Bass tone test for my album - rate/feedback please!

[Erkan]

Hey all!

Time for a little update. Guitars are tracked and I'm editing them a little bit in between things whenever I get time. Right now the main thing is bass guitar along with vocals. Initially, another dude was supposed to play the bass but I tried his bass and I could actually play the parts myself without them sounding too bad and I got his approval so it does feel alright.

Anyway, I thought I'd post a clip now for some feedback. I'm not really too worried about how it sounds right now but I still tried to dial in a tone that is in the ballpark for my music. I think I found it somewhat, but what do you think?

One riff, loops 3 times. Loop 1 = no bass guitar, Loop 2 = with bass guitar, Loop 3 = solo bass guitar.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/585020/Cyndjent_bass_test.mp3

The "mix" is not mixed and there is a lot to do to make the kick and bass guitar work together but just to give you and myself an idea.. and oh, man, I have basically no experience at all with dialing in bass guitar tones. It's pretty fun though!

 

[Erik Monsonis]

That bass sounds sick, just perfect for my taste.
Snare would need more low mic on it, but sounds very good anyways.

 

[Erkan]

Holy shit Erik you are fast! I just posted the thread, god damnit! haha

Well it means A LOT to me that you like it man! Wow, I didn't think I'd be in the ballpark on day one

 

[Aaron Smith]

Yeah I'm digging it too...super growly and heavy, perfect for the style.

 

[Erkan]

Snare would need more low mic on it, but sounds very good anyways.

Well, not that this is anywhere close to a first revision of a mix but I can't let it go - by low mic you mean bottom mic I assume? You'd like more of the actual snare (strings) in the snare? Well the good news is that I have the entire bottom mic MUTED so far so I think it should be pretty easy to just blend some of the bottom mic in later when I start mixing

 

[Erik Monsonis]

Well, not that this is anywhere close to a first revision of a mix but I can't let it go - by low mic you mean bottom mic I assume? You'd like more of the actual snare (strings) in the snare? Well the good news is that I have the entire bottom mic MUTED so far so I think it should be pretty easy to just blend some of the bottom mic in later when I start mixing

Nice

 

[Morgan C]

Sounds killer in solo but in the mix all I can hear is the lowend, and too much of it (the kick has no punch in the lowend anymore). Cut some <200hz and boost above that a TINY bit.

How much of the drums are samples?

 

[mrbean667]

Nice mix, the bass is perfect for my liking.

 

[Erkan]

Sounds killer in solo but in the mix all I can hear is the lowend, and too much of it (the kick has no punch in the lowend anymore). Cut some <200hz and boost above that a TINY bit.

How much of the drums are samples?

Yea hence the "The "mix" is not mixed and there is a lot to do to make the kick and bass guitar work together but just to give you and myself an idea.."-part of the post

I'm still tracking and shouldn't be thinking about mixing details right now but that's just the way I am and I think about everything at the same time so here goes. I already have 2 "plans" to make the kick and bass work together. One is to simply scoop out the kick's fundamental from the bass so there is room for the kick but this is going to cause a permanent gap or hole in that region. Second option which is sidechaining is something I'm leaning more towards. I'm pretty sure I'll fix that later but you are right about there being too much low end and not enough of the other stuff. I'll probably still do what you said even if I sidechain; shelf the lows down a couple dBs and boost what's above a little to even things out.

I also think I'm gonna pull the high pass down a little bit more on the distortion track which means I'm gonna distort the mids a little bit more than they are right now I think. I feel like I want just a sliiiight bit more growl in the mids

 

[ahjteam]

I was going to say that I really didn't hear the bass in the mix, had to turn on the subwoofer and go to the spot where I have a huge bass build up to notice it.

 

[Erkan]

Hmm good thought! Probably should turn the ultra-lo button off in Ampeg SVX Maybe that would automaticall bring the rest of the spectrum up too since the compressors are now clamping down quite hard on all the super lows. I can still hear the bass on my cheap headphones though but that's mostly because I already know it's there. If this was a song I had never heard before I probably wouldn't have payed much attention to the bass guitar as an element in the mix, it would probably rather be something that is just "there" under everything else.

