The Bass Compression Trick for Tight, Solid Low End | musicianonamission.com - Mix School #38
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ธ.ค. 2024
- Get your Free Bass Mixing Cheat Sheet here: www.musicianon...
Without a solid bass part, your mix could sound thin and weak.
Getting the bass right is vital in creating a track that sounds full and professional.
So, what's the key to dialing in a tight, solid low end?
Compression.
In this video, you're going to learn the fast bass compression trick that will instantly make your tracks sound more professional.
But first, be sure to grab the free bass mixing cheat sheet www.musicianon... - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Have you ever used serial compression on bass before? Leave a comment!
Does compression and limiting count?
yes
Is it serial EQ when 12 db is not enough of a frequency boost and you have to add a second EQ to get the desired boost? Or is it just a lousy EQ?
No
Musician on a Mission where’s the bass cheat sheet?
What a bunch of ungrateful and ridiculous comments. Who cares if you don't like the music? Did you learn something or not? This is a really well done tutorial. In my opinion 'Musician on a Mission' presents some of the most concise, clear and informative audio tutorials on the web. As someone else mentioned, having a track with snippets of very different genres to reference against quickly is a stellar tip.
Well I give it an 80. I recommend it to my friends but I wouldn't buy it myself! JUST KIDDING! That's an old joke from a show called American Band Stand. I don't recall the music had to b to my liking. I think it as you state...shut up and learn THEN MAKE YOUR OWN MUSIC so we can say your writing sucks..We agree with you DF. Some people just have to insult.
DF Tweedie, not a case for me not liking the music, more of a case of that piano prt is incredibly distracting, I can hear it even after turning the video off, if you’re doing a tutorial video the music really needs to be a little bit more easy on the ears and not make you wanna turn it off and get the hell out! I would appreciate that.
The track is representative of the the target audience. Not all bedroom producers/engineers are turning out sweet, sweet hooks/melodies/riffs. His teaching is sound.
I make EDM and this tutorial was amazing for me
This channel is A+++. And that tune was well chosen for the tutorial. Bravo.
Hahaha... all the comments about what he should do with the song. I agree with most, but still was able to look past it and learn from what was offered. More importantly his SPEAKING VOICE was pleasant, concise, informative, and to the point. So many youtube videos out there with, "umm... uhhhhh", heavy breathing, awkward pauses, annoying speaking voice, out of balance mix of audio to music, useless diatribe, etc. This video is actually really good. Thanks MoaM.
Thanks!
Yeah, absolutely. That "umm...uhh" get to my nerves. Seems an american thing or so.
I like the looped part where someone is smashing someone's face into a midi keyboard, the clanks makes it hella tight.
yer all about the natural eh?
I lol'd at this, hard.
I was trying to think of how to best describe the jarring sound emanating from my speakers and when I read your comment I knew that you had perfectly described it. Hella tight indeed.
That's fucked up bro....funny af though.
lmaooo
i'm just sad that there is a person who thought that piano riff was a good idea
🤣🤣🤣 he played it back and I’m like, “what the hell is that?!” Good info, but that riff is so out of place😂😂
i thought we're back doing 12-tone techniques
I thought i got rick rolled for a sec
Hahahah
😂😂
A first I was cringing at that piano loop but I heard it so much, I got used to it and now I like it! A great reminder to write what 'you' want to hear, not what everyone else does. Great tutorial!
Thanks!
Lol, me too!
Play something long enough and ear fatigue kicks in, that way you can enjoy anything
Repetition legitimizes
Repetition legitimizes
Youre my favorite channel when it comes to music production. sometimes i like to watch other channels for different pov but when i want straight to the point, objective and universal information, youre the best.
As a bass player I can sheepishly admit I've never used channel serial compression on bass. It's the only way to do warm fudgy vocals (especially female), but the idea there is to use a higher ratio on the first one to catch peaks and present a more controlled level to the second "character" compressor with a lower ratio. Now I need to try it on bass!
