I am working on some material and having one hell of time trying to get a good bass sound...how do i know whats gonna sounds good in the mix after i lay everythinge else down?. .any tips?
Bass is always the troubled child. Here are a couple of ideas:
1. Don't add a bunch of low EQ from your bass or Eden head, there's enough natural energy there already. Try recording flat.
2. Use new or clean strings. They'll help with definition in the upper mids.
3. Playing technique......play as consistantly as you can level-wise.
4. During mixing, roll off below 30Hz at 12db/octave. Everything down there will add mostly mud. Do this for bass and the entire mix. Define the fundamental frequencies of the kick drum and bass in unique places, ie; 70Hz for kick, 90Hz for bass. Use tight bandwidths for these fundamentals. Create a secondary energy zone between 180-350Hz for the bass and be careful to watch for overlap with snare, toms, guitar tracks, vocals, reverb. Add some definition by gently boosting mids around 2 to3k. Add some punch with a decent compressor by using a ratio of 3 or 4:1 with a medium attack speed and quick release (5 to 10msec)
5. Possibly the most important.......if you're recording at home, tune your room with some bass traps. It's very hard to get good bass sounds if you can't accurately hear what's happening.
Bass is always the troubled child. Here are a couple of ideas:
Bass is always the troubled child. Here are a couple of ideas:
1. Don't add a bunch of low EQ from your bass or Eden head, there's enough natural energy there already. Try recording flat.
2. Use new or clean strings. They'll help with definition in the upper mids.
3. Playing technique......play as consistantly as you can level-wise.
4. During mixing, roll off below 30Hz at 12db/octave. Everything down there will add mostly mud. Do this for bass and the entire mix. Define the fundamental frequencies of the kick drum and bass in unique places, ie; 70Hz for kick, 90Hz for bass. Use tight bandwidths for these fundamentals. Create a secondary energy zone between 180-350Hz for the bass and be careful to watch for overlap with snare, toms, guitar tracks, vocals, reverb. Add some definition by gently boosting mids around 2 to3k. Add some punch with a decent compressor by using a ratio of 3 or 4:1 with a medium attack speed and quick release (5 to 10msec)
5. Possibly the most important.......if you're recording at home, tune your room with some bass traps. It's very hard to get good bass sounds if you can't accurately hear what's happening.
Hope some of this is helpful, good luck with it.