The SCIENCE of Mixing Perfect Kick and Bass

Want to make PRO songs? Get unlimited mixing feedback, 1-on-1 mentorship, in-depth mixing & mastering courses, 50 free mastered songs per year, and a lot more. Go here: sageaudio.com
If you’re new to Sage Audio, we’ve been providing industry-leading audio engineering services and education for over two decades - and created this channel to help you make your mixes sound like PRO songs.

[@ancestralvision]

Spoiler: this video delivers exactly what the title teased on. Well done, super interesting and helpful!

[@audionerdlilcuz]

Except he stole it from another KZbinr 😂. How haven't you all figured out he's full of poop 💩 yet?

[@alkali6]

The best thing practical thing I discovered from this video is the piano roll at the bottom of pro q-3!

[@ssmbl]

wtf i never noticed that until yet

[@VVIDbeats]

​@@ssmblwowww same

[@Blackain66]

the video is practically an advertisement for their website and the examples are pretty much useless for any electronic producers, sad

[@Baller-qe8sq]

This doesn’t really teach 808s tho lookup alexmadeit thank me later

[@GeorgeAmodei21]

The Keys are not always shown… you have to turn that “ON” in Pro Q3

[@nubia7418]

This channel has made such a better audio engineer. Thank you & I appreciate u.

[@whitedovemusic2227]

Another awesome smudging out the "negative frequencies" tutorial! Thank you so much Sage Audio 👑 Definetely gonna join as soon as possible for me!

[@DJONTHETRACK985]

Always coming with game changing info 👍

[@Reggi_Sample]

This video is a winner. You put in a lot of work I hope it continues to grow exponentially 🎉

[@panorama_mastering]

Great work expanding on those notes! Keep it up!

[@bavingeter423]

Lol the shADE 😂

[@dravokivich]

Really good video to demonstrate the need to watch phase across different types of instruments.

[@Platinum_XYZ]

1:30 I definitely think this is an over simplification. we can definitely perceive differences in pitches less than 6%. microtonal music and even just pitch bends wouldn't exist if this was the case

[@11dremoss]

you give some of the best and clearest explanations. thank you sir. and btw guys the course is 🔥

[@laurencestoker7315]

Thank you Sage

[@joelarmendariz8876]

Awesome insight very helpful and will be utilizing these ideas, kudos!!!

[@mielushe2lheureux939]

Great teaching as always. I was expecting you to mention side chain just like another useful technique to set separation between kick and bass. Thank you for these precious insights!

[@RUPRO1111]

Side chain is old!! 😢

[@Pax30001]

Thanks for sharing!

[@parisshanegreer6837]

Yeah man. Good Job

[@realme6426]

Thank you!

[@migibeats104]

Wonderful info. Thanks.

[@mihail-bogdanyanov]

Thank you, you are awesome!

[@mrcristinistor]

Guys, I am really considering joining your membership but, please, tell me. Are there private courses, person on person or it is just about having access to some courses that you read alone, you try to apply alone, etc. alone? Is all communication with the teachers done via texting? Because even when listening to your YT videos I have hundreds of questions and there is no one there to answer them for me. In rest, great stuff, thank you for everything.

[@nueisavoid]

Right when i bought new monitors to up task my mixing. Perfect

[@jamesowen3497]

Great video! Thanks.

[@sidanx7887]

Ok this was awesome

[@Dave-Rough-Diamond-Dunn]

Fresh Air on bass and kick! I would have never tried it, I'll see if it's better than Le Petite Excite on them. Thanks.

[@SeabornProductions]

What are, if any, benefits of high pass filter on kick and bass verses just a shelf to achieve both more head room and take away unwanted/ muddy low end frequencies

[@PilzE.]

Utter GENIUS! So well explained, which tools to use, when and, for what. Thank you SO very much! Hey, you guys should think about taking this up full-time, like starting an academy or something, I think you “might” be onto something here! 🤔 🤭

[@MikeRendar84]

Great knowledge here! I've always been kinda "scared" of removing a portion of the bass like that, but should i be?? It obviously gets the job done without taking away so much from the bass that it makes the bass sound weak.

[@emiel333]

Great 👍 video.

