How To Make The Kick And Bass Work Together
Here’s a simple trick to make the kick and bass work together in a mix, regardless of genre or style. If your low end sounds muddy and undefined, this one will help!
If you’re trying to create clarity between these two parts, so you can hear them clearly and so that they don’t fight each other, you gotta figure out a separate spot for both of them to sit in the frequency spectrum.
The way like to think about this is that I actually conceptually divide the low end into two separate regions. I have my sub range – from 80 hertz and below, and then I have my upper bass range – from 80 hertz to around 180 – 200 hertz.
In every track, I’m asking myself – which do I want to sit in the bottom area of that frequency spectrum – the sub range – and which do I want to sit in the upper bass range.
Depending on the genre, the style, the song, the tempo even, you’re going to find usually that one works better than the other.
There are some general guidelines depending on genre. In a lot of metal tracks, you might find that the bass works better in the sub range, and in hip hop, you often find that the kick sounds better sitting below the bass. As always, these are just guidelines, and you should totally experiment.
Once you conceptually figure out what you want to sit where, then you can start to make decisions that move the various parts into those areas of the frequency spectrum.
For example, if I want the kick to sit on the bottom of the mix, I might add a nice boost at 50 or 60 hertz to move it down there. And then if I want the bass to sit above the kick, I might high-pass it at 80 hertz.
Suddenly the bass moves up in the frequency spectrum, and I’ve defined these two separate areas for these elements to sit.
When you do this, you’re going to find that you can create clarity between these two elements. They’re no longer fighting each other, and that’s how you create a great kick/bass relationship in your mixes.
Anyways, hope this helps. You can check out more mixing tips at BehindTheSpeakers.com.
Hope you guys have an awesome week. Take care.