Working With Low Frequencies - Into The Lair #59

See all Into The Lair Episodes and more at pensadosplace.tv!
In this week's Into The Lair, Dave discusses dealing with Low-End in a mix, and provides some detailed examples of his mixing process.

[@cnotenesmith]

8:26 I like the fact that he's a professional and he was straight up & honest and said that he didn't know what that plug-in was or how to use it. A lot of people in his position don't like to admit when they don't know something, let alone mention it on a video broadcasted worldwide. #Respect!

[@aviolentpurple9925]

cnotenesmith Indeed, that is the sign of a master; admitting right away when you don't know something. Too many people, especially in mixing, offer advice and claim to know it all, but have no idea what they're talking about, and don't even have any training or experience!

[@zandewilson]

I actually think it's more common for guys in 'his position' to be frank about their weaknesses. At that level, the work speaks for itself many times over. Pensado could say 'I'm so good with this compressor' or 'I always find mix buses confusing' and people would regard him just as highly in either case

[@Stratocat93]

"I don't have a clue what it is or how it works, but I like the sound I get out of it." THANK GOD!!!!! I'M NOT ALONE AFTER ALL!!! ;D

[@cnotenesmith]

lol I just said the same exact thing!

[@vhollund]

He knows what to listen for

[@Sakrecoer]

"I don't carve, i mess with it till it sunds good." I like your school PensadosPlace!

[@simonderycke7545]

This is one of the most rare channels, where you learn a lot by NOT being explained stuff.

[@skinnyrigid]

He does explain stuff though, it's just the way Dave's explaining things to us that's different than most channels

[@simonderycke7545]

I agree.

[@simonderycke7545]

Exactly :-)

[@lsykdrive8247]

another good channel is kush audio after hours. he gives you the knowledge you need without ever showing you a daw or a plugin its really unique.

[@ike304]

Thank you so much Dave! your saving the future of music production one ITL at a time. Much love.

[@MikeSpexTV]

"Mess wit it til it sounds good" Love the channel!! Thnx Dave!!! I appreciate ur honesty and open approach and of course your humour.

[@chotracks]

thanks Jim, i will do, every time i watch Dave's vids i always learn something, i definitely will be watching every last one, and i hope he keeps coming out with more.

[@edward892]

The best plugins are still those 2 things plugged in the side of your head...:)

[@dakshrajsharma8517]

Ayy lmao

[@Sledgehammersunite]

loved your comment.."I just messed with it until it sounded right" that`s the approach i take with each mix.A very good Friend and one Hell of an Sound Tech once told me when i ask him..how to get a good mix..."you keep turning knobs and moving Faders until it sounds right",,,..I`m not so much into using frequencies..i love working intuitiv..

[@aviolentpurple9925]

Thanks for doing these. I hope you'll do more on bass and low end. I feel like bass is the most challenging instrument (and frequency range) to really master in a mix, but there is so little written about it. Super standout recorded bass guitar sounds in a big mix are so few and far between; it has always been relegated to a sub bass or something way back in the mix historically, but it can shine as midrange instrument, with masterful recording and mixing.

[@JockoFlocko]

These are some fantastic tips and tutorials, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and taking the time to make these great videos. :)

[@TimBunch]

I love how you can just get creative like that in the box, doing things that would have been impossible for most of us to accomplish in the past. No limits.

[@frankhoward4485]

Soooo glad to see a V that speaks to dealing with a unique composition. My recent work includes attempts to compose and arrange new(ish) approaches. This V helped me. I owe you a piece of pizza, Pensado.

[@LesterBrunt]

When you had the bass and the drums alone I really thought "damn, this can't be right, drums are sooo much louder" but when you added the guitar and the coper, man, it just balanced out perfect.

[@michaelcutting6626]

wooooow you love your work and i will say you are damn good to bring that bass sounding good and also i love the brass, wish you could do a tutorial on brass i have some work that i was pressing hard on but i am now getting ease up on the low end from your tutorials and now paying more attention on the brass section (horn section) , keep up the good work you are inspiring a lot of engineers and desire to be engineers like myself out there in the world of audio recording,stay bless .

[@serjmusteata]

Thank you so much Dave! Thank you so much..

[@bhargavdobhal5327]

Thank You 🙌🙌 Mr . Dave Pensado really Helpful Video🔥🔥.

[@IAMGalileus]

Thanks for sharing this!

[@JustinMoralesTheComposer]

"Ruff Mix"

[@OdinOfficialEmcee]

Dave saying "I just messed with it till it sounded good" is probably the most sage piece of wisdom you could give anyone. We all know what good music sounds like, just work on it till it sounds like that

[@ONOLBS]

Thank You Pensado sharing the knowledge

[@DumitriJon]

Thanx Dave, this was very helpful.

