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Post by Martin John Butler on Feb 3, 2021 21:07:00 GMT -6
I'm mixing a track for a friend. His basic tracks featured a bass part that was really a lead bass part. The bass is playing parts that typically would be given to a guitar, a keyboard or strings. In an early rough mix, the bass was hot and a little uneven. I did some of the typical things, tried lowering volume, compressing, tried Bass Rider, tried a little automation.
Where things got sticky is any change I made to the bass level affected the vocal tone ! It just suffered any time I brought the bass back to a balanced level. It also affected the vibe and energy of the whole track, so much so, I chose to just leave the damn thing hot because in context, the song sounds great, even though I know the bass is too loud. Fortunately, it not a really deep super bass sound and I removed a few sweetener parts like mandolin to give the bass room to play the fill notes.
Anyone else ever run into something like this? It's a first for me.
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Post by kcatthedog on Feb 4, 2021 6:05:27 GMT -6
a challenge for sure!!
This is a good example of where the fab filter eq is handy as it can show the eq spectrum for that track and for the other tracks highlighted by colour the overlap areas.
Good luck!
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Post by mcirish on Feb 4, 2021 6:45:11 GMT -6
Possibly duck the bass with the vocal channel? You could also try to band limit the bass so it does not take up as much room sonically. Just some ideas
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Post by javamad on Feb 4, 2021 7:13:21 GMT -6
Maybe use Pro-MB on the bass to duck the band that is masking the vocal ... in the advanced tab you can change to “free” and select the exact frequency band that the side chain is listening for ...
Other MB compressors may have this function as well
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Post by svart on Feb 4, 2021 8:42:53 GMT -6
All the time. It's one of the most prevalent problems with mixing. Being able to navigate this kind of thing is what tends to separate the best mixers.
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Post by Martin John Butler on Feb 4, 2021 8:43:39 GMT -6
I may not have been clear enough. The bass in this case is not masking the vocal it's helping the vocal, when the bass is hot, the vocal sounds fuller. When I bring the bass down by even the smallest increment, the vocal track seems to flatten out.
'This vocal was done on an SDC, so it's a bit thin, generally speaking.
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Post by drumsound on Feb 4, 2021 8:55:45 GMT -6
It's one of those things that reminds us that everything affects everything. That's why it's called a mix. How the ingredients interact to make the final product is more important than any one part. Mixing is a bit of a house of cards at times. You've done the smart thing and embraced it!
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Post by stormymondays on Feb 4, 2021 8:58:52 GMT -6
Do you have a compressor on the master buss?
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Post by svart on Feb 4, 2021 10:57:09 GMT -6
I may not have been clear enough. The bass in this case is not masking the vocal it's helping the vocal, when the bass is hot, the vocal sounds fuller. When I bring the bass down by even the smallest increment, the vocal track seems to flatten out. 'This vocal was done on an SDC, so it's a bit thin, generally speaking. Same thing. Those same harmonics that can mask in some cases can sometimes bolster in some cases too. |
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Post by javamad on Feb 4, 2021 11:47:46 GMT -6
I may not have been clear enough. The bass in this case is not masking the vocal it's helping the vocal, when the bass is hot, the vocal sounds fuller. When I bring the bass down by even the smallest increment, the vocal track seems to flatten out. 'This vocal was done on an SDC, so it's a bit thin, generally speaking. Pro MB does expansion too .. so you could bring up part (or all) of the bass signal when the vocal is happening. I assume this will be subtle :-) |
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Post by christopher on Feb 4, 2021 12:44:04 GMT -6
Sounds like the vocal lows and bass are summing to create a nice blend, like how two ocean waves sometimes combine to create a bigger wave? Maybe send both to a bus, try to EQ the bass lower on that?
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Post by schmalzy on Feb 4, 2021 13:10:47 GMT -6
I wonder if something like FabFilter's Saturn could help. Add some mid-lows harmonics in the vocal. Then multi band compress to push those forward and keep 'em consistent.|
Maybe even something as obnoxious as RBass could work to add those lows into the vox.
Then at least the bass could be pulled back to sane levels and that loud vs quiet bass thing could be chosen for the times it's emotionally helpful rather than just always up.
Of course, it might be perfect as it is!
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Post by Martin John Butler on Feb 4, 2021 13:32:24 GMT -6
Good advice guys, thanks. Once the track is finished and published, I'll post it here.
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