desk more like Example 2 . What do you do ?
Here is where the people skills part of live sound kick in . It may be best to have a quick conversation with the new bassist and simply note that you aren ’ t getting quite the sound that you ’ re used to and it seems a bit bright or percussive overall . I find it helps to add “ out in the room ” to the discussion since most bass players totally get that the sound at the bass and on stage from their amp won ’ t always match what is happening out in the house .
To that point , it may be helpful to stand near the bassist on stage and see how they have their amp sound dialed in . If they are sending you a thinner or more midrange bass tone direct but offsetting that at the amp with added body and a smoother overall sound , why not grab a mic and go the miked cab route if it is an option ? Or split the difference if the amp has a post- EQ DI output option . In a perfect world , we ’ d come back to the “ get it right at the source ” point here , but a mic or an output at the next signal chain point that brings the amplifier EQ and / or cabinet into the equation is a perfectly acceptable plan B .
Obviously we want to be mindful of how we approach the conversation with any artist , but I do find that asking for just a bit more or a bit less of a certain frequency or overall level is usually totally within bounds . I ’ d stay away from any phrase that could come off like their instrument itself ( or their playing ) doesn ’ t sound good , it seems to work best for me to ask for things in relation to other shows or venues and reiterating that your perspective is from the mix position in the house . “ Love your new bass , Sally ! It does seem to be packing a lot more low end than your other bass for sure ! Rather than give our new PA subwoofers a real workout this early in the morning on a Sunday , can you roll off the super lows just a smidge ? I really am hearing a ton out here in the sanctuary .”
Long story short : The tonal spectrum for electric bass is quite wide and most of the sound is generated / controlled at the instrument itself .
Don ’ t be surprised if a steady rotation of bassists each Sunday keeps you on your toes with drastically different sounds coming your way . Just don ’ t be afraid to carefully ask for something slightly different from the bassist or grab the signal from a different point in the chain if necessary .
LOCATION , LOCATION , LOCATION .
Luckily for us , the wide range of bass tones that you may be tasked with mixing also tend to be quite malleable and comparatively easy to get to sit acceptably well in most mixes . Unlike acoustic guitars or snare drums which can veer into ‘ that sounds wonky ’ land if you get too extreme with EQ adjustments , bass usually has a fair amount of wiggle room .
I find that simply aligning the average bass level to the rough level of the bass drum gets you to a pretty good starting point in most cases . From there it does depend on whether you have more of an Example 1 or an Example 2 type of sound hitting the desk , but I almost always apply a bit of high pass to pull out extremely rumbly lows below about 30Hz ( where the fundamental of a low B string of a 5-string bass would sound ). I usually also cap off the high range EQ with a low pass at 5kHzish right at the liminal zone to remove any errant string noise or non-musical buzz / hiss remnants ( which we happen to have occasionally in our raw samples !).
I ’ d wager that with only careful level adjustment and a little high and low pass taming you could get 75 % of your way to finding something that works as long as the tone coming to you was
reasonably suited for the musical situation at hand . To test out this hypothesis , I ’ ve handed off a few tracks I recorded to some friends to give it a shot at mixing — with the imposed limitation of adjusting only the level of the bass track in the mix . No EQ , no fancy side chain compression , not even riding the fader . They each could do whatever they wanted on the other tracks , though . This should go to show how the exact same bass track can work in a multitude of mixes as long as careful attention is paid to its level in relation to everything else .
Here are the results :
TRACKS MIXED BY JEFF HAWLEY
TRACKS MIXED BY MICHAEL LAWRENCE
TRACKS MIXED BY SAMANTHA POTTER
TRACKS MIXED BY WILLA SNOW
In short , start with simply getting the overall bass level right in the mix and you ’ re on your way . Commercial approaches like Michael ’ s , ‘ wetter ’ mixes like mine , the more polished
sheen of Samantha ’ s , and even a jangly / plucky mix like Willa ’ s all work with the exact
same raw bass track as long the relative level is
balanced well .
In our next installment , we ’ ll dive deeper into EQ and talk about how to put compression to work in an effective mix . Hopefully these examples help to prove that even with the most modest of mixing consoles and basic audio tools ( along with good ears and some patience ), it is possible to get your bass track really rockin ’.
As an added bonus , click here to get the multitrack audio and give the mix a shot for yourself . Ping me on LinkedIn to share what you came up with and we may just publish your mix in next month ’ s installment !
Jeff Hawley A 20-year music industry veteran — equally at ease behind the console , playing bass guitar , leading marketing teams or designing award-winning audio products . He currently heads up the marketing for Allen & Heath in the US .