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EQ and Compression: Bass Guitar

Bass guitar: tricks, tips and advice on getting the most out of equalization and compression.

Home recording and DIY production is a tricky old business for the newly initiated.

With each new software program, vst plugin, hardware and technique their comes a new challenge.

As with the other instruments I’ve talked about on this site, getting your bass to respond in your mix is every bit as important and needs just as much care and attention as anything else.

Your track can live or die by getting these things right.

I’m not an expert but I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks along the way.

Some may seem to contradict each other, but these are received wisdoms and as such should be treated as guidelines.

Every recording is different, there are no set in stone presets to fix what you need fixing.

Use your ears as guides and treat each recording as new material.

Get your mix right in the first place the mastering will be easier in the long run.

:::Compression Settings:::

These settings are guidelines only, use your ears it’s important that you get a sound that you feel fits with your material. Driving the compressor hard with create distortion, if that’s what you intend then go for it

Compression can also be used to control muddiness and level changes, peaks and dips.

If you’re new to bass then compression can help control the uneven peaks and dips in your playing volume.

Set your Threshold to the level where your compressor starts to work.

Ratio: 2.5:1 or 3:1 – increase this as you need to really but try and be careful with your settings, aggressive settings here will introduce distortion.

Attack: 40ms to 50ms – the attack of your bass is important, if the attack rate is too short you’ll create a muddy sound, less definition.

Release: Around 180ms – as always with your release settings you need to set it long enough to work but short enough so that when the instrument plays again the compressor is allowed to work. This way you’ll get the pumping so you want.

Gain: As always try not to add too much gain if any, make up any difference between your input and the output volume.

:::Equalization Settings:::

To add a fullness to your bass try a boost of between 1 and 2db in the 100 to 200hz frequency range.

To get rid of mud from your bass try a cut of around 3 to 4db in the 200-300hz range.

To add punch a boost of 2 to 3db between 500 to 1000hz should do the trick.

To give your bass more attack try boosting the frequency range between 2.5 and 5khz by 2 or 3db

:::Finally:::

A shelf to remove the lower end, around 40 to 50hz is always a good way to start with Bass guitar. It’s the part we can’t hear and most stereo systems can’t deal with.

Be aware that most mud occurs in the 200-300hz range, try small cuts if your instrument lacks definition.

Avoid if you can adding boosts below the 100hz but boosting between the 100 and 200hz range can fix a thin/flat sounding bass.

If your bass lacks punch then adding a little boost between 500 and 1000hz can increase this.

To bring in more attack and add sparkle try a boost inbetween the 2.5 and 5khz range.

When you work with the bass guitar bear in mind your kick drum, adjusting the frequncies of each instrument can allow each instrument to exist and be heard, when your cut from the bass try boosting the same frequency in the kick.

Be cool.

Tags: bass, compression, compressor, eq, equalization, help, home recording, settings, tips, tricks |

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EQ and Compression Settings: Snare

The snare if done correctly can be part of your signature sound, if you take a listen to a lot of 80s hair rock you’ll hear a very definite style of snare.

Using presets for your compression and eq can be a good starting point, but if you’re interested in learning to sculpt the sound, experimenting with your eq and compressor can be very rewarding.

:::Compression Settings:::

Set your Threshold/Input to start the compressor working.

The following settings will all depend on taste and your music, they are general settings to give you a starting point to find your sound

Ratio: 4:1 to 6:1ms

Attack: 5 to 10ms

Release: 125 to 175ms

Gain: As with all compression, you want the volume to match the input volume

:::Equalization Settings:::

As with the above settings for compression use the following as a general starting point and work with them until you get what you need for your mix.

To add warmth try a 1 or 2 db boost in the 100 – 150hz region.

A similar boost in the 250hz region will add depth or body.

To reduce boxiness a cut of between 2-3db in the 800 to 1000hz region should be a good start.

A boost in the 3-5khz region of about 1 to 3 db will add attack.

And a boost in the 8 to 10khz area of 1 or 2 db will add crispness.

As stated before these eq and compression settings are starting points and should be treated as such.

Use your ears as always.

Be cool.

Tags: compression, drums, eq, equalization, settings, snare, tips, tricks |

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Home Recording: In A Rut? Writers Block

Getting bogged down in your own self capitulating, self absorbed mire?

