How to balance a kick drum and bassline using EQ

Bloated bottom-end never sounds good, yet it’s almost inevitable if you’re combining sounds rich in bass content. Find out how EQ can help. For more on creating and mixing kick drums, check out issue 286 of Future Music: bit.ly/FMU286

[@Timejuicer]

Warning, scooping out bass frequencies is very tricky. You easily change the majority of the energy in the bass and I am not sure if you wanna do that. I think that you can solve a lot of bass issues with proper designing your kick drum. In this example the bassline and de kick seem to be on a C. This mean, that the majority of the frequencies will be on 65,130,196. If you would change the kick to a G, you would slightly lower the kick to 49hz, which gives you in return 49,98,147,196. Now you need to carefully select your kick drum. A lot of kick drums start higher then its fundamental. So it glides from a C to a G for example. This makes low end design a bit hard. Well, actually, in this case having a kick going from a c (65) to a g (49) would work if you would apply a small sidechain to the bass. There is only one overlapping frequency on 196. You could attenuate this on the kick drum. So my advice is, first try to design your elements in such a way that it will not interfere with each other. That way, you ensure the most natural low end sound.

[@Luftbubblan]

David Pluym Been experimenting with this abit but with alot more elements and got some decent results. Spreading elements over diffrent notes that ofc go along together tonal. Bad thing or not i dont know, but it can probably restict me, im no musical genious haha. My first thought was just that i wanted to use little to no eq on most sounds just so i can have what i initial created and not somthing that sounds completly diffrent. On top of this you can also play with "time". Making millisecond changes to elements that hit at the same time / and / or on same note opens up alot without sounding off. In the genre i do / try to do, we offen use a tonal kick so it aint moving so much

[@myasantina2832]

David Pluym Thank you for the advice!

[@PatrickWalker09]

David Pluym how do you lower the kick drum to a G though?

[@jer4532]

David Pluym You could use Downward expansion with FabFilter MB on the 808/kick/Bass applied a noise Gate and expand the route note this plus some sidechain usually work the best.

[@Zangrieffl]

+David Pluym In C, you meant, 65, 130, 261, right? 196 is G, though I might be wrong

[@DJZoundsOfficial]

Saved my day... I was struggling with one track so hard.. and all I need was this simple EQ thing.. some times we just forget the most basic things!!! thanks guys :)

[@DerBen03]

i think a few Things works better... 1. Choose first, if the Kick or Bass should be more "in your Face". 2. Only EQ things wenn you hear the whole Mix or the deep Frequencies 3. Just Copy the EQ-Settings from one Channel in the second - then do the opposite with the Bandwidth 4.Boost only the Frequencies that sits in the right Key of the Track 5. Sidechain can work aswell, wenn you just sidechain the Frequencies you want (with LFO Tool etc.). Sidechain only the very low Frequencies from the Subbass for example 6. Use the Fabfilter Pro Q2 and compare with the Sidechain Mode. If you route the Kick on the Bass for example, you can see booth Frequencies directly together. 7. The Sustain of the Kick and/or Bass is very important. Make sure, that one Sustain ends, when the Attack from the other Parts come in. A Saturator on the Bass works wonder too. But you had to EQ afterwards again, or correct some things

[@daillocruz3606]

totaly agree!

[@Jhonatan5]

Just lay some soundgoodizer there and you'll be fine bro.

[@onegap6283]

fl studio stuff :D

[@MauricioArevalo]

crack me the fuck up lol

[@WMOfficialMusic]

FYI: Soundgoodizer is just the Maximus core engine with a fancy UI and fixed presets (A-D), which are also available in the presets for Maximus. ;) Just be careful, there's no such thing as a one preset master setting that works the same everywhere; but hey, it's still great for demos and sharing online quickly. ;)

[@dylanhenstockipsc]

PPPPFFFFFFF HAHAHHA XD

[@codesymphony]

throw 2 on it'll sound twice as good

[@jtpinnyc]

This is the kind of video that Future Music should be concentrating on, instead of endless profiles of the latest short bearded, side-partinged, dick-plunge-v-neck-t-shirt-wearing pop-EDM producers who let's face it are one and the same person.

