How do you monitor your lows?

[A1A2]

I have always had hard time with the lows...I monitor with Tannoy Reveals (active) and they are pretty shy on the bottom end. I have had them for about 1 yr now, and I can't say I know them too well.

Here is my problem
After I get my mixes to sound as good as I can on the Tannoys, I play them back in my car or other systems, and they either sound boomy or lacking details when played at low volume.

What do you do to watch the bass? I've heard that nearfields don't go very low, so, are we just out of luck? I do use reference CDs, but, since I can't hear the real lows, is it just a shoot and miss game for me then?

One thing I do is to apply low-cut filters on everything besides kick and bass, everything else, I cut out everything at least below 80-100hz. Is there another way to ensure a non-boomy mix?

Thanks

AL

 

[Freudian Slip]

If you could also pipe through a regular home stereo reciever and speakers you could do A/B testing while mixing. This of course assumes you have the same problem on a home set up as you do in the car and that the car is not odd in it's carictaristicts...

This seems to work for many people. Good luck...


F.S.

PS can you pin it on any one instument???

 

[Gidge]

i mix quite low most of the time,but I usually crank the amp up a bit to double check the low end.....at high volumes the low end is more revealing on smaller monitors.....

 

[A1A2]

hey, thanks for the replies, guys.

Freudian Slip:

what do you mean "pin it on instruments"?

oh, is there a good starting point to cut some of the real lows on bass guitar? like 20hz or below?

AL

 

[chessrock]

Lately, I've been checking my mixes with the Sony MDR headphones every so often. They go down as low as 10 hz, so you can tell pretty quick what's going on in the lower bass.

 

[Jeff_D]

lower limit of human hearing is around 20-25Hz- does it really help to have equipment that will reproduce a 10Hz tone? - just askin- maybe theres a good reason?- i was taght to use frequencies below 35-40Hz VERY sparingly in the mix (thunder)

-jeff

 

[A1A2]

Lately, I've been checking my mixes with the Sony MDR headphones every so often. They go down as low as 10 hz, so you can tell pretty quick what's going on in the lower bass.

yeah, i got the mdr 7506, too, but I really don't think it can produce as much bass as the speakers since the real lows tend to be heard by our body rather than ears. Am I correct?
One sunny thing I kinda noticed is that my mixes usually sound pretty good in them, but not on the monitors....weird

AL

 

[A1A2]

kremitmusic:

thanks for the heads-up on 35-40Hz , I will refer to spectrum analyser on those since I don't trust my ears

AL

 

[Tukkis]

yeah, i got the mdr 7506, too, but I really don't think it can produce as much bass as the speakers since the real lows tend to be heard by our body rather than ears. Am I correct?

Yeh your right. The chest resonates at 60HZ. And the pelvis at 7HZ. So played something at those frequencies very loud they would start hurting. Try putting you hand on your chest and play some music that has something in the 60HZ region. You should feel your chest start resonate.

Tukkis

 

[chessrock]

Yeh your right. The chest resonates at 60HZ. And the pelvis at 7HZ.

Is that why I get horny every time I hear a 7 hz test tone?

 

[DeadPoet]

(Ethan not around ? )


Are you sure your room isn't fooling you instead of your monitor speakers ?
Do you know what room modes, standing waves, basic acoustics is/are ?? If not, visit the studiobuilding forum....


Herwig

 

[A1A2]

(Ethan not around ? )


Are you sure your room isn't fooling you instead of your monitor speakers ?
Do you know what room modes, standing waves, basic acoustics is/are ?? If not, visit the studiobuilding forum....


Herwig

no, I don't know if my room is fooling me or not, but I do know dif speakers in my room sound different, and my Tannoys sounds a little bass-shy compare to the consumer ones.

AL

 

[DeadPoet]

Hmm... I don't know Reveals that well, I always tought their bass response was ok.

What's the music type you're doing ? And the system you're comparing with (that shouldn't have its bass controls all the way up btw)

I agree on the heaphone check, but I had to learn to deal with the excessive low end in them (even in cheap consumer Sony's)


Herwig

 

[A1A2]

DP,


I check my mixes on a dif computer's PC speakers with a sub in a dif room as well as in my car sometimes. The thing is, I don't set the bass to be neutral in either of them cuz my philosophy is, if commercial CDs sound good on those systems regardless of the bass boost or not, mine should survive those the tests, too. Does that make any sense??


the obvious differece between my mixes and commercial ones is the bass, where their's is nice and tight, and mine sound blury and overall not crispy. I know I am never gonna achieve pro quality but, I would like to get close

AL

 

[pipelineaudio]

I used to just check the lows on NS-10's, get it up moderately loud and you will quickly learn EXACTLY what is going on down there. I suspect the reveals would be about the same

 

[A1A2]

Can you guys please let me borrow your monitors/ears/experiences for a min??

I cut/pasted 2 parts that contain bass from this song I'm working on. Please give it a listen and let me know what I'm doing wrong.

thanks in advance

AL



"Bass test"

www.nowhereradio.com/a1a2/singles