Mixing Bass
Monday, September 17 2012 @ 07:55 AM CDT

I generally mix bass (and drums) straight down the middle and dont really give it much thought after that. Of course, if I actually played bass guitar my viewpoint would be different. So, I am wondering if I am missing something in this approach. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Re:Mixing Bass
Monday, September 17 2012 @ 09:11 AM CDT

Bass I put down the middle. Kick and snare are more-or-less down the middle and I use mostly use cymbals for 'spread'. However there is stereo reverb on the snare which spreads it out. I might put a light touch of reverb on the bass and kick but as far as stereo effect I'm sure it doesn't have much effect.

My approach is that not everything can be wide or else the music feels like it has a hole in the middle, so something needs to be in the middle — I make that the bass. Edit: and I usually like to stick a simple guitar in the middle too so things don't sound too bare.

Re:Mixing Bass
Monday, September 17 2012 @ 10:12 AM CDT

Andy, when I am mixing my bass tracks down, I almost always put them at center mix. I also do this with the kick and snare, but spreading the cymbals and toms side to side. I have on occasion double tracked the bass and spread it at about 10% either side of zero to give it a spacial feel (hear here on Kilimanjarohttp://www.macjams.com/song/65351. I only do this on instrumental type songs, mixing center in all other forms.

* Post Removed *
Monday, September 17 2012 @ 10:27 AM CDT

* This message has been removed *

Re:Mixing Bass
Monday, September 17 2012 @ 12:06 PM CDT

Quote by: rok41 Andy, when I am mixing my bass tracks down, I almost always put them at center mix. I also do this with the kick and snare, but spreading the cymbals and toms side to side. I have on occasion double tracked the bass and spread it at about 10% either side of zero to give it a spacial feel (hear here on Kilimanjarohttp://www.macjams.com/song/65351. I only do this on instrumental type songs, mixing center in all other forms.

FYI there is a free garageband plug in that does that for you without having to copy and paste. It is called stereo simulator and it works great for just this purpose.

Re:Mixing Bass
Monday, September 17 2012 @ 05:02 PM CDT

Regarding "spreading" L/R. That isn't quite how it works.

The signal is "centered" on a stereo track when the L and R channels are identical. If you double a track and pan copy A-10% and copy B+10% you have identical channels. The instrument remains centered.

A "stereo spreader" works a little differently. It modulates the signal separately through L and R (using pitch, phase, or resonance). This difference in modulation creates the impression of width (your ears hear two distinct signals), but also causes the source to interfere with itself (weakening the fundamental frequency).

Bass is usually centered to avoid phase interference in the fundamental frequency.

Re:Mixing Bass
Monday, September 17 2012 @ 05:20 PM CDT

For me, Bass, Kick and Snare (or clap) are always bang center. I do use stereo widening on the bass - I've found the Ozone imager works best for this. Otherwise, I'll use the frequency-panning plugin on Logic (forgotten its name!). I always have a sidechain compressor on the bass, coming in from the kick. Even if it's subtle and fast, it works miracles when limiting later on in the master!

Re:Mixing Bass
Monday, September 17 2012 @ 09:05 PM CDT

Quote by: chikoppi Regarding "spreading" L/R. That isn't quite how it works. The signal is "centered" on a stereo track when the L and R channels are identical. If you double a track and pan copy A-10% and copy B+10% you have identical channels. The instrument remains centered. A "stereo spreader" works a little differently. It modulates the signal separately through L and R (using pitch, phase, or resonance). This difference in modulation creates the impression of width (your ears hear two distinct signals), but also causes the source to interfere with itself (weakening the fundamental frequency). Bass is usually centered to avoid phase interference in the fundamental frequency.

thanks for that made me see left and right in a whole new light

Re:Mixing Bass
Tuesday, September 18 2012 @ 02:36 AM CDT

Quote by: chikoppi Regarding "spreading" L/R. That isn't quite how it works... A "stereo spreader" works a little differently. It modulates the signal separately through L and R (using pitch, phase, or resonance).

In the case of the Ozone tool, the stereo widening works by "channel subtraction"; effectively inverting one side; whatever is in the middle (both channels) will be cancelled out by phase; the inverted side is righted and you have a "wider" sound — but you lose some of what is in the middle. The loss depends on your mix, how equal the left and right sides are and how much widening you try to achieve.

A mono instrument will not be widened at all by using a tool like this because both sides are the same.

Quote by: chikoppi Bass is usually centered to avoid phase interference in the fundamental frequency.

There are tricks (such as using a very short delay with dry and wet panned to the sides) to make a mono track sound wider, but this also introduces phase issues — this can be more noticeable with bass.

Panning the bass (as was sometimes done in the experimental 60s) will not cause a phase problem, but by doing this the mix can simply sound uneven.

* Post Removed *
Tuesday, September 18 2012 @ 06:28 AM CDT

* This message has been removed *