Equalizing a bassline

[VictorMurillo]

Hey there!

How do you treat the low end of a bassline? I mean, do you make a low shelf or a low cut at 'x' hertz. Or maybe anything.
I just want to know how you process the LOW END.

Peace & Love

 

[chris carter]

If I want more lows, I'll grab a Neve type EQ (usually IK EQ81 or EQ73) and boost 33Hz or 35Hz respectively, or a Pultec type (IK EQ 1A) and boost 30Hz. If I'm going to compress, I'll compress after the EQ. That's it 99% of the time.

If I want less lows, I'll typically cut with a low shelf on the aforementioned neve EQs at 100Hz (or whatever is close to that... 110Hz on the 1073).

That's it.

If you are hearing squirrely stuff in the low end, it's probably not the audio, but rather it's your room.

 

[Wapiti]

I would advise against boosting anything, instead cut everything else and turn it all up together. anything below 20Hz is useless information in a bass line, 30-40Hz is debatable depending on your bassline composition, most systems don't extend that low. If you get a track mastered the engineer will cut out that at least 20Hz anyways. Sidechain compression is commonly used if there is a kick in the way, can also be used to get some volume out of a bassline. Definitely not necessary, although Electronic music in particular it can add a breathe if that's the desired effect. Aside from that there is no basic rules, just whatever sounds best, listen to your mix on many systems and ideally on one capable of reproducing lows and small speakers such as phone speakers. Also try stepping outside of your room with your track loud, it can pull out quite a lot of surprises in your mixes!

 

[Waltz Mastering]

Hey there!

How do you treat the low end of a bassline? I mean, do you make a low shelf or a low cut at 'x' hertz. Or maybe anything.
I just want to know how you process the LOW END.

Peace & Love

Depends.. What kind of bass? How was it recorded?

I don't think it's good to go in with any preconceive notions, because one size doesn't fit all.

The low end is the hardest to dial in. A lot of speakers and rooms do not reproduce the lower octave accurately.

I do usually like the fundamental frequencies of the bass instrument to sit right above the low meat of the kick.
The initial attack is important too.

You see a lot people recommend a high pass filter, but often don't realize that by setting it at say 40Hz, that you are inherently boosting right above the shoulder frequency (around 50Hz) of the cut because of the bump caused by the phase shift of the eq.

Best case is to have full range speakers in a room that you trust and do what your gut tells you.
In less than stellar systems, you're often left to checking it in multiple playback systems to see how you're doing. gl

 

[Yemski-Redux]

Depends on genre really, in terms of what you emphasize. In short, whether you favour drum over bass and which one dominates in the low end. There's a lot of variation between genres and even within them. Without a well treated room and good speakers it's kind of hit and miss though. Without the benefit of that, you''ll probably need to play on a lot of different systems and gradually nail it from there. There are plenty of general guides on the net that should see you clear on this subject. Just Google something like how to eq drum and bass and find something that fits what you're trying to achieve. Youtube is a good resource as well. With all things musical there's no one simple answer. Just learn as much as you can and find what works for you.