[@bearpitrock]

Nice

[@nano7586]

+jpinnyc "dick-plunge-v-neck-t-shirt-wearing pop-EDM producers" ahah oh god, finally someone who can put it into words.

[@Rusty511]

Never heard so much truth in a youtube comment before. subbed

[@sfg206]

+jpinnyc Has to be Sebastiaan Vandevoorde

[@djleoarmstrong3008]

+jnyc This

[@PhreaSpirit]

The end result is definitely clearer and crisper. Sure its a little lighter now, but in a good way - its less muddy. Pretty basic stuff, but really handy. Thanks!

[@FrasierLinde]

Without EQ (12:20), the bassline dominates. With EQ (12:40), the kick punches through more consistently, keeping a tighter groove and achieving a more equal balance between the two sounds. It would be interesting to hear this method compared against sidechain compression, sidechain filtering, and simply turning the sub part down a bit. What's your reasoning behind choosing shelf filters where you do instead of cutoffs?

[@HyperProduction]

Really great video! The Bass & Kick problem never ceases to amaze us!

[@ninovaskov]

Excellent video. Not because it worked the best but because it explained a fundamental concept on EQ and Headroom. We all know what could have been done in a minute and resolve the issue.

[@buzzlow9361]

Of course they are all at the same hertz since they are all in the same key. Thanks for this tutorial, please do more mixing tutorials like this one.

[@piotrbukowski9566]

I'm sorry guys, your EQ treatment didn't help enough in this situation, because the kick and bass just needed a bit of ducking (sidechain compression). You didn't fix that awful frequency clash with such a conservative and delicate EQ, especially the subtle low shelves in the region below 40 Hz didn't do any job, because there's nearly nothing hearable there. In my opinion, you should have highpassed the attack bass at around 80-100Hz and just sidechained the bass to the kick, so both sounds don't play loud at the same time (and they don't cause interference/bass phase problems). Also, the subbass sounds unstable because it's probably detuned unison voices. Make the sub just a single, stable mono voice.

[@michaelbenson6075]

right. way to complicate something thats as simple as rolling off the low end and adding a side chain jeez

[@unijabass]

WOW, impressed! Make some instructional videos please!

[@dudleydooright]

Sidechain is for the lazy engineer.

[@bonebrew22]

@@dudleydooright in this case (and most cases) it doesnt make sense to permanently remove frequencies from the bass, that are only conflicting with the kick SOME of the time (on down beats and 1/8th notes just after the kick) Makes way more sense to sidechain imo, better yet, split the frequencies up and sidechain only the lows because the highs dont have to fight for space as much.

[@kjnkdy]

Your idea is very proper in this situation, and I totally agree that. But you mentioned that " the subtle low shelves in the region below 40 Hz didn't do any job". And I'm afraid it's wrong. If you mixed your song close to proper loudness, even 1db boost or cut would make huge difference on your whole mix, and IT IS EXACTLY WHAT MASTERING ENGINEERS DO EVERYDAY. Many people often mistakes about those stuff because their ears cannot monitor well below the 40hz. As a person who can hear stuff around 20hz, I can guarantee that subtle boosting low end can totally attenuates every stuff over the low end frequency, as well as subtle cutting low end can totally strengthens every stuff over the low end frequency.

[@bobbyrych3074]

ONE OF THE BEST TUTORIALS IVE EVER SEEN!!!

[@Hundred100]

you guys should make more videos like this one

[@drydessert4198]

Best tut on the topic I have seen so far.

[@andivax]

multiband sidechain will solve this problem better and faster

[@Ottismusicc]

+andivax so make a tutorial how to do that

[@andivax]

+Berry Berry put the MB Sidechain in insert channel. it is simple ))

[@andivax]

agreed. but multiband sidechain is in-audible when properly configured. always use it in rock music production.

