i make house. having trouble mixing the bottom end (kick and bass). read on other sites that its virtually impossible to really “hear” the sub and bass properly unless on a club system. they suggest looking at the bottom end with a spectrum analyzer…
what ways do you guys go about it? if the analyzer route, what should i be looking for? do you compare your mixes to others with an analyzer?
thanks
btw i use JBL 25ps. the bottom end isnt that great (down to 70db…) but thinking bout getting some KVR V6’s… when i heard you cant hear what you really need unless on a club system started to have second thoughts bout getting them… some say they mix the bottom end on headphones…??
i make house. having trouble mixing the bottom end (kick and bass). read on other sites that its virtually impossible to really “hear” the sub and bass properly unless on a club system. they suggest looking at the bottom end with a spectrum analyzer…
what ways do you guys go about it? if the analyzer route, what should i be looking for? do you compare your mixes to others with an analyzer?
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Personally speaking, the hardest part about creating a track is to get the bass and the kick to sit together nicely.
For sub bass, you will most likely have to use a spectral analyzer. I would throw a HPF so that its cutting off below 40 or 50 hz. But what I do is that if I have a deep kick, i have a higher bassline. If I have a really subby bassline, I have a higher kick with more energy. I find that you can have both, but they should not be hitting at the same time. Basically, there are too many variables and you are just gonna have to feel it out.
I do use an analyzer. But I don’t A/B with other tracks. i just try to get it to sound good I guess. There is more to it, but I just dont want to type all day…
[quote]jpgetty2win (12/02/2010)[hr]ye im aware of the conflicting frequencies problem higher kick lower bass etc but just wanted to know what to “LOOK” for on the spectrum analyzer.[/quote]
Dude, look for dips in the frequencies. If things clash, pull out your SA and find where they are clashing. Then use your parametric eq and put a notch where they are running into one another. Its common sense. Just practice and you will see what I am talking about.
lol sorry for spamming but Howie is right . some peple like their bass in the spectru analyzer to have High peaks like around 90 hz. but that also depends about your accustics in your studio . just compare other comercial tracks with your espectrum Analyzer and see where it peaks their bass and try to work around it .
see youve pointed out my problem in both your replies…
do i view them individually? kick then the bass and see where they conflict OR together and see the overall bass… which youd see when comparing to commercial tracks…
[quote]jpgetty2win (12/02/2010)[hr]do i view them individually? kick then the bass and see where they conflict OR together and see the overall bass… which youd see when comparing to commercial tracks…[/quote]
Yeah, individually. Because together, you will never see where the problem is. You will see the waveform combined, and that will do you absolutely no good.
For instance… Take your SA (spectral analyzer) and put it on a bass. you see that the primary frequency is 120hz. then you see that your kick is heavy in the 150 hz with heavy overlap in the 120hz region. Throw a EQ on the kick and cut at 120hz and the close areas so that each can shine without fighting for space.
[quote]howiegroove (12/02/2010)[hr][quote]jpgetty2win (12/02/2010)[hr]do i view them individually? kick then the bass and see where they conflict OR together and see the overall bass… which youd see when comparing to commercial tracks…[/quote]
Yeah, individually. Because together, you will never see where the problem is. You will see the waveform combined, and that will do you absolutely no good.
For instance… Take your SA (spectral analyzer) and put it on a bass. you see that the primary frequency is 120hz. then you see that your kick is heavy in the 150 hz with heavy overlap in the 120hz region. Throw a EQ on the kick and cut at 120hz and the close areas so that each can shine without fighting for space.
Hope this helps.[/quote]thanks for the reply. i understand the problems and ways to prevent frequency clashes but what im looking for is how to mix the sub (what we feel) in the club. any guidlines/tips on how much sub i should have (in the sa) in comparision to the bass frequencies. ie should there be more sub than bass for a good “sound” in the club? or more bass than sub…? get me?
As aline said get a comercial track that has nice subs and stick it through an analyzer and check the bass freq ie subs below 80 hz and look at the volume level for that area
wow… ive always thought 40hz was pushing it… but going up to 50hz i never thought i should go that high. around 60hz is the important sub aint it?
what SA do you use? i use the waves frequency one and also the ozone4 one. what do you call the SA’s that show the lines shooting up. as opposed to the ozone and waves one that shows the “horizontal” line that jumps about? wouldnt the shooting up lines analyzer be better for pinpointing frequencies? seeing as the other 2 show just an average frequency?
@op what audio interface are you using?i find a lot of posts like this one with people always suggesting spectrum analyzers and new monitors when 98 percent of the time the real problem is the a.i.it doesnt matter if you have genelecs if you use something like a m-audio soundcard is what im saying.
now this question keeps coming to me while im mixing a track and ive only just remembered to ask it while im out of “producer” mode (basically when im just messing online lol…)
when hpf the the low end at 40-50hz to get a clearer more defind (and louder) mix… what Q do you use? i obviously want to remove everything below the cutoff point but dont want to use a too great Q and get a peak at the COP especially at that frequency…
i think theres a trick using 2 eq’s at the same point with softer Q’s giving the same effect as with a hard Q but without the peaking.??
if anyones really having trouble getting the kick and bass to sit together properly it is more than likely a lowmid problem.focus on areas from about 125-400hz.