[@davehannah9894]

Where would you place the exciter on your chain

[@ExileLBL]

mg ure genius :). Love your videos.

[@akaldeepsingh9029]

I have a song in G major. And as of now i thought we sre supposed to keep everything in the same key. But what should I do in this case change key of kick or bass/ and how many semitones up or down!!

[@parisshanegreer6837]

Thoughts on sympathetic vibration?

[@russenduf]

One of the best videos why beating f@cks up your low end.....I always shouting at percussion players to tune their instr correc tly!!Also a phase plugin like the SSL helps the low end between kick and bass!!

[@juschu85]

1:26 Of course, 1.06 is the rounded ratio (which is fine). The exact ratio is 1.05946309. I mean, there's an uppercase "SCIENCE" in the video title. So let's do some math 😄 If you multiply a frequency 12 times with the ratio r, you would get double the frequency. It has to be like that because you would go up 12 semitones, which is an octave by definition, which is double the frequency by definition. So one octave above 440Hz is 880Hz. 440 • r • r • r • r • r • r • r • r • r • r • r • r = 880 440 • r^12 = 880 1 • r^12 = 2 r^12 = 2 r = 12√2 r = 1.05946309

[@RemstageMusic]

The more i learn the less i feel i know...

[@Florian-cy6pm]

Question: I recently saw another yt tutorial where somebody said, when mixing a sub, in order to make it audible on phone speakers, you just add a second sine wave oscillator which is only playing the third overtone of the fundamental (the fifth). Then you adjust the phase of both oscillators so you get maximum loudness while having minimum voltage basically. And after having tried it out, it does sound pretty good (if you don’t have a texture bass on top). But why do these two signals don‘t cancel each other out then? Is it because it’s an overtone or because the fifth is a large enough interval?

[@AutPen38]

I don't use that technique, but the relationship between two notes a fifth apart (seven semitones) is fundamental to music. Not only are they roughly half an octave apart (so they are clearly discernible as different notes), the ratio between the frequencies is exactly 3:2, which means any phase cancellation or beating is regular and harmonious. It's why all major and minor chords sound "good" (they contain the tonic and the fifth) and why many genres use "power chords" (just the tonic and fifth). Other intervals can be discordant because the ratio of the frequencies isn't a simple ratio like 2:1 (octave), 3:2 (perfect fifth), 4:3 (perfect fourth), but something like 1.0663728:1 or another number with random infinite digits.

[@darkindustry]

Speaking of overtones (at around 4:25), personal opinion: Making a perfect 2-octave overtone could sound like an ideal solution... but does it? Fine, the kick's freq is E1, let's make that E3 the first heard overtone! A learner would say "hell yeah, that's it". Before we jump into conclusions, look at the guitar market where the demand for (deviant) tube amps is greatly higher than the need for (perfect) solid-state amps. The sound of tubes is simply warmer, more appealing, preferable. If we reed the overtone spectrum of solid states, it lifts up 1st, 3rd and 5th overtone (all perfect octaves). On the other end, tubes engage all deviant overtones of 2nd, 4th and 6th (those would be 5th, major 3rd, minor 7th). These are all much 'denser' intervals compared to perfect octaves that cohere in subtle dissonances. But we seem to find these 'deviant' sounds much more appealing than the sterile solid-state sound. So, be careful with math in music. Trust your ears!

[@ride5000]

even harmonics are octaves, not odd

[@AutPen38]

Yeah, in the harmonic series, the fundamental is considered to be the first harmonic. The second (an even number) is one octave above (double the frequency) and the third (an odd number) is not the same note as the fundamental. Some people like odd harmonics, others prefer even harmonics. A lot depends on taste and context.

[@jacopobracaloni3121]

I've always thought that kick should have the same kick as the bass. And then I usually use frequency sidechaining to have a more precise frequency handling

[@ArtisolGG]

90 seconds of watching, subbed

[@thomasrodriguez8797]

3:01 just heads up that some people are watching on systems that can’t pick up 41hz. I know what phase cancellation, and the wobble that comes with it but not everyone does. Just fyi

[@waltamusic]

So i should consider using different fundamentals in kick and bass so that they not cancel eachother out? I am always using the same key in kick and bass.

