How to EQ Bass

[@quiggycarboncat4280]

Joe - I don't know if you've heard this before but you have THE PERFECT VOICE to be a famous radio personality!!!!!

[@Patrxck87]

His voice reminds me of Jim's voice (from office) lol

[@yasharhp1669]

Agree, fourth here

[@alexberdea]

It’s all dubbed ppl He’s got the technology

[@garbygarb31]

It's called proximity effect

[@salintium]

Yeah its radio voice. My ex bro in law and a friend in LV both have that voice.

[@PastorSteveOkeke_KKCI]

You changed my mixing life with your down to earth, easy to understand approach. I finished a mix yesterday and sent to two different Mix Engineers after watching you for some days now and they shouted wow. I have never had it this way for some times now. Thanks Joe

[@swaftbelic]

To add to this, keep in mind that problem frequencies in the bass may not occur consistently on every note so when you A/B your EQ edits, you may only notice a difference on some notes and nothing on others. At 10:10 you can hear when the EQ difference became much more pronounced on the higher notes in the scale. Thanks for your great videos! Your approach to teaching audio is very effective and absorbing!

[@YourFavouriteColor]

since the bass is monophonic, one word of caution. You don't want your EQ cuts or boosts too narrow or too extreme because you begin to make individual notes, or a small range of notes, quieter or louder than other notes. A C# that JUMPS out or a D that ducks out. I have a similar approach to mixing bass, but I generally keep the EQ shape much broader and try not to cut or boost beyond a couple DB.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Good point, but SOMEtimes there's a specific frequency that's jumping out regardless of what note is being played, like in the example I showed in this video

[@YourFavouriteColor]

@@HomeStudioCorner totally. but an unintended consequence may be uneven amplitudes of individual notes so it is a bit of a balancing act. also automation can potentially compensate too.

[@nonamesneededofficialpage7576]

Easy fix, do what Joe did then add bass rider, problem solved.

[@MelomanTheNerd]

Surfer EQ allegedly solves this very issue ... ; )

[@roadtonever]

Huge low shelfs are fine if you turn down the steepness a little. I recently boosted an thin sounding bass by 21 dB below 180Hz, turned out great!

[@CLELDKFKEJ]

I love this channel because everything you're doing is in a DAW I actually use and have experience with. Thank you for such useful videos!

[@jeffreydhill]

Someone needs to make one of those 10 hour videos of Joe wobbling his hands and saying "WOAHWOAHWOAHWOAH" lmao

[@OdinOfficialEmcee]

Great tip, something I do also. I have also learned that high passing can really help clean bass up. For example, I ussually sit my kick at 60 Htz and bass at 80 Htz and so I high pass up to around 70 Htz (on the buss). When using DI's and amps I ussually let the DI provide my lows and the Amp give the cutting highs, works really well (thanks PLAP!). Also, I use really heavy compression and remove a good majority of the bass' dynamics to keep everything even and steady when coming through subs to prevent the "wobbly" or "flabby" bass sound.

[@20Larson]

Odin OfficialEmcee Gvbvvvvvc. Cccc

[@GeekTherapyRadio]

THIS. Let kick have it's own room to breath, then bass, then toms, snare, etc as you work your way up from low end to high. No sense in electric guitars having any room under 150hz -ish....it just muddies the mix. Let each instrument have its own space. Also, side chaining the the bass guitar to duck under kick beats REALLY tightens up the low end.

[@jorgepeterbarton]

I low pass to 70 hz on my basses. Its called the actual energy of a track tbh. the fundamental tones up to /somewhere on the A string/ are below 70hz so why remove them?. of course its blended and i am exaggerating...and find other ways to free the kick that aren't 'quick fixes'.

[@jorgepeterbarton]

@@GeekTherapyRadio dunno about that. mud is more low mids. some guitars are meant to be bassy, you've just got to spend a bit more time in other areas to be honest. removing the fundamentals of instruments is nonsense. I'd totally agree for a lead guitar, however, because its literally not playing lower than 150hz. maybe its why people then spend ages seeking a 'warmth' plugin after taking out the warmth from their tracks idk...hmm...

