EQing bass

K

krease

Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2008
ok ive kinda been lazy and never really learnt about eq / frequencies, kinda just guessed it and got lucky.

now i made a bass yesterday with loads of processing / fx sounded sick in my headphones, i played it on a stereo and it sounded stink. the bass wasnt full enough and waws colliding with the sub bass / 808 bass

my question is, how do YOU eq bass and make weak sounding bass more full sounding, and stop it coliding with other bass which makes the whole thing sounds muddy / distorted

Krease.
 
crank the bass on my desk and amp and all and record it, lowpass it in the sampler, to make it big, and then subtract everything i dont want with digital eq, often multiple instances, afterwards. notch for kick and roll off.
 
logikz said:
crank the bass on my desk and amp and all and record it, lowpass it in the sampler, to make it big, and then subtract everything i dont want with digital eq, often multiple instances, afterwards. notch for kick and roll off.
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what freq ranges are we talking here? for the bass i mean.
 
transpose your sine bass to very low. lowest notes should hit somewhere around the 20-40hz octave. This way you cant really hear it but rather feel it, it's that gut-tickling feeling you get at clubs. this way its easier to separate more high-concentrated bass sounds from the sine. Highpass the other bass from around 50-70 so that they dont interfere, or even higher to give room for your kick drum at 70-120 (so peak the kick at for example 85hz and highpass the richer bass at 85 or 90 whatever sounds better). To be really sure nothing else interferes with your bass you could cut everything, incl kick, 2nd bass, synths etc. at around your kick peak area.

One other thing to remember when applying eq, that it's always better to reduce than add. This leads to a more relaxed sound i think.

HAppy EQ'ing!
 
Difficult to present an absolute answer for eqing anything....
as diffent sounds composed of differnet groupings of harmonics (called formants) this is what makes every sound
different... all you can really do i use your ears and a decent spectrum analyzer (i use voxengo span).....
there is no "text book" way to eq bass.... as with all dynamic
processors you will find you may need radically different
settings each time you use them (depending on the sound
you are treating) to achieve a weighty full warm bass sound...

Make sure you A-B your tune with a released full spectrum dance tune you like and think has good bass tone....

Make sure you use quality samples and VST's as not all
audio and plugs are of a professional standard....
cant polish a turd..... true...

Dont be afraid to re-process your sounds eq distort
filter etc... over and over again....

Side note... rediscovered the URS pultec emulation
on the weekend.... loving it.... Also cant get enough of
the sonnox EQ for surgical eq-ing... at least untill i can afford UAD 2... Also like the waves API and SSL eq's for a little colour.....

with love sook....x
 
LOL

99% of club and home systems dont reach the ranges you guys are talking about, ie 20hz...

Your sub a hitting best around 50hz, Kicks around 100hz, low snares around 200hz, all in mono and all highpassed to work with each other, ie high pass your kicks up the 55hz so they dont clash with sub, lowpass your sub to 50hz etc etc..
 
kama said:
transpose your sine bass to very low. lowest notes should hit somewhere around the 20-40hz octave. This way you cant really hear it but rather feel it, it's that gut-tickling feeling you get at clubs. this way its easier to separate more high-concentrated bass sounds from the sine. Highpass the other bass from around 50-70 so that they dont interfere, or even higher to give room for your kick drum at 70-120 (so peak the kick at for example 85hz and highpass the richer bass at 85 or 90 whatever sounds better). To be really sure nothing else interferes with your bass you could cut everything, incl kick, 2nd bass, synths etc. at around your kick peak area.

One other thing to remember when applying eq, that it's always better to reduce than add. This leads to a more relaxed sound i think.

HAppy EQ'ing!
Click to expand...


OMFG

Where did you learn to mixdown? Num nutz. If theres one thing i hate, it's know it all people who spread false infomation.

Using 20-40 freqeuncy range is un heard of. LOL

I suggest you do some more reading
 
So what's the frequency response of your monitors? My cheap Studio Spares pair go from 50Hz so how much am I actually missing (like how much is audible below 50Hz)

And from that, should I just be checking a spectrum analyser to make sure nothing is gettting to big below that point?
Excuse my noob question.
 
:andy:

Bass peaks around 50 - 95, even that’s debatable, but I swear on my cats ashes that I will never ever hi pass my main bass around 50 - 100 and leave my sub hitting at 20-40 loll.

Sub-bass is simple to make with no real room for flexibility and little/no processing.
People say hi pass this, eq that ,less is more in my opinion.

I am talking about that chest vibe feeling, i.e. sub-bass, not layering bass, which is a completely different subject.


:spam_sign
 
rare1982 said:
:andy:

Bass peaks around 50 - 95, even that’s debatable, but I swear on my cats ashes that I will never ever hi pass my main bass around 50 - 100 and leave my sub hitting at 20-40 loll.

Sub-bass is simple to make with no real room for flexibility and little/no processing.
People say hi pass this, eq that ,less is more in my opinion.

I am talking about that chest vibe feeling, i.e. sub-bass, not layering bass, which is a completely different subject.


:spam_sign
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Your right in saying Sub Bass should be simple, but saying not to high pass or eq or process it is rubbish.

Its the processing of each sound on your track that makes everything sit well together in the final mix down.
 
JamesZero said:
Your right in saying Sub Bass should be simple, but saying not to high pass or eq or process it is rubbish.

Its the processing of each sound on your track that makes everything sit well together in the final mix down.
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No s**t sherlock

Yea your right, was a bit vague, you will need to fit it into the mix of course, you can't just chuck it in there.

What I meant was over doing it, hence the words in the sentence LITTLE/no
 
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without steppin on anyones toes here lol from my understanding the human ear cannot detect anything under 30hz so u should cut any element in ur track (normally sub) below that frequency range so save valuable headroom

i agree with eq it comes down to the particular bass sounds ur using in ur tune, if i'm makin a separate sine sub bass i make a notch (as logikz mentioned earlier) with a sharp q around 80hz (or wherever my kick is peaking) to allow the 2 to sit better together, with separate mid basses (reeces etc) i take out some of the low frequencies so it doesn't clash with the sub :)
 
Thing is tho, we might not be able to hear anything below 20hz, but then sub bass isn't ment to be a harmonic sound.

If you go into a big club and you can feel the bass vibrating through you thats all the very low end.

I personally wouldn't high pass a sub bass at all, I would low pass it just to make sure nothing is interfearing with my mid range bass. Maybe some either eqs and bits, but i wouldnt just cut everythig off from 30hz and below...
 
JamesZero said:
Thing is tho, we might not be able to hear anything below 20hz, but then sub bass isn't ment to be a harmonic sound.

If you go into a big club and you can feel the bass vibrating through you thats all the very low end.

I personally wouldn't high pass a sub bass at all, I would low pass it just to make sure nothing is interfearing with my mid range bass. Maybe some either eqs and bits, but i wouldnt just cut everythig off from 30hz and below...
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ez matey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_9mb4YpBUk

will disagree with you, also have u seen the mistabishi mastering tutorial on u tube?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD_yquqj3Qg&feature=related

for vinyl he cuts around 30hz on the bottom end and 15Kish on the top end ;)

for me personally a peak around 50hz for the sub is ideal to get that nice phat low sound :D
 
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