Human Mistakes

[The_Metallurgist]

The Kick should have a HP-filter at about 30Hz~, but a boost at about 60-80Hz~ as well as some highs to make the Kick noticable on smaller speakers.

as most consumer speakers have never heard of sub 80Hz, it's probably wiser to low-cut all your bass content at 40Hz, and make it as steep and aggressive as you can. -36dB/octave or more, applying the same filter on the GB is also a recommendation you'd be wise to employ...and even smack one on the stereo buss while you are at it.

now this 40Hz thing pre-supposes that you are using a kick that lends itself to a cut at this point. you need to use your ears to make the judgement call, and for that you need top monitors and an appropriately treated larger room. this puts it beyond the abilities of many financially challenged musicians, and not just musicians, i hasten to add! so, what to do? use spectral graphics to assistance in deriving energy and density levels. a pair of 2-way Harvey Wallbangers won't do it.

there's a joker in this forum who tried to show his vast superior knowledge and skill by suggesting my ears should be making the decisions, not my eyes. well, it's my brain that makes the decisions, NOT my ears. if i only used what my ears told me, i'd immediately be limiting my ability to assess things by 50 percent, and that's assuming my ears are telling my brain what is REALLY going on, WHICH IT ISN'T!!!! of course, he doesn't know that 60 percent of what you hear from your monitors is actually the room you are hearing, not the mix!!!!! lol

be mindful that most small and even medium sized rooms just don't do bass levels well (show me your waterfall chart), so what you are hearing ain't likely to be what is really happening in your mix. this is where your eyes can help your brain make the judgement...because your ears WILL BE throwing you all over the place if left to their own devices......

you might not think 10Hz isn't much of a difference between 30Hz and 40Hz, but it's the same drama as 12,000Hz is from 16,000Hz!!!!! both are half an octave.

with consumer gear again in mind, boosting at 60Hz or even 80Hz is seriously bad news if you know anything about speakers! what you need is power from the kick, and this comes a bit higher up in the harmonics, around 120Hz, depending on your choice of kick. if you get the power right, and hit the appropriate frequency, small speakers will deliver it by default, because the harmonics associated with this frequency will likewise get the benefit. QED.

the attack of the kick can be found somewhere around 1,000-3000Hz, and a boost around here to suit your tastes, will make a big difference.

all this talk about boosting is for kids, however!!!!! you can achieve more power by cutting in the right places. this is IMPERATIVE if you wish to keep your mixes clear. then you can crank the fader up and not cause speaker distortion by over-stressing the woofers.

the word here that's missing, is "bandwidth". if a speaker can't handle delivering sub frequencies or bass in general, it won't stop it from trying. and in doing so, it will lose mid-range focus and cloud the mix up as well as suck the "loudness" out.

if you know anyone with yamaha NS10's, feed it some sub material and view the woofer sideways on. you will see it pumping it's heart out, but you won't hear a darn thing! but any bass-handicapped speaker will show you this, just that NS10's do it so well! understand?

i intentionally mix with my Focals low cut at 80Hz so i can see and hear immediately when things aren't right...and if i want to check sub bass delivery, i switch the sub woofer into the 2.1 arrangement from my desk - 2 mouse clicks. i rarely put the sub on.....normally it's towards the end of the mix process. you need to find what works best for you. my final arrangement took years and many journey's down blind alleys.

Aside from that, the Bass itself is intended to be phat as well, so no low-cutting there! Instead, I sometimes even boost the entire sub-area by 3-5 dB if I think the highs are at a comfortable level but I need more subs.

maybe it's because you don't understand audio and use KRK's? lol

Last but not least: Try doing some sidechaining on the Bass, oriented by the Kick. Since both are bass-instruments, they fight against each other.

i agree and disagree. it depends on what frequencies you are talking about. merely smacking a sidechain on an instrument is a novice's approach. what you need to do, is sidechain ONLY the frequencies that are truly masking....and that's NOT all of them. of course, if you want the full sidechain pumping effect on a bass instrument, then you want the whole instrument to be affected, not just it's low end. you need to approach each situation individually, of course - it's not a one-size-fits-all thang.

the deep thinkers among you, will take this idea and apply it elsewhere in your mixing and dominate the world, the rest will form the lower ranks of the pyramid

Hasta'
Dave