruce is correct. If you can't tame it within the synth then I'd run it through a parametric EQ and fish for the offending frequency and cut it. It's generally VERY difficult to "fix it in the mix". And welcome to the site.
 
AAARRRGG - Have you ever heard of G.A.S.?? Gear Aquisition Syndrome. Many of my male musician/studio friends suffer from this and my husband was afraid I'd catch it. Thought I had all the equipemtn I'd need, but I now understand...probably not. I'll look at getting an equilizer. Though I wonder if I could first run it into my PC and notch some of the offending frequency out, then send it into the recorder? Just until I can get an equalizer.
 
Yeah, I know....I gots GAS REAL BAD! Ssshhhhh don't tell. I will try running it through Cool Edit Pro, Sound Forge, Cubase...and all their Direct X plug-ins and see what happens...I'll let you know. Thanks sooo much for you help. But, yeah I'll wind up with an outboard equalizer at some point <sigh>
 
thewifey,

Welcome to the board!

It is refreshing to hear from a wife strugling with GAS and working it out with her husband.:D

My wife is not too supportive of my inerest in music and recording... she justs wants to buy more and more clothes, cats and home decor.

There is lots of good info here and helpfull, knowledgable people (not to mention a moslty friendly big blue bear of whom you have already met).
 
thewifey, forgive me if I'm missing the point, 'cause I'm good at that, but what if you altered the arrangement to correct the problem before going to tape. Could the offending part with too much bass be played an octave higher on the keyboad? I realize that might kill it also.

The philosophy I'm applying is that the earlier in the chain these problems are addressed the better the possible outcome. OTOH, if you've got the shopping bug, screw me. Go buy something.
-kent
 
Nah, I don't have the shopping bug. I'd LOVE to correct the problem at the source, but can't figure out how. I have a Roland Pro E Intelligent Arranger (ancient) that was "loaned/given" to me to play around with. My own is a wonderful Roland XP-80 and a Yamaha PSR270 (old too). I'd like to use the Pro E to do some drum/rhythm fills and the bass in it is too heavy for the song I'm working with. I can do some frequency adjustments on the mixer lever (Behringer Eurorack MX 2004A) but am coming up with either too little bass (sounding thin) or too heavy. As far as I can read in the manual, I can't tone down the bass at the Pro E level. I really don't want to invest money in something I'm not sure I'll keep...so it's into the PC. BTW..my husband was in Rock radio for 18+ years and has a terrific ear. My music partner and I use him to bounce ideas off...though he doesn't want to spend any more money at this point.
 
Welcome Wifey!!! Kill the Euro-Wack mixer!!

During bass-tracking and depending on the mood and flow of the song, if you are experiencing booming bottom, try rolling off freq's
70hz & below.
Orrrrrr, as a test,flat-line all freq'ys on the bass and either boost/cut levels to your satisfaction.
Orrrrrrr, use a REAL BASS in place of the keyboards!;)
 
Thanks for all the welcomes guys (and the suggestions) but all this talk about "killing" my mixer. <sniff, sniff>
Can't do it because it was "loaned" or "stored" in my studio by my kind hearted partner to allow me to get used to using a mixer before investing in one. Most of the time I do get "real" bass and drums, instead of using the keyboard, just don't want to "overwhelm" or take my partner for granted as he has his own music to do. I will try rolling off the freq below 70hz and see how that works. Typically I like a bass that causes the floor to vibrate, but not for this particular song.
 
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