These "out of tune" guys know nothing, great track and great tutorial. I salute you!
As soon as you referenced 15 Step and Coffee and TV, I knew I was in safe hands. This was great, and genuinely helpful for an issue I'm working with on one of my productions. Thank you!
Happy to help!
Honestly, I was skeptical at first watching that this would squash the bass too much, but I tried it on a Cubase track and I have to say it definitely improved the "sit" of the bass. I'm producing a country tune and I laid down a bass track that I didn't originally expect to keep. I was experimenting with a new bass (maple neck 78 P with flats) and it was kind of buzzy, so I rolled the tone all the way off. I was more interested in how the bass played rather than how it sounded. But it felt pretty good. Well, by the end of comping I ended up liking the bass track a lot so I wanted to keep it, but it just was too diffuse and not really sitting in the mix well. Which wasn't surprising given the bass set up at the time and, um, lack of prep (I *really* didn't expect to keep the track :). Anyway, after using these techniques, I found that the bass mix was improved so much that I actually will keep it. I love the consistency the compressors give it, and since my track is more staccato, syncopated, and busier than the demo, I'm still getting the transients I want. It'll be interesting to try this on a track with other bass setups (Jazzes, roundwounds, "normal" tone settings, etc.) Thanks for the tip!
Awesome!
Compression/s really made difference in d mix.
Really nice technique.
Thank you
I'm the only one who likes the weird piano, apparently.
Great tutorial man!
it's just out of tune sounds awful
I didn't like it at first, but it quickly ended up growing on me
I like the loop...
Você por aqui mano?
I like that piano too.
good timing i'm needing to cut thru better, i'm not a bass player so i'm using virtual instruments and been tryin all kinds of fun...i'll be watchn thanks...
I've been doing it for a long time now without even dealing it. And it never works for me, hence why I'm here to find out how to make my low end more powerful and crisp, without getting in the way of the kids and highs. Thanks Aloy. I've been watching tutorials for a little over a week or 2, and they've helped me immensely. I've done music as a hobby for years and never realized why my tracks weren't hitting the way professional ones do, or how I wanted them to. And these tutorials are one step closer to the way I need them to sound. So thanks! Maybe I'll take this hobby more seriously now.
for the saturation part.. I recommend parralel routing there.. and using a linear phase EQ on both channels (or just good pdc).. to get a crossover ... and then saturate the low (or the whole) signal on the saturation channel.. and cut the lows afterwards with the phase linear EQ (on that saturated channel) .. so you get the additional harmonics of the lows in the mix... wihtout adding more lows to it... (which allready come from the unsaturated channel) because of the lp eq you can also sculp quite nicely in which area you want these harmonics more and less ... (linear phase EQ because of the summing of both channels... if it wouldn't be linear phase you would get some unintended cancelations)
I like that, thanks for sharing !
I've typically had success with getting the first compressor in the chain to just hit at the higher transients (with maybe 1 to 3 DB reduction) then use the second compressor to hit the signal with hotter gain reduction (7 to 10DB)
Being struggling with bass sound for yonks, so thanks for this, great video.
I've used this method for a long time and I'm glad people like ypou can explain it so well for people that are starting off. Right on
Fantastic video! The best explanation of compressor settings I’ve seen. And bonus points for showing comparison against your reference track. First tutorial I’ve seen that’s done that.
No! But I will now. Be interesting to see if it helps with a VST slap bass I'm currently working with. Thanks.
I liked the amount of references you used - a thing to remember
Very helpful!
@@masteringcom btw what are your references being played thru? just another app on the same machine?
I have never used serial compression before. Though I deal with several genres: Jazz, House, RnB, Hip Hop, Ambient, and World Beat. Interesting that using serial compression would be something that would help the bass and not hurt it. Thank you for the tip. Cheat Sheet downloaded.
Our pleasure!
The biggest thing I got from that was checking multiple references : ) Gonna do that more. THanks :)
Yes I have used it before.
but now after watching this I must say that I didn't know what was I doing. now I am going to reproach this technique with my live rig.