[@GeekTherapyRadio]

@@jorgepeterbarton Totally. 100% depends on material, style, instrument, genre, etc... Eq'ing for jazz would be utterly horrid for metal/rock.

[@JoelLangley]

I love the clear and concise directions for this. None of that mumbo jumbo and “oh I used this super expensive preamp that’s $10k and blah blah blah”. Makes it easy for us 9-5 folks to follow and not have to worry that we don’t have a million dollar studio equipment setup 😀

[@doknox]

Everytime I watch a video like this thinking I'll learn something new I find out it's the same stuff I've already been doing for years! Thnx though.

[@GloveBunniesVideos]

Thanks, Joe!

[@gcoudert]

Great advice! Suggestions for further videos (if not already covered): - Panning and using send effects on drums (Which type of reverb on which drum kit instrument? Same type of reverb on all drums or different ones? Using EQ on reverb? Drum panning - how wide?) - Should we automate volume changes on a track before reaching for the compressor?

[@peterosipov400]

This is pretty much the opposite to what I usually do to my bass in the mix. I usually make a small dip around 50-60Hz, so the kick could be better heard in the mix. Sometimes I even highpass the bass (and I would highpass this part also a bit). I also raise a little in the area 300-400Hz, so the bass could be heard in the mix on small speakers. Maybe this song asked for this, but this is not the way I'd mix the bass to begin with. The bass by itself definitely sounds better, but I think in the mix it adds more rumble, than actual low note. Anyway, I don't know this project, maybe this song asked for this approach.

[@David-hs1bu]

see thats the problem with y'all, y'all are PRO SPECULATORS AND PARROTS

[@peterosipov400]

@@David-hs1bu you're most definitely right and if you think I'm not the same person I used to be two years ago you're clearly wrong

[@baselinesweb]

I agree with you. The number one issue with this I would address is the pick sound. It's way too much for my taste. Maybe that's in the 2K range.

[@SoJesusChristMusic]

You're an awesome Teacher... unlike the ones that promise you things they don't really give...but we never notice until we've watched hours and hours of their garbage. This what you give is more like groceries!

[@jackbrown3270]

YOU THE MAN

[@oswald2437]

Some really useful information especially the 50Hz for the bass.

[@alvagoldbook2]

I have kind of an usual process for bass. Bear in mind I have a very nice Trace Elliot rig with a 2x15 cabinet. I take the DI out from the head and put it into a gnarly tube pre like a Studio Projects VTB-1 that’s cranked really hard. I then put a large diagram condenser in front of the 2x15 maybe 6-8 inches away and put it into another pre like a UA LA 610. I might compress a bit in the box but I don’t EQ anything. Just blend to taste. Sounds like the sky is falling.

[@dreambeliever3652]

Joe.... just fantastic bro! Bass can be such a difficult instrument to get to slide right in the mix like butter.

[@walterearl5138]

Thanks for sharing this really helped will be watching more of your videos

[@OphilliaBalls]

amazing, i'm just starting to teach myself how to mix my tracks, thank you for sharing !

[@Timhisattva]

I would have liked to have heard the bass within the rest of the mix. I like grit too but I was interested to know if that annoying clicky string noise, around 2 or 3 k got absorbed or became less irritating. And I might have high passed around 30 or 35 Hz... Thanks for the video.

[@brendanhilgeman1395]

11:48

[@Timhisattva]

@@brendanhilgeman1395 Thanks... didn't realize he played the track at the outro of the video.... wonderful distractions abound.

[@jorgepeterbarton]

never got the high-passing of bass instruments but to each their own...there a better ways to give the kick room without killing the energy of a track, even if its a 'fashion'

[@lavalizard1]

Great explanation as always Joe! I can imagine how those changes would help the bass sit in the mix (thats the only thing I was missing)... Cheers

[@heavymetalmixer91]

i never thought a cut around 100Hz and 200Hz could do so much for my mix (a Metal mix), thanks a lot!

[@rickster58]

Joe that was good. My preference is to remove some of the fret buzz also.

[@hafidhtepeng7446]

Joe, you’re so wowowowowowowoo. I like it. Thank you!

[@TheMertoman]

Joe do you teach a class on mixing ?.. man I learn so much from your videos.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Yup! www.homestudiocorner.com/mix

[@LloydMajor]

Your one of the best teachers Joe!

