what is your method for a good frequency separation between kick and bass ?

[pedro50]

Hi Everyone

I am just new to this forum and would be happy to hear your comments, tips on engineering questions.
Also a big hello to Jesse !!!

here is my first thread: What are your techniques, tips to get sure you get a nice separation between kick drum and bass ? All that with keeping in mind that we are always trying to get the most of each of them.

thanks for your reply

Pedro50

[admin]

Pedro, the main thing is to not let them step on each other. There are various ways to accomplish this.

One method is the actual pattern itself, not putting heavy bassnotes right
on top of the kick drum solves the problem right away.

Of course this can't always happen...

Adjusting the envelope of the bass or sliding it back a few ticks on the beats it stands on top of the kick can work. Having the kick in key with the bassline can help reduce any muddy detuning that would occur when they do lay on top of each other.

Compressing the kick and bass together can reduce the level of both on top of each other. This is a little tricky as the key is to try and set the compression to only really act when the two occur together and not so much when they are apart as to not over compress.

Another method of course is sidechaining the bass to the kick which helps only to affect the bass and not the kick itself.

The choice of both kick and bass sound helps from the start. Trying to put a heavy bass on top of a heavy kick doesn't work well so keep them distinct.

When the above doesn't work 100% then EQ can solve a lot of problems. Taking a cut out of the kick where the bass is or visa versa would be one option. And in general keeping the eq tidy on both the kick and bass in general will help too.

Hope this helps.

[pedro50]

Thanks for that reply Mr Jesse

By the way do you have a special method to identify what are the clashing frequencies between the kick and the bass ? ?

At the moment, considering that kick drum is almost always the lowest sound in house music , to be sure it does not enter into conflict with the bass, I put a LF filter on the bass at about 90hz, or 100 hz . But I have the feeling that this method may be too radical and this way I loose part of the bass weight.

Thanks for your opinion.

Pedro50

[admin]

Pedro,

I generally don't put a HP filter that high up on bass. I tend to mix my kicks a bit lower and basslines louder though. I would also say I am hearing a lot of producers using tighter less bass heavy kicks, letting the bassline and other sounds come through more.

If you have a really heavy kick though an HP at 90 could very well be what's needed though. It's a tough thing to try and set a rule too...

Main thing is at the end of the day something in either the kick or bass has to make the weight, as long as the end result is there it doesn't matter as much where the role is being played.

For an example of a very small kick and big bassline check out the Claude Von Stroke mix of War Paint.

[Maru]

Having the kick in key with the bassline can help reduce any muddy detuning that would occur when they do lay on top of each other.

Hi Jesse,

Just out of curiosity, what is the best way for us to find out what note a kick is in? It totally makes sense that the bass should be in the same key but I can't seem to tell what the note of a kick is :confused:

Thanks,
Maru

[admin]

Maru,

Easiest way is to use a spectrum analyzer. I can show you easier when we do our online session.


Jesse

[Maru]

Ah great, thanks for the info! I look forward to the session =)