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I went to a studio yesterday to mix a song and after a sound engineer made a quick mastering with maxbass, Req, and ultramaximiser, and limiter.

When we were in the studio I did notice that the basses were not compltely tight but when i took it home on my lowfi speakers,
it sounded really strange
Much too much bass, I ran on my PC and took away around 50hz and 250 hz which made the mix come through (almost) the way It was in the studio.

Anyway i presume that the problem was accumulation of bass coming from several instruments, there was a clean guitar that was all over the chorus in a whoomy resonant way

what do you listen for and how do you get it tight so that it works on the lowfi too? thnx

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TrilliumSound Mon, 01/24/2005 - 13:29

Hi,

I suspect that the studio does not have an accurate monitoring or your low-fi chain is boosting the bass.

How does it sounds somewhere else ? Still boomy or too much bass? Then again, I would suspect the monitoring system at the studio and the translation at the LF's are not reflecting the reality.

Regards

Richard

Michael Fossenkemper Mon, 01/24/2005 - 13:35

Well, it could be a couple of things. 1, the engineer wasn't listening on full range speakers and therefore was making adjustments that couldn't be heard in their room. 2) the monitors they were using were low end light and when you take it out of the room the mix sounds low end heavy. 3) your monitors are low end heavy. If you know your monitors very well and you like what other material sounds like on them, then I would suspect the monitors they were using.

I also wouldn't use maxbass on a mix, asking for trouble. In fact I wouldn't put any of what you listed on a mix in a mastering sort of way.

anonymous Mon, 01/24/2005 - 15:46

The studiospeakers are M-audios , not the smallest but the model over that that cost about 600E

My lowfi speakers are JBL cheap PC speakers

The voice sounded abit like a blanket had been put over it too.
Very strange.

I will try to get back and 're'mix it , I did tell him that the Req was a potential phase issue ....
Thanks :)

Michael Fossenkemper Mon, 01/24/2005 - 21:13

then Ren eq probably wouldn't be the problem. I would say that it's the monitors. If you are looking for a polished finalized project, M-audio monitors wouldn't be my first choice, well the probably wouldn't make my top 30. I would say cooking the mix too much on less than great monitors is the problem. If you can, post a sample so we can take a listen and give you more accurate advice.

anonymous Tue, 01/25/2005 - 07:59

LittleDogAudio wrote: Using Maxxbass for mastering is a really bad idea.
Go back and try it again and slap his/her hand if thewy reach for the Maxxbass again.

Chris

Maxxbass is a decent tool even for mastering (Bob Katz even mentions it in his book) but its one of those tools that are abused. It boosts the harmonics content in low frequencies so that low bass translate to small speaker systems. Its really common for someone who doesnt know how it translates to overdo it.

Unfortunately if you are stuck with a mix that has been maxxbassed too much, just trying to eq down the bass is not going to fix the root of the problem. Maybe the engineer should try again with little or no maxxbass.

therecordingart Tue, 01/25/2005 - 22:38

I don't master because I don't know how...I'll be honest. I don't feel I have the ears...yet. Also, I refuse to apply an effect, plugin, or anything until I've listened to a dry rough mix on several different sources and can confirm that what I'm hearing on my monitors is close to what I'm hearing on the other sources. Then I can kinda create a game plan of what I need to do to create the vision I've got in my head. Is it a pain-staking task...yes...but it minimizes the fixes that need to be done later that can be a royal pain. There is nothing worse than getting a mix where you think it should be and something as little as a kick being to loud throws
off the bass after you fix the kick. Then you fix the bass and then the guitars don't sound right....then vocals don't fit.....crap rolls down hill and you realize that the mix wasn't there to begin with. Maybe thats only happened to me since I am a newbie?!?

How this pertains to the original post....I don't know....I just thought it kinda made sense in the respect that if you throw something in the signal chain without confirming how that piece of audio translates dry....you're asking for trouble. Now I agree with the other respones....the problem began with either the monitors, the enviroment, or user error.