Bass can be one of the most difficult parts of a mix to get “right.” This is because there is no right way to mix the instrument. Your bass needs will likely change drastically from song to song. You’ll need a clean, punchy bass sound on one track, while on another you may need a completely different warm and wide bass sound.
Through all of the desired sounds, you’ve also got to make sure the sound is not too boomy, but you also don’t want it to sound too round. As you can see, it gets complicated.
And while there’s no master tip that will automatically make your bass sound great every time, here are three tips that you may want to add to your arsenal of bass mixing techniques. Again, don’t be afraid to experiment with all aspects of your bass signal chain until you get the sound you want.
1. Don’t Get Predictable with Your EQ Settings
Certainly EQ is one of your best friends when it comes to recording, but using the tool on bass can (and should) get a little complicated. Some instruments have pretty predictable EQ settings. For example, if you put a high-pass filter on an acoustic guitar and then add a slight boost to the high-mids, you’ll probably have at least an acceptable sound (though you’ll certainly want to tweak for each track).
That predictability is often thrown out the window on bass tracks. The EQ you will use depends not only on how you want the bass to sound, but how you want it to sit in the mix. This often depends on what frequencies other instruments are using. Don’t be afraid to try EQ settings you wouldn’t think to attempt on other instruments.
2. Double the Bass Track
There are great ways to improve your bass sound by doubling the track and adding different EQ settings and effects to the duplicated track. For example, after getting your original bass track sounding the way you want it, add slight distortion and a high-pass filter to the second track, and mix it low in relation to the first track to give you a “wider” bass sound that will also bring a warmth to the lows on your track.
This is just one example, but having the second track allows you to do extreme things to your bass track that will bring surprisingly effective results when mixed with a “traditional” bass track. Keep in mind that you’ll almost always want to make sure the second track is mixed in very subtly with the original track.
3. Use your EQ to Take Away
Often, you’ll get a bass sound that sounds great when the bass track is solo’d, but then never sits right in the mix. Many times this is because the frequencies of another instrument are covering the frequencies you want to hear from the bass track.
Instead of continuing to adjust the EQ of the bass in situations like this, it is often helpful to find the offending instrument (which is often a guitar) and cut the frequencies covering the frequencies you want to hear from the bass. This will allow the bass to shine through the mix the way you want it to.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
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2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
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4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
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5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
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7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
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