[@ZiggyDude777]

He has taught me too

[@mickimarbhmusic]

Excellent and to the point 🤘kudos from Hamburg ⚓️ ✊😎🎶

[@thegoldenstratboy7293]

your videos are amazing!!! thank you for your work

[@salintium]

Hey Joe I appreciate this. Kali Audio LP-6's are the best Studio monitors in their price point. The punch from them is just right (if the Mix is right.) To many Aud Eng's of famous professional Artist just don't get it right. Going from one song to the next you can hear the differences in the mixes of each song. While I hate Party in the USA by Miley I like listening to it because of the mix. The bass is just perfect. I haven't gotten to the mixing portion of my song yet' but I'm finding I fight with the levels of the mix in the source and bass is a chore. This really helps thanks

[@ArmareiVofficial]

Great video 👍🏾💯

[@mitchellchurch3385]

You should check out how Joe Baressi mixes bass and discusses how the phase and the DI hits the interface sooner than the amp source. Also Joe treats it different and his bass is more noticeable in the mix.

[@troutstudio]

Joe I want to thank you so much for this. Really useful information I am very glad I found this channel. Tearing my hair out over bass this is the Gospel. Cheers and all the best mate.

[@VaChiee]

big thanks great info always tricky

[@michaeljensen1625]

Very timely for me. Thanks Joe!

[@XiyuYang]

Also, I've started to use multiband compression with different techniques (downward, upward, sidechains, expanding) on bass. One particular thing I found it low cut a bass at around 60 hz and compress every below 200hz extremely heavily often get me where I want to. On top of that upward comping anywhere between 200-800 helps the bass jump out more, but in a very consistent way. The thing about mixingg bass is consistency (at least in rock, electronic and pop), you don't want a lot of changes in volume on a bass. Jazz and classical is a different story tho.

[@devonbiker]

This was really helpful. Thank you.

[@boonfire3714]

Damn you Joe! I need to get off the toilet, stop with the great videos!

[@roxammon5858]

Another great video Joe. I was expecting to see something about balancing the bass eq with the kick drum eq. They often compete for the same eq space in the mix.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

I think people like to talk about them competing, but they don't really compete.

[@BLACKSYNTH]

A lot of your "midrange" you say is happening around 90-120, thats not midrange, low mids is considered 250-500 , but a lot needs a tight Q pulling out headache htz around there usually between 120-150. on bass though dont dip them too much as they usually occour on just certain notes and can make them dissapeir completley. I would always Compress the Bass before any EQ, mainly with a multiband to keep the low end solid before you start cutting away at it. I normally do that on my DI and high pass the amps bass a little more than the DI keeping the DI for the lows and the amp sound for the low mid charictor and colour. a nice boost at 800 keeps it present on small devices and speakers we all know how people love to listen to new tracks on a mono phone speaker :D. yep Bass was the last thing I got my head around. taking lots of breaks helps as bass really messes up your perception withing even 10 mins of mixing it.

[@MerlinMerlinL]

Thank you. In the whole world there is no better explanation of bass eq. I'll search bass versus kick drum now.

[@arminfatol]

Very nice! Thank you!

[@ondrejtregler]

thanks, I always struggeld with the bass EQ and this pretty much explained me the whole thing :)

[@rockwriter9054]

The best advice and explanation for me yet Thank you Joe, would it be good when you have finished the E Q to add compression by creating a send, and parralell compress it ,or just use a compressor plugin ? Thank you.

[@rickbeats7898]

thanks for the video man!

[@mattbennett6141]

Really good video man

[@peterstevens7401]

I've never heard 100-200Hz as "midrange" . . . I'm used to hearing 500Hz associated with that term (as in this case): www.teachmeaudio.com/mixing/techniques/audio-spectrum

[@rome8180]

Yeah, 100-200 is literally the best part of a bass guitar.

[@kensmechanicalaffair]

Midbass

[@nick13music90]

Great video Thank you so much 😊

[@davejohnsonmusic]

No low or high pass filters to clean it up a bit? I like to EQ two bass tracks like this separately and add the filters according to the frequencies that each is dominating. Best wishes for the new year!

