Timing, tuning and transient tactics for kick and bass

Here’s how to plan your low-end strategy from the very start, before you reach for an EQ or compressor

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If we make the right decisions early in terms of our composition, sound selection and arrangement, minimal mixing will be required later as sounds will slot into place. Subsequent processing will be creative, not corrective.

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First off, it helps to decide on one dominant bass element – usually either kick or bass – to drive and deliver the majority of sub bass content in the track. Here, our kick is the driving force of the low end and the bass guitar part is filling in the low-mids.

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A kick drum has an inherent pitch so factor in its key in relation to the track’s root key and the pitch of other musical parts. Subtlety is vital – imagine you’re gently shifting a chord’s low notes by a semitone, up or down, to make the overall ‘chord’ aspect of your track work.

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Transient and dynamic balance between kick and bass is often overloooked. Here, the kick’s top-end click sounds like it’s clashing with the bass’s upper-mid frequencies. Rather than dull the bass and lose vibe, we’ll low-pass-filter the kick within its sampler, which rounds off its front-end and slots it in.

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A kick’s length often determines how dominant the accompanying bass can be. By switching our longer kick to a shorter, pitched-up version of the same sample, we can now fit in a powerful new sub bass element into the mix.

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Finally, before reaching for mixing effects, consider where your kick and bass notes hit on your piano roll or timeline. Sometimes, dragging a bass’s start point later in time by a few milliseconds can separate the kick and bass’s attack enough to help these two important parts fit.