How To Mix Ass-Crushing Heavy Bass Guitar

[brianhood]

Hey dudes! I made a new tutorial yesterday. I'm starting to take more time to make these free videos for youtube to make up for the past year I spent making videos for an expensive ass online course. Trying to balance out my life karma or something haha.

Let me know what you think, and let me know if there are any other tutorials you'd like to see me make.

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[bryan_kilco]

Thanks man! Interesting in actually how little you do to the tracks. I find myself reaching for a limiter (or 2) on my bass bus to keep meters from jumping all around. Maybe I need to re-think this. Also, no compression on the low track huh? Interesting.....

 

[brianhood]

The "no compression on the sub track" thing depends on the bass player. This guy hit like a pro, so there was no need for a compressor on that track. I'd say the majority of bass tracks I get require one though, since apparently bass players like to pick like little basic bitches.

 

[BassTard]

That's a great and entertaining video. Although for my taste, I'd like to shape the distortion quite extreme, cause I don't like some of the "mid-harshness" (but that's very, very subjective). Nevertheless, it's a real cool clip, and I'm going to point it out to some people.

Adding the bass tracks + stems is additional goodness. Thanks very much!

EDIT: Curious to see what you did on the C4, though...

 

[Crank]

Man I always thought that mixing shit just smears is everywhere but this tutorial is literally shit to gold!

 

[Jaymz]

Nice video! What bass was used?

 

[sander]

The fact that the low end wasn't compressed to hell and back blew my mind.

 

[crillemannen]

Well it all comes down to what he said about the quality of the DI. I've gotten great bass tones but the ones that haven't been that great i blame the bass player and the bass itself sounding poopoo crap. Bassguitar can be awesome and also such a headache to mix.

 

[Studdy]

Seems like the mids are being completely removed? Big gap between the hi and low tracks. Interesting.

 

[brianhood]

Nice video! What bass was used?

I'm pretty sure it was a Dingwall bass!

Seems like the mids are being completely removed? Big gap between the hi and low tracks. Interesting.

I've tried so many variations of this, and the mid range that's being minimized (not completely cut out) is the worst sounding frequency on the bass. It sounds especially terrible with distortion.

I always tell people to do what sounds good to them, so if you like keeping a lot of mids in you bass, then go for it!

 

[KillFrenzy]

Really nice video! I tend to use a kind of minimalistc approach like you, just with a little more mids when the guitar tone allows (and the mix as a whole, of course). As with pretty much everything else, great raw tone is the key.

 

[guy in latvia]

Well damn son, with a DI like that there is not really any work left to do...

How do people get that much clean high end in their bass tones?

 

[xFkx]

Brian, your tutorial put into practice:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1322550/djent.mp3

Thanks a bunch for the video, hope you do more of those

 

[brianhood]

Well damn son, with a DI like that there is not really any work left to do...

How do people get that much clean high end in their bass tones?

It just boils down to a a few major things.
1. A good bass (usually going to cost you $600 and up in the used market, but still good deals to be found under that price tag)
2. Good bass strings
3. The right string gauges for your tuning
4. A person who can play their fucking instrument and not pick like a bitch.

Brian, your tutorial put into practice:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1322550/djent.mp3

Thanks a bunch for the video, hope you do more of those

Holy shit, a person who actually took action on a video I made. It's a miracle! hahaha

Sounds solid!

 

[Nuno Filipe]

A person who can play their fucking instrument and not pick like a bitch.

I dont have a lot of experience but playing with a pick instead of fingers makes a lot of difference, I mean a lot really. Even if the player is quite good with fingers, will not be nearly the same like using a pick, the consistency of the sound using a pick it´s better in every aspect, well at least for metal. I cant say the same for other styles but for metal nobody wants much dynamics anyway. But of course a bad player with a pick, always will be a bad player and in that case I would probably choose a good finger player.

 

[BassTard]

@Nuno Filipe: I won't agree - at least not in general. There's a certain styles of metal (and probably the most popular nowadays) which benefit from using a pick. But I would be even be happy to just use a programmed bass in this kind of music.
Playing with fingers is just a different beast. You win some - you lose some. You play different stuff! Seriously, I love the sound of a fingered attack that "sinks" into the kick drum. There's just no right or wrong. And I'd yet have to record a pick-bass-player, as consistent as Steve Di'Giorgio.

 

[egan.]

Yeah, picks are beyond compare if you want a picked tone like 99% of the tutorials in this forum but that doesn't preclude the possibility that fingerstyle works for a lot of mixes.

 

[MrBongo]

you might also try playing with your fingers, holding them like a pick. Sounds like a bastard of fingers and picks, and you´re instantly able to switch to standard fingerstyle