Here’s the truth without solid bass part
your mix could sound thin and weak.
Getting the bass right is vital in creating
a track that sounds full and professional.
So, what is the key to dialing in a tight
solid low-end?
Compression.
In this video you’re going to learn the
fast bass compression trick that would initially
make your track sound more professional.
And after teaching almost a million people
about mixing I know that a lot of people get
this wrong, so keep watching if you struggle
with compressing bass and want to learn how
to compress bass like a pro.
But first be sure the grab my free bass mixing
cheat sheet to make sure you get the bass
right every single time.
There is link in the description or a link
on the screen now.
Okay.
Let’s dive right in.
So, what’s the bass compression trick?
Using multiple compressors on one bass part,
in most genre the bass needs to be heavily
compressed to provide a solid foundation.
So in rock, pop, hip-hop that kind of stuff,
obviously we’re not referring to like jazz
or acoustic here but anything that’s generally
processed and needs that foundation we need
compression to achieve that.
So, if you are working with jazz something
like that stop watching this video now, because
you don’t need to compress the bass.
If you’re working lighter genres you won’t
need any compression at all, but if the track
calls for it and you want to make your low-end
more consistent keep watching.
So, in those genres we want every note to
be the same volume and instead of automating
it which we could do, but that’ll take ages
we can compress it it’s a much faster way
to achieve this.
Now, sometimes just one compressor sounds
good, but whenever you’re aiming for heavy
compression it’s best to use what most people
would call serial compression.
And this is simply the act of compressing
the bass at two, three or maybe even four
different points and normally this would be
once or twice on the channel itself, and then
maybe again on a buss.
And you probably got some kind of compression
on the mix buss too.
So, this is serial compression, all these
different points of compression throughout
the mix.
And in this case we’re actually going to
go through the acts of applying two compressors
to one bass channel.
So, let’s just bypass everything we’ve
got going on here so we can start from scratch
and we’re going to remove this compressor,
remove this compressor and let’s just have
a quick listen to the track.
So, it’s quite open but the bass is playing
this long sustained notes and we really want
those notes to kind of fill that gap between
the kick drum hits so that it sounds full
and it doesn’t sound thin and empty between
those kick drum hits.
So, the first thing I’m going to do is load
up a compressor any would do.
I’m just going to use the stock Logic compressor
for this and I’m going to dial in quite
high ratio 4 to 1 with vocals stuff that’s
a bit lighter you’re probably going to use
2 to 1 or less, but with anything rhythmic
like kick, snare, bass it’s good to start
around 4 to 1.
And then we’re going to get rid of this
knee and we’re just going to start by adjusting
the threshold until we see around 5 to 10
dB of gain reduction.
Now, I’m going to turn off auto-gain because
Logic has this annoying feature.
And once we’ve dialed in that gain reduction
we’ll increase the makeup gain to compensate.
So, that sounds about the same volume to me.
So, in the next step is to start tweaking
our attack and release time.
And we’re going to start with a medium release
or an auto-release.
If you have an auto-release button just use
that unless you have a reason to start tweaking
release time.
So, with the bass we might actually want to
slow this down quite a lot, because they’re
really long sustained notes.
So, you can play around that with that in
a sec, but let’s start with it on auto and
let’s just tweak that attack time and we’ll
start slow and bring this up until we start
to notice the bass is sounding dull and it
sounds a bit less aggressive because that
means we’ve gone too far.
We’re starting to compress that transient.
Better to opt for slow attack times whenever
in doubt so let’s just start slow and bring
that up until we start to notice the bass
losing some of its life and then back off
a bit.
So, around there sounding good.
We don’t need to spend too long on that
and let’s just experiment with a slightly
longer release time.
A hundred is a good place to start for anything
that’s not too fast like a kick drum or
a snare drum that’s going to stop ringing
out really quickly.
A hundred is a good place to start for like
bass, guitars, and mix buss anything like
that, so we’ll start there and then we’re
going to tweak to taste.
Now, what you’re going to notice is that
as that note is ringing out this needle is
slowly going back to zero.
And what we want to try and do with these
long sustained notes is get the needle to
go back to zero between the notes but make
sure it’s not going back too quick because
the slower it goes back the most sustained
we’re going to get from the bass because
the compressor is just slowly relaxing and
it’s kind of going against the note as the
note rings out the compressor relaxes and
increases the volume.
