Kick And Bass

Gareth_T · Post by **Gareth_T** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 1:42 am

Whats the technique on making a good bass and kick sound perfect?

I find it really hard working with the bass and kick, everythink else is fine..
They sound ok when I produce, but it comes to plaing a track on a better sound system and they go all muddy and cancel each other out....

Should the bass and kick be the loudest in a track to make them stand out ??

Zinthek · Post by **Zinthek** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 1:57 am

I still think the 909 and 808 have the best kicks ever.
Bass, I'm having some troubles with that too.

Shadi Megallaa · Post by **Shadi Megallaa** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 7:38 am

Its got nothing to do with loudness, its all in the equing.. the reason they might sound muddy is because they are both fighting for the same frequencies.. there are analyzers that you can use to see where everything sits in the mix, frequency wise.. I'm not the best at explaining this kinda stuff as I jsut do it by ear and go with the knowledge i know, but i'm always learning.. The best thing to do is experiment, but don't think if it as a volume issue.. its all in the frequencies.. hope that helps at all..

sorgenkind · Post by **sorgenkind** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:38 am

another trick is sidechain compression, it's a trick that makes so that everytime a kick is triggered the loudness of the bassline is reduced, so that there is place for everything in the mix.
a tutorial can be found here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_DcL5ocGEc

since I started using it my bass management is way better than before.

good luck

Robot Criminal · Post by **Robot Criminal** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:14 am

get a soundcard or something

Android · Post by **Android** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 2:49 pm

eq'n helps to some extent

side chaining is the best way to go

it makes your Sub Bass duck for a millisecond
so the loudest part of the Kick will slice through the mix.

once you figure out how to do it,
you'll realize your track sounds alot more professional.

not to mention the kick and sub won't be fighting for the same space
rather they will work together to make the girl's shake their butts

for the drums, also try parallel / new york compression
buss the drums through two separate stereo mixes
keep one clean, and put heavy compression on the other
experiment blending them together, but be aware of phase cancellation

spyromus · Post by **spyromus** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 5:35 pm

Absolutely. Sidechain compression is the right way to go. I would recommend another great video I stumbled upon recently. It shows exactly what's necessary and does it with a free Japanese plug-in.

http://www.abletonguru.com/tutorial-sid ... mpression/

BTW, Nick seconds the kicks track there just because the sidechain eats his main kicks line, but the alternative way would be simply to turn the rightmost knob in the plug-in window (KeyVolume) as you like to pass the key sound (your kicks) through.

provaznik · Post by **provaznik** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:19 am

one thing i have done in the past is when i have a kick and a bass playing at exactly the same time i will high pass the kick while the bass is playing. if your bass is big enough i have found that it masks the fact that the bottom end of the kick is missing. it is an interesting effect if nothing else, well worth experimenting with to see if you like it.