[@Pir44tti]

+andivax no

[@xblackb0x]

+andivax It is not the same at all.

[@codesymphony]

it's such a subtle thing when you look at it technically, but mentally it just "feels" 1000x more clear

[@xewi60]

Honestly im not sure if i prefer before of after, but at least i learned more about low frequencies EQs parameters

[@docteurgreene]

99% of the time when I watch a "mixing kick and bass" tutorial, the bass is only playing one note. So this is way easier to tweak than in a 4 bars melody where the bass is playing 4 notes (one note per bar) for example.

[@lassorb4752]

Try trackspacer

[@OrganTK]

Lot of Laugh!! I pressed ctrl + S at the end of the video.. :D:D

[@fjarm]

Happened to us logic users 😂. Its like muscle memory

[@eddyray666]

Information given away is always, always appreciated. Thank you. I am amazed that no one else mentioned the piercing sibilance in this tutorial, however.

[@classactionsteve]

maybe it's my headphones but it sounded like crap before and still sounds like crap

[@donallfinn]

Yep, this technique is 100% wrong

[@StylePoints]

Ya seriously sidechaining would be a much more effective method here

[@QuickmixProductions]

Use AKG K240 Studio Headphones

[@zaabimahdi]

i was going to write the same ...

[@zaabimahdi]

@@donallfinn do you have a video for a good technique ?

[@TalkinMusicProduction]

Really great tutorial mate and well explained, highly recommended.

[@johnnymcjohn]

Great tutorial guys... Much needed detail for such an important aspect of mixing. Cheers.

[@hatiminfopourtous123]

Please bring Axwell Ingress to Studio Lessons and Tour please!

[@Kee-Lo]

Isn't the chords now clashing with your final work? Or is it just my ears?

[@galactikshell4096]

Yeah but this was about kick and bass not chords

[@Kee-Lo]

I get that, glad my ears were right though

[@nsjx]

It seemed like the attack portion of the bass part had sufficient sub to begin with, in fact it seemed to include more low freq content than that of the sub. I am listening through near-field studio monitors in a treated room and i also hear that the two basses might not be jiving together in the result. could be something some gentle compression could help glue together (in this instance). but about these things with minute details... everyone may hear it differently ;) it's still all fun and a blast to learn. good info which generates inspiration. thanks oh and i too love DMG Audio Equilibrium. Nice to see that in play

[@Pettfettt]

Wow. Insane difference actually. Nice vid

[@Galaxylight78]

That was sooo helpful , i will use it on my tracks from now on, thanks for share !

[@MrForesythe]

Quite common to EQ kicks with a high pass or low shelf (-5-6 db) at 94 hz and have sub take up the bass band. If the kick is played alone then you automate the EQ off and back on again as soon as bass kicks in. It's very noticeable, but it also makes for a clean bottom end.

[@Hyperezil]

Nudge the Kick back a few ms along with the mid bass, keep the sub in the middle then EQ out anything under say 40hz apply some compression and really that's it. You can do this any with good sound selection ie quiet kick drum over loud bass and vice versa.

[@richardcasalis5130]

This comment has intrigued me. I often thought when listening to well produced tracks that it appeared as though the kick was before the sub but some explanation would be appreciated. big up FSM

[@luisnannini]

Bruno Cdep i always tought the kick was the lowest thing and required all the sub, but i've recently discovered the sub goes from 20hz to more or less 60hz and the kick needs to be from there betweem 60/80 hz to 180hz more or less.

[@XiyuYang]

In this case I would use sidechain compression. Another solution is use a different kick. The sub and the kick share very very close fundamentals (C), if you tune the kick down to G there would be a lot more space between the two. I would be very careful about cutting low and sub frequencies in this genre, you can easily take away the energy in that area.

[@dudleydooright]

Sidechain is lazy... should never be needed on a kick/bass combo.

