TECHNIQUE 1: COMPRESSION AND GATING.
For bass, you can really squeeze the signal and still make the audio sound nice and healthy. Too much compression can increase the level of unwanted noise in the parts that the bass isn’t playing, so remember to edit those parts or use a gate to mute them.
For the kick drum, especially with drums recorded live, you can really adjust it with a gate. Try setting the ratio to 100:1, with a fairly short attack time and 200 millisecond release time. (Varies depending on the song). It’s important to mix this once decaying kick drum with top mics to have a natural drum sound and not make the drums sound too blocked and dead. After using a gate on my kick drum, I usually don’t apply compression, but if you want, use a compressor and use a slow attack time and a fast release, and then vice versa, see which one makes your particular kick sound harder . chop mixture further.
TECHNIQUE 2: MATCHING.
When equipping instruments, especially important ones like bass and kick drum, be subtractive about it. Try to reduce more than you increase. It’s a mindset that you should try to get as soon as possible as a person who equips an instrument. As for boost, try to limit yourself to less than 4db boost, just a little advice.
With that in mind, let’s throw the standard Pro Tools EQ on our bass. Stock plugins will always be able to do the job. I started by making a high and low pass filter. I went high up to 70Hz because I wanted to clean up the bottom end and free up some headroom. I went low to 1500Hz as I didn’t need anything above that. Also, the recording had a bit of noise that was mostly removed by doing this low pass cut. I then cut about 7dB across the 240hz to 420hz area. This cleaned up the bass phenomenally and removed unwanted gunk. Lastly I added a 3dB boost to the 1100hz area. This brought out the mid-high sound of the bass that helped it stand out in the mix.
Well, keeping up so far? Good.
For the kick drum, kick drum whatever you want to call it, I started by making a cut similar to what I did with the bass around the infamous 240Hz – 420Hz area. The sludge was cleaned off doing this. I then added a generous 4db boost at 2000hz which brought out the beat of the drum and helped it cut through the rest of the mix nicely. After this I knew the kick drum needed more punch, more punch, so I did a good old R&B mix trick and did a 4dB narrow Q boost at both 40Hz and 70Hz. Play around with the placement of these boosts on your kick drum and see what sounds most effective. It instantly hits me right in the chest. But I realized that it was interfering with my bass too much, so I brought up the high pass of my bass to remove a bit more of the low end. Easy peasy. It sounds perfect. These narrow Q kick boosters are a good old R&B trick, but they work in any genre IMO. Try it today!
TECHNIQUE 3: DISTORTION / SATURATION / HARMONICS
This part is really the key to bringing out the instruments and making them cut through the mix. This is what can cause the beat of your kick drum and the upper mids of your bass to carry through to your laptop speakers or your tiny headphones.
For the bass, I distorted it liberally using the Air distortion plug-in that comes with Pro Tools. Remember, stock plugins can get the job done as well as anything else. This distortion made my bass sound much warmer, it added a whole new sound to the upper mids that I found completely unattainable with compression or riding. It saturated the upper mids, making it cut through the mix amazingly. However, the sound of the bass itself sounded a bit unnatural when soloed. But remember, this is what the final stereo waveform sounds like. So I unchecked the solo button and it sounded perfect. It sat perfectly in the mix and cut with the help of saturation.
For the kick drum, I used the Air harmonic distortion plugin. I turned up the bottom end knob and tuned it to 70hz. Boom, more low-end energy. Then I turned up the high end knob and tuned it to 1500Hz. Boom, more presence. It cuts through the mix better than ever.
So, in conclusion, compression, EQ, and distortion are my top three solutions for getting bass and kick drums through the mix. Play around with the order these plugins are in your plugin chain. I usually go, from top to bottom, Gate, EQ and Distortion for Kick and for Bass I have Compressor, Gate, Distortion, EQ. This string can vary of course.
I hope you know more about getting your bass and kick drum through the mix now!
We look forward to more mixing tips.
Have a nice day.
– Evan.
