[Editors Note: This is a guest blog by JP Remillard, and it originally appeared on the LANDR Blog. We’ll continue to share awesome content from LANDR in order to help educate TuneCore Artists who are producing, recording, and engineering their tracks!]
After seeing millions of tracks come through LANDR, I’ve found a trending problem — Mixes that lack low-end.
Think of your mix like a human pyramid. The lows are the sturdy bottom. They keep everything from falling apart.
If there’s no bass, then your mix has no base.
How does a track sound when it lacks low end?
- Aggressive – Lacking lows makes everything else stand out. If your mids get pushed to the front, your track can sound good at first, but quickly becomes tiresome to the ear.
- Cold – When the bass isn’t there everything in your mix gets a bit chilly. Bass adds roundness and warmth that nurtures the rest of your sound.
- Weak – Flat lows stops the rest of your track from doing its thing. A well balanced mix pushes everything equally for that A+ champion sound.
So are your mixes coming out aggressive, cold and weak? Don’t worry. I can help.
HOW TO MIX BASS PROPERLY
The knee-jerk reaction is to go back to the mix, get fader crazy and push the lows. Don’t do it. The problem lies deeper.
Heres what you do in the DAW:
- Make your low-end mono – Pan your low-end to the center.
- Mix in the lows first – Turn down all channels except the lows (bass, kicks). You can now solo your lows at any time as a reference.
- Bring back the rest of the mix – Use your lows as a reference. You should hear the low-end just as loud as the other parts.
- Compress – Now it’s now time to use compression to glue your bottom end together and get it pumping in the mix. When it’s finally sitting right, compression will enhance all the essential parts.
Test some loops in LANDR before you make your final bounce. Adjust until perfected.
Snoop Dogg’s personal engineer, Frank Vasquez, uses LANDR to turn up the volume on his mixes. Check out LANDR’s “Behind The Board” interview with Frank below!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v0H6CT6Lbs&w=560&h=315]
Tags: bass DIY featuring frank vasquez home recording indie LANDR mixing bass snoop dogg