Now combining the bass techniques (distortion & extreme scooping)

[SweetDan]

Here's the latest experiment as I'm messing around with approaches I haven't taken before in regards to mixing bass:

untitled_2022-06-20_moreMixing.mp3

This combines elements of the surprising things I found as A) I tried to squeeze lots of distortion into the bass (viewtopic.php?t=3787), and B) boosted the bass level up really high and scooped out lots of mids (viewtopic.php?t=3925). Also taking a showcase is my horrible hi-hat technique, made even worse because they're not very good sounding hats...but it's so much more fun to play live drums than to plug in midi sequences.

Note that both the guitars and bass here are DI takes run through amp sims in the DAW.

[Tadpui]

Honestly I can't hear the bass very much. I can just make out the grit on it, and I hear a bit of low end from it. Most of the low end that I hear is the kick, which has a nice thump/thud to it. Guitars sound pretty great to me! See what happens if you trim a bit of low end out of the guitars, maybe that'll let the bass shine through a bit more. Or maybe the bass just needs more volume and a little trim off of the low end so it doesn't get too rumbly. Between my very imperfect room and my ears and tastes, I have immense trouble mixing low end so don't pay too much attention to me

And I don't mind the hi-hats. It's that crash cymbal that sticks out to me. Not that I'm one to give out any sort of advice on drum technique because...well...just listen to my clumsy playing But on crash cymbals, try to sweep across them a bit with the shaft or shoulder of the stick, instead of plowing straight through them or pinging them with the tip of the stick. That seems to give them a bit more of a swelling whoosh instead of a "clang". There's a balance to be had in-between the two extremes.

I like this song and chord progression. The uptempo feel adds some nice energy and I can hear some cool melodies coming over the top of it.

[SweetDan]

Hey @Tadpui, thanks for lending me your ears! You heard some things I hadn't noticed, and your comments helped me to focus on a few things that needed fixing.

Most of the low end that I hear is the kick

It was too much, in fact. I'm mixing on headphones, and I could feel the pressure on my eardrums as the bass thumped away. I had some EQ on it before, it's got a bit more carving/boosting on it now (and some small tweaks to the compression). I also threw a limiter on it to really squash it and make it hearable in the mix but without the thumpy pressure.

ee what happens if you trim a bit of low end out of the guitars, maybe that'll let the bass shine through a bit more. Or maybe the bass just needs more volume and a little trim off of the low end so it doesn't get too rumbly.

Did a bit of that too, and it's helping (I think).

I also sculpted away a bit more at the snare; it had the second biggest problems in it after the kick. I originally had put a send from it to a distortion plugin to generate more high-end frequencies and give it more crispness; I've now sculpted that a bit more too.

So, here how it sounds now:

untitled_2022-06-20_moreMixing2.mp3

[vomitHatSteve]

You don't have a lot of clarity on the bass with this setup. I like how it sounds - just kind of a nice, low rumble filling out the mix - but it's definitely a non-conventional role for the bass to be playing.

[Greg_L]

My concern is you're doing too much carving and cutting and distorting and processing to make things sound how they should sound without all that stuff. Cutting all the mids out of a bass isn't going to make it more audible. It's the total opposite, and that's what you have here. You can tell there is low end from the bass, but there's zero definition. It might as well be a synth pad just rumbling away down there.

If you want or need to puzzle-piece frequencies for low end control, focus on the kick and bass relationship. There is stuff in most kick drums that isn't necessary for pop/rock, like around 400hz. That area is a good spot to cut on the kick and it often helps the bass low-mids come through. That scoop in the kick also helps the snare and guitars low end. And then, if you need to, boost the mids on the bass. A bass is a bass and they sound like bass all on their own. They don't usually need help in the low end. If you want to hear the bass as something that stands on it's own, they need help in the mids and highs.

[rayc]

In moreMixing 2 the idea of a bass is there but nothing much that sounds like one. It sounds a bassist wasn't involved and a guitarist played the part and set up the amp for metal guitar.
LOTS of distortion fails on bass as those freqs are often already full due to the guitars - it gets lost the the "gain" jungle.
I def. look at Voxengo Span to work out which frequencies the bass & lick overlap in and then decide which needs to give way.