[@lucabechis]

Best video on the subject, thank you very much. Very explicative

[@Nurkomusic]

I see that you use a low shelf instead of a Highpass filter on the attack deep bass. When people put a low cut on everything besides bass elements instead of using a low shelf sometimes, does that contribute to mixes coming out sounding thin?

[@timothymcjury72]

The comment below is essential for most of those who have known this tutorial but are still lacking that tight tone. I want to add in the process of mixing tightening these things up with side chaining is also great even a very suddle sidechain makes a huge difference. In FL studio and ableton and logic and cubase you can learn how to sidechain individual frequencies which can be amazing. And punchy ness comes from compression (parallel compression) and saturation. Took me a long time and research to find these things but in the end ...I love this shit so it was worth it. But even these little tutorials will get you closer. Also nothing You do is wrong if it sounds good you must explore! These little eq cuts and boosts will get you far in an overall mix. Just make sure you don't over do it. Most modern mastered tracks are surprisingly thinly Equalized to make space but that is filled with volume reverb and other things so it can be hard to tell when you have over done it. But again nothing is wrong if it sounds good to you.

[@timothymcjury72]

One thing unrelated ...edm producers please....no one can hear 1500000000 layers of supersaws. Texture ...not layers. Sorry...I digress

[@ishaanuniyal5937]

Low cut the high bass and high cut the sub and sidechain to the kick. Solved. If need be, duck the sub around 80-100hz depending on the key of the kick so the the sub frequencies stay intact and the kick shines through the sub frequencies the we cut.

[@iwannucci]

It helped me a lot to make a Deep Tech, thanks so much.

[@wiselinden]

A perfect guide for what I need. Thank you

[@xxkaiserxx6240]

AWESOME tutorial. I would never get these 'micro' tips from other youtube channels.

[@zawette]

guys madeon in the studio video pls

[@DanielTeraOfficial]

+zawette Yes!

[@shune84]

good stuff this with the bass eq'd you could hear the room presence in the mix that was muddied up before eq

[@LpGpVsPGF]

Great video with really obvious examples; thanks a lot from a beginner!

[@posebukse]

Funny how "low midrange" is considered sub by some. Your sub is an octave too high mate

[@shune84]

cos they have shit speakers

[@ritik84]

Thank you future magzine for this tutorial❤️❤️❤️

[@fdhfdh3310]

Great tutorial I like the pace as I’m not too technical. Do you have a tutorial on compression ? Many thanks.

[@TheNyukNyuk]

Very valuable insight. Thank you for this!

[@JimKazas]

Well, I create Downtempo / Chil beat tracks including guitar. I 've been using many plugins (Compressor, limiter, PAZ analyzer, WLM loudness meter) and have been trying to reach the goal of -14 / -13 dB LUFS standard of KZbin and always found my song lacking power and loudness when comparing to celebrities tracks. Then I decided to measure those reference tracks... To my surprice, I found that almost all known songs, even Despacito or Ed Sheeran's tracks are at around -6 LUFS !!! So what is wrong in this case? Should I follow the Loudness War and export my tracks that loud and let platforms as KZbin reduce/normalise them even 52% (Despacito: Volume / Normalized100% / 52% (content loudness 5.7dB) or follow the limit standard rules of -14 LUFS?

[@chrisjdgrady]

I'm with you. Even -12 sounds way too weak to me. I"m considering going to around -9 or so. I don't really care if I'm adhering to some standard that might go away anyways if it sounds too quiet.

[@JimKazas]

@@chrisjdgrady that's my decision too. All known tracks leave very little headroom and all the instruments sound so loud that if you see their spectrum you 'll find a fat line with some quiet parts here and there..

[@draggin]

Nicky romero Kickstart ( Don't you 100% always. Use your ears). Use saturation for the sub depending on the genre. Add punch to to bass. ( Fabfilter Saturn and Pro Q 3 can be good for that maybe ).