Thank you very much. This is in fact so simple but effective removes all the mysteries and awesomeness of 90% of all this must have preamps, saturations, eq, the best sound is indeed just in a properly compressed bass guitar and all three rest becomes simply unnecessary.
I like the overlay of the audio spectrum over the video when the audio is playing. Nice touch.
Thanks!
@@masteringcom may i know what is that overlay spectrum analyser?
One mistake though when you applied saturation, you left it on the reference track so the first didn't do anything. I watch a lot of your videos, and familiar with the references you usually use - that's why I noticed. Nice taste by the way. :) And very good videos. Keep it up!
Thank you so much! I think I've learned more about mixing these past few days with your videos than I have in my entire life. Keep up the great work!
Awesome! So glad we could help out.
Never have used two compressors on bass. But I do use other equipment to achieve a great bass sound. Thanks for the insight and tips.
Thank you, I love this video because the music your working on is as crazy as the stuff I struggle with most of the time! Cheers
I NEED to know what the song is called. It scratches a specific part of my brain.
This is really very helpful. You always have just the right tip. Appreciated.
I used to, but forgot with time, that was a great video to remind me that we got so many possibilities, but sometimes hesitate Thanks
No, I did not use serial Comps. really want to try it!
Your track sounds really nice, making references sound poor.. thanx for teaching!
i like to split my bass up into low & mid, then compress each separately. the low track is usually quite compressed, but the mid track is usually lightly compressed. i often just let the mids do whatever they're doing, but i compress the lows to kill most of the dynamic jumping around, so that i get a steady & consistent low, low bass. you can then add dirt to the upper part & then blend them together as you please.
those attack and release tips did a lot for me. thanks!
Awesome! Glad they helped.
Refound this video & wow, it's done more to sort my bass sound out than I can believe, thank you!!
I actually found this super useful, and being a fan of jazz, and life hip hop, I actually really like the piano part. There is such a thing as atonality/polytonality and dissonance guys, look it up. He's just got a vibey track, and awesome bass! Cheers dude!
I'm a bit late to the party but I wished I had done this particular beat!
This was extremely helpful and clear. I could hear the difference even on an iPad thank you very much, I like music. Something different for a change.
I must say the piano in this piece of music was beautiful.
I haven't used serial compression, just one compressor and saturator and I never got a consistent bass sound. This will surely help, thanks! Cheers!
That piano is marvelous! Can you give me its sample?
Just play it yourself :)
Why should you use a sound from someone else anyways?
@@nichttuntun3364 May you don't know how to achieve it
@@whenshemethimmusic5736 Your answer was an expected one for me. Again, why would you like to use a sound someone else already made and it´s used thounsands of times before already? To stay in tune with conventions and genre-rules?
@@nichttuntun3364 It might have not been used a thousand times, may be you just like how it sounds. Even more, may be you don't even know how to play that instrument, or you do not have the budget to buy it and record it or hire someone to play it.
@@whenshemethimmusic5736
Yeah, there always are reasons :)
simply awesome, helped me with dancing loudness of the bass track in death metal recording
Not used this technique much but never really ever been completely satisfied with my bass sound. So will be using much more in future.
The music killed this tutorial.
Sorry you didn't like it!
The tutorial was awesome otherwise!
Dude went through all the trouble to make this video. I'm not sure what there is to gain by dissing his music. I watch tutorial videos all the time. If I don't like something about the video I just move on.
I'm just sorry that you chose such a dissonant passage to repeat over and over and over again . hard to listen to
It sounds like somebody found a computer with Reason and played around with preprogrammed melodies. Almost, that piano makes no sense and is so annoying and this comes from someone who likes experimental music.
Different tastes to different stiles of music, thats ok.
The tutorial on compression itself - and thats what counts here - is superb! Thanks for your great tips!!!
So glad we could help!
