Mixing Course - sub bass

[Dave S]

> I was very surprised to see how much sub bass the guy was
> putting in on the kick or bass (cant remember which); certainly not
> removing any..
> I mentioned my fear of bass and how I have HPF on anything low
> (kick/bass).
> He said that he has never shelved off any sub bass, ever!!

Not saying this guy is wrong (and hell, I'm unqualified other than that
quite a few people have complimented the mix of the subbass in my tracks)
but I'm not sure this is great advice.  I guess it depends very much on
the type of track you're mixing.

This point is interesting for me, as I've recently been mixing a
particularly bass-heavy track.  In fact, most of the tracks I'm making at
the moment are quite bass-heavy, what with dubstep being quite a
bass-oriented style.

My latest track has a lot of really low subbass in it, and it's quite high
powered.  I listened to an unfinished pre-mixing version of it at my
friend's house on an amazing setup with quite a punchy subwoofer, and it
was causing serious internal organ rumbles!

So when I came to mixing it, I really wanted to keep that bass energy
there, since it worked well.  But you know what...?  As much as I was
determined to almost leave the bass right alone and just try to make
everything else fit around it - even on a track that's all about subbass -
it's just not a good idea.  It doesn't work like that, and it doesn't
sound as good.  Or rather, the REST of the track won't sound so good.

If you want a track to have heavy bass, you really do need to roll the
lowest frequencies off a bit.  It's about taming them slightly, so they
actually end up sounding bigger.  A heavy subbass bottom end sucks up such
a massive amount of headroom that basically if you don't do this, you end
up with very little space in the mix to make the rest of it happen.  The
problem is that you're using up all this headroom with frequencies that
most systems (even those with subwoofers) can't even reproduce; they don't
need to be there.

Result: the whole thing sounds too "loud" or "boomy" and so gets played
quieter = you lose all the bass energy anyway because the whole mix will
get turned down a few notches.  You need to tame that bass to keep it big!

I've also seen others around the dubstep scene saying rather the same kind
of things about mixing subbass.

So I'm sure it can be done (and I was tempted myself the other day), but
having conducted recent experiments on this myself (with the aim of not
reducing the power of the bass at all), I still firmly believe that if you
want your bass to *SOUND* heavy in the mix, you actually do need to reduce
it's heaviness a little bit so that the mix can be played louder in the
first place.

As for the mix of my track in question, I haven't been around to check it
at my friend's house since round one of mastering, so I can't say just yet
(and I'm away this week).  However, I think it's gone from being seriously
bass heavy and knocking the wind out of you to being a well-rounded mix
that is still seriously bass heavy and knocks the wind out of you.

I'm having a bit of label interest at the moment (woo!) because of my
previous track, and sent them my latest mix of this new track.  They said
it sounds solid, and I guess they know what they're talking about (being a
dubstep label), so I must admit I'm really not convinced by this guy's
advice, although the rest sounds good and I'll be trying that "listen with
no kicks and bass" stuff for sure.

But then, everything is subjective.  Bollocks to "mixing rules", because
rules are what establish systems, and those quickly become entrenched,
boring and incapable of innovation.  Don't do what I say, and don't do
what this engineer dude says either.  By all means take it on board, but
engage your own ears.  Do what sounds right for the track you're working
on, and break the rules if it sounds good to you.  (That's kinda punk,
after all!)

Cheers,

~Dave