Finding your inspiration and enthusiasm has sapped itself away into the very floorboards?

Grab hold of something and shake yourself then.

Writers block is not easily fixable, I’m not an expert but it is an ever decreasing circle.

Procrastination is the friend of excuses in this game and excuses are just that.

Well um that’s hardly fair to say…

Yada yada bing bong pffft I say.

It’s a state of mind, or more a state of play.

Think about it, music is supposed to be fun, it’s supposed to be a joy, a hobby, a giggle…

It’s supposed to be something you enjoy, so ok it can be almost a religion at times but if that’s how you feel about it then have ‘faith’.

Breaking some eggs…

To make an omelette you need to what?

So break out of what you normally do, do something away from what you normally do.

Do something against what you do, how you normally work, how you normally think.

Organization…

Boring tip one – organize – not yourself but your

1. Hard Drive: So ok it sounds dull, and it can be but bear with me.

Your hard drive has millions of files, samples, vst effect, vst instruments, soft samplers, romplers etc etc etc.

Now I know it’s not tidy, we all know that.

Samples, jesus how many samples have you got? How many do you need?

Why not find out? I mean do you really need all of them? Do you actually know what you’ve got?

Same with VSTs do you actually no what every single one does or sounds like.

If it’s of use keep it, if you don’t use it then bin it.

It’s at times like this you can fall upon creative processing – testing a new toy, checking a samples use.

Organize your samples/vsts – creativity is a funny thing it can come from nowhere. If it doesn’t in this case then no harm done and you’ve got a tidy sample library.

2. Music Collection: Organizing your CDs or MP3s can be really enlightening. I mean how many times do you actually listen to music these days?

I dunno about you but my TV only get’s switched on when I’ve got a DVD to watch.

Other than that I’m listening to the radio or CDs.

But the problem with listening to music is it’s not random enough, radio stations have playlists that only change periodically and your taste is the same.

So root through some music, check your CDs and pull at random. Have fun with it, listening to music is like watching food programs for me. I get hungry.

Get hungry.

Comfort Zones…

Play an instrument your not used to: Hard but if you’re a guitarist, pick up a keyboard or try an lay down some drums. Do some programming, use the staff view or piano roll…

Play in a different style/genre – get out of your comfort zone musically and try and create something extremelly different to your taste buds.

Expand your mind…

Working your brain is important, not just musically.

Read. Reading increases your word power, it also stimulates imagination and ideas.

Lyrics for example are excruciating for me, so I rely on words, the sounds they make I practice my vocabulary at every turn and try and develope my wordplay by the way I interact with my friends, I have quite a sarcastic tone so being able to mix my turn of phrase and my inate pisstakery is practice for me.

Books, magazines, cereal boxes, manuals, wikipedia…if you can read it, read it.

If you can write, maintain a blog.

Ending Words…

So ok this was a bit of a mind splurge for me but it’s partly the reason I created this site, something to keep my mind occupied while waiting for something to drop but things do.

I create rules for myself, self purpetuating ideas and purposes. Stuff to keep me entertained/occupied in a musical sense.

Music creation can be dictated if you have the inclination.

Talent is great, but practice makes perfect.

I practice creating music by giving myself music tasks.

1. Detune a guitar.

2. Create a music with rules ie: No longer that 3min / Key of C / Two Chords Only / Melodic Theme / No Melodic Theme / No Dynamics / Mood / No Guitar /

There’s lots of ideas and tricks and I’m not saying they’ll break the cycle but they can’t hurt.

The most important thing I can say though is to not take it too seriously.

It’s supposed to be fun.

If it’s not then try something else like headgehog wrestling…

Tags: home recording, tips, tricks, writers block |

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Songwriting and Composition primer

Before I launch into this I should explain that although I’m not an expert I do have a small amount of critical success with my own songwriting.

Success in songwriting for me is not represented by how much a song makes in monetary returns or how many back slaps I get.

Success for me is in how honestly I feel about the song – I love all my songs – there’s something about everyone of them that I personally enjoy.

Success for me is being able to smile when I hear my songs finished and enjoy them.

Writing music is easy, writing songs presents much more of a problem.

Lyrics can for some be painfully slow in working out, whilst the melody is easy to come by.

For some though it’s the other way around.

Some find the idea of both nearly impossible to comprehend.

