Controlling Muddy bass

[lemonpai]

I'm basically a musician, not an engineer, and am facing problems with the bass content in my mixes, if I have enough bass it muddies the mix, and can't find a satisfying way of Eqying it. got better than I used, but still I'm not satisfyied. Any advice? TIA

[Artur Meinild]

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1001637

[lemonpai]

Thanks a lot. Great info there, I'll put the concept to work right this afternoon!

[where02190]

Tell us more about your setup, and specifics about the recording chain.

[philbo]

If it's a matter of getting good bass sound during tracking, there are lots of variables to play with:

- Room

- Position in the room

- mic vs. direct vs. both

- mic type

- mic distance from sound source

- amp/speaker chain (assuming elec. bass or keyboard)

(there's lots more, but this is a start)

 

If it's a matter of EQing already recorded stuff, here's what I do:

Set a parametric EQ to have a narrow band boost (say, Q=8, and boost=+3 db or so).

Now sweep the EQ frequency from 20 to 300 slowly, and listen for the point where the bass muddiness gets to it's worst.

 

Now change the boost to a cut, and adjust the Q to taste.

 

I often find the mud lives around 170 Hz, but your milage may vary...

[FIL-JONES]

hi , I always record my Bass flat with just slight compression to stop distortion direct into the mixer. from there I just eq it up, bit more compression in the mix and effect if needed, say slight chorus.. but not too much..

 

I'd agree that the muddy sound of the bass is around the 150hz to 250 hz .. back it off by -3dB or so..

 

FIL

[Anderton]

I'll say it again: Check your acoustics.

 

BTW I notice in a lot of recordings I get for mastering, the bass response is anything but smooth -- severe peaks and dips caused by room acoustics. Smoothing that out helps a lot; you get more "feel" of bass AND less mud.

[Lee Knight]

 

Originally posted by Anderton I'll say it again: Check your acoustics. BTW I notice in a lot of recordings I get for mastering, the bass response is anything but smooth -- severe peaks and dips caused by room acoustics. Smoothing that out helps a lot; you get more "feel" of bass AND less mud.

 

 

HarBal

[lemonpai]

I tried Artur's advice and (as you already know!) it worked wonders. I think by some answers that I wasn`t specific enough. Blame my lousy english :-)

I was referring to a problem in the bass region, not just the instrument.

We try to get as good a sound as possible , but it's a project studio, which means room acoustics are not perfect, often we work with loaned equipment (say, a really good mic) so we have to work quickly, it's not uncommon to record people that just can't afford to get new strings for each session, lots of different problems that mean: fix it in the mix. I know, you can't fix it all in the mix, but down here it's fact of life for most project studios. I think we get decent results on mos, but find the issue of bass response a major difference between our mixes and those that come out of pro studios (with pro engineers, not a guitarist like myself...).

Anyway, thanks for all the responses, been subsribed for just a few hours and already getting some lot of info! A big thank you to you all!

Regards,

[Anderton]

 

A big thank you to you all!

 

 

De nada, amigo!