The Low End Mix Trick - TheRecordingRevolution.com

Something I learned from Jacquire King to get your low end to sit just right in the mix, no matter where you mix.

[SwordOSouls]

so today i decided to implement this trick in a metal mix i was doing for a client. I got the bass and kick drum balanced to each other and then continued to finish the mix. When i was close to finishing i felt there was not enough low end so turned it up in the mix, exported out and tested it outside the mixing space and lo and behold i was wrong. By trusting my un acoustically treated room i added to much low end to what i felt wasn't enough. I then went back and rebalanced the low end with this trick and got great results. For me this trick really worked and i got my mix to sound great and the client was very happy.

[JoshuaLoveofficial]

Thats nice. I heard this also on Pensado's Place and my first mix with this trick I got tons of compliments on that balance. Great tip.

[psufilm]

I want to say that Graham is a really nice guy and he offers a lot of useful advice. I want to say thank you Graham for your generosity. Most of the tips offered on Recording Revolution are spot on, but I want to respectfully critique this one. The appropriate relative volume with regards to the kick and bass is going to be different for every song. Some songs are going to work with a more prominent kick and others with a more prominent bass. It really just depends on the song, arrangement, character of the bass and kick and the role each one plays in the song. I want to caution everyone against using this technique as a "do this every time" trick. This trick may work for some songs/mixes but may be not right for others. It's always best to use your ears and know your monitors.

[ego_sarx]

This trick is an awesome one... I've tried it on a couple of my mixes and, you know what?, these just came to life... I had volume slides all messed, compressors here and there, EQ over EQ... I've deleted every single plugin in the chain and started all over again.... I just have the EQ's for high-pass and a couple of compressors and... wooooh! sounds better than what I had... thanks for sharing.

[RoryLandt]

having this knowledge has instantly improved my mixes.

[Recovery_Station]

I just can't thank you enough for that. I'm a bedroom kinda guy with no monitors or room treatment at all (flat, family, neighbours, you name it). And everytime I mix a song I struggle to find balance in low end area resulting either too much bass or lack of. And after I tried this - boom. Sounds great everywhere you play it. This trick will now always be in my "Soundguy's handbook" lol

[MikaKotikoski]

Just an idea regarding further mixing... Once you have matched the kick and bass with the VU against each other as in the vid, how about then cranking up a pink noise generator adjusting its noise level so you can just about hear the kick+bass coming through. After that solo the levels of other tracks against the pink noise... And take it from there. :)

[KKMcK]

Yep. This is exactly what we did in the analogue world back in the early 70s. Start with Kick and Bass. Then build the band to that. Match guitar to snare level. Match keys and vocal levels. Then ride the faders accordingly in the mix. Of course, today we can automate, but back then we'd have six hands on the board. Fun stuff! Not to say that I don't LOVE automation today. At the end of 2016, it's really getting fantastic!

[thesnipecatcher]

Nice practical tip, thanks!
Made the mistake of reading the comments section. I’m amazed how many folks are more qualified to mix than Jacquire King! More amazed at the arrogant responses from folks who didn’t even understand what they saw. Crazy times

[joybeats]

i LOVE LOVE LOVE it when good willing folks share golden tips such as this. i have no intention of going back to school anymore nor any school related to music just to produce whats strumming in my hearts strings. so i take it super seriously when in depth things like this are dropped to the world wide web for an everyday nobody jane like me to try out and use. appreciate it you so much cause im learning all on my own, but not really lol. i am listening 😘

[BM-zvxz]

That's a nice tip, and it should cover the kick/bass part of the balance. However, it's only a small fraction of properly balancing the low end - which is to balance kick and bass relative to the rest of the instruments. That's when the real "too little / too much bass" problem lies. Kick and bass can be matched perfectly against each other, but there still may be too much or too little bass relative to the rest of the band. I wonder if there are any rules of thumb that help solve this part of the problem (other than using your ears, of course, and your gear - but now we're back where we started).

[ztz]

That is exactly what I was looking for over a year! Thank you!!!!

[jjjuhg]

easier trick: if you wanna keep all the other tracks where they are, if you're happy so far... the bass should be lower than the kick with 3 to 5 db. for example, the kick goes to minus 10 db on it's channel fader, then the bass should be at least at minus 13, maybe minus 14 or 15. of course, we all know that any track will have peaks and lows, but see where the average volume is. For me, if I do this, it works perfect on anything. For a test, go to one of your good projects and see if you set the volumes like this, I bet you did. Cheers!

[mikevallejo]

Thanks!!! Saw your interview with Jacquire and I was hoping you would explain it! Great work!

[Muzeishen]

I was really confused by the gain boost but I realized that the gain is for both instruments, not just the kick drum, simply to get them to hit the -3 and be relative to one another and hit 0. He didn't mention that the gain boost was for the bass as well, but it's on the mix bus, so it is.

[joshmiller]

I've seen a ton of mix tutorials and tricks, but this was probably the most helpful. Can't wait to use this on more mixes!

[Charlyfromthenuclearcity]

Elementary acoustics :
Two coherent sources together : +3dB
Two phase-matched sources together : +6dB

[bcarr]

Good trick, thanks so much. Especially when hearing the bottom depends where you mix and whether your ears are fatigued or not. Thanks again B

[AmpsforBuddha]

Now these are the tutorials I enjoy and frankly, need. …Thank you!

[rico]

This is a great starting point for any style I think. For pop and indie this is a basic setup. Thanks for sharing, this is very useful! Once the low end is sitting nicely, the rest of the mix comes together.