What's the difference between saturation plugins, and just EQ boosts?
In short, EQ is just boosting (or cutting) the existing frequencies. Saturation adds harmonics which can make a sound source sound brighter, warmer, more aggressive, etc.
Musician on a Mission I understand a little bit. I'll have to look into it further to find out what you mean about adding harmonics.
Thank you for your reply.
This channel is heaven sent, thank you so much
why ppl chattin so much about the piano track, its a bass compression tutorial. why else u here?
get taught fool
Maybe it's because pros use similar techniques for pianos ?
@Danibolical 1 Was new to Logic, plus it never hurts to go back to basics and liaten to what others have to say yo. Keep tracking👌
Because he could’ve used a more logical example
Thanx! It's a good idea about two compressors!
Can you do a video focusing on mixing instrumental songs. I work with instrumental post rock and find that the problem I run into is without the vocals the guitars become the focal point, become the vocalist almost. So where in the frequency range should I emphasize the guitars to make them the star of the show like a vocalist would be. Normally we mix them more in the back to let the vocals shine through. Any advice from you or anyone reading this would be much appreciated. Thanks all. :-)
Interesting idea! We'll keep it in mind.
I was thinking that but the vocals like in the 2k region and that area can lead to some harsh guitar tones. So this is where my confusion comes in. Thanks for responding.
different guitars/amps/distortions/etc sound better in different areas, just emphasize what sounds best, which doesnt always have to be about frequency in the first place, it could simply be a bit of volume
Yes - I often run the bass through an 1176-style comp followed by a LA-2A-style comp, followed by Roundtone to add some saturation, so I'd agree with the good advice in this vid. Thanks!
Yep, similar!
A good sounding bass track helps when the piano isn't on LSD
I love how the decisions are explained and the video is very well structured to illustrate the principles. I just wish more presenters would learn to BE QUIET between playing the track with the FX on and bypassed. The most disruptive thing in the world is to hear someone say, "Now with it on" when you're listening for differences, so thank you for flipping back and forth several times without interruption! Perhaps it would be helpful if the colors for "on" and "off" were swapped. Doesn't red usually mean it's bypassed and green indicates it's on, not the other way round? Either way, this is a great illustration of this technique which I find useful for just about everything, not just bass. For something like this, I particularly like to use a vintage compressor, like the UAD 1176 Rev A or the Manley VOXBOX as the first compressor in the chain, then use something like the FabFilter Pro-C² on the Opto setting to sort of bring up the harmonics created by the first compressor and smooth out the sustain a bit, then the UAD Farichild on the mix buss, and, finally, the elysia alpha master on the master buss. I'm particularly fond of the Manley for the bass most of the time, and I just love the way that chain works. Of course, every song, bass, and player is going to be different, but I find that's a good starting point for both the DI and the mics on a bass. If it's a faster bass part where I want to hear more slapping and transients, I'll not use an opto and slow down the attack quite a bit all along the way. This is where I like the black and blue 1176 (or 1176AE) because it has a 2:1 setting and seems to have a slower attack to my ear, even though the numbers on the knobs are the same. I love your choice of saturation plugins, though I think the Klanghelm SDRR or u-he's SATIN are great alternatives to Saturn. (I'm a huge FabFilter fan and also like the control Saturn gives, but SDRR is only €23, and SATIN does loads of things beyond saturation, so they are better values, IMO.) Warren Huart did a great demonstration of why it's often a good choice to use saturation prior to compression, as saturation decreases the dynamic range but in a more colorful and natural way, so it takes much of the load off of the compressors and results in a richer, more analog-style sound. I've found that to be a very valuable tip, and use it quite a lot. Have you tried using saturation first? I think you'd like the results. Thanks for another great video!
As good as this tutorial is, the track you are mixing makes this a hard watch. Literally one of the most annoying sounding tracks I think I have ever had to listen too. This probably highlights why i could never be a mix engineer.
Settle down, tiger.
💀💀
Thanks for blessing us with your opinion on the track….
