Gluing the low end
Up until now, we’ve been talking about establishing and maintaining separation between the bass and kick, and keeping a clear and well-defined low end with the necessary consistent power, drive and weight. Doing this is vital for a great mix, but you can go too far, ending up with the two elements becoming so disconnected that they’re unrelated – or worse still, mutually ineffective.
Arguably, an example of this effect can be found in tracks by reggae supremos Sly and Robbie. While they’ve created some amazingsounding records, some feature a kick with an extreme click and little weight, set way above the bass guitar of pure sub.
While mixing, if you feel that your bass and kick aren’t quite working in sympathy, there are a few sonic devices you can use to meld them together and get them grooving as one – let’s take a look at a few of them.
PARALLEL COMPRESSION
You’re probably familiar with the technique of creating a bus channel on which to pile extremely heavy and fast compression settings, then blending it in with the original signal to add power and weight without losing the initial hit of the uncompressed sound – if not, check out
222’s excellent Modern Compression cover feature for more on parallel compression.
When parallel-compressing your drum track, if you feel your bassline isn’t up there with the kit in terms of impact, try sending some of the bass to the same bus. This may or may not work, depending on the low-frequency content of the bass. Harder, midrange basses will work better in this instance because they compress more evenly; deep basses with their intense low-frequency energy tend to pump the compressor and so are more likely to suck the life out of drums.
There is also the question of whether the whole drum kit should be combined with the bass, or just the kick. This is primarily down to taste, but there’s usually more of a need to glue the kit elements together than just the kick and bass – in this case, it makes sense to bus the bass with all the drums.
MULTIBAND PARALLEL COMPRESSION
For deep basses, a multiband compressor on the parallel bus might be a better bet, as it allows you to isolate the sub-bass band from the harder low (100Hz upwards) and mid frequencies. Set the lowest band crossover to around 80 or 90Hz, and the one above that to around 250 or 300Hz. Each should have the fastest attack and release times possible. Soloing the band to set the times lets you listen for unwanted distortion as you vary them. See this technique in action in the tutorial below.
GROUP SATURATION
For even more gluing of the kick and bass elements, a sub-group with a saturator will bring a unified character to the bottom end. Tape or valve-style saturators such as PSP MixSaturator can be subtle, but the difference can be exposed by A/B-ing signals. Putting the kick and bass through a saturator before sending the two together through the multiband compressor as above with the rest of the kit is quite a good approach to the purpose.
A less subtle approach is an amp simulator such as Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig. This lets you be as extreme as you like, but there’s a danger of creating a car wreck of mush rather than a useable cohesive low-end drive.
BLANKET REVERB
A reverb can be a good solution in a mix with plenty of space and a slow tempo – otherwise you’ll lose clarity and distinction quite quickly. A dense plate reverb is a good starting point , but for busier, faster tracks, a tight room sound can be a good approach – Universal Audio’s UAD Ocean Way Studios plugin is phenomenal for room realism.
The common issue with reverbs is the build-up of low-mid frequencies – and others, depending on the model you’re using. Some careful listening and then prudent subtractive EQing of any areas you feel are affected can help retain clarity while gelling both elements.