[@donnagrimshaw3512]

Hi, wondering what are you doing to your output channel and why it is maxing out? Isn't it better to get your mix EQ right before you start compressing/limiting your master?

[@911gpd]

Thanks a lot for this video :) Very helpful

[@zeepster]

No-one commenting about that the Dark Chord track actually had the most sub?? He should have low cut that. Cheers for the tutorial.

[@sirkdnalde5280]

+zeepster seriously that kind of made this whole video useless, definitely still some conflicting freqs with that gnarly low sub

[@tonihullzer1611]

very interesting example, why don't you use a low pass filter on the sub bass to remove the frequencies above approx. 100 Hz???

[@ninjafukwan7]

FUTURE MUSIC keep those types of videos coming ...great job !!! If I can requesting something ? can you do a follow up video on Mixing the High Frequency's? say White noise on Hi hats On Synth specially super saw...wide open! thanks And Also How to layer Kicks what too look out for, Phasing issues etc... Also make more videos on EQing...cause it's very important!!

[@J.Cop1]

Is it be better to use a shelf like he did, or would it be better to use a high pass and low pass and cut it out completely?

[@Zakuti]

I like that kick sound, anyone know where I can get it? Good video, thanks for sharing!

[@JorgenTiigisoon]

i have a promlem that i used long 4 bar notes for my sub that are changeing pitch but i want to keep the kick on C. How should i balance them, sidechaining and eqing didn't help because the low end of the kick is still out of tune.

[@IIMANIXII]

WoW the exact problem im having with a track im working on 62 hz kick n sub both... thanks for this i will try it out

[@cristianaguilar8445]

thanks!.. greetings form mexico! :D

[@theoreticalsoul]

Great Video! I was having similar issues with balancing the kick and bass with EQs. Very Helpful. Much Appreciated! DJ THEO SF :)

[@musicbybltn]

Just put a kickstart on the bass and sub, and a reversed kickstart on the kick. Very effective, I saw it in one of Jay Eskar's video's

[@nandoblondemobydick5438]

there no rules about tuning, as Javier Bustamante pointed, i don´t mean his technique don´t work, cause it can works but the Kick and bass should glue toghether by ear, there is no scape here, as other wisely pointed the kick becomes very namby pamby if it´s sustain and decay is tunned too strictly at least in Techno. The video by Future Music is very well done and it is difficult too get the result we ear cause the source material is already very well matched (appart timbre matching the three parts share same fundamental note in this case) before even EQ,

[@JakeMasca]

did you tune your kick to the root note of the song?

[@frostmutant4882]

oh crap he obviously didn't, listening with my headphones it seems like a terrible mistake :s oh no.. yeah definitely tune your kicks right on this kind of stuff, now the kick is creating pretty awful dissonanse, not to mean to sound rude or anything.. but the lesson and point of this video is still valid and had some great advice in it. Maybe he would have tuned the kick in the end anyway. I appreciate the video all the same!

[@afi6061]

I have to say I'm surprised you didn't scoop the kick frequency out of the sub too as ISTR all 3 elements were on the same fundamental. How come? Is it just about *reducing* competition, not eliminating it?

[@vonspeex9608]

Really good insight mate...Thanks a lot, Really helped...I even made a few tunes sampling this video :D

[@smellyfish36]

Interesting, I'm beginning to make a different type of music, more like hiphop/trap oriented but this could help to get a more clean sound that I want. I find a lot of time that the bass on things I make is really muddy and terrible sounding.

[@benniboston1461]

How about adding some sidechain? In my opinion this actually is a essential thing in this kind of genre.

[@kame5271]

Great video, i'd appreciate every bodies input here.. But would it make sense to boost the 'Attack drop bass' at either 120Hz/240Hz/480Hz (60+60 = 120, 120 + 120 = 240 etc) due to the fact that the fundamental frequency is around 60Hz?. Would this make the bass sound more 'in tune' or should I just stick to whatever sounds best??

