Bass and Kick

Igor L · Post by **Igor L** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:43 pm

Anyone, particulary the dance/hip-hop guys, have any tips on getting the bass and kick to gel in a mix?

Thanks in advance.

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:11 pm

Very careful adjustment of relative levels.
Sidechain compression on the bass fed by the kick
I like to run the kick + bass through vintage warmer to compress them together...really helps them to gel.

Igor L · Post by **Igor L** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:35 pm

How about EQ? Do you roll off any low frequencies for either of these elements so they don't clash?

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:55 pm

I use sidechain compression on the bassline to keep the bass and kick from stepping on each other. Then I use EQ to help them create a complimentary balance. That may involve cutting some low frequency from one or the other, but it totally depends on the style of music. I write a lot of psytrance basslines, which tend to be bass heavy, so I leave the sub in both the kick and bass. The kick and bass never play at the same time though, so there's no clash.

One technique I've been working with lately is to mix in a sine wave at the same frequency as the bassline fundamental, but phase shifted 180 degrees or so, instead of using a filter or EQ to trim sub-bass. This way I can have total control over the volume of the fundamental without affecting any of the harmonics - in effect, shifting the energy from the fundamental to the harmonics a bit.

If the kick + bass ends up sounding like a continuous low frequency hum, without "bounce" or "punch", then I might use EQ to trim some low frequency from one or the other, to create contrast. I like sidechain compression for that, but sometimes you might not want the pumping of compression, in which case EQ would work better.

Sorry for the confusing response!

morerecords · Post by **morerecords** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 7:49 pm

hey just curious, why flip the phase on the fundamnetal?

knotkranky · Post by **knotkranky** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:32 pm

Zoom in close and make sure the kick is in front of the bass a bit. Bass in front of kick will fluff the impact. Be careful to not phase out the bass and kick freqs. generally, kick is tighter and the bass goes lower. Key makes a huge dif too. Busy kicks should not have huge lows either. That's all general stuff btw, not rules.

fatrabbit · Post by **fatrabbit** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:25 pm

Send both the bass and the kick to another channel and apply a limiter.

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:54 am

morerecords wrote:hey just curious, why flip the phase on the fundamnetal?

The more you mix in the phase-inverted sine wave with the bassline, the more it cancels out the fundamental of the bassline.

Say the bassline is a saw wave at A1....that's 55 Hz, which is pretty deep sub bass. The next harmonic is at 110 Hz, which is almost out of the sub bass range altogether. Therefore, the sub bass frequencies reside almost entirely with the fundamental, and mixing in the phase-inverted since wave allows precise control of the sub bass without affecting the upper harmonics.

I also like Galbanum's Architecture Waveforms for precise bassline work. They have additive waveforms where you can have just the first 5 harmoics of a saw wave, for example, or fundamental + 8th harmonic, whatever. Neat.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:58 am

if you can't handle bass then you need a stronger rod and at least 8 lb test.