A couple more notes on Bass Heavy - If you really listen to most bass sounds you will realize there is actually a lot of mid and hi end content - this is what you really hear in a mix at low volumes. Many producers use a higher pitched bass sound then mix in a sine tone an octave below it to give it that punch but still have the room shaking. rEalm pointed out (Thanks rEalm!) that you should cut below 30-40hz, because most people will never hear anything below this (Except some super elite DJ's or Pop stars) and since it takes roughly 65 to 80 feet for these waves to cycle, you will probably never find out how loud this range really is. Most monitors can't accurately play this back anyway. In fact most environments don't play much below 200hz, especially at low volumes. Usually anything below 200hz ends up making your mix sound muddy anyway. Bass trapping is another problem - if your speakers are up to playing low frequency content, then you have to make sure your listening environment doesn't end up causing the bass to hang out in a corner, or wierd parts of your room. Bass is nondirectional mainly because the waves are so long so if the wave reflects off a wall it can cut itself out. Make sure your speakers aren't in a corner or too close to a wall. Walk around your room and see if there isn't a spot where the bass is radically different from the rest of the room. Another way to help make the bass more defined on your speakers is to fill the bass vent port with a thick foam. This helps tighten up the bass on most lower end monitors. Frequency analyzing is a good and quick way of knowing where your bass is - You can quickly find out where your bass volumes are and at what frequencies. If the left side of the frequency graph looks like you should go snowboarding on it, then you might want to trim it down and remove the very low frequencies altogether. Sound forge as one, there are many free frequency analyzers out there and many packages such as FruityLoops actully have them as well. Eq around your kicks - There is usually a lot of low end content in these, even if it's not obvious in a mix. If your bass competes with these neither one will win. You can use a notch filter on your bass mix and leave room for the kicks. Using a frequency analyzer can definately help. -----Original Message----- From: erik_magrini@... [mailto:erik_magrini@...] Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2003 8:41 AM To: xl7@yahoogroups.com Subject: [xl7] Bass heavy? Getting the low end right is one of th hardest things about doing a good mix, because so many factors affect it. You have the speaker types and size, the room size, what materials are in the room, etc. Getting a good mix doesn't mean it sounds good at home 9though that can be part of it). The real key of a good mix, is that it translates well to other systems. Like you said, it sounds good at home, but elsewhere it sounds too bass heavy. This can be fixed with a few things: - Keep back ups of your song's project file, don't just say you're done and that's it. I usually need to go back at least a couple times and make some small adjustment to the bassline or BD levels to get them to sit well in the mix. - Learn your speakers and room. Sounds simple, but it takes a lot of time to do correctly, you need to listen to your favorite CDs again and again and compare how they sound in there with elsewhere.. If you know your mixes are bass heavy everywhere but your room, then maybe you need to compensate by lowering the bass levels until it sounds thin in your room. Again, remember the point isn't to make it sound good in one place, but to sound good everywhere. Compromises have to be made sometimes. - Use multiband compression during mastering. That way, it's very easy to adjust just the lowend, you can tighten it up, even use it as a simple EQ. - Try lowering everything below 30-40Hz when you're mastering. Even a fairly steep cutoff curve will leave enough frequencies here to be felt at the clubs, without muddying up the song when played back on other speakers. Also, I like to cut out the bass on all tracks where it's not critical. If you've got some strings, or leads, try cutting out everything below 100-200Hz. If it sounds weird without the info there, then slowly start adding back more until it sounds right. I also use the 30-40Hz trick on myu basslines while mixing, that can bring back a lot of headroom and clarity. rEalm for me personally i have a hard time laying bass in right. it always sounds good at my crib, or even in another room in the house, but when i burn to cd and listen to it in someones car, the bass is usually really deep and drowns out everything. sometimes cutting the resonance down on the sound helps, but i feel the bass loses its bassyness. i thought i may need to compress but everyone says add eq and compression lightly and as a last resort. any tips on getting deep bass that sits in a track and can stilll be heard even at low volumes? To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: xl7-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: xl7-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! 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RE: [xl7] Bass heavy?
2003-05-14 by Andre Lewis