Bass is too loud, tips???

[abletonfan777]

Been looking all over the internet, and I can produce fat, insane basslines. But its overpowering the crap outta the rest of the track, and detailed tips on how to fix this with the EQ eight, or would a limiter or compressor help best??? Any settings in these things you could recommend?? Very new this kinda problem.

[Winterpark]

maybe turn it down?


but seriously...

when you say it's overpowering the rest of the track, you need to clarify exactly what is happening ... it could be any number of things, and the solution could well be a limiter, eq or compressor... but it sort of depends on what the problem is.

maybe best thing to do would be provide a link?

[abletonfan777]

maybe turn it down?


but seriously...

when you say it's overpowering the rest of the track, you need to clarify exactly what is happening ... it could be any number of things, and the solution could well be a limiter, eq or compressor... but it sort of depends on what the problem is.

maybe best thing to do would be provide a link?

LOL I hate being the noob. Well I`ll have some ambient noise going around, and then I`ll loop some beat boxing, maybe some strings, and everything sounds good. But when I add the bass, it like it drowns out everything else, and its like well glad the bass sounds awesome, but ears would have to strain to hear the previous stuff in the track, and was just wanting to know good ways to approach the problem.

[invol]

Use EQ to cut out or attenuate some of the low frequencies and focus on the range that you need out of the bass sound. The general rule in electronic music is to decide whether you want the kick or bass to drive the sub woofer. They can overlap, of course, but pick one or the other.

A small amount of light compression can help tighten the bass up too. Even just 1 or 2 dB of reduction can help a lot.

Cheers,
Brian

[Winterpark]

maybe turn it down?


but seriously...

when you say it's overpowering the rest of the track, you need to clarify exactly what is happening ... it could be any number of things, and the solution could well be a limiter, eq or compressor... but it sort of depends on what the problem is.

maybe best thing to do would be provide a link?

LOL I hate being the noob. Well I`ll have some ambient noise going around, and then I`ll loop some beat boxing, maybe some strings, and everything sounds good. But when I add the bass, it like it drowns out everything else, and its like well glad the bass sounds awesome, but ears would have to strain to hear the previous stuff in the track, and was just wanting to know good ways to approach the problem.

sounds like you need a few general mix tips.

* sonically carve a place for all you parts. Think about what frequency bands you want a particular sound to sit in, and use subtractive EQ to make the 'sonic' room necessary.

* spacially find a place for each of your parts. This is not just about panning. Think about your mix as if it were on a sound stage. Place each element in it's own place on that 3D stage.

* use compression and limiting in the traditional way.... to even out parts that need evening out. Not everything needs compression... and sometimes a bit of gain automation with the utility plugin will give you better results.

* find the hero!... this is something i tell my students... I think I got the idea from Stav's Mixing with your mind book, which is awesome. Basically, what is the part you want people to listen to? if it's an insane bass part, then maybe it needs to be the focus, and you should mix the other parts around it?

[pencilrocket]

Been looking all ov......

Nice user name.

[Forge.]

remember - just because a sound is good on it's own, doesn't mean it will work in a mix

sometimes the 2nd or even 3rd harmonics can create just as much of a bassy sound as the fundamental, meaning you can cut some of the low on the bass so it doesn't interfere with the kick which could quite easily overlap with the fundamental frequencies of the bass - i.e. 55Hz is a pretty standard region for a kick drum to have a sub-bass thud, and it is also the fundamental frequency of the A string on a bass, but the 2nd harmonic (i.e. 110Hz) can still create a very bassy sound for the bass line

and +1 to what invol and am said

...and -1 to pencil rocket just because he's being his usual miserable self

[dru]

Room treatment.

[Mixikyr]

Deleted post.

[john gordon]

if i were you i would just make tracks with no bass in them..make it a new genre...you will be king!

[phonographiq]

I sometimes use a Utility with the width a bit over 100 for everything other than the bass. This will widen up the mix overall. Though this doesn't always work well, removes some of the harmonics and dynamics of everything else. This is more of a quick fix.

[oddstep]

if i were you i would just make tracks with no bass in them..make it a new genre...you will be king!

I say do the opposite. make music that is just bass, everything else is window dressing anyway - we all know this instinctively. If Mozart could have had 30K rigs pumping out test tones he wouldn't have wasted his time on all those violins an' shit.

[abletonfan777]

Alright thanks for the tips, working on quite a few technical difficulties as my setups gonna be a wee bit complicated, but I`ll get back to you on which tip helped most, THANKS!

For those irrelevant comments...you silly bastards

[nuxnamon]

add a sub to your monitors.. obviously your over compensating the lack of bass by turning up the bass track so much that it overpowers everything.. getting a sub will let you hear it and judge the low end better..
.. just kidding.. getting a sub will probably just make things worse..

but seriously, it's probably down to some eq'ing and compression.. getting that bass to just sit right within the mix and not overpowering everything while still having that punch.. get that and your set.. then give me a call cuz i need help in that area most times also..

but really, you should put up the track so people can actually hear what your problems are.. and then i think you'll get better and more precise responses

[Boss Level Music]

Bump cause I'm curious about some solutions also. I tend to end up with tracks that are way to bassy when played anywhere but my studio monitors. I feel like I'm slowly improving, but it's difficult to keep the levels balanced and retain fullness in the low end.

Extreme example: http://soundcloud.com/downthedog/islandvibe

Any tips/comments/critiques on achieving a better mix are welcomed.