[@la.autordluke]

hey joe, im not sure about it, cause sometimes depend of the track that u have! btw well done, i like your channel!

[@mikemeengs4124]

Well done! Notch out those ringing frequencies. Most of my EQ work is subtractive.

[@almur88]

I'll always remember the saying of DAve Pensado in one of his episodes about bass: Dave, how to handle bass? - I would say "mute the damn thing, it's just too much trouble to deal with'!

[@davidmcintosh263]

GREAT tutorial!!...but spill...where'd ya get the desk??

[@sickmessiah]

I do the same thing but more drastic on the cut. It usually opens up for snare body and lower vocal tones to pop out

[@cantor7723]

Maybe because I use bass synths or keys for my bass sounds, but this bass sounds really noisy to me. I would also suggest a low cut filter very low. Human hearing only goes down to 20Hz. The lowest note on a 4 string bass is about 40Hz. I'd gently roll off about 30Hz or 25Hz on my bass. Not steep. Gentle. Bass is where things get muddy quickly. I like to get rid of parts we can't hear anyway so it doesn't trigger any compressors, gates, filters, etc. If it's gone, it can't interfere with other stuff. Also, using a high cut at about 100Hz would probably serve your bass better. Bass belongs below a 100Hz, especially with a full band. When a mixer listens to the full mix on an eq graph and they mute the bass, roughly the bottom 1/3 of the mix should disappear. You don't want other stuff down there competing with bass, and you don't want the bass up trying to compete with acoustic/electric guitar/vocals, etc.

[@brandoncooke6564]

This is like, the worst mixing advice I've ever heard. Don't get me wrong, if you found a way to make this work, then good on you. But telling people to do that as a general rule is just silly. There's tons of useful bass guitar sound above 100Hz. You take that all away and you have literally no pick attack, no useful saturation, you just have a deep rumble. Congrats, you got the FIRST HALF of a bass guitar, half right. Why not just use a low note sine wave in that case to represent your "bass" because it would sound the same? Then you don't even need to mess with eq or compression or anything.

[@cantor7723]

Brandon Cooke You missed the point entirely.

[@PatrickObiang]

Hi, Joe! Happy New Year 2019! Thanx for all your tutorials. Peace!

[@DialToneTP]

does this work on any bass? I use stock instruments from my DAW.

[@SuperLevelone]

Happy New Year 2019! as well..... Also Thanx for all your tutorials.

[@JacoBrownolymetal666]

A high pass at around 40-45hz would totally tighten this sound up I feel. Small cut at 200hz and a boost at 2k hz.

[@nickgarnero9843]

I am assuming by "grit". You not only mean buzzy stuf but also string noise because I haven't seen you address that at all. I like string noise and boost my highend for it specifically but there is a clipping quality to this track from string noise. I mean he isn't playing slap and pop so that string chatter is a little much.

[@shanehagan]

great video man !!!

[@mcsweet1966]

Hello Joe, Thanks for another Great Video. I like to use a combination of Static EQ and dynamic EQ to massage the sound something like the UAD Sonnox® Oxford Dynamic EQ Plug-In . For me cutting frequencies is like cutting a string on a guitar, I prefere to do a med/large Q Cut of 1 to 3 db and then use the dynamic fonction to fix only when it become a problem keeping the full spectrum. But Going Back to the ONLY rule of music ... If it sound good then it`s Good. Have a Nice Day.

[@PhillipAlcock]

Joe - Don’t know if you’ll pick this up, but how do you ‘add grit’? And would this apply to live playing too?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Some sort of distortion, like a sans amp pedal or cranking the amp

[@hamadxjm]

Really informative but how do you keep a space for the drum kick? If you keep the 50khz uncut or boosted the kick wont be heard!

[@flipnap2112]

you can use a compressor to duck the signal.. and there are a few plugins, like track spacer that will help to auto duck and make room

[@christiansmith7391]

How do you reconcile this with getting the bass to be audible on smaller speakers?

[@bwall615]

I was waiting on Joe to address this. His EQ curve looks like what mine normally does. But, I've found using a notch at 800 Hz. to add a db or two works well for small speakers.

[@johnnyh64]

You could also try adding a little distortion/drive which adds harmonics that are audible on smaller speakers.

