Bass Guitar is very hard to mix. It is always the main reason why the mix sounds either dull, thin or mud. The major problem is that all instruments have bass frequencies, but not so heavy as bass guitar and a kick drum. In a mix, all instruments are played together and the primary problem lies in the bass frequencies, it is why every time you heard tracks that are not mixed, it sounds mud.
But take note that a good bass guitar recording is essential for a perfect bass guitar mix. Before you mix your bass to get the clarity and punch it needs; spend some time to get a perfect bass guitar recording. This is very important. If you are having a difficult time getting your bass to sound good in the mix, probably its poorly recorded. Take some time to read this important tutorial on bass guitar recording techniques and ensure that you are recording your bass correctly and in optimum levels.
I have been mixing for years and I love to present these two techniques I learned from experience in mixing. Basically you can only apply one technique per song. But you will have two choices how to approach mixing bass guitar in the mix :
The Rock Bass Guitar Sound Mix
How is this done? In this mix, the objective of the bass guitar is to sound heavy and partly dominant in the mix. As a rock producer, I like the bass guitar to sound aggressive and up front in the mix. Did you notice that once you hear rock tracks today such as Trapt, Green day, Simple Plan, their bass guitar is very dominant? It is a secret of sound engineers in how to make bass guitar loud while avoiding mud.
As a guide, we will designate 45 Hz to 250 Hz as the bass frequencies where kick drums and bass guitar mainly reside. The problem is how to blend those two together.
Since the bass guitar needs to sound heavy and dominant, it should occupy mainly the bottom 45 Hz to 250 Hz. But….
We will dip 100 Hz for the kick drum spikes to shine through. I usually dip the bass guitar around 100 Hz with Q settings of around 2.0 and -9dB reduction.
To balance, I will boost kick drum at around 100 Hz with Q settings of around 2.0 and 9dB~12 boost.
To sound better, I will apply high pass filter or a low shelf filter (so it will attenuate frequencies lower than 50Hz) on kick drum around 50 Hz -3dB reduction, for the deep bass guitar frequencies to dominate the sub woofer, making it sound heavy. If you are not familiar what these shelving filters would mean, you can read this important introductory tutorial on filters. In that posts, you will learn what are these parametric EQ terminologies (most parametric equalizers are equipped with shelving filters):
a.) Low pass filter
b.) High pass filter
c.) Low shelf filter
d.) High shelf filter
But I will not apply boosting to bass guitar at any frequencies between 45Hz and 200 Hz.
I finally boost 250 Hz for bass guitar to make those notes more audible, I use Q of 2.0, and boost at 3dB.
As a rule the kick drum needs to be dip at around 250Hz to 400Hz with Q of 2~3, to remove this card board sound, this makes the bass guitar notes more audible as well as the distortion guitar.
What about other instruments??? It is simple. All instruments are to be applied with high pass filter or a low shelving filter at around 250Hz -6dB reduction.
This will make the bass frequencies 45Hz to 250Hz, a place just for bass guitar and kick drums.
What is the result? A heavy bass guitar sound typical for rock music.
The Pop Bass Guitar Sound Mix
This is very easy and simple to do. The principle is to avoid heavy bass sound to emphasize clarity, punch and elegance of vocals and guitar instruments. This is mostly applicable in pop music as well as country music.
The principle, how is this done?
The kick drum solely occupies the 45 to 150 Hz spectrum; this will make the kick drum sounds so fat and strong very catchy for pop music.
On the other hand, the bass guitar will rest at 200 Hz, it won’t produce strong bass but the bass guitar notes are highly audible and it will be there to support the song “groove”.
Specifically, the kick drum is boosted 6dB at 80Hz with Q of around 1.0. To prevent heavy muddiness which can affect clarity and airiness of pop music, both the kick and bass guitar are applied with high pass filter around 3dB reduction at 50Hz.
Also the bass guitar is applied with high pass filter (or low shelving) starting at 200 Hz, so it will attenuate frequencies below 200 Hz, making the sub woofer and the bass frequencies mainly composed of kick sound.
What about other instruments? Again a simple high pass filter or low shelf will be applied in all, as we do not need their bass frequencies to shine (such as electric guitar, acoustic guitar and vocals). I will set it at 250Hz, so below that frequencies, it will be attenuated. Take note that this is not one-fit-all EQ solution and you need to test and listen to the results. Some instrument do not sound good if you start shelving at 250Hz. For example a baritone guitar because of its lower frequency characteristics than electric guitar. So make sure you tweak the initial settings until it sounds perfect.
The result? A very clear and defined mix for bass, ideally for pop and country music.
If you need to hear audio samples implementing these concepts, you can listen under “My Works”. I am using Adobe Audition 1.5 or Reaper DAW for mixing bass guitar with the built-in parametric equalizer (can be found at Effects –> Filters –> Parametric equalizer). I also use Waves paragraphic EQ for most of my EQ adjustments.
EQ’ing bass correctly is only one part of the equation in arriving a great sounding mix. You still have a lot of work to do on your other instruments. You can read this tutorial for details on implementing EQ settings during mixing.
Panning bass guitar in the mix
As we all know, bass guitar frequencies are high energy in nature and occupies low and sub frequencies. They are very heavy and can take up the most space in your mix. This should consider when panning the bass. OK, let’s get started…
1.) First and foremost, the most important panning settings of bass guitar for rock and pop recording is usually in the center (“dead center”) of the stereo mix. If you are using audio mixing software, this setting corresponds to “0” in the pan settings.
2.) “0” means it is neither right nor left.
3.) Another good reason why you need to pan to the center is to avoid problems in mastering for vinyl. Read the “center the lows” section. Of course, this can make sense if your client is interested in distributing the final masters in vinyl.
4.) If you are panning the bass in either right or left, consider that its energy might diminish, as the loudest sound and energy are located in the center. There are times for creative reasons that you will pan the bass to either right or left such as in jazz or experimental music.
User-submitted suggestions about panning bass:
Panning bass can sometimes work. Particularly when there are multiple bass guitars in the mix. Rather unusual, but that’s the idea!
For bass drum my opinion is that it is best down the center. You can also try panning just the high end of the bass guitar(s) left or right while keeping the Low end centered. If the bass drum has some weight just make the bass guitar(s) a bit thinner than normal in the low end or carefully sculpt to taste. Using this basic idea you can even mix experimental music with more than one bass.
This is however not for the faint of heart. In my opinion it requires extra good timing to get it right. Definitely not recommended for dance or electronic music unless you do some heavy editing to get the timing perfect. (or if you want bad sound on purpose for effect)
If panning 2 bass sounds of any sort it might be best to try to balance that bass energy as much as possible so the entire bass energy is rather centered even if the bass instruments are not. It can be interesting if done with a bit of thought.
With the proper arrangement you can have 2 bass guitars and it can sound good but it’s not easy. That could be exactly what makes it worth trying! Anyone can pan bass guitar down the center. Try doubling, panning, delays, etc… If for no reason other than to see what it sounds like.
What about reverb and compression on bass?
As a rule, I do not apply reverb on bass because it can easily destroy the mix due to the undesirable audio characteristics of applying longer reverb tail on very low frequencies.
You can check out this tutorial to get some idea on bass compression techniques.
Thanks.
Content last updated on June 21, 2012