Bro as soon as he hit the play button I checked to see if anyone mentioned it and oh my geeze I wheezed
What a whiner. you are going to be okay.
Thanks for the video. Helpful. On the piano...the bass is playing dissonant notes here and there against the keyboard I guess to increase the uncommon sounds of this track.
y'all r tripping this piano is next level
MOAM....this is exactly what I needed since I decided to mix and master my record on my own this time. Appreciate you guys and love this channel. Thank you!
what the actual hell is this piano
This piano is playing such (unfitting) dissonant notes. It was hard to listen to this.
This guy must be tone-deaf or something.
Hilarious! That's exactly what I was thinking.
Yeah. Ewww
No compression trick in the world can make up to this awful sound 🙈... And what is up with the reference tracks he a-b'd to? How can I trust an engineer with an obvious lack of taste. Sorry bro... I cannot be objective on that. BUT ANYHOW: Thx for your work and passion!
These 5 commenters obviously lack sophistication when it comes to harmony. Dissonance properly used is supposed to provide tension in contrast to the release sections. Sorry guys, but steer clear of jazz and fusion. And definitely do not listen to no Herbie Hancock. Oh and Eastern microtonal music, just say no. You wouldn't get it anyway.
A good way to get saturation with stock plugins is the vintage tube EQ with the EQ parts bypassed and crank up the gain to about 8 or 9
“Serial compression” sounds like a disorder. Lol
it is.... it is.......
or crime :P which it also is...
Feels like it.
This bass sounds really good to me. Noob question: applying EQ would be important for it? At the end of the video I got the feeling that with the Compression and Saturation it was fine and it wasn't necessary to use EQ afterwards.
Read all the comments first and was like guys the music is not that bad what are you all talking about... and then it came on 0.o
Hi! Yes i have used serial compression before and it works very well.
Thanks a lot brother... Usefull video
You're welcome!
I heard about using two compressors on one part, but never tried it on a bass part. What I did was using one compressor to the bass and one more to the mix itself.
But I think, I could do this also live. I do sound on a Behringer X32 console, where every channel has a compressor, but there are also additional effects I can insert, so I could apply two compressors.
But I also do sound on an analog console with one single knob compressor on each microphone channel, in this case I would insert one more compressor, maybe a compressor made for bass players.
I have not tried this. Will look at it and see how I go. Thanks ;-)
Good luck! Let us know how it works.
It certainly tidies my low end up, so been a step forward for me. Many thanks from Sweden! :D
Thank You! That was an excellent walk-thru! Bass Guitar sounds awesome
Yes. I use a limiter and compressor
Interesting approach!
Just fiddle around with the second compressors threshold until you get the sound you want. Nothing is done in an exact "correct" way, but whatever sounds good to you.
John Core cool. i use a maximiser and a limiter. OR an expander and a compressor.
Do you normally use limiter or compressor first in the chain? And why?
sweet...Trey
I don't think I've ever done this before, or at least not deliberately. I have a question though...how does any of the following affect the need for 2 compressors on the track, if at all...
A compressor pedal in the pedalboard...
A rackmount compressor in the amp loop...
Another compressor "after" the channel, i.e. in one or more bus?
after teaching almost 200 billion people
Cool Video !
I use serial compression often but on MixBus never on single element (Deep House)
I would use Tape Simulation and Saturation(Low Bias) instead of 2nd Compressor ...
I could not listen to this. Had to turn it off. That "music" track was way too grating to listen to repeatedly.
Same here. I can't take advice from someone who thinks this is music. Unsubscribing.
lol yeah it was pretty bad
Have to agree, sadly. There's good advice here and a very good presentation, but that song just hurts to listen to. Issues of musical taste aside, the high end is way too busy and distracting to let us hear what's going on in the bass that he's tweaking.
It really wasn't the song I was hoping to hear, but with that said, I could actually hear the bass punching harder, also whole listening on a phone. So I think it worked well. If you were to take up mixing professionally, some of the music you are mixing might not be your cup of tea, but you will still have to mix the music to its full potential, and mix it to be listenable on many different sound systems.