[@Zangrieffl]

+Farai Sean So that's how harmonics work?

[@Edizipek]

Hello sir. i m from Turkey. I got a question and if u answer i will be really happy. I have home cinema sound system. Pioneer VSX921 reciever and "Magnat Vintage 350" tower speakers.. It says 20-35.000 Hz behind the speaker. How can i have a good "kick" tone at this huge speakers. I hear clear trebels but bass comes like a wave from ocean..Very soft and wide. I cant make it "kick".. Please help me. Thank you so much..

[@user-pp7hq1rx6t]

How do you get such a beefy kick?? Is it possible with just Logic's stock plug-ins ?

[@tekis0]

Great video! Very functional looking eq too. I'm checking out DMG Audio as well

[@TonyTestaMusic]

Great Vid! How did you create that sub patch?

[@sidazlaan717]

thanks, it actually let me through so i could download it.

[@monnomestpersonne9394]

Nice beat at the end !

[@ProbablyAnEarthbender]

I'm rather clueless when it comes to music programs, but how did he get this setup and how did he create the original sounds? Aka did he have to buy the sub and stuff?

[@MYEVILTWIIN]

+Caleb Ketterer (Concept K8) yeah ,the sub costs a lot more than the "stuff" .....and he saved up his paper round money to buy his set up !!! ......its a basic mac running logic pro x .....what he's showing is all about basic EQ'ing !!!

[@ProbablyAnEarthbender]

Ah okay haha thanks

[@kame5271]

+Caleb Ketterer (Concept K8) Adding onto what MYEVILTWIIN said, try downloading a demo of any DAW( Digital Audio Workstation) eg: Logic(only for Mac), Ableton Live or FL Studio for Windows and play around with the plugin inserts the software comes with, this video made use of an Equalizer to change the volume of certain frequencies (you can find tons of videos online for more info). The sub sound can be found in any almost any sound generating plugin(tons of free sounds online) or even in sample packs... Good luck bro!! Always good to see people getting into the world of audio.

[@MiniClown2]

+Caleb Ketterer (Concept) You don't really need great hardware to make great music, but it could help. You're definitly fine with a standard computer and some software; a DAW, some plugins and samples. Google the terminology if it's confusing.

[@ProbablyAnEarthbender]

Okay. I get most of it but I'll look more into that

[@gkilm]

so in the end it was fine to have both the bass and the kick overlap strongly at 60hz? I was expecting the kick to be tuned differently or something

[@Silent_Stillness]

Listening to it on headphones, imo the treatment absolutely does NOT improve the result. In this particular beat the bass actually does NOT overlap with the kick simply because it does not hit at the same time as the kick does so the eq treatment is trying to adress a false problem. The end result is that the life is sucked out of the low frequencies in an unnatural way because the person making these adjustments is clearly not using his ears and is relying on a mixing recipe that does not apply to this particular example imo. I do agree that the bass itself due to its sound layering nature can use some taming with eq to help the layers blend better, but the way he's treating the low mids on the kick and the attack bass does not help the kick at all and creates an annoying, unnatural boost in the attack bass. Yes the sounds aren't exactly cleanly cut frequency wise pre treatment but they had the merit of being natural in terms of energy and tone. This quality was lost after the treatment despite being of essential importance.

[@TjMoon91]

How can you say they don't hit at the same time, when they clearly do?

[@Silent_Stillness]

TjMoon91 I understand what you're saying and I should've been clearer on that specific detail: what I meant referred to the fact that the overall rhythmic of the bass is off beat or syncopated. The majority of the notes composing the bass line do not hit at the same time as the kick does, although you are absolutely right they factually do hit together once every 2 bars. I do not agree that it makes sense to alter the bass to this extent to address a problem that should be handled in a much less destructive way by a side chain compressor and/or a conditional EQ setting. That's of course just my opinion :)

