Ideas For The Mix: The Low End (Bass) - Pt 4

None of us wanted to be the bass player. In our minds he was the fat guy who always played at the back. Paul McCartney 

 When it comes to being the bass player for many of us it's the least coolest member in the band but take the bass part out of any song and well.... there's a huge vacuum of sound and dynamics. When we consider some of the greatest bands, a much overlooked fact is how amazing the rhythm section was, and chemistry between the Drummer and the Bassist, that drove the whole band along. Such rhythm duo's as Jones/Bonham, McVie/Fleetwood, Redding/Mitchel, Bruce/Baker so on and so forth that propelled these bands to the giddy heights of super-stardom. So we must never underestimate the role or the part they played in musical history and neither must we ignore these parts when it comes to mixing.

 Laying A Foundation

 There are no two elements that fight against each other more in a mix than the Kick drum and the Bass guitar. Getting these two to live in harmony is crucial to building the rest of your mix. Get it wrong and the whole track can be ruined before you've even started. Now of course these things are personal and subjective but most mixers start by getting the drums and bass to sounding just right before moving on to the rest of the instruments. 

 Tackling the low end can prove more difficult than first thought but there are some basic methods commonly used to getting drums (especially the Kick drum) and Bass to live in sweet harmony wth one another.

Rule No.1#  Don't forget to change your Bass strings!

 Watch the short video below as I show some of these methods that are used routinely by many mix engineers who have found them to be tried and tested methods, hey if it ain't broke why try to fix it, am I right?