[@russenduf]

If they are in tune you ll not have problems

[@twitchyboneselectronica2375]

But…..if they’re in tune and out of phase at all, you’ll have big problems.

[@impolitikful]

Always thought you SHOULD tune the kick to the key

[@djcolinturnbull]

The other science is to match a kick to your bass in production, try different kicks and have less need for processing. 😀

[@Six2Nine]

WIZ AT WORK!

[@Janomix]

mmm, David Guetta and Tiesto make these equations to get they powerful squashed master??? 😁😁 Thanks for the info!

[@JuhoSprite]

Googles homepage recommended me this video lol

[@CptJack]

ever heard of sidechain?

[@3082frank]

Those were my same thoughts 😅.

[@Mop154]

Is this vanoss?

[@gughffhhghgghghgg1690]

Nice but what about manually fixing the phase problems,also,you wouldnt be putting the bass an octave up just to fix the phase..and also what is the fundamental of a kick really?a kick that starts from f6 slopes on b3 and ends up on g1 for example

[@BoggleJoogs9]

Noob here. What do you mean by manually fixing the phase, reversing polarity?

[@gughffhhghgghghgg1690]

@@BoggleJoogs9 no,i dont mean that,i mean using a scope to see the phases and manually editing them by delaying them or from their source or with plugins..its a quite common practice

[@aggjohnson8488]

Yeah I was about to say, wasn't expecting this approach as phase is very technical and these tips are very different. Nonetheless, I think they're still really useful! Great info as always from Sage Audio

[@russenduf]

Ssl phase is great for this

[@BoggleJoogs9]

@@gughffhhghgghghgg1690 Got ya. Thanks for explaining

[@selahbeatsandtracks4932]

How could i identify kick fundamentals? I use different kick samles

[@tundesmart]

If you layer your kicks, then you might have to select the dominant kick as the fundamental frequency. By using a spectrum analyzer graph in fabfilter pro-Q3, you will find your fundamental frequency being equivalent to the highest amplitude in your frequency spectrum.

[@niccko]

Use SPAN.

[@whnzmmr]

Use SPAN and change the mode from default to high resolution to have more visual details

[@AutPen38]

Use any good spectrum analyser and just visually look for the loudest peak while you loop the sample. What you'll probably notice is that kicks don't have a fixed fundamental frequency, because the pitch sweeps from one frequency to another (which is why kicks sound like kicks, not bass guitars) whereas sustained instruments stay on the same frequency. The rapidly changing pitch of drum sounds is what makes it very hard to get them to gel with bass sounds, since the changing pitch means there will always be moments where the kick is out of phase. You just have to pick or tune your kicks so that they are in phase more often than not.

[@kot_sova]

👍👍👍Мне нужно это только на русском

[@prodrichyoungin]

учи английский

[@yuradziadzichkin1251]

Канал Владимир Трофимов перевёл

[@kot_sova]

@@yuradziadzichkin1251 спасибо

[@Barncore]

Lol you ripped Nick de Lorenzo's video idea

[@1kingstan795]

What's the video did he make 1

[@Barncore]

The same video title but 1-2 weeks earlier, channel is called Panorama Mixing & Mastering @@1kingstan795

[@rafriley6993]

Hmm … no credit to panorama?

[@BlowChoke904]

Ok, and I'm waiting for Baby Brain's audio engineer to f**ked up this well-explained kick & bass tutorial here in the comments.😅😅

[@prodbyskogs4435]

Music is art, not science

[@Knucklesmd]

You clearly know nothing about mixing.

[@prodbyskogs4435]

@@Knucklesmd You think mixing is science? Do you set up an equation when you work? Scribble down all the frequencies in a planck curve?

[@megalodon6692]

Science and art can overlap and co-exist :)

[@mdptg1990]

Creating music is art, mixing/engineering is a mix of art and science

[@JJJBoys]

all popular music would not be listenable without engineering. gotta have both.

[@d.m.ebeats9013]

Another amazing way to perfectly mix low end is to learn how the frequencies sum up in volume,then Use a Ducker plugin to duck some frequencies something I learnt from Baphometrix clip to zero strategy

[@tylergameplayroom]

Thank's

[@christianbettinelli5004]

The thing is for what?