[@NOLINK74]

groovegcs The mix made a much more tighter mix for the low end. I'm using headphones as well. The bass does not hit but there is some release on the bass that can conflict. Use the EQ method on the kick made room for the bass but didn't destory the sound of the kick. The reason so by cutting some mids and adding a bit of high mids it was perceived that the kick is "almost" unalter (from a listeners poitn of view)

[@Silent_Stillness]

SuperSaws AndDaws I don't think you understand what I've been saying from the beginning so I'm going to give it another try: The main thing that I'm trying to point out is that there is in fact NO conflict in this particular example between the BASS and the KICK because they do NOT reach a level of energy SIMULTANEOUSLY where there isn't enough headroom in the low frequencies for the two sounds to be reproduced ACCURATELY. That is all. This video is a tutorial about how to tweak a bass sound in order to make it work with a kick drum. In this tutorial, there is a confusion between EQ decisions that are made to sculpt track elements for stylistic reasons and EQ decisions that are made to address a possible conflicts between the BASS and the KICK, which is supposed to be the subject of the tutorial. For example: when he adjusts the 2 bass tracks so that they blend better with each other, the purpose of these EQ decisions are NOT to address a conflict between the KICK and the BASS. Sure the bass is less "loose" by the end of his EQ treatment, but in the process, plenty of EQ decisions that have altered the natural tone of the BASS have been made, sucking the life and energy out of the bass line in my opinion, which is something that I consider to be essential. This is why I said that the end result did not sound better than the initial content. That is NOT to say that the initial content was perfect. In general when an EQ is used, the sound becomes altered in an unnatural way, especially when boosting, and it tends to hurt the integrity/quality of sound. For this reason EQ has to be used with restraint. I find this to be particularly true with software EQ (although he's using pretty much the best possible software EQ available). When he boosts the mids on the attack bass, it introduces an unpleasant character in the bass tone, and the bass was perfectly audible before that, again because it was NOT competing with the KICK, 95% of the time. If that remaining 5% actually was a big deal (in this track it isn't) a side chain compressor and/or conditional EQ should have been used to address the issue in a non destructive way. This video definitely did not show restraint when eqing, and the end result falls precisely in that "eqing trap". When people are new at using EQ they tend to want to use more, just for the sake of using it, I know it because I've been there once. They tend to logically assume that the more they alter the sound, the more work they're accomplishing and the more interesting it'll become, and through that insidious process they stop relying on their ears because doing so would involve being present in the moment, listening, as opposed to focusing on theoretical thoughts and justifying the need for a powerful tool.

[@Luftbubblan]

groovegcs My self liked the edited sound more even doe i first liked the pre changes example. When i listen to the first example it sounds just like a clusterfuck, made me think of phasing issues.. But i agree that editing low sounds this way takes away the feel of the intended initial sound. For me keeping sounds intresting and yet having them very clean / seperate can be hard. Just takes away to much of what i wanted to begin with.

[@afi6061]

Just wondering how the sub and kick work? You cut a notch in the attack bass, but the sub and kick were in the 60Hz range too, but no notch on the sub bass... How does that work? Also, why high pass the sub, but not the attack bass when you need less bass from the attack bass?

[@TheDude-vx6wn]

Super helpful, thank you!

[@mmmusicc777]

Great tutorial man thanks!!!!!

[@TheMembraine]

What EQ are you using in this video? With the piano keys in it?

[@geoffreygarrett1176]

Stellar video, thanks mate.

[@myheaven2626]

Tell me something is it mendatory to place kick and bass in center then for other intruments make panning to create room while mixing

[@voltapix]

Thank you

[@rrgert4]

+Voltapix love your launchpads vids man!

[@barakhalla5338]

In the end of the video your "Dark Chord" has 25HZ+- tune added, if your monitoring system can't handle sub bass, how can you mix sub bass..?

[@jesusginard]

And using TrackSpacer?

