your bass production when blending with acoustic guitars.

[ATLA]

Theres a million threads on this forum for mixing bass when it comes to high gain.. but how about when you have to blend it with an acoustic guitar? im not satisfied with what im getting here and i know a lot of it is "playing, picks/finger pickups and composition" how do you guys mix your bass with acoustics?

here im using some filtering eq HP55/60sih LP 3-4k ish with some dips in the mids.
also using a multiband to control the rumbles. parallel track with TSE BOD and Mickrich bass impulse.

 

[crillemannen]

Like really softer settings in general when it comes to compression. Maybe switch from 1176 to La2a for a bit more neutral compression. And also ofc softer playing.

 

[ATLA]

yeah ill have to try out some different compressors. i didn't think about compression characteristics applied to bass.

 

[KillFrenzy]

The softer playing is the most important part. The essential tone also plays a major role on how the bass is gonna sit in the mix. Those "hollow mids" basses simple won't work!

HP with not so aggressive settings. I normally don't LP. Just find the high freqs that are too agressive ou use a wide scoop if necessary. Find the ressonant freqs on lows and mid-lows and reduce them. Compress with lower ratio (4:1 at max) and higher threshold. Maybe with soft knee if your comp can do that.

Sometimes when the bass is not blending, you might wanna look elsewhere. Maybe your acoustic guitar and percussion EQ.

Hope that helps somehow.

 

[ArthurD]

The softer playing is the most important part. The essential tone also plays a major role on how the bass is gonna sit in the mix. Those "hollow mids" basses simple won't work!

This. Also, some light chorus...

 

[ATLA]

reaper has something similar to LA/2A called major tom that i found softens it out nicely. automating between that and the stillwell rocket during the highgain parts seems to be working for me. I also realized the acoustics in this had zero processing on them. a simple HP at 70ish made more room for the sub frequency's. thanks for the tips KILLFrenzy! Arthur i will try seing what chorus does though i dont really like the ReaChorus much at all. i need to start buying some more commercial plugins..

 

[B36arin]

The attack and release settings of the compression are crucial when mixing softer stuff. Make sure to get the release right so that the compressor works in time with the music and with the decay of the bass.

 

[KillFrenzy]

The attack and release settings of the compression are crucial when mixing softer stuff. Make sure to get the release right so that the compressor works in time with the music and with the decay of the bass.

That!

Grab Bluecat's free modulation stuff. I use them a lot, specially the chorus and flanger.