Creativemind wrote: ↑02 Nov 2018
Hi All!
Just tryna EQ my bass and kick drum in a house track.
Bass
Would you cut everything below 40hz (as I've just seen on a video as it said these are unwanted sub frequencies that the kick needs) and then just after 40hz (couldn't see what he'd EQ'd as the vid was very small and couldn't be enlarged) there was a gentle boost. I'm guessing 2 or 3dB. He said that was the main frequency of the bass but wouldn't that depend on YOUR actual bass patch? why would he boost it anyway, for what reason?
I've also added a little reverb to the bass. Is that an ok practice (to add reverb to a bass)? I've known a lot of patches (on synths that have effects such as reverb or in combi patches) to have reverb so I'm guessing it's ok but just wondered.
Kick
Also, what should I do with the kick? I know sidechaining would be a good option (but I always forget how to do this on Reason as it's too complicated to achieve).
I'm just looking to have both sit in the mix well and compliment each other but best clean up my mix. I also have a poly patch playing chords and EQ'ing that will be next step after the bass and kick.
Thanks!
Personally, I wouldn't fix anything at cutting at 40 Hz. I would rather look at the bass notes, check which the lowest one is, and cut there. Also, consider if in comparison to where the bass melody's most notes are your lowest note is at about 60 Hz for example, but you have 1 note that is at around 35 Hz, then you may want to shift that note up one octave.
That said, there's only so much you can do, cause most kicks make a big use of the 40-80 Hz area.
When it comes to synthesized music, where everything is perfectly on timing (even a sampled instruments count!), I would (and always do) check if it sounds better if you offset the bass from the kick. Usually nudge it forward with regroove, so the bass doesn't weaken the kick's click. I also check how the kick and the bass work together frequency wise, mostly by inverting the phase of the bass. That can get tricky, cause sometimes different frequencies on the spectrum, add up, or cancel out differently. Generally, you can just flip it, or leave it, depending in which mode the bass frequencies sound stronger/better (or you measure loudness and pick the louder one in that case where there's less canceling going on).
Again, you could do this a single time and call it a day, or if it's just looping, you could pick every single bass note that sits on the kick, and do necessary adjustments. That way, from the other notes, you don't need to cut anything. And from the single notes, you can do a cut where it's needed, so you only remove unwanted rumble noise that isn't part of the note (if any).
If you want to make the most of it, you can split the bass for example into multiple bands and try to do the above adjustments individually. Bare in mind, that I use insanely accurate Linear Phase spectrum filtering; which can have its artifacts in some cases, but you can do some really awesome trick with it. With more common crossovers/splitters, I don't know if you may get worse results when it comes to phase inversion and offsetting individual bands of a sound, that's something I haven't tried, since I didn't look back after FIR filters.
In modern kick drums, it's like there usually is a boost between 40-80 Hz. They sound much harder than most older ones.
I read that for vinyl, they used to do quite some low cut, then added to the upper bass, to compensate. So maybe it's sort of creating that "false bass" trick, to make up for the loss?
You can add whatever effect you want to whatever sound!
What I would do, is again, checking the note range of your bass. Then, I would separate at the highest note. Say, it's at about 100 Hz for example. Then I would do a splitting there. I'd take everything above 100 Hz, and effect that, while leaving below 100 Hz clean. Or, if it sounds off, then you could take the part below 100 Hz, add distortion (new harmonics created!), then cut that again below 100 Hz and maybe use an envelope follower and apply the original sub bass dynamics to it, then tweak to taste (filtering, EQ, whatever you feel like) and off it goes to the processor with the original content above 100 Hz. Then you just do your adjustments with the clean sub bass, the clean sound above 100 Hz, and the effected sounds, so one isn't louder/off than the other in comparison to the original completely clean bass.
Generally, it can cause problems if you effect sub bass. You may want that though in some cases! Some like adding a very subtle room reverb to their whole mix.
Sidechaining is something I'm having second thoughts about, cause it kills transients. I'd rather just use that as an effect on softer sounds, like washy pads, some noise effects, maybe getting creative with just sidechaining reverbs, echoes, even the release/tails of synths, or other sounds. Plus instead of sidechaining, I dig doing that by automating the level of mix channels for example. Tons more flexible when it comes to creating an effect. Though when it comes to sound design, I can understand why one would prefer using a compressor, cause it's not about creating a pumping effect, but to make room for the kick in this case.
If the kick sounds good, you don't need to do much with it.