Just wondering what are the first things people do to mesh a guitar and bass track to make it feel "one".
What are the basic techniques to marry the guitar and bass tracks?
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JasinElric
Straf Drah Studio
- Apr 25, 2012
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vespiz
Mixing!
Clark Kent
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- Jan 23, 2011
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Lowcut guitars when the guitarist can't see it. 
I use the same distortion on bass. So I might record bass through the same chain as the guitar so it blends nicely.
I use the same distortion on bass. So I might record bass through the same chain as the guitar so it blends nicely.
JasinElric
Straf Drah Studio
- Apr 25, 2012
- 312
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You generally don't want the bass and guitars getting married. Go for a casual encounter type of relationship. You'll find the bass is a free spirit and likes to mingle with other elements, like the kick.
LiberaScientia
Cat Dad
crillemannen
Member
Good monitoring. The ns10 rule for that bassguitar/guitar relation. Crystal clear highbass-mids. Easy as cake to make them compliment each other.
lanky noob
Member
this is an amazing analogy :L
But on a serious note, why would you want it flirting with the kick? I always figured it'd be best to have them a separated as possible to keep a clean low end, or is this just my noobyness coming in to play :L
EDIT: aside from the glue that comes together in mastering to bring the whole mix together
Clark Kent
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If your bass doesn't fit, it's most likely not because of a faulty bass track. Bass needs space. If bass sounds good with guitar muted then it's the guitar tracks that need to be worked on.
JasinElric
Straf Drah Studio
- Apr 25, 2012
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Well, it's a mixer, and everyone needs to be mingling in some sense. It's good practice to keep the bass and kick from going all the way, but keeping them completely away from each other might make everyone else uncomfortable.
Right, then. You're getting sigged, motherfucker
haha I'm honored \m/
Uros
Sonic Incision
^^yep, so either good monitors+room, or good cans.
For faster metal stuff, the key is to use distortion to a certain degree, as already said.
What also really helps is a bass guitar setup with rather low action (and neck as flat as possible), with lighter stainless steel strings (since they are really bright), and picked or fingerpicked over the neck pickup, 'cause that way you'll get some good clankage out of it (i.e. the sound of strings bouncing off the fretboard) , and that is what really helps bass' audibility/its perceived volume and its relationship with the guitar in a dense metal mix.
What is also good about this setup when comparing to a bass guitar set up with higher action and heavier strings, picked over bridge pickup (where tension is higher), is that this way notes die down faster which is what you want when mixing faster stuff, since in this case the bass is more about attack, and less about sustain.
It should be said that this is exactly what you don't want when mixing some slower music (imo of course), where you want the exact opposite - fuller sounding bass, with more sustain and no clankage (because it really adds a lot of aggressiveness, which doesn't sound 'right' most of the time for some slower stuff). As always ymmv.
lanky noob
Member
