your EQ technique?
Wednesday, July 18 2012 @ 11:27 AM CDT

my main weakness in my recordings is always the bass versus kick drum thing (that and getting a decent vocal sound together). I really like a lot of electronic music and stuff that has a lot of bass. love that feeling of being hit in the chest. so I have been attempting to put the bass at the bottom of the EQ spectrum and then putting the kick drum above that. sometimes I get lucky, a lot of the time it just sounds like mud. for example:: there is a Logic bass instrument (dub bass), that I love the sound of but it never fits into anything without removing most of the bottom end (then it's not a dub bass anymore).

I know that in the 70's a lot of recordings had the kick drum at the lowest EQ position and the bass was EQed higher. I tried this recently and it was a lot easier to get everything under control. now I am wondering if I need to just continue doing it this way, or if I need to master surgically EQing my bass tracks. Chances are good (really good), that I am just too sloppy and not monitoring correctly (headphones usually because of kids in the house).

are you guys EQing the kick below or above the bass? let's hear your EQ techniques.

Re:your EQ technique?
Wednesday, July 18 2012 @ 12:27 PM CDT

Yes and no.

The secret to good bass is the sub-harmonics. You should hear a "throbbing" in your bass that beats at a slow rate on low notes and a relatively faster rate on higher notes.

When the bass is mixed right the sub-harmonics will cut right trough the mix. This is where the energy in dance mixes comes from. With good bass sub-harmonics you can lower the decibel level of the low frequencies without losing impact, leaving plenty of room for the kick.

With a good, throbbing bass I might put a low-cut filter on the track set at either 280hZ (for a warm timbre) or 80-100hZ (for a dry timbre).

A powerful kick contributes to a range of frequencies. Sometimes, adding mid-range or high-range EQ (for more snap) will create more of an impact than boosting low-range frequencies that might conflict with the bass. Typically, I find you don't need much below 80hZ to achieve a good, solid kick.

A punchy track will accentuate the bass by placing a kick at the beginning of each bass note.

So, it depends on the timbre and harmonic content of the bass and kick instruments whether to mix one above the other.

Re:your EQ technique?
Wednesday, July 18 2012 @ 05:03 PM CDT

so if you're using a low cut filter on the bass, then you're putting the kick at the lowest point in the sonic spectrum? and cutting the kick below 80 to clean up all that inaudible space below?

unrelated to bass or EQ, but why are there argument threads with hundreds of responses and I post a music question and get 1 reply?

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Wednesday, July 18 2012 @ 05:14 PM CDT

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Re:your EQ technique?
Wednesday, July 18 2012 @ 05:36 PM CDT

Quote by: michael2 unrelated to bass or EQ, but why are there argument threads with hundreds of responses and I post a music question and get 1 reply?

Because most folks listen to your tracks and say "Why don't mine sound that good?". Seriously though - when it comes to socio/political issues everybody seems to have an opinion that they don't have to back up with the music they post here. In fact some very vocal forum folk hardly post any music at all.

As for me - it was only a few years back after a lot of recording that I got hip to cutting eq from track to track to make room in the spectrum for more detail. I like my bass to be at the bottom and take it as low as possible and then cut the very bottom if it sounds too muddy. Then I'll try to get the kick to sit right with volume and eq. I've tried notching the bass by double tracking with a hole in the frequency range for the kick to sit in. Tend to make the bottom bass tight and add some reverb to soften the upper bass.
Does this make any sense at all I - basically muck about till it sounds right. Lately I've made a point of listening on monitors because headphones tend to emphasize baas in my experience.

Re:your EQ technique?
Wednesday, July 18 2012 @ 06:50 PM CDT

i know you asked about EQ, but what if you ran the kick and bass through a compressor to make the kick cut through the bass? i guess that wouldn't be a 70's sound - probably more of a 90's techno sound... so, nevermind

Re:your EQ technique?
Wednesday, July 18 2012 @ 06:55 PM CDT

Good question, I will read this thread with interest as I have this problem too.

Besides low cut on the bass, I usually try compression on the kick, and/or trying different tunings of it. Sometimes a muddy bass can be sorted by having it in mono. Whether I succeed is another question

And some seem to almost always use very slight side chain compression on the bass, ducking the bass with the kick (not as far as the pumping dance club way though).

Re:your EQ technique?
Wednesday, July 18 2012 @ 09:36 PM CDT

I can honestly say, I've never thought about it or eq'ed anything with software. I run a mixer into imac and eq going in

I ran my vocals way too high end for years. listening to them now is like fingers on a chalkboard

come to think of it. listening to my vocals with the high end eq dialed back still makes me cringe!!

I want to record with roy thomas baker bad. please God

Re:your EQ technique?
Wednesday, July 18 2012 @ 11:16 PM CDT

This article was posted by someone here or at iComp, it's a great one on mastering kick drums:

http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/mixing-mastering/6-different-frequencies-and-how-to-spot-them/

Re:your EQ technique?
Thursday, July 19 2012 @ 12:40 AM CDT

Quote by: Bent_Axis This article was posted by someone here or at iComp, it's a great one on mastering kick drums: http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/mixing-mastering/6-different-frequencies-and-how-to-spot-them/

thanks, the bit on adding air was great.