AUDIO
MIXING MASTERY : THE WORLD OF BASS , PART 2 | Jeff Hawley
To continue on the theme we kicked off last month in Part 1 of the ‘ World of Bass ’ Mixing Mastery series , bass is often the make or break in your mix . The right bass sound at the right level can set you up for an exciting and engaging full band sound and propel the song along and create just the right grounding to build upon as needed .
Without getting too into the technical weeds on the specifics of how compression and EQ works ( there are tons of great resources out there ), this article will focus more on the philosophy of just what the ‘ right ’ bass sound and the ‘ right ’ level might be . As you may have already guessed , that ‘ right ’ sound isn ’ t always the same answer — context is key .
I ’ ve recorded a simple bass track on my same go-to 60 ’ s hollowbody and crafted a series of mixes to hopefully demonstrate the key points around just what that ‘ right ’ sound and / or level might be as we listen in combination with a rockin ’ drum track and various styles of guitar tracks . Let ’ s dive in !
A BASS TONE TO DI FOR .
One frequent question that comes up around getting a good bass sound in live situations and in the studio is whether it is best to use a DI ( direct box ) or to mic up a bass cabinet . The answer is yes . Whenever possible , have both available . In very general terms , the DI bass signal will be much more ‘ in your face ’ or ‘ forward ’ while a well-placed mic of a good cabinet can fill in the gaps and add ‘ body ’ and perhaps a bit more of an ‘ organic ’ feel . My editor is going to have a field day with all of those scare quotes , but it is tricky to put a lot of these sonic concepts into suitable terms and bring them about with the right adjective . To borrow the famous quote , “ writing about music is like dancing about architecture .” So bear with me as I do my best dancing here . But better yet , check out the audio samples !
Here is our baseline DI bassline along with the drums .
EXAMPLE 1
There is no EQ or compression on Example 1 , just a bass into a DI and into the console . If you read Part 1 of this series , you ’ ll know that it is quite possible to get a nice balance of the bass track ( as I hope to have accomplished in this example ) and end up 80 % of the way there . Much of what we ’ ll be working on now is the fine-tuning to get the other 20 % dialed in just right .
Let ’ s hear what we ’ ve got from the same bass tracked at the same time via a large diagram condenser mic and a 12 ” bass cabinet . Cue Example 2 :
EXAMPLE 2
Right out of the gate , you ’ ll hear the natural compression from the amp tubes and the lean to the low end in the amp ’ s EQ vs . what we were grabbing from just the bass itself in Example 1 . A few quick observations : Seems to have a lot more ‘ energy ’ or ‘ drive ’ compared to the DI version . The second section of the tune ( at about 0:18 ) seems to weave into what the drums were doing . If I was given only the option of Example 1 or Example 2 , I ’ d probably pick Example 2 .
Here is where things get really fun , though ! I liked the attack or more ‘ forward ’ nature of Example 1 . What if we blended the DI and the mic together and aimed for a bit of a Goldilocks taste of each ? I played with the balance of the two and pulled out just a little bit of the rumbly low frequencies from the mic track to come up with a hybrid in Example 3 .
EXAMPLE 3
To my ears , the second section still retains the