Getting my bass to cut through a mix

[fusion man 85]

Me and my friends got an old portastudio,I think its a basic four track one. Looking for tips on gettn though the mix,this will be my frist time recording anything.ill be using a low end ibanez soundgear and a ampeg ba 108.

 

[Stewie26]

Me and my friends got an old portastudio,I think its a basic four track one. Looking for tips on gettn though the mix,this will be my frist time recording anything.ill be using a low end ibanez soundgear and a ampeg ba 108.

Here is were I would start. First thing you need to check is the EQ of the other instruments in the mix. Your guitar player may have his tone set up like he is playing alone in his bedroom. His bottom end may be stepping on the bass. When playing in a band with a bass guitar, the guitar player needs to remove some of the bass and EQ for the mids and highs.

 

[fusion man 85]

Thanks for the starting point I know nothing about recording the other guys do. I like to jam not tinker with knobs and levels.Its a new learning experience for shure

 

[nick98338]

Me and my friends got an old portastudio,I think its a basic four track one. Looking for tips on gettn though the mix,this will be my frist time recording anything.ill be using a low end ibanez soundgear and a ampeg ba 108.

1. Get a track recorded without any clipping in it. Even if the level is a little bit low. A little bit, not a lot. You can bring the level up later. You can never remove clipping.
2. Keep the bass mono. Bass in stereo just makes it hard to hear.
3. Pan the bass away from the kick drum a little. Give the bass a space of its own in the mix. Makes it easy to hear.

 

[M0ses]

Like Stewie said, take down the guitar's lows. All of 'em. Hog them all to yourself. Then, bump up your mids. Bump them way up. Take your own lows down a notch. Treble to taste.

Boom. You're crystal clear.

 

[fusion man 85]

So my amp setting would be suitable mids at 8 bass at 4 trebe at at 6. I found this to work with my ibanez best waiting for for my frender jazz two more months of payments

 

[pbasswil]

When you're playing bass by yourself and trying to get a big, full sound, the first thing most folks do is drop the mids -- i.e., scoop to get rid of the nasal "gank".

But when you're trying to fit into a mix, you usually need that gank! In fact, those exact same frequencies don't even sound like gank, they just sound right in the context of a mix.

Once you get the rough level of the bass right in the mix (the right contribution of lows to support the track), then you can play with the octave from around 750hz to 1.5Khz, depending on how prominent you want the bass's actual lines to be.

 

[M0ses]

So my amp setting would be suitable mids at 8 bass at 4 trebe at at 6. I found this to work with my ibanez best waiting for for my frender jazz two more months of payments

Yeah that should work. That's actually very similar to what I do. It ends up sounding almost ridiculously aggressive while solo but in a band setting you get really great definition and clarity.

 

[ICM]

Boost your mids.
I saw a show, asked the bassist how he cut through so well, he told me to boost my mids.
Totally ended up working perfectly. Thanks, Ed.

 

[seamonkey]

Get a PC
Get every instrument, including bass on it's own track(s), and as clean as possible.
Look up techniques like side-chaining bass and kick
compression, EQ, ...

You do all this after recording - in the mix down.