I thought it was a pretty cool and unique song personally. Good to hear something different
This really helped me bring some sense to some flubby loose low end i had plaguing me. Thank you and i look forward to watching more videos!
Sonic The Hedgehog - Casino Nights
Brian Mahoney Lol you know wassup my g
Don't disrespect the sonic soundtrack like that
Great tip. Thank you! I haven't tried serial compression very many times and definitely not on a the bass. Will try this out.
No compressor in the world can save that track
So this got me all thinking about bass compression, and I was thinking that bass guitar could definitely also benefit from multi band compression. A bass guitar outputs all the highs and mids that a regular guitar does. It seems, by using multi band compression, you could avoid using EQ, and its resulting phasing, to control the bass guitar tone by controling the dynamics differently across the spectrum.
0:29 That guy is a programmer, not a musician lol.
At 5:30 the release part seems a bit backwards. The longer release you have the longer the compressor works and the longer the volume gets lowered after the bass note gets softer. The quicker the release the sooner the compressor lets up and let's that note be louder again thus increasing the volume of the tail.
Not exactly
Tell me that tracks a joke?
I like it, nothing wrong with a little dissonance.
I dont like it , but you gotta remember, music can be used for more than listening to by ureself, for example for television, movies and so on, this track probobley fits somewhere in that realm I guess
did you ever try this with a multiband compressor and just go after the basic bass frquency?
TUNE THE KEYBOARDS PLEASE!!!!!!!!!
or Compress the out of tune keyboards 20:1 with gain and channel fader set to zero.
Tnx 4 tips Mr. Genius... another good one...i've seen at least over 3oo dvds and let me tell U, U R one of the best...
no
after watching thousands of tutorials with generic american pop rock songs, I really found this song very interesting... and very useful trick, thank you
Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!! Throw the piano out of the window. It's like a Chinese cat singing to a man who's spinning plates on sticks. Great tip though. Thanks.
That piano sustain and carrying over to the next chord is sour. His concept is cool though...
yes i use serial compression all the time, not just on bass but on alot of different elements, im a producer from Trinidad and Tobago
what a disgusting piano chord, so unpleasant for ears, so out of track tuning...
Great information. Thank you! would you say we can apply this to live performances too? would there be some benefits in having 2 compressors on my pedal board?
Dude that song is out of tune, and you are talking about 'musicality'. Duh
Right. Compress the out of tune piano 20:1 with gain to zero.
I think I hear the sustain progressively becoming louder instead of staying at one level as compressors releases .. is that what we want ??
How on earth can you pick a demo track with that awful piano sound? Had to turn it off
Easier when the audio quality is so rich ;) Any info regarding the freq. range of a "Solid Low End"?
The worst piece of loop I could hear over an apparently good tutorial. But how would you build trust with such an awful audio example
Hi Rob, i have a question @7:12 i couldn't hear any difference is it because there is a light ompression on it or it's just me ? and if i can't hear the difference will that stop from mixing ?
what a horrible song to use for an example
Please make a turorial regarding nu funk disco bass mixing.. Tight mid bass like bruno mars "treasure"
out of tune amk?
How to cut out explosive pops from bass? My band have Fender precision bass model- I know it is inarguably among the best used of all time. But the technique it demands is not for all newbies. The pickup is prone to be hit by the string and when it does- Pop at 1Khz’s peak is what you get lol 😂 I reminded my bassist already to play lightly but seems unavoidable. I tried by myself also, but the most comfortable position in the finger is directly above that pickup haha. So I moved to using Jazz bass where there’s a wide space between pickups, no more pop explosions. But anyway- can a compression handle that loud pop? thanks!
Hey there! You might want to look into getting your other bass setup and having the action raised a bit. It'll be hard to correct that in post. Best to have a properly set up instrument to record with! Hope that helps.