Bass (in a mix) question.

[UstadKhanAli]

he cut 400 - 800 hz region, may be 400-1k, trying to make space for some of the "body" in guitars. but even then, when i listened to the band in the room, guitars were pretty huge; as soon, as the bass kicked in, it sort of masked everything from like 700 hz and below, and guitars were getting somewhat cardboard-ish sounding. i am not sure if it makes any sense, though

So you could consider either dipping the guitars in that range, or using a shelving EQ to lower the EQ of the guitars below, say, 700Hz.

There's a few things that you could do here, but that's one that you could experiment with.

[CN Fletcher]

Wow... hell of a thread!!

Cutting 800Hz on a bass track is one of the recipes for "no bass definition suicide"... same with cutting 250Hz.

Someone mentioned that it seemed that your bass and kik drum were centering about 70Hz. Pick one, find another place to center the other instrument. Sometimes you bass wants to sit under the kik fundemental... sometimes over your kik fundemental... putting both in the same range takes a hell of a lot of 'advanced finesse' [which from reading this] I don't think you have the skills to attempt quite yet.

It also sounds like you are probably encountering phasing problems from the 3 tracks. If you can get your hands on a Littlelabs IBP [in Between Phase] tool you could actually do a "re-amp" where you alter the phase of the bass signal on the way TO the amp so the two sounds line up like a happy couple when you go to mix [3 is an unholy nightmare of doom I would suggest you avoid at all costs... at any skill level!!].

If you don't want to try the re-amp route then the IBP Jr. [no re-amp or DI function] could be a good route... or the UA "IBP Phase Tool Plug In" might be worthy of investigation [which is a pretty decent way to go if you feel compelled to limit your capabilities to plug-ins... which would be an unfortunate, though "cost effective" solution]

[flatfinger]

http://www.voxengo.com/product/pha979/

 

 

3 basses, Ouch!!.... If you just had 2 , one D.I. and one with a mic 3 feet from the amp , you could use the 1 millisecound for every foot rule , and , start out by nudging your D.I. track back 3 millisecounds ...problem is that a nudge that big might get phasey with a jaco type of sound ( lots of presence )

 

The plug in link above is a linear phase design (like a mastering eq) so it's not messing up anything temporaly , just shifts phase by degrees.... but it's not something I leave on a track because it introduces some latency because of the LP design (freeze and remove )....

[loner22]

re phase alignment, and bass tracks:

the bassist played live, but we only tracked the DI signal. when the recording was finished, DI track was re-amped through the Ampeg rig mentioned above, which was close miked with two mics, d112 and octava condenser. so, basically, it's ONE bass track, just three flavours. i zoom in and nudge the tracks till phase lines up in my multitrack, so i am pretty sure the bass signals are in phase; of course, there might be a problem with what have bled into drum overheads, etc, but i don't think so.

just to make it clear =)

[Jimbroni]

 

re phase alignment, and bass tracks: the bassist played live, but we only tracked the DI signal. when the recording was finished, DI track was re-amped through the Ampeg rig mentioned above, which was close miked with two mics, d112 and octava condenser. so, basically, it's ONE bass track, just three flavours. i zoom in and nudge the tracks till phase lines up in my multitrack, so i am pretty sure the bass signals are in phase; of course, there might be a problem with what have bled into drum overheads, etc, but i don't think so. just to make it clear =)

 

 

If you reamped the bass, why not just do the reamp over. Except this time take the knobs on the ampeg and turn all the eq knobs to flat. Take a listen to how it blends and then make SLIGHT adjustments on the amp. Like take bass knob down a click or two, and the high knob up a click or two. Or Leave the high flat and bump the mids a click or two.

[loner22]

sure, that always is an option.
btw, i finally have a sort of "final" mix, so i'll post a sample later today

[Reauchambeau]

try re-amping through a 4x12 cab, I use a 1960b with G12t-75's, and a guitar head like a Marshall Super Lead, or Hiwatt DR-103. nice crunchy mids, very Lemmyesque, or it can be clean too. the bottom end will be covered by the DI of course. it may conflict with the guitards ego though, because you'll actually be able to hear the bass.

[weeman]

my 2cents. Bass is a mono centre mix instrument and has its place in a mix via tonality. if your mixing metal you want the bass too basically sit bennif "incorrect spelling" the guitars but above the kick i like to HP my bass at 80hz to remove all that sh*t which confuses me. I would deffinetly select one of the 3 sources to work from rather than mixing or blending 2 together. Just deactivate the alternate tracks or delete them chances are if its not good at the start blending it with something equaly crap wont help it but personally i prefer good bass pre-amps like the sansamp.

[loner22]

thanks
here's a sample of what i did
bass is HPF @ 70 HZ, guitars HPF 200 Hz

new mix, 13 seconds, 450 kb

and another version, nearly identical, but no high pass filters on gtr and bass

no HPF version, 450 kbs

edit: and oh, i forgot to add - i still tried to keep the miked bass, but it's mailnly d112 now and it has a severe boost of 10 dB :facepalm: @ 850 Hz

[Kyle DiSanto]

A few things...

3 Tracks..Are they in Phase?
Proper Compression. Tighten up your lowend.

[Lee Knight]

That sounds better but it's still indistinct.

If you're going to favor the D112 you might try using a bell curve at 70Hz and bring that down on the bass. I know that seems counterintuitive but that track is really just a big ass bump at 70 and not much else. So yeah, boost at 800 but try rolling off at 70 too. Once you bring the level back up after taking out some 70 you might start hearing more of what you're after.

And don't forget a low E note on the bass guitar is around 40 Hz. Don't go too steep on your HPF. I'd bring the HPF down to 30 or 40Hz maybe then roll back 70 with a bell a little. Then... boost 800-900 to taste.