Technical Discussion on Bass and Kick Drum Frequency Juggling

[SkybluestudiosBEN]

Im not sure what everyone else does in here but I typically juggle my kick and bass frequencies as the first thing I do when I mix.


Now here is where it gets technical......Keep in mind im talking only low frequencies for this thread, so no need to talk about anything above 800HZ haha

Ive found that Im starting to add more sub freq to my bass and kick.

I used to just add 50-60HZ to my kick

I would then add between 150-300 on my Bass and maybe alittle 500-800hz


Now currently I found my self adding 50HZ to my Bass, 40 HZ to my kick, 100-400 on my bass and about 75-80HZ on my kick.

Of coarse I cut where I boost and boost where I cut.


I will let you all take the thread from here. Please feel free to let us know how you handle your bass and kick

 

[ChrisTanakaCanwell]

For me it depends on the size of the kick drum (assuming you're recording acoustic drums) and the tuning of the bass guitar. For my own band, for example, the bass player tunes down to F sharp and the drummer uses a 20" kick drum, so I tend to give the 80-100hz area to the kick drum while the bass guitar sits around 50-70 and 120hz.

 

[amarshism]

i use liberal sidechain compression on the bass to allow the kick to punch through

with low tunings it really pays off to spend the time either memorising, or keeping a chart of fundamental notes as well to aid you in your eq missions

usually where there is a boost, sometimes there will be a cut an octave (freq x 2) above - just a rough guide, and not always neccessary

play around with the kick and bass until you feel like theyre sitting nice and tight together in the lower register

 

[wiiii]

i use liberal sidechain compression on the bass to allow the kick to punch through

with low tunings it really pays off to spend the time either memorising, or keeping a chart of fundamental notes as well to aid you in your eq missions

usually where there is a boost, sometimes there will be a cut an octave (freq x 2) above - just a rough guide, and not always neccessary

play around with the kick and bass until you feel like theyre sitting nice and tight together in the lower register

With your side-chaining, I assume you just do it enough so that the bass dips down during a kick but not enough to where it sounds like it's just pumping in and out? What do you do with side-chaining on passages with fast double kicks (a la 16th's) - won't it make your bass sound like it's just pumping really fast a bit?

As for just a general question for this thread: where do you all usually keep your bass and kick channels peaking at in terms of the faders/pre-FX/post-FX?

 

[Fragle]

"As for just a general question for this thread: where do you all usually keep your bass and kick channels peaking at in terms of the faders/pre-FX/post-FX?"

wherever it needs to be ^^

ahjteam once suggested to start the mix by having the bass peak at -18dbfs, and adjust the rest accordingly.
personally, i tend to start with the drums, and have the whole thing peak somewhere around -7 or 8 dbfs on the master fader. no need to worry about the numbers, i'm just making sure i'm not running out of headroom.

as for the other question, i used to give the bass a lot of subs and low mids, and have the kick somewhere inbetween. right now i'm letting the kick handle the low end punch, and seat the bass more in the 150hz-ish area. seems to be a sneap thing, too...his kicks usually sound nice and punchy in the lows, and the bass is just there to fill the gap to the guitars. that's what it sounds like to me, at least

 

[wiiii]

I would assume that using a multiband comp would be good so you're only sidechaining frequency that need it when a kick is played?