Mastering -> Band complains about "too much 50hz"....please help!

[dcb]

so i finished producing and mixing a bands album, i spent about 3-4 months total on recording, mixing and producing. i also did a mastering for the band,
50 % of the band loved and 50 % didnt.
after taking 2 more days for a stem mastering (first time for me, and its great i have to say) even 75 % of the band said : great album!

but still the bass player complains about "too much 50 Hz" (thats all i was told by the singer, i couldnt talk to the bassist in person unfortunately)..

i tested this master on my car, 2 hifi systems in different rooms (that i know well) and my usual mixing/mastering setup (event opal, esi near 05),
and on 2 different pairs of headphones.
my ears cant tell me what the bassist means by saying "too much 50hz"...
my metering wont tell me either...

please tell me in all honesty on your listening environment / on your speakers - what do you think about this mastering ?

is this cool ? or is this really bullshit ??? ;-)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3233582/02_song%20for%20the%20weak_final%20stem%20master%202.mp3

after so many months and listening to the songs 1029120 times,
maybe i cant tell.. ? thanks guys for helping me out with fresh ears!

 

[clarbaden]

theres way too much highs on the vocals so make a cut, i dont really know what hes going on about with the 50 hz, i dont have woofer so maybe i cant tell.

 

[dcb]

funnily enough the singer toldme before i did this remaster, that he wanted MORE highs on the vocals... he was happy with the high end... i know the vocals might use some more deessing...
thanks for listening!

 

[MetalSound]

maybe he´s talking about the sub drops?!
otherwise it sounds good to me.

 

[dcb]

maybe he´s talking about the sub drops?!
otherwise it sounds good to me.

thanks buddy!
;-) havent thought about that, hehe.

 

[MetalSound]

no problem.

 

[DaWolf]

So did they give their ok on the mix and the complaint is just about the master ?
I don`t think there`s too much 50hz overall (I`m listening at home on my PC Creative 5.1). Maybe it`s the lowend on the toms which he could consider too much (at least in relation to the snare) ?

 

[Mago]

can't tell much about the bass, but via my headphones it sounds a bit too loud sometimes? but maybe if you hadn't mentioned it I wouldn't complain about the bass
also think that the vox have much highs...the toms sound a bit clicky
but the rest is cool stuff! even if i dont dig the music too much

 

[greyskull]

sounds good mate. low end is fine.

 

[Soundlurker]

It's too bright, IMO, but I don't hear too much sub lows. Maybe he is indeed talking about the sub drops...which would be lame.

 

[nwright]

I'd almost go as far to say the low end could be a bit stronger. I do sense the bass a bit more on the chorus after the "hey, hey" (I don't know what the dude is saying at the part I'm referring to, the second time sounds like he says "pay attention to the weak" or something.) But the bass plays 2 tones/pitches there, can't tell if they are whole notes or quarter note chugs, but those stick out.

 

[KillDivision]

I'm listening with subwoofer on.
The subdrops are too loud compared to the rest of the music.
I would like to hear more lowend on the whole song (not the subdrops).

 

[acappa]

I find it cool bro! Where the hell is the bassist listening to it? In his car with loudness on and +8 db BASS....¿?

 

[TheWinterSnow]

I am going to say after listening to the mix that, while the 50Hz area is a little dominate, its only perceived that way because there are absolutely no low mids in the mix and overpowering highs. I still say that there could be more of the sub lows for punch, some low mids, and a roll off on the highs (on the overall mix, not the stems)

 

[AStacy2]

Hey man, I didn't have time to listen to your mix (sorry) but I've heard this story before from two seperate bassists actually. They were listening to music on incorrectly set up subs that were centered strongly around 50hz as well. I actually went as far as to go listen to one of these bassists' systems because he was a good friend of mine and wanted him to be happy with the mix. It was probably the worst sounding system I've ever heard but my mix actually did sound like it was lacking some low mids on his system compared to some other albums.


The moral of this for me was, listen to any feedback you can get, there's a reason people say it. Sometimes you have to look a little further into things to find the actual root of the problem though.

 

[jipchen]

The bass is pretty audible, but i think there's nothing wrong with that.
I really like the mix+mastering.

 

[NeilOC]

sounds great.

 

[lolzgreg]

I would ease up on the snare compression (a bit papery) and bring the toms down a dB or two.

You can lose a little high end on the vocals and add more ambience. I love the vocal production as usual.

The 50hz thing: This mix is definitely bass heavy, but not in a bad way.

TheWinterSnow is dead on about the lack of low-mids. They do make space for the power of the drums, but it's a tiny bit hollow in that region.

 

[rchoi54]

no, i definitely hear that 50 Hz thing.. i'd just compress the bass, bring down the 80Hz and below end down a few dB and bring up its 100-300Hz.

this is what the band wants after all.

<33

 

[Erik Monsonis]

I agree with people here, bass is enough, but more low-mids are needed. Drums sound really thin and clicky (toms, snare...) and the subdrops are too bassy for the mix.
Can't hear anything related with sub-lows though.