[@user-mp8xm5bc5z]

Dave, you are Amazing!

[@jerosta]

So generous. Thank you.

[@mysterhope]

Great video!

[@TheEmbryotik]

Such a humble dude.

[@positionthepositron]

Embryotik Whoa...gender bias....he is a thude, ok?

[@KevinStCroix]

Nice. btw that DECT phone is wreaking havoc on everything in your signal flow.

[@kennykanowski]

Nice stuff I was afraid to get that radical with my EQ cuz of what I thought was correct butI'm learnin alot from these vids and my Bass and Drum stuff is gettin pretty slammin.

[@Hajjmusic_]

so nice. thanx man.

[@louh9211]

I'm listening on a vizio soundbar at work. (real life work not studio dream job stuff) anyway, The sub bass sounded great on "little speakers" here too. Until the dark essence plug in. Just muddied on the sound bar but I got it pretty loud. Dave's the man and I look up to him as an engineer. Maxbass plug is amazing. I wish I had it. Does anybody know of a more affordable plugin that might get a similar result? Low end really sounds great! awesome tutorial

[@2011dartagnan]

Thanx Dave !

[@DavidL1980]

man i couldnt keep up with this. next level shit

[@anthemmakersmusic]

Listen to my mixes, and to references of other mixes and I am wondering are we all to hyped in Hip hop and r an b on the low end? Thoughts.

[@MrSTAYUP33]

'lets get into something i love, dark essence' would be a great sample

[@henryssurfshowcase]

How many tracks in a mix are fairly common these days?

[@MikeMcDoughnut]

In case you didn't get an answer yet.. On pultec style EQ's, the boost and attenuate knobs often affect the frequency with different EQ curves, so by using both, one can generate a different/more focused eq boost. check other videos on how to use a pultec style eq.. that's where I picked up that trick from! :)

[@estws]

that means that sometimes on tiny speakers, laptops u just dont hear what u r supossed to hear... mostly bass for example and there is a lot things u can do to make it hearable on every speaker no matter what quality or build it is...

[@EQuBEMusic]

Dave is the man! would be great to see some bass and kick videos but more electornica\Dubstep. Thank you

[@Julle83]

May I suggest trying a side chain eq/filter on the bass channel that cuts some low-ends everytime the bass drum kicks in. It might be a bit more subtle solution than straight side chain compression.

[@LeoAr37]

I do side-chain, I do, thanks for the tips. But for example, in the other video about ear training on low freqs., when Dave passed 100 hz with the lo-pass, all you could hear was the bass, it was clearly overpowering the kick in the subs. So what to do?

[@sonnybrasco9735]

man that sounds good!!! nice

[@persianchris2451]

I'm lost. at 2:11 Dave says "thats the high end information on the kick" but it is 65hz when the original had 100hz.... confused

[@Autistic_God]

To be exact, 80 and 65.

[@DJFoxxxyBear]

what is the print track for ?

[@Amarnamusick]

you are the best greeting from Alexandria, Egypt :) Myzzym Foxidoband

[@joseggf1]

where I can find the music of the second band????

[@woolybehave]

Dave's sessions are so organized. Makes me feel like a slob haha

[@JentySteP]

personally i put the 60 hz for my kick and then dip it for 100 hz as that is where i boost the bass guitar lemme know if this helped

[@danielgarrick1327]

Analyse the kick to see where it's res freq is, that's where you notch the bass a bit on your eq. Also subtly sidechaining the kick to a multiband comp on the bass that compresses the lows can help them co-exist. Add a little more top freqs to the kick to make it's snap more audible, this helps your ears find the kick in the mix.

[@sosodeejay]

MaxxBass is on my every bass too. I like to put a crazy preset that turns the bass into kind of a guitar bass, kind of rock-ish :)

[@EmilianoCaballeroFraccaroli]

Dave, why are you boosting and attenuating at the same time in 100 hz and 10khz with the pulltec? minute 6;40 thanks!

[@cpunktspunkt748]

Which oscilloscope is that?

[@carlosm8303]

How is he giving the kick drum an boost at 60hz without gain staging? Wouldn’t that clip the track?

[@chesterkboy]

hey where do u live in what sttate

[@only4posting]

thanks, man.

[@AlexNiedt]

Great job on this one, Dave!

[@chotracks]

hi dave, i was just wondering what is that blue lunch style looking gear to your left on your desk, thanks

[@jimslade2264]

I think it's one of the the Maag EQs. He talks about it in SOME ITL, sadly I don't remember which one. I guess you'll have to watch them all! Cheers.

