EQ: How to eq kick and snare (so that it doesnt clash with bass)

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JungleFever

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Something Ive been struggleing with is EQ. I take out low ends the boost the high and it still clashes, I try drum default still clashes I take advice from taxman and pacso.. still clashes. :mad:

What am I doing wrong.
 
are your drums ducking in volume when ever your bass hits? not always an eq problem. if you have a limiter on your master channel, and your bass signal is too loud, your limiter will be working too hard and make your drums duck in volume when your bass hits, even if there eq'd properly
 
for all drum eq related queries i would try to find "Zeals drums tutorial" is a post from a good few years ago but it has everything covered with eqing each different part of the drums. which will definately assist u in getting the bass and drums to sit together and not clash.

---------- Post added at 13:07 ---------- Previous post was at 13:06 ----------

http://dnbforum.com/showthread.php?54070-ZEAL-DRUM-TUTORIAL-FOR-YOU-GUYS!

there ya go
 
when you say bass i take it you mean the sub bass? assumimg you're not overloading a limiter as previously mentioned, an issue that might need addressing is what notes you are writing your bassline in, as this will obviously determine the frequency content.

in the case of dnb i generally find that main basslines usually sit between 30 and 70 hz. kicks therefore work well if they're rolled off below 80 hz and boosted a little bit around 90-100 hz. this allows the sub to roll and the kick to punch through without the need for sidechaining. this is what i aim for anyway.

as for the snare, i tend to cut out anything below 150hz and boost around 200 hz, adding punch yet keeping it well separated from the kick. this is obviously nowhere near the sub bassline aswell so clashing shouldn't be an issue there. if however there's too much going on around 100 or 200hz on the lead synth then clashing might happen there instead, in which case eq/high pass that as required.
 
Mr Fletch said:
Sidechaining the bass to your kick can also help
Click to expand...

This.... If you take a listen to the track in my sig I sidechainded the growl bass (which i left low in the mix cause I wanted it more sub heavy) and sub to my kick...


General rule of thumb is around 100Hz for a nice thumpin kick and around 200hz for your snare unless you using a high pitched snare like I did in my sig track...
 
Just find what frequencies your kick and snares are hitting and dip them out in the bass with an EQ,
You can even dip the snare frequency from the kick,
I usually dip them by about -3db in a series EQ chain, with a nice Q amount to taste =]
 
imo Kicks very rarly need EQ beyond a low end roll off, EQ the Bass to sit with the Kick, use Sidechain to give the Bass a little space to pump inbetween the kicks, snares can be harder to EQ, only practice will get them sitting right, play around with Notch EQ and see how the sound changes when you take bits out, ranges that you might want to play with are 300-500, 500-800 and 1k-6k, but its very easy to make a weak snare by to much EQ, also be careful with your compression, diffrent drum kits require diffrent compression techniques, you may need to compress individual snare hits, or you might need to compress all the precussion together, or both and more, its all down to practise and learning the sound, eventually u'll know what needs doing, just keep at it and eventually it will click right :)

imo dont use limiters on your basslines unless you know exactly why you would need to use one, use the Filters, Envelope settings, EQ and carefull compression to get it sounding right, limiting is imo a creative choice when it comes to bass sound, but its not the easiest one to master and can very quickly turn a phat sound into a duck fart
 
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JungleFever said:
Something Ive been struggleing with is EQ. I take out low ends the boost the high and it still clashes, I try drum default still clashes I take advice from taxman and pacso.. still clashes. :mad:

What am I doing wrong.
Click to expand...

Just followed your soundcloud, you've come a little way from when you posted this hey! lol
 
JungleFever said:
Something Ive been struggleing with is EQ. I take out low ends the boost the high and it still clashes, I try drum default still clashes I take advice from taxman and pacso.. still clashes. :mad:

What am I doing wrong.
Click to expand...

Million ways to do it but what I find works for me is respecting the Kick/Snare frequencies

If you start with making the main drums make sure their not too way out from their natural home (like was mentioned ROUGHLY 100 and 200hz respectively) though they can both move about depending on what sound you want

Adding in the sub bass(s) soon after helps as that's always the problem area and mid and highs are easier to work around/sidechain

You can do it in reverse, start with some bass then drums but then you can end up with to much change in the drums thought the track which isn't ideal as drums are better constant, bass can move more frequency wise

Best to stick to a rule rather than getting too surgical with eqs and side chaining as you can destroy the intended sound
 
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