ENERGY

[Klosure]

I've been struggling to understand where the energy is getting into these mixes.

I contacted the Engineer who mixed the Latest Lacuna Coil Album Dark Adrenaline.

(Check out "Kill the Light" on Youtube by Lacuna Coil).

The first thing I notice is the bass feels solid. The drums are both big and small at the same time??? Overall it is powerful.

I know that it was mixed by Marco Barusso in Italy. He reamaped guitars through a Randall modular amp system, so had a choice of sounds. Drums were sample replaced with his own collection - paralelled through a Fatso.

Bass was DI'ed and then had paralelled through Sansamp, and some other emulators Ampeg, Amp farm.

But I am not sure whether what I am trying to work towards is acheived in mastering or not. Mastering seems to me like an excuse sometimes as I appreciate the extra detail that that goes in at this stage however, its more of an extension of the mix process these days, usually done possibly on better speakers. But if you look at some of the top guys like Jens Bogren, he masters his own stuff! (he does have a great studio to be fair.


Dont worry about my studio though I work in a studio thats pretty good sounding. With some Dynaudio m1s and m3s.

 

[Clark Kent]

BASS = ENERGY. End of thread.

 

[Leonfrost]

I wonder about this as well. Surely it can't be summed up as "bass=energy," can it? What specifically can one do to get this driven, energetic feel? Where is the bass sitting? How should the kick relate to the bass? etc.

 

[Terminus]

/\ Play energetic music. Don't suck, in summary. I know that sounds like an indifferent shithead answer but really, man most of the sound is the band's responsibility.

 

[Clark Kent]

Yeah well Terminus kind of said what I came to add. A song will be energetic if you play it with energy. It's rock'n'roll and we always pay attention to things being played perfectly but I'd say that it's just as important to play things with emotion and energy.

But what I said at first is the way you can add energy to a mix. F.ex. that Lacuna Coil song you set as an example. The mix is being run by the bass. That's how it's done basically. And it means you have to really produce the bass well. Pay attention to bass breaks whenever there's something energetic happening. @ 0:06 before the mainriff starts and 0:48 before the chorus starts. Sure there are many other tricks that weren't applied in this mix. In the end it's most important that bass and guitars blend well together and sort of sound like one instrument. That's a bit tricky to do at times. I guess the best way to do that would be to reamp the bass through the same guitar amp and blend that together with the DI'd bass. Maybe... experiment.

 

[Klosure]

I guess the best way to do that would be to reamp the bass through the same guitar amp and blend that together with the DI'd bass. Maybe... experiment.

Lacuna coil he just blended Sansamp and emulators to get the bass to sound powerful. But I understood he mixed mainly on NS10s and given the amount of studios that use them I am assuming that it really helps to not lead you to hear fake ported bass which I think gets in the way. When I record my bass guitar I seem to never have the energy or power. If I eq the bass (on the guitar with the active eq) I either get a warm sound (but not powerful enough possibly too mushy) or not enough low end roundness.

So my bass has been in question for sometime now and I am really lost as to what I need.... I have upgraded my bass over the last year to a better one but I wonder if I need to borrow a decent P-bass or better. I never find throwing money at better kit really resolves my issues.

I can blend the 2 together but then the bass might be too low in the mix, if you bring the guitar up with the bass its too much etc...


I wonder as I mix at home on KRK vxts and in the studio I have access to Dynaudio m1's/m3's but Ive never used the NS10s. Everywhere you look as well there appears to be substitute, and Lacuna coils mix engineer seems to suggest the same.

 

[Clark Kent]

If the Lacuna Coil song pleases your ears on your KRKs then your issue is not your monitors.

 

[FrenchFrog]

Your perception of the sound of an instrument is affected by how the other elements sound and if you were able to listen to the bass track soloed of this song it would be pretty different than how you hear it now. I know it doesn't help here but learning how to reach a good mix as an engineer or at least a mix you like is nothing but experience. My opinion only.

 

[Clark Kent]

Also a tip worth mentioning: Most of the time when you're having problems with your bass tone it's not an issue with the bass track but everything else surrounding it. Low cut those guitars. DO IT! Bass is for bass. Guitar is for mids. I also low cut the bass because it should not mess up the kick low end. I dunno if you use spectrum analyzers but usually what I'm going for on the spectrum is the low end peak at 125hz area. Then the frequencies evenly lower down and end at 4000hz. Now... that's a well balanced bass tone.

 

[Klosure]

Thanks CK. I have tried tricks like sidechaining bass with kick. Would you use both hi pass and sidechaining?


When you get the balance right and a b it against a mix like Lana coil it feel like a load more midst are apparent but the drums still clear. From what i can tell you feel a lot of this is eq?

 

[Clark Kent]

I do sidechain the bass most of the time but it doesn't really matter if you're not listening through a subwoofer. It's like a perk for the guys that have subwoofers.

With bass I'd say EQ first and then add a lot of compression.

 

[FIXXXER]

songwriting IMHO

 

[mva801]

Funny you guys mention the bass so much on Lacuna Coil's stuff.... as the bass player writes and arranges almost all of their material. (at least he did when I followed them. Haven't listened to the last two records though.)

As most of these guys have said, songwriting and the actual playing have so much to do with how energetic something sounds.

 

[Klosure]

Funny you guys mention the bass so much on Lacuna Coil's stuff.... as the bass player writes and arranges almost all of their material. (at least he did when I followed them. Haven't listened to the last two records though.)

As most of these guys have said, songwriting and the actual playing h
ave so much to do with how energetic something sounds.

interesting point