[@grimblegrumble]

That's both fine and dandy, but my problem is that when I do melodic stuff, I tend to be very flexible with the range of the sub (to harmonize with the chords). And while I have the bassdrum mixed so that it fits one pitch of the sub, when it drops or goes up it all just turns to shit, and sidechaining can only help so much. Sometimes I'm lucky, but most of the time it turns out just okay. Are there any techniques to help get around this?

[@oswaldomcampos]

you need to automate EQ then

[@grimblegrumble]

Oswaldo Campos I suppose... so that is how it's done afterall...?

[@oswaldomcampos]

Yes my friend, you can bet that´s the way it is. Maybe it´s annoying but definitely you can do it. Another solutions can be: 1) to keep your sub steady, but on a root note that fits all those chords, or 2) stick on notes that are very near in the frequency spectrum so the EQ can´t be spoiled by these little frequency changes, so you open your Q a little bit to fit all the sub movement in the spectrum. That´s the way I do it. I pick a scale and a root note and stick to the related chords (don´t think I'm a music theory genius). There are some pages like Autochords.com that, given a root note, generate those chords for you. It will also depend on the music style you are working on. I usually work with tech-house and techno, and the sub lines are very steady. But EQ automation is definitely a solution. Type Sub EQ automation tutorial and see what you find. Hope I was helpful and regards my friend.

[@FortunOfficial]

Another option is to purchase a Dynamic EQ. Those are pitch-sensitive. One example is the SurferEQ VST.

[@grimblegrumble]

Thanks guys! I'll look into it. Sounds like a lot of work though(?). I've been practicing a lot on my kick-sub mixing lately, but I still have a long way to go before perfection. Any pointers at all are very much appreciated!

[@evilbobz123]

That kick is perfect

[@jacrhythms6810]

Awesome tips. thanx FM

[@ElectroCouture]

Why use an EQ plugin that costs $230 for beginners looking for tips?

[@carlosgambettaucanimados]

so i was doing the good thing all these years, good tip.

[@andyhitcher1121]

thank you very much for this channel! Editor, please include subtitles, really need!

[@bergg2009]

So, spread frequencies over instruments or use side chain. Simultaneously? = izotope neutron.

[@scottmiller8749]

how could you apply this to car audio? I have a digital signal processor and trying to get things to blend better together

[@WillKnightMusic]

I think it sounded better before but that's probably because you lost some db in each channel due to subtractive eq.

[@Zaiphon]

Perhaps you thought it sounded better because the bass frequencies were louder but there's no doubt the low end sounded allot cleaner and it gave everything else more room for breathe.

[@WillKnightMusic]

Zaiphon indeed

[@carlosyt2]

Zaiphon Completely agree, those overlapping frequencies will give you problems when mastering a track. Haha these "KZbin sound engineers" think they know it all.

[@WillKnightMusic]

***** i think i expressed myself in a wrong way. here's the correct sentence " you may think it sounded better before, but it's not true because eq output volume is fooling your ears. You should raise the eq gain for a correct comparison. i.e. "gain staging" "

[@Submersed24]

Will Knight It ends up sounding better and louder though during the mastering part, you just raise the master eq's bass up and it will sound heavier and less tubby

[@composerforsstrom]

Greeaat video! Very educational.

[@chrisgardner271]

This was Sooooooooo Helpful ☺️☺️

[@hanikkking4795]

good video tips, and i understand people warning not to scoop out the low freq of bass too much because it would take the energy out of it,just a tiny peace from sub bass is enough to give the bass and sub bass race together and sit well with kick,its very useful trick to cut off all (most) unnecessary freqs from your track,lets not forget you will end up adding pads and leads plucks and fx all should be balanced and get their space too in the track without getting muddy results

[@philperry6564]

No one did this back in the days and those records sound way better than the clean and sterile crap of today.

[@itskabu]

why are the kick and sub not in mono?

[@davidjimenez3043]

which kick patch from battery library was used?

[@popstars4444]

I thought that was a nice video and everything you said was right, but I would have side chained the kick first and then done slightly more subtle eq-ing.. it would have been better in the end