3 Sneaky Metal Bass Mixing Tricks

Those of us who actually like hearing our bass guitar tracks within our metal mixes know the struggle all too well.

Getting bass guitar to cut through the wall of guitars, drums and vocals ain’t easy.

As a matter of fact, it can be a massive pain in the ass.

Bass tracks are often either too buried in the mix or just too overpowering.

Luckily, there are a few very useful tricks you can implement to help get your bass tracks to cut through your busy metal mixes.

Most of us know about the well-known techniques of blending in saturation and filtering out unnecessary frequencies...

In my latest tutorial, I reveal 3 sneaky bass mixing tricks that I don’t see many people talking about online.

When it comes to the trickier aspects of music production (like bass tracks to sit right), you can never have enough tools in your mixing toolbox.

[mattmedeiros]

Dirtying up the bass midrange so it sits better with the guitars is a key difference between "meh" and "woah!" in a heavy mix.

[adamsharpmusic]

I started re-amping the bass mid-range through the same amp i use on my guitars. Gives a much better distortion sound than any distortion plugins i've tried. I do just use stock plugins though so maybe that's why.

[SilvermainMusic]

I am more of a hybrid cinematic orchestra composer but videos like this really open my mind. Great presentation too!

[klegion]

WOW! Chorus on bass will never cross my mind! Thanks man

[bjornlakenstrazen]

Finally, a mix tutorial with a unique sounding song. I feel like it's always the most generic "genre-dependent" song. Cool song!

[VincentVegardSvart]

As usual great trick Bobby. Thanks always for remember us to use the simplicity 😁🤘

[MeszarosWreckords]

Thank you FB... Can't wait to try this out...

[undeadonsteroids.official]

Hey thanks for the awesome advice. Bass tone is one of my constant struggles. I've been playing around with guitar amp distortion on my bass track(s) and often it helped a bit, but in general, I'm never absolutely happy with my bass tone. I wish I would have known about the chorus trick earlier, I will definitely try.
I recently came across mammoth by auroradsp and I think it will make my life much easier when it comes to heavily distorted bass tones.

Apart from that, one thing I don't hear anybody talk about is bass editing. I know you made a video that demonstrates the importance of proper bass editing, but wouldn't it be a cool topic for you to dig a bit deeper into it and make a video about your bass editing approach?
I know there are a few tutorials about guitar editing around but I find bass much more difficult. Because when bass players tune down multiple steps and hit the strings hard, the signal is often much more dynamic than with guitars, there's often more noise from the strings and the frets and the wave form of the transients gets very diffuse.

[SocChrisMusicianPage]

Hey man, i just want to say that i love your channel, i find your tips very useful and i am very grateful 😉😉🤘🤘Thanks

[CarlosCastro-ebgg]

Loving that snare! Great video! Im always trying to make a great bass tone

[kylecalandrelle]

Sweet. I automate different mid range distortions within my mixes but never tried it with chorus. Cool trick.🤘

[acebf]

I had no idea chorus on bass was popular. I blew my own mind when i randomly tried it and loved the sound and how much it helps the bass cut through without really being louder. Also didn't know so many people EQ their bass that way lol, i just lop off everything below 50 and over 6k and then scalpel out 175hz (what my guitars are usually boosted a bit at). Anyways, i've always found bass is the hardest to mix well in that very small golden range where you want the bass to support the butts of the guitars on the low end when playing the same line as them, but still cut through when you want it to to make a bass line's presence felt. Took a long time to get my sound right, but now that i have it, it's much easier to mix

[eduardotepoxteca]

How is that you have so little subs, I now subscribed thanks my man for your wisdom

[rubenwallace]

I use fab filter saturn and only the cabinet section of waves gtr. Saturn has some cool amp distortions.

[Fred.A.Dubeau]

my bass midrange volume automation line always looks like a rollercoaster lol

[jackywoo]

this is helpful, all i can say is you're not a lazy producer at all...lollll

[largeuselessness]

weird knowledge acquired!.jpg
This is really the first time I know that somebody can put a chorus FX on bass! - from a guy who never truly heard bass in their life. :zany_face:

[robloyst]

Does the original bass track have a cab sim on it? If so, do you take that track with the sim, duplicate it and THEN filter it? Or the filter track just getting the straight di?

[CrushingAxes]

So Bobby from the future, is there any flying cars in the future? Nice video ! Awesome tips !

[Paulriffer]

Must stamp AUTOMATION on my forehead so I'll remember that its an option. lol