Hi Folks,
I am trying to do the bass parts for my latest record and I’m really struggling. The current song I am working on is in A Flat and when I play the part my A Flats get completely lost in the mix. I can see them on my computer, I can here them through my L1 as I’m playing the part but when I listen back it’s as if they are not there!
The other notes sound fantastic. They are deep, rich, mellow and just as I want the bass to sound but then it sounds like it drops out when I get back to the A flat.
I’ve had this problem with other songs and the notes on the low E string but this one is the worst yet. Is this an EQ problem. I am running my American Fender P Bass through my T1 and using the P Bass setting and I like the way everything sounds through my L1.
I’m not an accomplished bass player. Could it be my technique. I’ve tried hitting the A flat harder and laying back on the other notes but that doesn’t seem to help much.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
I think it is my speakers. I can hear the notes when I go to headphones.
Hi Matt,
Could be the room?
You could try moving the speakers into another room, or just moving the speakers around a bit.
Thanks ST!
I’ll try to mess with them today and see if that helps. Maybe I need a sub.
I haven’t had a lot of luck with these speakers. They are Tapco S-5’s. I generally like the way they sound when I listen to music but mixing with them but mixing with them has been a challenge.
In our last house I screwed up and mounted a shelf above my desk. I was doing all of my mixing with the speakers sitting on this shelf. I burned a CD of what I thought were final mixes only to find a low end rumbling on all of the songs that I could hear through the speakers!
I was told that was because I had them on a shelf. (I’m still pretty new to this stuff) so I got some headphones that came highly recommended and used mainly my headphones and my L1 to mix my last record.
Last night I ignored the bass and mixed the rest of the song through the Tapcos. Then I put on my headphones and added the bass and I really liked the result. At least I did last night. I’m going to play it through the L1 later today to see how that sounds.
As always, I really appreciate your help!
Take good care,
Matt
Matt,
Just as a sanity check, make sure you don’t have a narrow filter set up in the Para EQ on Ab 
that would do it.
ST of course is right on as well, your room may just be a dead spot for Ab. Its scary how much the room can torpedo a single note. Try moving your listening position too. If you are in the dead center of the room you are more prone to this sort of thing.
Although the newer fender basses are much better, old fender basses often had dead spots on the neck. They usually occurred a little more up the neck. Hows the bass sound through the L1?
When you are mixing, keep your listening level really low, this helps mitigate some of the problems of the room.
Mixing is a whole other can of worms, and could be a whole other forum
Mike
Thanks Mike!
I plugged the bass back into the L1 just to test it out. It sounded fine to me but the A flat seems a little bit more muted than other notes. The G and the A seem fine but it looses a little when I move to the A flat.
I checked the T1 too and I turned off the Para EQ. I was using it to try and boost the A flat but that didn’t seem to help.
It is definitely the speakers. I just played the song through my L1 and it sounds great. I’ll try to move my speakers and see if that makes a difference.
Is there anything wrong with mixing my record with headphones and my L1?
Matt
Matt,
There’s nothing wrong with mixing on headphones if you are happy with the results and it works for you. I was just cautioning - I have trouble mixing on headphones to get a mix that sounds good on other systems (‘travels well’). But if it works for you - then by all means go for it.
The L1 is a very good reference speaker to use for mixing, especially as a check. Most mixing engineers use several systems - usually one ‘main’ one (usually some sort of magical pair of bookshelf reference monitors) and then a slew of ‘representative systems’. When I did studio mixing I used to bring a Sony boom box and hook into a bus output of the console I was working on. It was my best friend for telling me if if what I was mixing sounded ‘right’ in the context of the rest of the listening world. After working for a while on the bookshelf’s, Id swap over and listen for 30 seconds on the boombox.
Some guys use their cars for this, others use the receptionists computer speakers…whatever works. I liked the boombox since it fit nicely on the meter bridge
Good luck mixing,
Mike
Matt
When I get a normal-sounding mix with good bass definition, on solo it normally sounds closer to a guitar. All your definition is in the upper harmonics, not the bass part of the spectrum. Try turning the bass down and the mids and highs up. OR (this works a lot too
turn the bass down and bring the entire bass instrument level up. Keep doing this until it sounds more defined and you can make out the individual notes better.
I’m with ST on the room tho. How are you recording? a direct out of the L1 or a mic on the L1?
quote:Id swap over and listen for 30 seconds on the boombox
MikeZ....good to see I'm not the only looney who does this!
I mix with the headphones and then eventually change everything once I run thru the near-field monitors. Then it's off to the home PC (bose speakers), boombox, living room stereo, car stereo (bose), work PC, another boombox and then back to the near-field for another mixdown.
Then I take a few days off and run thru the cycle again for one last tweak.
Too bad my playing still shucks. Hahahahaha.
JD
Mike,
Thanks for the reply. I used several different sources to mix my last record. I would go back and forth between headphones and my L1 in my office/studio and then sometimes use my monitors. Then I’d burn a copy and play it through our Bose Acoustic Wave System and then in my car. That seemed to work pretty well. This bass thing is something I haven’t run into before. I like the boombox idea too!
Cliff,
Thanks so much for the input! I just listed to my current bass part on solo and I totally over compensated for my “missing” A flat and now the A flat is too loud, at least through my L1.
The only recordings I have done through my L1 have been by taking the master out of the T1 to my audio interface. I haven’t tried putting a mic on the L1.
This last bass part I recorded using my Pendulum SPS-1. I boosted a narrow band of the low end at about 50Hz to try and make up for my “missing” A flat. It appears I overdid it! I’ll have to record another part. I’ll do this next one with my T1 and see how it compares to the SPS-1.
Thanks!
Matt