Using EQ: Bass in the Mix
The bass is extremely important for the audio characteristics of the entire mix, because its energy has an effect on the majority of the frequency spectrum.
Together with the drums, it also defines the rhythmic progression of a song. For this reason, it is very important for the bass frequencies to work in unison with the drums.
Ultimately, the bass is the harmonic cornerstone for the melodic direction of all instruments in the mix. This means that the frequency processing of the bass has a huge influence on the song arrangement as a whole. This is a good reason to take a close look at some techniques for editing the bass frequencies.
The foundation of a bass sound lies between 50 Hz and 100 Hz. The warmth and bottom end of the sound is found in this frequency range. A handy trick for accenting the bass frequencies is to add a low frequency sine tone by means of the gate function. This lets the bass signal control the gated 50 Hz sine tone through the sidechain input of the gate.
We’ve dealt with this method for thickening the bass drum signal in a previous tutorial: „Samplitude Academy – Using EQ: Drums in the Mix – Kick Drum”.
You can increase the transparency of the bass notes by boosting the range between 400 Hz and 800 Hz. You can achieve more impact by boosting the signal at around 2.5 kHz and increase the presence by raising the signal at around 5 kHz.
Here are some EQ recommendations for the bass:
Subbass range below 30 Hz: LoCut
Bass range 50 Hz – 100 Hz (independent of the kick): +4dB
Mids 400 Hz (finger) – 1 kHz (plectrum): +4dB
Low highs 2.5 kHz: +5dB
Mid highs 5kHz: +5dB
Step 1: Disruptive resonance frequencies are most common in bass signals. To find these resonance frequencies, sweep through the frequency spectrum of the EQ with a high Q-factor and high gain setting.
When you find the disruptive frequency ranges, you can lower them or cut them completely.
Step 2: Listen to the bass signal together with the kick drum. This is the best way to identify where the frequencies of each instrument are conflicting and overlapping to make the sound muddy.
Make sure that you create a frequency gap for another instrument in the same frequency range when boosting the frequencies of an instrument. This is particularly effective in the range around 100 Hz.
It is also important to make sure that the kick and bass don’t conflict with each other in the range around 250 Hz.
This complimentary editing of frequency ranges for the kick and bass prevents potential problems such as overtones, loss of pressure or even signal cancellation.
Step 3: Finally we want to make sure that the bass can still be heard on small desktop speakers. To do this, we can use a bandpass on the EQ in the master section to simulate the frequency range of small speakers.
At this point, a residual effect comes into play which leads to a deeper bass sound being perceived than is actually being emitted from the speaker system. This is caused by the tendency of the human ear to “fill in” the missing low end based on the perceived overtone structure of the bass sound. To create this psycho-acoustic phenomenon, the frequencies between 1 kHz and 2 kHz play a very important role. Boosting this range can lead an accenting of the low fundamental tone.
If you deactivate the bandpass filter in the master section, you’ll hear the full sound of your mix and can be sure that the bass sound of your mix will be clearly audible even on small speakers.
We hope you have fun creating the optimal bass sound with the EQ.
The Samplitude Team