[@NelsonMontana1234]

Good video. I disagree with almost everything, but well done.

[@83mgr]

Ah ah I agree with you.

[@rome8180]

Yeah, I clearly have a much different opinion on what bass should sound like than this guy. I generally high pass the really deep frequencies and try to have the focus of my bass be around 100-150. To me, the mud is actually at 200-300. The way he EQ'd this bass did not sound like it would sit well in a mix to me.

[@avalanwa]

😂😂😅😅😂

[@NomenclatureDiablari]

Correct, the fundamental(first harmonic generally has the least tonal character, it has mainly sub freq) so the second harmonic actually gives you the tonal character sound, i generally lower first harmonic a little to expose the 2nd more

[@ZiggyDude777]

Joe is great with vocals and makes a high energy mix that I wish I could do. He knows stuff that is amazing and I watch a lot of his stuff and learn But bass is his Achilles Heal. Don't blame him though. For a singer that is often the case. The job for the bass player is to find a tone that can still be heard and prominent but not get in the singers way. And that matters on the singer and the band you are in. It always seems to be different.

[@XiyuYang]

I would be more careful cutting bass around 200-500, that's where the mud is but that's also where the warmth and power is

[@rome8180]

Most mixers I know are pretty liberal with the compression on bass. They like it because it evens out the dynamics. Granted, grit does that too. But if you go light on the grit you can still end up with bass that sounds much thinner or thicker at certain points.

[@RogerioValgode]

Always great tips, love this channel :)

[@jstlez97]

Can you show a mix with piano... Also enjoy your work.

[@francescoricci7546]

Don't care about stupid comments, this is the right way to cleanup the bass in the mix; this method helps also to avoid unnecessary resonance vibration of loudspeakers caused by some frequencies (between 100 and 600/800 hz) without losing power, indeed we gain clarity and a deep punch bass. Keep it up.

[@YippeeSkippie426]

This is a b.s. video from someone who actually thinks his buddy's lousy playing is actually good. pft

[@1funkyangel]

Joe ,..if you’re doing more than one bass track , and running them up the middle of the stereo spectrum,.. won’t there be some phase cancellation issues ?

[@middleDZ]

THANK YOU

[@LOKJazz]

Personally I like to mix the bass when in context then isolate it and tweek it if it needs it. OR maybe I'd like to hear your track in context to know the context.

[@LilYeshua]

Thanks

[@SkrawnCPT]

Hey. If you are mixing a whole range of sounds that have been sent to various busses, do you eq and compress the individual sounds and the bus, or just the bus, or just the individual sounds?

[@patrickfarley8036]

Question: If this scooping out the mids is such a recurring problem, why doesnt this get corrected before the recording? I mean, and no offense intended, but are you just adding what you like or trying to capture what the band actually sounds like live? I know I've heard recorded versions of my drums that were "eq'd" to the point where I didnt recognize my own playing! The drums didnt sound anything like the sounds I heard in my headphones.

[@marcelbr815]

Joe, hello. When you mix a deep bass like that, how do you eq your kick drum? Brighter with more emphasis in the 90 h? I usually go deeper on my kick drums, around 60 to 80 hertz... and push the bass a little further in the 75 to 95hz area... but the bass from your video is killer.

[@SuAmigoElilegal]

Question please . I have my PA set up 2 loud speakers and 2 subwoofer. Now when I play my bass I hear bass but not what I desire. My mixer board only has 80 hertz knob to adjust on my bass channel and also another EQ on the size , im guessing for the whole channels as one. My issues is that the bass in good punchy to 80 hurts but when I hear songs on my phone and play them I hear low bass sorf of like a night club bass. But my bass is note delivering low bass like that. Now do I need to add an EQ pedal so I can bring up the lows like 60 herts

[@polanve]

I'm listening on my phone, and everything is perfectly clear. My biggest challenge with bass is that it's inaudible when played back on a phone. How did you get this to play on a device that can't produce low frequency sounds?

[@BurntMcgurnt]

I'm sure he boosted somewhere around 1k on the final mix a midrange boost is how you get it to be audible on small speakers...oh and don't listen to low end on small speakers hahaha

[@retsmej]

great !

