Getting my Bass right in Chill music mix

[JRocker]

Hi,

I am in the middle of getting one of my new tracks mixed. It's basically a 'Chilled' instrumental piece. What is frustrating to me, is as the bass and loops are an integral part of 'Chilled' music, I can't seem to get the bass sounding right. At the moment, it's sounding way too dominant and when you listen to it, it kind of sounds like its punching me in the chest, rather than soothing me, which is the premise of a chill track.

I'm kind of stuck at the moment as to what to do to correct this. I posted a small section of the mix here for you to peruse and hope anyone can offer me their suggestions or advice, which would much be appreciated and stop me from pulling my hair out.

https://soundcloud.com/user-192692353/n ... YukdgfAalt

I'd love to hear from anyone who is current working in the 'chill/ambient' genre as to any advice they can offer me in regards to my query as well.

Thank you in advance.

JR

[Tim Gillett]

I'm no expert in chill music but the track seems heavily compressed, which can be aggravating to listen to especially for a long period. I'd probably use some compression but not that much.

[JRocker]

Thank you. There's actually not too much compression added. Would it be more of a volume thing possibly?

[Tim Gillett]

It was easy when listening to adjust the volume down. I could be wrong on this. I'd be interested in other's views also.

[James Perrett]

It certainly feels like something is pumping - could there be a compressor somewhere that you've forgotten about or is it just the way the individual tracks have been recorded?

[Martin Walker]

Hi JR!

To my ears there are too many staccato sounds, which is why the overall sound is 'jumpy'.

I'd put a longer decay on that bass to smooth things out, but make sure it's still monophonic so you don't end up with overlap between the bass notes.

Martin

[JRocker]

A mixing friend of mine suggested copy and pasting two copies of the original bass track, into ma separate buss and then add a couple of compressors to the bussed tracks and then blend those copied tracks into the original signal.

[Zukan]

I think separation is the problem here. Carve the space around the bass. That will expose the bass better and allow you to make an informed decision as to what to do next.