Hi,
I've had previous success with actually cutting the kick mostly from that area and instead giving it a punch at about a 2k or a little below. I'll give the kick a little around 400 just to reinforce it, but mostly I'll rely on the punch at the higher end to cut through. Keep in mind the kick drum usually is higher in frequency, period, than a bass guitar, so you'll want to keep it higher up where it belongs, and let the bass guitar be lower.

For me it's a decision of whether to let the bass or the kick to dominate that area, and for me and the type of music I play and record bass has higher priority to fill in the lows. I think it can be mostly dependant on what kind of music you're dealing with, if its a rumbling low bass guitar like in rock/metal or a twangy slap bass like in funk. If its the first, then you'll want a higher-end punch for the bass like I described; the latter, a more boomy low-end thump.

If you want to know how to add that punchy thump to kick, you might want to look at this thread: https://recording.o…

Also, adding a bit of reverb even if the kick isn't in the highs will make it cut through more and hopefully reduce muddiness. But most interestingly most of the commercial music I listen to that's metal/rock covers the kick pretty thoroughly; you can't hear it well at all and usually when you can it's very delicate and buried in the mix. I'm not that experienced and I'm sure a more educated expert that roams these forums could fill you in more, but I thought I'd let you know what works for me.

Ben

A lot depends on the kick and bass being tracked, you have to find the particular "mud" frequency for that instrument. There are kicks from 19" to 26", they all sound different. You'll get a tighter sound in the low end using a parametric and notching the fundamental frequency. If you're working in digital, bandwidth can go down to 5Hz. That doesn't mean your ears or monitors will hear it directly, but it will certainly contribute to the mud via subharmonic coloring, so stay away from low frequency shelving boosts. I usually find the "click" sound, if needed or wanted, on a kick at around 3k, but again, it's up to the sound of the instrument. Look for the mud by using a parametric with a narrow Q and a high gain setting, and sweep through the low mids (don't forget to turn your monitor levels down first). It will stick out like a sore thumb. Then cut at that frequency and experiment with opening up the Q until you get the right blend of clarity without losing all the low mids.

sneak wrote: Hi,

I was wondering how you guys eq the "mud" area from 200 Hz to about 500 Hz ? Like give the basskick a cut around 400 Hz , and boost the bassguitar there, or cut bassguitar around 100 Hz and boost the basskick there for example.
So which space do you give your instruments in that "trouble" area ?

Thank you in advance.

How I approach the "problem" if there is one will depend on a lot of things.....the song, the mood of the song, the instruments and their freq response etc etc.

If your having "Mudd" problems you can try things like high pass filters set to 50 hz for the kick and 30-40 hz for the bass. Also knotching out a spot in the bass for the kick helps bring the kick through. You can also high pass filter the guitars around 120hz because they don't need to be occupying freq's that the bass and kick are occupying.....

Cutting the 400-600 region will cure any "boxy" problems your having....

I know this EQ area can be problems for many, myself included. I think there is alot of good sonic power and energy in that range and it is a mistake to cut that frequency on too many instruments. If you are going to cut on several instruments, stagger the areas you are cutting, 200 on one, 300 on another etc.

A long time ago I raised a similar question and was told that a gentle (i.e. less than -2 dB) suckout at approximately 105 Hz would do wonders for good bass sound without taking away the power of the bass and it has been working well for me. I use the Waves plug in and do a gentle reduction between appoximately 90 and 110 Hz with the equalizer and it improves the overall bass sound especially if it is being played on devices such as boom boxes.

Hope this helps.

-TOM-