Punchy low end
Hey there bendbones,
First off I'd heed the feedback you've received thusfar in this thread. I don't post a lot, but I do read through the forum every day and you are getting feedback from knowledgeable and experienced members. You sound like a novice. I'm probably not much further up the totem pole, so my advice might be a good start for you. Once you master some of the very simple basic things, you can move on to basic compression, sidechain compression and other means to enhance the sound.
Personally, my recordings started to show significant improvement in low end punch and definition when I started (I say started because there is a very long learning curve with this stuff and you never stop learning) to understand two simple concepts. Here you go:
I don't use synth's, so I'll try to help you out using a bass guitar holding down the low end.
- You will get a well defined and punchy low end, only if you record a well defined and punchy low end. Sounds like an obnoxious asshole statement doesn't it? It's not. Don't search for the magic button that defines your low and giving it amazing punch....it doesn't exist. It starts with using a good bass guitar. I'm not saying it is impossible to get a nice tight, punchy low end with a Mexican made Squire Bass, but it will be difficult for sure. So #1, a good quality instrument that records well. You may have to experiment with different basses because not all seemingly quality instruments record well. #2, Tone and other onboard instrument controls. You must get this correct. Don't try to put too much bass in your mixes (I think CloneBoy pointed this out as a common newbie mistake a while back....it's very good advice), there's only so much room in the proverbial phone booth. Too much low end will mask everything else in the mix and make it suck. You'll also waste approximately 2,432 CD-R's and tanks full of gas running ruff mixes that you think you've "nailed" out to your car for a listen only to find that they boom like a mo-fo (I'm relating real life experience). Make sure you're using new strings. #3, a well performed dynamic performance from the bassist. If the musician didn't play with punch and definition (ie: hitting the kicks and accents with the drummer) you won't be able to fix it in the mix. Capture a good performance.
- Panning and volume balance is critical. Don't clutter the middle of the mix with tracks that occupy similar sonic ranges or those that might conflict with the bass line and kick drum. This may involve cutting some low end off your guitars and panning off center to a point that resolves the conflict, yet still realistically reproduces your intended soundstage. I like to check my mixes in mono to identify frequency conflicts. If I identify muddiness, I mute every track except the low end instrumentation (assuming my low end instrumentation sounds good solo'd), then bring back in one track at a time until I find the offending track.
This should give you a start toward making really good progress in definition/punch using only a few basic fundamentals.
Cheers,
Bart
