We’ve all struggled to mix low end. The kick isn’t punchy enough. The bass is overwhelming. Or maybe it all sounds really muddy and weak.
Enough is enough. It’s time to put an end to weak kick and bass.
In this post, our Content Lead Fabio is going to show you how to solve those problems with some simple techniques that will save you hours of time and tons of mixing headaches.
Analyzing the kick and bass mix
One of the reasons bass and kick are so difficult to mix is because they both have a lot of low frequencies. Low frequencies consume a lot of energy.
We also know that low frequencies are really important—especially if you’re making club or dance music. Why? Because that’s what people respond to most strongly in that music. There’s nothing quite like having bass vibrate through the entire crowd at an EDM show.
We’ve got another track from Deemie that we’re going to use for this tutorial. Let’s listen to this track and pay special attention to the kick and bass, specifically where they sit in the mix.
Now, in the demo everything is a bit squashed. We want to create more space for the kick and bass in our mix. Instead of showing you how to do low cuts or sidechains, we’re going to focus on a more in-depth method for getting your kick and bass working together.
Mixing the kick
Let’s start with the kick. Personally, we didn’t think the kick had enough low end. We’re not looking to add punch, which is why we’re using this Pultec EQ.
This is a tube EQ that’s very musical and smooth, and it’s not going to accentuate the transient as much as a digital EQ or another analog EQ such as an API.
Notice how we’re boosting and also attenuating (cutting). On the Pultec is you’re attenuating with a shelf and boosting just above it. That way, you boost the low end without adding any mud. If anything, you’re taking mud out.
We’re also attenuating at 10,000 hertz because we don’t like the clickiness on the kick. So we’re doing this to soften the sound and take off some of the edge.
Next we’re cleaning up some of that low end with 35 hertz and another boost at 50 just to accentuate some of the punch. And that’s pretty much it for the kick.
Controlling Transients
Now let’s look at the bass. We’re a big fan of using limiters for clean and transparent compression. That’s essentially what a limiter is: they help deal with peaks.
The FabFilter Pro L2 is particularly good at that, especially in transparent mode with Look Ahead turned all the way up. (By the way, these are our go-to settings for bass compression with a limiter.)
So all we’re going to do is control some of the peaks in the sub bass. As you can hear, there’s a big punch every time the bass plays. That’s because there’s actually a kick with a sub underneath it.
The problem is, we already have a kick, so we’re dealing with these peaks very aggressively. Essentially, we’re trying to get rid of the kick from the sub.
With the kick in, it’s gonna add too much punch to the kick, which is gonna result in a lot of energy in the low end. That means we’re not going to be able to master this track as loud, which is essential for this genre. The track needs to big as big and loud as possible for that EDM sound.
Adding Harmonics
Next up, we’re using Sausage Fattener. This is a trick that Juice WRLD and Machine Gun Kelly’s producer uses. We did a Plugin with the Pros video with him, where he takes us through his plugins and how he used them in his workflow. Check it out!
The reason we’re using Sausage Fattener with a gain utility plugin is because this does add a lot of volume. We think this is an input gain and not an output gain, but we wanted to be able to take the volume down afterwards. Otherwise, we’re just hearing a louder signal, which will of course sound better.
What’s cool about the Sausage Fattener is that it’s a saturator. That means it’s going to absorb even more of that kick transient. It’s also going to add harmonics, which adds frequencies to different areas of the base, making it sound thicker.
Cleaning Up the Bass
Next, we’re cleaning up the bass with the ProQ3. We’re using this in a linear phase so that when we do the low cut, we’re not changing the phase and increasing the volume.
We’ve also got a high cut, which helps take away any edge from the high end. Sometimes when you add saturation, it increases the harmonics in the higher frequencies. Because this mix is so rich in sound, we want to make sure we carve out any space for them.
For this track, we’re using the ProQ3 with the internal sidechain. We made a video on this FabFilter ProQ3 tip, so be sure to check it out.
Advanced Side Chain
Finally, we’re sidechaining the bass to the kick with Pro C2 compressor. In this setup, we’re only allowing the compressor to be triggered by the high end of the kick that we’re feeding in.
We’ve turned our side chain on so that it’s reacting to the external signal, but it’s only reacting to the high frequencies of the kick. Why is that? The high frequencies of the kick are just a click, so it’s much tighter and shorter compared to the low end, which is bigger and longer.
All that means that we can get a significantly faster-reacting compressor and much tighter and shorter side chain ducking.
Making the Magic Happen
All those steps are important to making sure the kick and bass sound good, but here’s where the real magic happens.
We need to make sure we set a ceiling and that we’re not crossing it. By using these settings, we won’t create a sonic difference, but we will have control over the peak level of our kick and bass playing together.
Before we move on, we need to balance the kick and bass. What volume should they sit at? We like to do this by ear instead of focusing on meters. It’s actually a pretty simple trick.
Bring your bass channel all the way down in volume. Now, we’re going to gradually increase the volume, but don’t listen to the bass; listen to the kick. When the kick starts to disappear or feel compromised, that’s when you need to pull the bass down.
There’s a point where the kick feels overwhelmed, the bass is too loud, and it loses focus. That’s the point where you need to pull back. It’s important to do a check in your headphones or monitor speak—something that allows you to have a second reference for how it sounds.
Now, let’s really dig in. Start by grouping your kick and bass and sending them to the same channel. (This is also known as bussing.) When we solo this group, you’ll notice our kick and bass play together.
Next solo that kick, add a limiter, and you’ll want to increase the gain on the limiter until you see a tiny bit of gain reduction, and then back off. This limiter is also set at 1 to 1, which means as I increase the gain, it’s decreasing the output. That’s not adding any volume.
When the kick and bass play together they increase the amplitude. We’re not trying to limit the kick here; instead we’re trying to control the volume of the two sounds playing at the same time.
By setting this ceiling (and knowing that the kick and bass are balanced) it means that the peak level of the two playing together is not going to be too high. That way, we can feel safe later down the line when we’re mastering knowing that our kick and bass are controlled. That will result in a louder sounding track.
We’d also advise using a high quality limit that’s transparent at this point, like the Fab Filter Pro L2. If you don’t have access to that, we recommend using something that’s equally transparent, because we’re not trying to change the sonic quality of the bass and kick when they’re playing together.
Now notice when we play the bass and the kick in the group, the limiter will start to be triggered. Even if you don’t do all the steps before, that’s a very effective way of controlling the two sounds in one group.
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And there you go: No more weak, muddy kick and bass.
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