Using multiband for extra blending/glue

[Downtuned]

Hi folks, been a long time away from the whole recording game but getting back into it now.

I just wanted to ask about the importance of a multiband when it comes to glue. I know people say the bus compressor like the SSL is the glue but I'm finding that using the multiband to give the low mids and the bass a little squeeze together really helps blend the two and get's rid of any separation which, unfortunately my mixes seem to suffer a lot from as most sound like the guitars are sitting on to of the mix instead of in it and I like it when the bass and guitars seem like one, especially in heavily downtuned sludgy projects like the one I fired up.

I've not quite perfected it as I'm still sort of new to multiband processing but some advice on this topic would be really appreciated as I think I'm headed in the right direction.

ATM I'm compressing between 200hz and 5kHz to get that squeeze, which I guess gets some of the high mids as well and I'm using a 1:5 ratio with 20ms or so attack to let the snare through and a fast release to stop the guitars flapping. The other bands have similar settings

I'm just using the standard Cubase multiband plugin as the C4 tends to crash my project plus it has a built in gain make up which I think is nice.

Thanks, any advice or tips would be great!

 

[Star Ark]

A tip for getting the bass and guitars glued is run the bass through the same rig as the distorted guitars. If you use amp sims this is very easy. I always at least try c4 on my 2 buss and most times I keep it on. Also I tend to hit the same frequencies you do so I think your on the right track. I'm still learning the attack and release times for various frequencies and find the presets very helpful. Too quick attack and release on the low frequencies kills the vibe IMO and too much multiband in general makes the mix lumpy and weird sounding. I'm interested in hearing other peoples advice as 2 buss multiband is complicated stuff.

 

[Heabow]

Applying EQs, compressors and other processing on the 2buss is really tricky as it affects the whole mix. And same goes to multiband. I tend to fix the jumping frequencies with C4 on each bus (guitars, bass, etc.) and, yeah, maybe sometimes add a C4 on the master bus but it's pretty rare these days. I think the glue comes from a good interaction between the instruments and a good management of saturation. I always apply VCC and VTM on each track (+ on busses when needed), they get pushed very hard sometimes, SDDR too. I also put SSL comp + VBC (often Red) on the master bus (I particularly appreciate the HPF), very light GR tho.

 

[Downtuned]

Thanks for the advice guys. I've been toying with the idea of creating a combined guitar and bass buss and giving it a small squeeze there just to get it blended before it hits the master bus. For this project I'm not using a distorted bass track as there are keyboards gobbling up most of the frequency so it just sounds cleaner.