Why do my drums go quiet when ever the bass kicks in?

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optimist_music

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I cannot seem to find anything on youtube on mixing all of your drum sounds to the bass.

I am currently working on an instrumental in FL Studio. I have Eq'd everything. I have routed all the drum sounds to one bus and stuck a compressor on the channel. I did this to bring everything out evenly. I also thought it would fix the problem that I am having, but it hasn't.

I have tried re Eq'ing the bass, that being cutting out low frequencies and raising to around 76hz. Also cut out high frequencies from 632hz. I have tried to put some compression on the bass, no difference.

The bass sound is Sine off Nexus.

So the problem is when ever the bass kicks in, it reduces the volume of the rest of the track. Then when its not playing the volume goes up.

I hope I have provided enough info without having to upload the track.

Any help would be great.
 
Dreanged the moderator is the man you need to speak to. He's really helpful. Send him a PM.
 
Wait !
when the Bass Play, the snare cymbles.. it reduce all the drums volume ? or only BD ?
use Analyzer to see Bass Frequencys..
 
O-T said:
Wait !
when the Bass Play, the snare cymbles.. it reduce all the drums volume ? or only BD ?
use Analyzer to see Bass Frequencys..
Click to expand...


Yes mainly the drums, you can clearly hear the snare going quiet. I am sure this has happened to lots of people. I am still getting to grips with the whole mixing.

Any ideas/fixes?

---------- Post added at 10:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:23 PM ----------
HERESY/KNOKK SHOPE said:
Check your routing.
Click to expand...

What do you mean?
 
Please let us hear it..
I believe its about routing.. Try other comp , see if it fix..
 
I just come to record part of the project so I could show you all but now I have a different problem. I have never had this issue before, the whole of FL Studio is in chipmonk mode. Even the little start up noise is pitched up.

I am so confused. Will it be something to do with my audio settings?

---------- Post added at 05:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:24 PM ----------

Ok my bad it was my whole laptop that was high pitched, restarted it now its fine.

Anyway here is a cut out of the track I was talking about:



---------- Post added at 05:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:48 PM ----------

The bass just wipes everything out.
 
is it all your basses or just 1 certain sound?
 
Yeah basses in general, I want that crisp bass with the rest sitting perfectly with it.
 
Try to check this:
- Have you removed the fruity limiter on the master channel with the loudness preset, that automatically loads up when starting up FL Studio when using its default template?

- Do you use any single-band mixbus compression or any maximizer on the master?

- Are you sure that no channel is clipping as the song is played?

- Have you checked that the FL Studio output meter isn't clipping? (the volume fader next to the toolbar)

- Have you checked that there's no audio codec switched on on your computer? (these often contain a limiter to increase loudness)
 
In theory the reason for this happening would be an EQ issue, usually what I do when it comes to routing and busses is I make a Drum bus and an Everything but Kick and Snare bus. This is just my prefernce because those are the two elements I like to emphasize in my instrumentals. The Equing of that Sine bass may be why your drums are getting quiet. I usually just isolate the only real visible band on my Sine basses using Parametric EQ 2 and then usually the highest freq. of that is the lowest I use for my kick that way they never clash. Also there could just be some clipping or your CPU usage acting up, who knows. Let me know if you fix it I', curious to see what the issue was !
 
the bass is very loud in my opinion, you may wanna reduce it by ~2db.

make the bass sidechain with a longer release on the kick and eq some extra punch in the kick (150-300freq) to make the kick stand out more.

i dont think you have to use compression on the bass.

basses use a lot of energy and it can make some samples with low in it sound weaker especially nexus's nasty sine bass.

also, the clap probably gets as low as 300hz so if you did cut out the higher frequencies of the bass (atleast to 300hz) then the clap shouldnt sound weak.

good luck!
 
as has already been offered the bass is too loud in the mix. drop it by 3db at least and more like 6db

too many folks try to do mixing as "I add stuff to the mix" rather than "I take stuff away" - as has been evident in several threads in last few days.

super secret tip on mixing

Mixing is the Art of making things softer so that you can hear other things

I go a little further than this in setting out a pathway

  • pan
  • set levels (by dropping volume)
  • eq fo effect
  • set levels (by adjusting existing volumes but rarely by increasing them)
  • add fx sends rather than inserts - you keep control of your original sounds and can blend back the results of the fx by
    • panning,
    • eq
    • setting levels
  • compress individual channels to reduce overall dynamic range if needed (usually making the louder softer and maybe adding some makeup gain to bring everything back to the levels they were at before adding compression)

at no point should you consider using limiters or compressors on the master buss: these are mastering phase tasks which interfere with achieving a solid, balanced mix
 
Sounds like compression is causing the problem, but I'd have to hear the song to know.

Quick question...is there a limiter on the master track? If so, it's basically "making room for the newly introduced bass by reducing the kick because they share similar freqs.

Your bass could simply be too loud. Alot of times people get the idea their bass is too low to be heard well when in actuality it's sitting just right.

Could also be that the kick is already clipping and the bass just makes it all clip worse.

All just shots in the dark.

You did mention routing all your drums to one compressor, you may want to try routing your bass to and kicks all to one separate compressor and tweaking just those with your other low end sounds, may not work for your situation, but sometimes does.
 
steffeeh said:
Try to check this:
- Have you removed the fruity limiter on the master channel with the loudness preset, that automatically loads up when starting up FL Studio when using its default template?
The limiter is still there.
- Do you use any single-band mixbus compression or any maximizer on the master?
I have just the limiter on the master.
- Are you sure that no channel is clipping as the song is played?
I have checked all channels for clipping, they are all fine.
- Have you checked that the FL Studio output meter isn't clipping? (the volume fader next to the toolbar)
No clipping.
- Have you checked that there's no audio codec switched on on your computer? (these often contain a limiter to increase loudness)
Click to expand...
I am not sure where I would find this but it surely can't be that.

---------- Post added at 05:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:30 PM ----------

ry to check this:
- Have you removed the fruity limiter on the master channel with the loudness preset, that automatically loads up when starting up FL Studio when using its default template?
The limiter is still there.
- Do you use any single-band mixbus compression or any maximizer on the master?
I have just the limiter on the master.
- Are you sure that no channel is clipping as the song is played?
I have checked all channels for clipping, they are all fine.
- Have you checked that the FL Studio output meter isn't clipping? (the volume fader next to the toolbar)
No clipping.
- Have you checked that there's no audio codec switched on on your computer? (these often contain a limiter to increase loudness)

---------- Post added at 05:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:38 PM ----------

Ok thank you for all the tips. Looks like I will have to have a play around.

I thought it might of been an obvious problem, maybe just needed a compressor.

Turning the volume down made a bit of a difference but now the bass is not as present as it was.

Side chaining could be a good option.

When being asked if I have the limiter on the master, I am presuming that is a good thing right?

But one thing is nothing is clipping.
 
Well, if the fruity limiter is on the masterchannel with its startup preset - that could be the reason why it's pumping, try bypass it and see if that helps.
 
Yes there is a big improvement. But now my problem is everything has dropped dramatically in volume.

I am not sure how I am going to gain volume without messing it up. Also I don't have much room on the volume knobs to be making it much loader :S

I thought the limiter on the master was a must have.

---------- Post added at 06:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:49 PM ----------

Also how can I bring the snare more forward and crisp, I always find its just mumbled into everything else.

This is presuming I have already sourced a good quality sample to work with.
 
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