what is your experience with bass mixing?

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what is your experience with bass mixing?

Post by Adam Artman »

Hello to my all friends here and i thank SOS so much.
can every body tell me about experience bass line mixing?
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Re: what is your experience with bass mixing?

Post by CS70 »

What in particular are you thinking of?

Usually it goes like this:

- get 1 great bass player
- plug 1 DI and 1 SM57
- record 1 great line
- plonk line in mix, blending DI and mic as needed.
- swear high and loud after forgetting to compensate for the mic delay
- add a little control compression to taste
- sidechain the bass to the kick to taste
- set aside while you make the rest of the dish

For rock stuff, there's usually a distortion pedal or a jacked-up amp in the recording.

:-D
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Re: what is your experience with bass mixing?

Post by RichardT »

Most bass parts will need compression and/or automation. It’s almost impossible for a player to play as evenly as is required in modern genres. I remember hearing that Mutt Lange automated every single bass note on a Muse track!

I often apply EQ to a bass depending on whether it is an exposed part or part of a busy mix. In a busy mix, you might need to emphasise the mid-frequency transients of the bass note more.

Headphone listening is important for mixing bass too, especially if you don’t have good monitoring in a well treated room.

Keeping kick drum and bass from interfering is also very important - and a big topic In itself!
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Re: what is your experience with bass mixing?

Post by Folderol »

@O/P
Are you talking about real bass, or bass produced on a synthesiser?
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Re: what is your experience with bass mixing?

Post by Albatross »

My experience is that it used to be a lot harder than it is now. That's because I pay a lot more attention to the fact that my electric bass will need to be mixed later on when I'm playing it. Long hours trying to get the bass right in the mix has made me consider the track and how the bass will work in it before I then spend the long hours recording it.

So, contrary to mainstay advice, I record the bass last. Its something of a fallout from the way we work but its handy because I get to leave the decision about the most difficult instrument until the end.

Then I can do a few different test recordings; mic on amp, DI, amp sim, piezo, different guitars, tone settings. I mean not all of those but probably a few out of that list depending on the piece, and then have a listen.

Then I do the bass in one pass, because I love it and get right into playing it instead of 'constructing' the part. Unless I'm very lucky and nail it in one I'll probably end up with three good takes and I will choose the one I like most. I might even be convinced to do a little 'comping' them when my partner comes over.

But that's me and I'm not really good person to ask... Here's someone that is a good person to ask... https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/mixing-bass
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Re: what is your experience with bass mixing?

Post by RichardT »

That’s a great article!
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Re: what is your experience with bass mixing?

Post by Mike Senior »

RichardT wrote:That’s a great article!

Thanks! :) And if you want some practice with bass mixing, you might also want to check out this page I’ve put together with some recommended multitracks for that. It's an expanded and updated version of the list that went with that original article, and for each project I've given a few brief mixing pointers to get you off on the right foot. Just click the project title in each case to go straight to its listing in my 'Mixing Secrets' Free Multitrack Download Library.

Hope that helps!
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Re: what is your experience with bass mixing?

Post by Wonks »

I'd also highly recommend this guide to bass mixing and production. For electronic music, this is the business. https://samplecraze.com/product/low-end/

Also check out Eddie's other guides and tutorials on his site.
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Re: what is your experience with bass mixing?

Post by RichardT »

Mike Senior wrote:
RichardT wrote:That’s a great article!

Thanks! :) And if you want some practice with bass mixing, you might also want to check out this page I’ve put together with some recommended multitracks for that. It's an expanded and updated version of the list that went with that original article, and for each project I've given a few brief mixing pointers to get you off on the right foot. Just click the project title in each case to go straight to its listing in my 'Mixing Secrets' Free Multitrack Download Library.

Hope that helps!

Thanks again, Mike!
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Re: what is your experience with bass mixing?

Post by Adam Artman »

Thank you my all friends very very much for your experience and guides.
yeah i will use those articles you offer to me.
you know my more bass parts i use now is Synth bass that come from vst and synth plugins.my genre is electro but... it's Electro Orchestral.. i mean is it's my original genre cause I love working on video games and films.
I'm not Recording Guitar Bass.of curse i will need to it next time and i want know more and more about mixing them.
you know,i don't know this is good or bad way to mixing bass but it's my way now:
I'm working on a video game project these days that i choose 2 synth bass for it.
i uploaded pictures.
Sub bass :
insert plugins: 1-Side chain 2-EQ 3- Multi band.
Bass :
insert plugins: 1- side chain 2-Imager 3- EQ
Key is A flat minor.
what do you think?
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Re: what is your experience with bass mixing?

Post by -Sakura- »

Electric Bass into :
RedDi (A-Designs) or Firefly (Radial) + Studer D19 Valve (tube on) + TLA 100 A (Summit).
Going back in the Summit during mixing process.

Double Bass :
a pair of M149s + Studer D19 Valve + TLA 100A
Going back into the TLAs during mix.

For each pass the compressor is set with slow attack (around 100ms) and fast release with audio signal close to zero dB when going into the TLA.
The gain reduction in each passes is around -1 dB (sometimes a bit more)
and that's it.
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some of my works
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