[@maxrott3345]

Jim Slade its itl #31 about hardware compressors and eqs

[@jimslade2264]

Cheers, Max!

[@blakemacdonson]

Lowpass your master channel,so all you hear is the low end,maybe 400hz and below. Pick two compromising frequencies both as close to 60 as you can. Maybe put the kick at 65-75 and the bass at 55-65. Where ever you put the kick, carve a little of that frequency out of the bass, vise versa. Compress the bass sidechained with the kick and dial in the compression settings until it sounds good, the release in particular(KZbin sidechain compression if that didn't make sense).

[@DavidBryantsTranscendent]

hey dude, for rock stuff try doubling your bass guitar track and making one all higher freqs and the other all the lower stuff, this way you can make some room in the middle for the gtrs and specifically control the level of the bass in the mix while maintaining the definition of what is being played by the instrument, works like a charm. and you can do the same thing for the Kick Drum and really give everything a place in the mix.

[@KoolKatBeatz]

Get the Bass hoppin' -Dave Pensado 2012

[@jlazelle1]

The same..... Watch his video on listening. He sweeps an EQ on a full mix. Lets you know where the lows should go. Good for some experimenting. I do the same thing. Boost 50 Hz on the kick and wonder why it isn't working.

[@LeoAr37]

Please, would love to hear some straight rock management of bass and kick. I never know how to get separation, I always want the 60 hz to be present in both and lever let enyone win the battle! anyone feeling the same?

[@gruponemesis]

Hey Dave you sound a lil under the weather, get well bro!!

[@LeoAr37]

I know, but you still gotta let one win the battle in the lows, I can separate them in the mids and highs but not down there.

[@JustaArmada99]

It's tricky because you want both in it... if I were you I would let the kick pass through more than the bass but you can hear it at the same time

[@experiment0003]

high frequencies my man!

[@Dubstepmatic]

any dubstep/house producers in NYC want to team up?

[@bubnjarovski]

more hundred... to be more technical its eighty :):):) dave is legend ;)

[@DavidBryantsTranscendent]

also this video is a really old school, but really good at explaining the concept of spacial mixing your mix and giving every instrument its place. the title is "The Art Of Mixing (A Arte da Mixagem) - David Gibson" Its a long ass video so go pee and get some coffee first, lol.

[@persianchris2451]

@4:12 oh hell no..... lol

[@HipHopAn0n]

Yeah I label those tracks Bass and Not Bass! It's extremely useful for sidechaining.

[@SomebodyPickaName]

Dave always has his delay compensation light lit red on pretty much everything I see him do. I wonder if this is helping or hurting him. Oh, and somebody tell him what the Little Labs VOG actually does, haha. Dave is funny.

[@termtables]

More 100 to be technical.... 80 haha. Dave thank you for making ITL.

[@LeapingDodo]

Sidechain compression is your friend, my friend.

[@Wicktones]

reFuse Software: Lowender

[@beakf1]

You probably have to be signed and then the label deals with him,thats what im guessing.

[@MichelobX]

#Dope

[@Dubstepmatic]

CLOCK !

[@elijahaquil467]

technically you are carving into a spectrum of frequencies. But hey, "tomato, tamato"

[@aidandevlin921]

Zach Braff really let himself go after Scrubs ended. Wow.

[@mooreempire8878]

Looool on my back, I created a youtube profile just to comment on this, I see it, you made my day Thank you.

[@philmoseley2259]

You couldn't possibly make this dreck sound any worse - or better.

[@amaypagrut]

i think i need pro tools to understand these lesson , because my daw have just one eq , while he uses several in this one,

[@Phybia]

Of course not! You can use almost any EQ in the world in almost any DAW. You just have to install them and stuff. They're called VST's /Plugins, and you can have as many as your heart desires in your DAW.

[@TheGamezCorner]

***** except if he's using reason.

[@GabryszBruno]

Dave! I like your mixes and everything, but isn't it a litte overkill, all these plugs ?? A good level match would'nt do the same for clarity ?

[@JustaArmada99]

also you can try sidechaining ?

[@beakf1]

Do most sound engineers go by ear and is it superior to say someone with shit loads of sound wave education,not saying that isnt important but are most of the top guy just people who have done there 10,000 hours under the headphones?

[@zsound7253]

With everything P.P knows about mixing & getting freq to work with each other, you would expect their video's to NOT have this 200-500 hz white noise playing during the video !!! - " Only trained ears can hear what I'm talking about "

[@TrueFallacy]

I have to say, sounds fat as fok on my iPhone 5 too. This is a great ITL. MaxxBass huh?

[@SMOR3S]

^ This