Low End comes out too Strong in Mixes HELP!

V

varun213

New member
Hi guys, I Produce and Compose mainly Rap beats and have had an issue on certain tracks. One track in particular just has too much Low End that is too strong to where it doesn't mask other instruments but it is just too loud.

My solutions to fixing this issue is usually giving it a Limiter to where it doesn't peak up too high and stays where it is.

I EQ and cut everything off below 30-40hz. So Eq'ing isnt the answer and Sometimes I am worried on killing dynamics when compressing/limiting too much. In general is it best to just compress a Kick and 808 every time to control it from peaking too high in the mix? I dont want to lower the fader down too much because then I lose power in the whole mix and it isnt loud enough.

what are some solutions to control that low end? 808/light punchy kick combination? Besides Sidechaining?

I want to control the low end so it doesent sound too loud because that is just starting to get old and looks amateurish as well.

thanks for all the advice!
 
30-40Hz is usually the high end of the rumble zone. Cutting under 30-35Hz, unless you use infrabass on purpose is imho a best practice.

Why don't you want to sidechain? It allows the kick to cut through the mix even if you lower its volume. Shouldn't that solve your problem ?

You can eventually sidechain in frequency, that is, you decrease all lows and low mids (40-250Hz), and the snap zone (1.5-2.5KHz) only when the kick hits. (the frequency ranges are just indicative - check what you where you want to cut with a frequency analyser).
 
Synaptic Machines said:
30-40Hz is usually the high end of the rumble zone. Cutting under 30-35Hz, unless you use infrabass on purpose is imho a best practice.

Why don't you want to sidechain? It allows the kick to cut through the mix even if you lower its volume. Shouldn't that solve your problem ?

You can eventually sidechain in frequency, that is, you decrease all lows and low mids (40-250Hz), and the snap zone (1.5-2.5KHz) only when the kick hits. (the frequency ranges are just indicative - check what you where you want to cut with a frequency analyser).
Click to expand...

dont get me wrong I sidechain all the time. I just was hoping for a different solution. What I noticed today its just a matter of me lowering my faders on the 808 with a bit of light compression on the peaks. It makes it sound 10x better.

I was just over thinking it
 
I never understood the fascination with compressors.
For years I've been doing it the simple way, with the faders.

I like the pumping effect sometimes.
 
KonKossKang said:
I never understood the fascination with compressors.
For years I've been doing it the simple way, with the faders.

I like the pumping effect sometimes.
Click to expand...

I have been doing that route as well. But how do you control sounds that may have too much dynamic range to em? and if you lower stuff down do you just do a Master make up gain to bring it back to a decent volume?
 
Its about Balance
You should keep your whole frequencies of your mix balanced

Solution
Use reference track and use your visual tools like spectrum

Use multi band compression to check their different band
Solo everything below 100hz
Or 200hz

Compare to yours

If your reference is too loud compare to your mix
First bring its volume down
And then compare

Hope it helps
 
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You can build up the overall low end compression through a set of compressors, each contributing in a certain way to how the low end behaves and feels overall.
 
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Saturation, saturation, saturation... not too much of it though. But just a little tames peaks while beefing up your sound, grounding it more. Look into it!
It's easy to knock a few dB's off your peaks, add some body or warmth.. before even getting into dynamics processing or EQ's.

The other thing to keep in mind: unless you have a specifically treated room and the giant speakers/woofers for it, you are basically working blind down there. Your monitors may reproduce
some bass, but not all of it (check the frequency response, it'll probably not go below 50-45hz.. if not higher). Having bass ports on your monitors will give you more bass weight, but it's not an accurate bass response
in the slightest bit. So you're gonna have to kind of goal-seek a level/sound that works best overall by playing your mixes on as many different systems as you can. And like Kamran points out, having a reference track helps a lot. Play as much music you can through your monitors, take note of how the bass works on them..
 
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