just drums and bass with some reverb. Mainly of course trying to get that clarity in lower midrange
Im pretty sure the bass to drums level might be a bit off since there is nothing else in the track to guide me yet
overall mix?
drum tone?
kick?
bass tone?
bass playing?
reverb (not a lot yet)
toms are still a mystery to me so i am not too worried about the Toms in the mix…pretty sure they r too loud and drowning the bass a couple of times. I didnt think of them until i had rendered the mix lol
Fire away
Mix 1
Mix 2. took away some of the 400hz scooping, boosted higher freqs
I’ve only listened from my phone and my laptop so far, so it’s hard to be entirely fair about it. However, I can least tell you that the drums translate ok on those, but the bass did not. I only hear an upper mids things happening. I suspect I’d hear more with bigger speakers, but that’s not really the point I’m trying to make. I should still be able to hear some bass other than those upper mids. Getting bass guitar to translate on smaller speakers like this can be quite challenging, but it’s definitely worth checking those sources as you’re putting a mix together. It’ll teach you quite a bit
What ive done, based on previous threads, is to do a lot of scooping around 400hz and then boosting above and below that. Could be I have overdone it. I have no idea what a proper bass response curve is going to look like lol.
Basically I am getting a big peak around 170hz and then a smaller one around 1.5k
What does a normal DI bass (with some light overdrive) response look like? (Edit: I forgot I can go look at isolated rock bass on youtube all day. ill go check)
The body of my snare also peaks right around 160-180hz with the kick drum around 70hz
Im assuming I way overdid the 400hz cutting, hehe. Which I sort of expected because im doubting the avg mixer is going thru that much hassle to get a simple bass tone. So I probably killed too much of the higher harmonics etc in the process.
I backed off some of the scooping and tried to boost some upper freqs. Even though I use a pick, I probably play too clean and maybe should play harder even if it makes some extra string noise etc…in order to try to produce more upper harmonics etc
Also, the bass is tuned down a whole step to D, so maybe it makes it duller?
I like that you turned the bass up since the first mix. It seems clearer now. I’m not sure if that’s simply because it’s louder but the eq sounds much better to me also… and I’m only listening on my laptop. It would likely sound better on my monitors or in the cans.
Some people might think the drums are too quiet now and I could understand that, but I kind of like the last mix you got. I would add your guitars now and see if everything is coming through decently. You might have to bring up the drum volume, depending on how thick or loud your guitars are.
yeah, the volume between drums and bass was sort of random between the 2 different mixes…as was the overall volume lol. Im mainly trying to get the lower mid freqs not clashing
I know thats sort of one reason why its hard to figure out a lot from just 2 instruments…because they are both cranked way more than normal lol.
Dramatically better bass guitar now in my opinion. At least on small speakers. I’m definitely hearing more of what I was hoping to. Correcting that scoop did wonders! See? You’re already making your own corrections. Nice job!!
Ah, now, this is what I’m talkin’ 'bout! Nice groove! What a difference the monitors make!
Yep, the bass tone from version 2 should work well. Ultimately, it will depend on what you do with the guitars and any other mix elements, but it’s a great starting point. Looking forward to the finished track!
Thanks, hopefully im making some progress. The monitor setup makes it easy to just lay in bed and track bass with no headphones…which is huge in a way because I hate having that headphone cord hanging down while im trying to play guitar or bass
I think I am going to try to put my guitar amp and mic in my adjacent 2nd bedroom and run the mic cable back into this room. I can go from my guitar to a pedal in the floor and then run a cable into the other room. I just checked and it will work
So whats that mean? It means I can lay in bed and track guitars using my monitors. No headphones
This actually will be huge because one of the impediments to me recording was that I hated going into the living room and recording while sitting in a chair because basically my back etc would give out after like 2 hours lol. And it always felt sort of “official” when I went into the living room to record so id have that certain tense feeling. I do all of my practicing and scales etc laying in bed watching youtube and that is by FAR my best hand position for wailing some lead licks so this could REALLY be huge if I can get this going. In any case it will take away a decent size impediment to me getting songs finished
This particular jam with this groovy bass pattern. Dunno if ill “finish” it or not. I might try an experiment where I just write lyrics to the bass jam with no guitars and then add guitars last. Writing with bass first gives a totally different feel to the song because you almost always make that bass a little more busy and groovy than you normally would and then its a matter of trying to fit a guitar on top of it.
