Mixing in Bass?

T

Timmm3

New Metal Member
Apr 13, 2009
18
0
1
Hi!

until now i always just recorded with E-Guitar, Drums and Vocals, but today i got a electric bass borrowed for recording it more professional.

But how do i mix that in?

1 Take mono? Reverb? Compression? other stuff?
or double tracking it and panning l/r?

How is it done properly?
my test with 1 track mono without FX was aready quite good.
I do not want to do anything false like i did some years ago with guitars ( i double tracked with reverb and panned them both center *weak*)

If thats of matter: i do heavy stuff like whitechapel or something.
Rhythm Gits are double tracked and panned 100% l/r.

Thanks!!
 
Bass down the center, mono, heavy compression to even it out. Cut around 60-80hz for kick drum, boost around 1.7khz for grind. High pass around 40hz. Most people use an amp simulator. If you have a sansamp, or can get one (for outboard work) they're great. Ampeg SVX seems to be the most liked processor for bass as a plugin.

Double track guitars, pan hard right and left, use little to no reverb depending on the style. high pass guitars around 80hz.
 
lolzgreg said:
Bass down the center, mono, heavy compression to even it out. Cut around 60-80hz for kick drum, boost around 1.7khz for grind. High pass around 40hz. Most people use an amp simulator. If you have a sansamp, or can get one (for outboard work) they're great. Ampeg SVX seems to be the most liked processor for bass as a plugin.

Double track guitars, pan hard right and left, use little to no reverb depending on the style. high pass guitars around 80hz.
Click to expand...

+1
I like Ampeg SVX a lot! As far as mixing the bass into the song, I like to start by soloing it out along with the guitars. This can help to make sure your guitars aren't pushing too much low-end and burying a good bass track. Once I get those blended nicely, I'll solo the Kick drum as well, to check and see if the Bass and Kick are fighting each other at all. If they need some help, I'll generally use side-chain comp.

As far as FX, I never use any on the bass. If there is a break where the bass is carrying on by itself, then I may look for something to put on that part, like verb or chorus, but only if the song really calls for it.
 
thanks!

that helps me much.

But another question came up: i never recorded bass before so, when i do a full powerchord (3 strings) palm mute with e-Guitar.

Should i do a single string palm mute on bass or 2 or 3 string palm mute?
As i think bass is always 1 string action, or not?
i could check it out and compare the results myself of course but im lazy and you can probably tell it to me so i do not have to track that much.
Or should i play normal (not palm muted) on the bass when guitar does a mute?
i just listened to LoG Producer Edition Bass trakck and that sounded like no palm mztes on bass at all?
hm you see i have no idea about playing bass... yet ;)

Thanks
 
Timmm3 said:
thanks!

that helps me much.

But another question came up: i never recorded bass before so, when i do a full powerchord (3 strings) palm mute with e-Guitar.

Should i do a single string palm mute on bass or 2 or 3 string palm mute?
As i think bass is always 1 string action, or not?
i could check it out and compare the results myself of course but im lazy and you can probably tell it to me so i do not have to track that much.
Or should i play normal (not palm muted) on the bass when guitar does a mute?
i just listened to LoG Producer Edition Bass trakck and that sounded like no palm mztes on bass at all?
hm you see i have no idea about playing bass... yet ;)

Thanks
Click to expand...

General rule of thumb is that bass is a monophonic instrument, guitar is polyphonic. So for example if the guitar plays Em7-chord, the bass plays just E-note
 
or you could play note after note of the chord.
I did stuff like that in a "prog-black-metal" band I played in, or played the root note
and than an octave higher and stuff like that.
Sometimes it sounds cool if you strum the chord, too.
I pop chords sometimes with 3 fingers to get a more percussive sound out of it.
But this doesn't work for all material.
For technical death metal I would go for the "one-note-method" because it will be hard
to seperate the bass from the other instruments.
 
General rule of thumb is that bass is a monophonic instrument, guitar is polyphonic. So for example if the guitar plays Em7-chord, the bass plays just E-note
Click to expand...

yea man if the guitars are chugging away at power chords and the bass is doing the same, shit's gonna get muddied up QUICK

that's not to say you can't play chords on a bass - a lot of people do this and make it sound awesome, but you're only really going to be able to pull it off if the guitars aren't going all nuts and shit at the same time
 
Timmm3 said:
thanks!

that helps me much.

But another question came up: i never recorded bass before so, when i do a full powerchord (3 strings) palm mute with e-Guitar.

Should i do a single string palm mute on bass or 2 or 3 string palm mute?
As i think bass is always 1 string action, or not?
i could check it out and compare the results myself of course but im lazy and you can probably tell it to me so i do not have to track that much.
Or should i play normal (not palm muted) on the bass when guitar does a mute?
i just listened to LoG Producer Edition Bass trakck and that sounded like no palm mztes on bass at all?
hm you see i have no idea about playing bass... yet ;)

Thanks
Click to expand...

if your going to do complex bass chords of anykind such as primus/chili peppers ect. you should make the guitar simple.

apposed a bass just playing an E while the guitar is doing a chord, do it vice versa :)

good luck man:saint:
 
LeSedna said:
How can you record seriously something without knowing much about bass in term of songwriting ??
Click to expand...

gotta start somewhere. chances are, it'll open up a whole new world of songwriting using bass to him.

on another note - why don't more people use keys? seems like the use of a piano/keyboard would be essential in songwriting, but hardly anyone seems to use them, or at least incorporate them into their tunes. just bass, guitar, drums. gets kinda mundane after awhile.
 
exactly
you hear about random tales of 80's and 90's musicians and/or engineers doing shit the wrong way and end up making a new trend, or even something completley new that everyone will love or respect. even if it seems dumb
or
kind of like a bad singer. and that was then an inspiration to making punk.
im not saying thats how punk was made..but you get the idea.

I dont think its right to bash anybody on their technique or how they do it.
even if it seems odd.

try everything you can in your power, timmm3.
try anything that is possible. thats what music is all about. being creative. fuck the rules
 
Bottom line, if it sounds good, then it's legit. There aren't really rules to playing bass, but you need to make sure it sounds clear and even.
For instance, if the guitars are playing traditional clean chords, then more complicated bass lines can really shine through. if you're doing a whole bunch of chugging on the guitars, then a bass guitar playing funky slap-pop complex stuff under it probably won't sound good.
however, there are exceptions to this and every rule, depending on how you mix and arrange it (I think, for example, in Tool's song Jambi there's a part where the guitars are chugging, but the bass is going nuts with a whole bunch of effects and notes, yet it still sounds good)
 
Cut was has been boosted in the guitar chain and boost what has be cut with the bass. You dont need any dramatic compression unless there is a serious difference in picking which is bring the level to dynamically. Mix the bass to the guitar tracks on solo tends to help get it to support the rhythm guitars aswell. Consider multiband comping the bass between 90Hz and 170Hz to keep the high end on the fret board from resonating to much harmonically.

Also unless you have a super rich and sweet sounding live room, preferably with wooden floor, i would stick to recording with a DI'ed track and through an amp and room ambience simulator.
 
thanks for all your help!

yesterday i recorded some test takes again and it came out pretty good.

At least better than without any bass :)
 
sorry, i havent even recorded a good take yet, its unsolid.

But i will post the song when it sounds a bit better than now.

greetings tim
 
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