 

[ahjteam]

I know I mix the bass a bit differently (cause I'm a fan of huge low end on Hiili Hiilesmaa's albums), but I would do it something like this: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338211/erkan.mp3

The chain is pretty simple: EQ -> comp -> peak limiter

EQ:

12db/oct highpass @ 50hz
12db/oct lowpass @ 8khz
+4dB lowshelf @ 190hz
-9dB hishelf @ 2khz
-16dB @ 200hz (was masking the low end too much)
-8dB @ 350hz (same thing)
-8dB @ 750hz (sounded boxy)

Compressor:
4:1 ratio, attack 50ms, release 50ms, 12-15dB attenuation, 6dB makeup gain

Limiter for peak limiting:
14db attenuation on the attack spikes that the compressor let's pass, because they just don't sound good, doesn't affect the body of the sound

edit: and the cuts might look pretty crazy on the EQ, but they get evened out against the compressor so thats why they have to be so drastic. and here just the bass: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338211/erkan_bass.mp3

 

[Erik Monsonis]

I'd use a lot of sub-bass frequencies, just like in Soilwork's STD.

 

[Mago]

I dont hear too much bass at all tbh dude^^

 

[Erkan]

I know I mix the bass a bit differently (cause I'm a fan of huge low end on Hiili Hiilesmaa's albums), but I would do it something like this: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338211/erkan.mp3

The chain is pretty simple: EQ -> comp -> peak limiter

EQ:

12db/oct highpass @ 50hz
12db/oct lowpass @ 8khz
+4dB lowshelf @ 190hz
-9dB hishelf @ 2khz
-16dB @ 200hz (was masking the low end too much)
-8dB @ 350hz (same thing)
-8dB @ 750hz (sounded boxy)

Compressor:
4:1 ratio, attack 50ms, release 50ms, 12-15dB attenuation, 6dB makeup gain

Limiter for peak limiting:
14db attenuation on the attack spikes that the compressor let's pass, because they just don't sound good, doesn't affect the body of the sound

edit: and the cuts might look pretty crazy on the EQ, but they get evened out against the compressor so thats why they have to be so drastic. and here just the bass: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338211/erkan_bass.mp3

But you just processed an already processed bass track. Now there's like 4 compressors on that track you posted :O It also has a very drastic attack, maybe a bit too "jumpy", I don't know. Doesn't sound bad though but it still sounds like a bunch of low end and not much in the upper frequencies. But then again I have basically zero experience with dialing in bass tones and I've pretty much only heard bass tones IN mixes while listening to albums and stuff and never heard a "good" bass tone in solo so I don't know what to look for. I have no reference points so I just try to get a "cool" sound that works without fucking things up in the mix. To be honest, the bass guitar's job for my music is 95% about just filling up the spectrum and beefing up the guitars so the low end is really all that matters to me. I'm not playing any intricate patterns that need to stand out so I'm not too worried about not hearing the upper mids and stuff from the bass.

Anyway, I'm quite happy with the first ever bass tone I've created and it definately seems I'm in the ballpark without even starting with the mixing stage.

If you guys really want to contribute to the bass it would help a ton if anyone had a mix that is considered good and also the bass guitar in that mix solo. If I could just hear stuff for referencing, it'd be awesome. In any case though, it's great with feedback and I thank you all again! Keep it coming. I'm off to track more bass now!

 

[GarethSE]

sounds just right to me ^_^

 

[nwright]

Erkan, what is your tone and processing chain for the bass in this? I've had Ampeg SVX for about a year and a half now, and I still don't think I get tones anywhere near this kind of growl.

 

[muckypup1]

Erkan, what is your tone and processing chain for the bass in this? I've had Ampeg SVX for about a year and a half now, and I still don't think I get tones anywhere near this kind of growl.

+1

I've been trying to get a growling bass tone like this for ages now The only way i'm able to get a good grind is by using guitar amp sims, then it doens't sound like a bass anymore though ...

 

[DigitalMetal]

Sounds awesome!

 

[GarethSE]

+1

I've been trying to get a growling bass tone like this for ages now The only way i'm able to get a good grind is by using guitar amp sims, then it doens't sound like a bass anymore though ...

one track purely for subs (di, low-passed to fuck and L2'd to oblivion)
one track for clank (ampeg svx)
one track with a guitar amp sim for dist (run it through ampeg svx but bypass the amp section and just use the cab sim)