All the way from the start, I can feel it in my heart like...
what's going on out there I'm Sean
Divine hope you all are doing well today
I've got a new video where we're talking
about seven tips for mixing low in
getting better bass those of you who may
be having trouble you know kind of
perceiving what's going on in your
low end for your mixes, got some
techniques and also some things to
consider in terms of your monitoring how
to really strengthen and enhance what
you're hearing down there but also
feeling because this is just as much about
feeling these days as it is being able
to hear your low end so let's go ahead
and dive in the first thing I want to
talk about for mixing low in and getting
better bass is to consider the
importance of monitoring you've got to
be able to hear what is going on and
in your low end and make it sit properly you
can't mix what you can't hear right so
for some of you who are on you know say
5 inch monitors even eight inch monitors
I have eight inch monitors you know some
of you are probably saying well the spec
sheet on my monitors says that the
frequency response goes down to you know
like thirty Hertz or something like that
which you're thinking oh that's more
than enough it's low enough I'll be able
to hear it the misleading part about
this is on paper that may be the case
but once you bring monitors into a room
depending on the shape of the room the
acoustics of the room you know whether
or not you've treated your room
whether or not your monitors are ported
versus sealed this all affects the way
that those frequencies and the frequency
response is perceived to you and felt
which is very important as well with
mixing low-end we're gonna talk a lot
about feeling because that's just as
important as hearing with a lot of these
really low frequencies so there are some
things that you can do
to enhance your monitoring environment
and give you a better portrayal if you
are dealing with some shortcomings with
your monitoring so the first thing at
some point you may consider adding a
subwoofer and the sub is just extending
the frequency response so like we said
you know if you're having trouble
perceiving what's going on say below 50
that sub is just going to give you more
of that feeling and more of the
perspective of like a car stereo or a
club environment you all know what that
sounds like and feels like and so to
have that extended low-end with a sub
the perspective is just different I
would caution those of you who are eager
to get a subwoofer because it can really
be tricky to implement into a mixing
environment that you're not used to or
comfortable or know really well and also
you don't want to set the subwoofer in a
way that it's going to be dominant I
like to turn the subwoofer to where it's
just barely on to where I'm getting the
sensation the feel of those lows which
is the way you want it to be in mixing
you know we're not trying to add a
subwoofer to get this huge dominant
booming bass in your environment because
that's just going to give you some
inaccuracies in terms of how you're
mixing another tip to enhance the
monitoring of some of those really low
frequencies is to use a pair of closed
back headphones with extended low-end
frequency response so that can be
helpful in hearing a lot of those lower
frequencies because you know since we
have the sealed environment against our
head it's going to kind of force those
frequencies into our eardrum and give us
a different perspective so that can be
much easier to kind of pick up on where
what those frequencies actually are I
would be careful with this because I
find that it's a lot harder in this
perspective to make judgments about
actual level so even though you can hear
the frequencies easier in headphones a
lot of times it doesn't translate
because the levels themselves in terms
of where you put the bass and the subs
can be misleading so you're going to
want to take it out you're going to want
to listen in other environments if you
are relying
on headphones primarily for mixing your
bass next tip I have for you for mixing
low-end is to use a channel EQ across a
lot of your tracks in your sessions in
the instrumentation in the vocals to get
rid of some of the low end so you'll see
in this session I have a lot of
channel EQs that are just cutting
off below you know say a hundred or so
just to keep things from getting muddy
and murky you know a big part of having
good low-end is making sure that the
elements that are supposed to be
occupying the low-end are the only
things that are filling that space so a
lot of times there's channels that you
wouldn't even realize that would have
bass in them that over the span of an
entire session all this stuff collects
and it just makes your bass muddy can
make your mixes murky and also make all
those elements that we talked about like
the sub the 808 the kick the things
that we really want to dominate it can
make those less focused so you want to
make sure and just get rid of all of
that low-end information in elements
that is not intended something to
caution you all about is where you're
making your low-cut or your roll-off a
lot of you are you know utilizing an EQ
on your master buss or your stereo buss
and common practice you hear it all the
time is to just stick an EQ on there and
roll-off you know say below whatever
frequency you've kind of been taught and
I'm just gonna tell you throughout the
years this has gotten lower and lower
there's more of a preference to have
this bass that you can feel and so when
we're talking about rolling everything
below 40 off or even 30 these days you
know I would not recommend this it can
result in a thin mix even if maybe
you're not picking up on it in your
environment
I do roll-off sometimes you know things
below 20 but it just depends on you know
how much stuff is kind of building up
over there you don't necessarily need to
always use this roll-off it's it's more
preventative if you see a lot collecting
down there next tip is to utilize some
base enhancement plugins so there's
various plugins out here Waves has a lot
that creates harmonics which this is
very important for those of you who
maybe have baselines that don't have a
lot of really low sub content at 30 to
40 the stuff you can feel this also can
go in the other direction where it's
important nowadays to have baselines
that translate to laptops to phones some
of these don't actually playback base
that's above you know say 200 Hertz so
we need to generate some harmonic
content so that people can at least
perceive that the base line is there
even though they can't necessarily hear
it in the same way that they would on
their speakers another useful way to
pick up on what's going on in low n is
to use a frequency analyzer I almost
always have one on my master buss now
whether you're using a plug-in in my
case I use the TC electronic clarity M
and I have that up all the time pretty
much on the frequency analyzer for the
most part and I can just kind of scan
through my low end frequencies and get
not only a perspective of you know where
things are hitting but also in
level you know where certain frequencies
may have some build up maybe again like
we talked about earlier there's a lot
going on below 20 next tip is to use
stereo imaging to narrow the stereo
field of your low-end and your bass so
the way I do this is either utilizing
the stereo imager and ozone or something
like vitamin whatever stereo imaging
plug-in I have on my master buss I will
typically just go and create a band that
is from say 120 Hertz and below maybe a
hundred you know what a subwoofer would
typically reproduce and then I just want
to go and I want to narrow that band and
just take out a lot of the stereo
information if not all of it
we don't want to introduce phase issues
and also what this does is it focuses
your low-end things are gonna hit harder
they're gonna hit better and you're
gonna ensure that you have that mono
compatibility all right so the last tip
I have for you for mixing low in and
getting better bass is those of you who
are on smaller monitors you're having
trouble picking up on the super low
frequencies try walking around your room
usually if you walk to the back corner
of your room and just stand there you're
gonna get some bass build-up and you're
gonna be able to perceive what's going
on and low in in a different way even if
you don't have a subwoofer getting away
from sitting you know straight in front
of the monitors can be helpful with the
bass low-frequency sound waves they
travel in a different way and sometimes
you can't hear them until you're further
away from where they're being produced
also picking up on the way that you know
maybe certain furniture your desk is
vibrating I know that sounds kind of
crazy but so little things like that
that you'll pick up over time can be
really helpful and just walking around
your room and being aware of the bass in
the space not directly in front of the
monitors alright y'all so those are my
top tips for mixing low in and getting
better bass understanding that a big
part of it is monitoring you can't mix
what you can't hear so you need to be
able to enhance the frequency response
of what you're hearing feeling and
perceiving to be able to make educated
and accurate mixing decisions I'm not
telling you you need to go out and buy a
new pair of monitors I'm not saying you
necessarily have to have a subwoofer you
can still utilize the tips we talked
about also realize that mixing low end a
lot of it comes down to experience
you're gonna learn and pick up on things
about your specific monitors you're
gonna pick up things about your room
about how you perceive and how you feel
low end and bass and take that into your
mixing process so I hope this helps if
you learned anything in the video please
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we'll talk to you soon