So, let’s tweak that and make sure we’re
getting back to zero between notes, but also
we’ve got a nice slow release to counteract
that note.
And that’ll do.
It’s sounding pretty good.
So, the next step then is to just duplicate
this before we even think about adding a new
compressor and using different settings a
really quick shortcut is just duplicate it.
And let’s listen to what that does.
So, now we’ve got quite heavily compressed
sound and I’m not sure I’m liking that.
So, let’s back off that threshold a bit,
because we’re using two compressors we can
be a bit subtle with each of them.
And again we want to check it’s the same
volume so I’ll just play around with these,
play around with the makeup gain.
Let’s compare before and after, so we’ve
got two compressors now.
This is with them bypassed.
Now, let’s bring them back in.
So, it sounds quite musical.
The bass doesn’t sound too compressed.
It doesn’t sound like it’s just been squashed,
but we’re getting that consistency.
The notes are ringing out for longer.
We’ve got a nice solid foundation now for
the track.
Let’s flick back and forth a few times quicker.
So, you can really hear in the sustain of
that note.
Without the compressors that note just kind
of fades out and we lose a lot of that bottom
and a lot of that fullness, but with the compressors
that fullness is always there.
And if we go to a different section now let’s
have a listen to how consistent the bass is.
So, now that we’ve got a nice consistent
bass it’s going to be easier to place in
the mix, and it’s important that you spend
lots of time on volume balance at the beginning
of your mix getting a good level.
But once we’ve applied compression even
though we’ve done our best at volume match
it there is a difference, because now every
note is more consistent.
So, before some notes were loud some were
quiet and we set the level as best we could,
but now it’s a more consistent level.
So, we can go back to this volume balance
and adjust this fader until the bass is at
a good point in the mix.
Let’s check some references.
So, I think that’s a good place.
We can come back to that later, but make sure
you actually set that fader before you start
compressing before you do anything.
But also afterwards come back and readdress
that volume balance, because that can have
such a huge impact on the mix.
And if you find that your mix overall has
got too much low-end instead of trying to
use EQ or multiband compression something
like that on the mix buss to fix it you probably
just need to turn up or turn down the bass
guitar or the kick drum.
So, always go to volume balancing first.
Now that we’ve got the volume of the low-end
right what if we want the bass to cut through
the mix a bit more what if we play around
with this fader and we get it to point where
the low-end of the track is sounding consistent.
It’s not overpowering.
It sounds like it’s going to translate well
on lots of speakers.
But the bass guitar plays an important role
and we want it to cut through the mix a bit
more.
Well that’s where the saturation comes into
it and instead of boosting with EQ, which
you could try boost that upper-mid something
like that.
I normally prefer just add a bit saturation
to help the bass cut through the mix a bit
more if it plays an important role.
Great free saturation plug-in is Klaghelm
IVGI and we’re going to use high frequency
response.
We’re just going to bring up this drive
until we start to notice that the bass cuts
through the mix a bit more.
So, that’s definitely helping the bass to
cut through, but it’s messing up the tone
of the low-end a bit more.
So, I’m going to try a different plug-in,
another great saturation plug-in from FabFilter
because with this I can only saturate the
top-end and I can leave that bottom-end unsaturated
and say below 200 and I can just try adding
some saturation to this top-end.
So, now we’re bringing out that top-end
a bit more that’s going to cut through the
mix, and also cut through on smaller speakers.
So, just a little bonus tip for you there,
but don’t forget serial compression using
two compressors on your bass is a great way
to get a nice consistent powerful low-end
without squashing the bass and without sounding
over-compressed.
So, that’s how you compress a bass guitar,
but what about EQ?
What about everything else involved in the
bass mix and process?
Well, I put together a free bass mixing cheat
sheet that you could download and use as a
reference when you’re mixing and if you
really want to learn how to mix bass like
a pro and make sure you get the bass right
every single time be sure to grab that free
cheat sheet.
It’s going to guide you through that process
and go deeper into EQ, compression, balancing
everything else involved in mixing bass.
So, it’s completely free.
There’s a link in the description below
or on screen now.
And now I want to hear from you.
Let me know in the comments below.
Have you ever used serial compression on bass
before?
Just comment with ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
If you’ve done it before let me know.
If you haven’t comment with a ‘no’ because
I want to see how many people have used this
technique.
And if you do give it a try let me know in
the comments below how you find it too.
So, that’s all from me.
I’ll see you same time same place next week.
And remember Create Regardless.