[@truthfinder1016]

Yoo this video helped me alotttt/// thanks

[@gforce7four]

Step 1: Track with a P. Step 2: adjust fader to taste and leave it alone because a P is perfect just the way it is.

[@philu9319]

Man, what city are you near? What kind of rates do you charge? I like your work.

[@backspin6698]

I absolut agree. I always get that headache around 100 hz on the bass. I call it the Charlie Brown frequence, wonk wonk wonk.

[@bersi1149]

Good video Joe - thanks a lot! But how do you do that with the lowend with bass and bass drums? Normally both shouldn't be playing in the same frequency range. Txs

[@smagherini]

Joe I have been following your videos since the Covid19 crises.? They are great !!! I have studio one pro. I am a drummer and I use an electronic drum. With my band we got organized and the other folks are sending me their parts which are recorded with what’s available including smartphones and I mix it all up. Did you make any videos specific to help people like me? If not it would be great if you could make one.

[@mlungisindaba2092]

I like the cuts you made on the bass excerpt the boost you made on its low end because it made your kick to disappear. A mastering engineer was going maybe to help you with that. Thank you

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Drums aren’t mixed yet, but thanks!

[@mlungisindaba2092]

Ok

[@rockwriter9054]

Hi Joe why no compression? or did the bass player record it with a hardware compressor on, in the beginning which I like to do.?

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Sometimes it doesn’t need it.

[@apacheee]

hey joe, i know im a bit late, but is there a way you can take the strums out of the audio? for me, i feel like it would almost sound better if that were the case. do you know of any ways this would be possible without going and manually cutting each little section out?

[@jackrobinson9403]

What why

[@ChaseMcClendon]

No filters?

[@simpzulu7395]

You have nice setup out there...When ever I see some clip how to EQ this or that at the end I always here "yeah it is subtle" and in fact I really do not hear that much change sound wise, not only in your case, but almost every other "it is subtle"..I think that sound was really good bass sound and personally I wouldn't touch it, but it was your decision, because everything is already being done. I think you would agree that everything is on the source 90% of the job is the how it was recorded and maybe 10% the rest of it.. Just to make a point out of this, I think it would sit properly in the mix if you didn't touch it, no irritating freq ..and you didn't play whole mix just we can hear how that EQ changes apply to low freq mix as a whole, you know :)

[@cyootlabs]

For anyone watching this video in the hopes to get better at *mixing*, applying an EQ while the track is soloed like Joe is doing here isn't *mixing*, it's tonal shaping. Mixing is about, well.... mixing the sources - and you're not doing that if you're only listening to one. You don't eat a banana one day, and then a few strawberries the day after and then say you had a smoothie. What Joe is doing here is more like dipping the banana in chocolate, he's making the bass sound good on it's own, sure - but once you playback everything you probably haven't done anything to make the mix better.

[@fukaibeats]

what daw are you using?

[@brunosimonetta7098]

good info, however... the main problem with this vid is that you never show the track as a whole (only for 10 seconds in the outro) and we never knew if there's a guitar playing low notes and taking up some wanted low end, or if the song is only drums&bass&vocals and we want more mid range for the bass.. the info is good but where's the context?

[@simoncooper8272]

It's ok every guitar and bass were all playing the same at the same time so it's all about the guitar, the bass is just there to reinforce the guitars! Boring isn't it?

[@jaajmedia2118]

My best Music teacher , how can I contact you

[@AugustThor438]

The direct signal is way too hot. I agree you need a little bit of dirt for bass but it’s crucial to have at least one channel super clean so you have options. The lows are not as controlable if it’s too dirty from the start. Just my 2 cent

[@MatthewNash92]

can I record bass with a sm57 ?

[@BillonBass]

How do you minimize or get rid of the finger clicking which isn’t grit but just bad technique? You’ll never hear a top session player making that noise.

[@armansrsa]

Bass can have super loud fundamentals and almost no mid-range depending on strings used and how it is played. Anyway, I didn't understand your part @ around 12minutes about the mid range being louder because when you pass the bass through the EQ you can see the low end around 100Hz is louder. Maybe we mean different things when we say "midrange" but in the EQ it definitely looks like the low end is louder than the midrange :)

[@RickMenace]

luv grit on bass!