How to Mix a Thick Kick With Alot of Bass into a Bass Line With Alot of Bass???

itzdlo

ayodlo
I've noticed alot of the tracks I like have a rather large kick mixed into a pretty thick bassline. Im wondering what the besttechnique to accomplish this would be. It almost sounds like an 808 with a really short release is mixed into a bass-line.

Heres a track with a good example -

It starts around 37 seconds.

Are they just using a side chain compression to compress the bass when the kick comes in? What are some other good techniques to accomplish this without getting a muddy mangly mix?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sounds like side chain compressing the bass and kick , like you said. I'll be honest this songs mix lacks clarity but it might be the format (youtube)?
 
Yeah you would just use a side chain compression eq to give one of them the lower end like around 70-100hz for the kick and i try to bring the bass up at around 100-140. Also panning and just volume levels will help both sit well after the side chain and eq.

But there are a ton of different things you could technically do
 
Hmm side chain compression eq? Would this just be a compression that has an eq function too? Gotta look into that I was just thinking of compressing the actual volume of the bass (so that it lowers) whenever the kick drum hits.
 
btown - yea it might not be the most clear lol just using it as an example I can try to find another later.
 
Hmm side chain compression eq? Would this just be a compression that has an eq function too? Gotta look into that I was just thinking of compressing the actual volume of the bass (so that it lowers) whenever the kick drum hits.

Thats what side chain compression is. Compression on one sound that is chained to another sound so more gain reduction happens whenever the chained sound plays. so if you put a side chain compressor on your bass and set the chain to the kick when ever the kick goes off you get less bass.

Lol and my bad should have used a comma i ment side chain compression and an eq
 
I just want to point out that you can too sidechain a specific frequency range, when you don't want that "pump" feel to your mix.
 
you can have a banging 808 just use the adsr or trim the ends and really depends where u get that 808 alot have been processed for a particular sound ..
 
I haven't heard the track because I'm in a loud ass lunchroom, but I'd like to point out that sometimes a kick has not as much bass but sounds like it does because it hits with the bassline. Just throwing that out there.
 
From listening to it, in this case it's definitely quite heavy side chain compression of the bass off the kick channel... You can hear the bass synth pumping and the sound of the compression release after each kick.

Admittedly as btownpro said, it didn't sound amazing in the lows to me but that isn't helped by the YouTube compression of audio / whatever it was uploaded as!


I'd say first and foremost the best way to get a kick and bass to work together is to write and produce it that way. Use instruments/sounds that work together (including phase relationships) and play them/sequence them in a way that works! There's nothing worse than getting a mix to do with 3 layered kicks and 3 basslines and the comment "can you make it sound like this massive 808 track by...". There's a reason it doesn't sound like that and most of it isn't the mix :)

For me one of the starting points for getting a clean kick, bass, snare and lead vocal is pan. It's also the most natural. I wrote an article about this on my blog: Dights Blog - The Most Valuable Real Estate In A Mix

Then I feel the next most important thing for kick and bass is level balance and subtractive EQ. EQ cuts in the right place. Cut for clarity and boost for vibe. Balancing the low end is just like anywhere else in the frequency spectrum, you only have a finite amount of space... However low end energy takes up far more space than high end!

It's not only about getting the level and EQ right in the bass/kick relationship, it's about doing this for everything around the kick and bass. Get rid of everything else in that frequency range that is getting in the way of the kick/bass energy. Additionally if you get a nice low end EQ balance through cuts you'll have enhanced the clarity and removed a lot of energy, this will probably allow you to turn up the bass in level.

Beyond that there are then plenty of other methods of enhancing this, including the use of compressors, side chain compression, m/s techniques, sub-group bussing, etc.

I hope that helps.
 
Last edited:
You want to cut frequencies out of your Kick that aren't in your bass. It's confusing, I'm still learning as well. I have it written down but I'm at work and I don't remember off the top of my head. I will try to get back on here later and let you know. But it is really effective and helps your mixes. EQ is one of the most important things when it comes to mixing.
 
Last edited:
agreed - without sidechaining you would need to make a decision on losing the bottom end of the frequency range on one to avoid them clashing or cancelling each other out. if you just had a really bassy kick drum and heavy bassline together it would be a bit much as i understand usually
 
Back
Top