But with time, patience and practice writing music and songs can come.

I’ll be honest there’s no science to it, it just takes a lot of practice a bit of grimmacing and an awful lot of self editing.

Structure, dynamics and arangement are all important factors in songwriting.

Alongside melody and lyrics they can be what grabs the attention – the style in which you perform the song is also a huge factor.

Imagine a disco song performed by a death metal band – um probaly not the best example as that would probably work on some level, but you get the drift.

Once you’ve got a song together you may be looking at recording it, now how you record your song depends on your arrangement.

I’ll be writing about each component in songwriting and composition over the next few weeks.

I’ll be talking about structure, arrangement, chord progressions, key changes, lrics, melody, dynamics, style and ideas.

There’s a whole lot more but I’ll hit those as I go.

Tags: advice, composition, how to write songs, lyrics, songwriting, tips, writing music, writing songs |

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Setting up – Mastering Effects – Home Recording Tips and Advice

If you are trying to Master your own tunes you will be wanting to know which effects to use and what order to use them in.

Truth is there is no set way to set up your mastering effects.

It’s all about your ears, does it sound right?

2 previous articles on this site.

Mastering for fun – Primer(link)

Mastering How?(link)

——-Mastering Setup——

Let’s look at mastering for the beginner.

Add a Limiter to your fx chain, typically the limiter will go at the end of you mastering fx chain.

Why?

Well it’s not a set in stone rule but if you’re trying to get your track to level out and increase the overall volume of your track a limiter or limiting effect will with a little care and good ears get this for you.

Some setups will include placing a compressor set at a low rate at the beginning of your fx chain.

Free Limiter Plugins(link)

More about the Limiter – Setting Up(link)

What you place inbetween is down to choice, typically this is usually an EQ effect.

So a simple setup could be,

Compressor – EQ – Limiter.

That said removing the Compressor at the beginning is not out of the question.

If your track is well mixed and your eq is spot on then the EQ can be removed as well.

It’s about what suits.

Usually an EQ is added to lift a track in some parts(boost) or to remove problems(cut).

Free EQ Vst Plugins(link)

If you do boost – be gentle – if you find yourself having to correct too much then you need to look at your mix.

Using EQ a roll off around 40hz(link) can usually give you a bit more room for volume as the lower frequencies tend to take up much more room in your overall levels.

What does ‘Rolling Off’ mean?(link)

Other than that messing around with eq is again up to taste, but be careful with your boosts – whatever you boost has an effect elsewhere in the track – gentle boosts are a safer way of massaging your sound. If you find yourself doing more then you may have a problem in the mix.

Learning more about bandpass filters and types of eq is necessary – get your ears used to what happens to instruments and mixes when you apply eq – drastic and dramatic settings can be helpful to tune your ears but they will be often be damaging to your master – if in doubt leave it out.

Use eq for gentle lifts and cuts only.

—Adding Other FX—

There are many other Effects that can come into play when mastering,

Multiband Compressors

Distortion/Tube/Tape Saturation

Maximisers

Exciters

Reverb

Each of these effects have their own uses, the order in which you use them again is down to taste.

For example a Reverb before an EQ will be affected by the EQ so decide wether that is what you want.

Remember It’s all dependent on sound not so-called rules.

Imagine a big reverb going through a limiter – what will happen?

If you compress a high pass eq what happens?

Adding distortion into your mastering FX chain does exactly that – think about it.

Sometimes it can have a warming effect – too much and it will distort.

Be gentle but at the same time keep in mind what you want to achieve.

A good mix can be killed by bad mastering.

Start off simple, listen and learn.

1. Decide on the sound you want – will it be part of an album of songs?

2. If so that has a bearing on your mastering – eq’s have to match – your volumes will depend on the order/playlist of your music.

3. Take your time – bounce your mixes first – find the order of your songs – then listen on as many different types of stereo listening equipment as you can.

4. Were all the songs recorded around the same time/studio/equipment? Look at point no.2

5. Get a few commercial songs to A/B and Compare against – take notes – use analysis plugins – LISTEN!.

6. Take a few weeks off – don’t master straight away – yeah I know me neither but run a basic master off if you must – just to listen to – but then take a few weeks away – do something else and go back to it – if you have a few songs to record finish those off before you master any more.

Tags: advice, audio, home recording, Mastering, Recording, tips |

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