I’m mixing down my latest track and I kept having problems with the bass. It seemed like no matter what I did to it, it just sounded muddy, distorted and just bad. Also I just couldn’t get it to sit nicely in the mix. I was ready to give up on it and call it a day for the mix session. Then I decided to take a closer look at the wav file. I noticed there was some clipping on it. I thought this might have been the source of my problem and thought that maybe I didn’t check the level before I bounced it out. So I end up closing ProTools and go back to the original project in Logic Pro 7.
I was quite shocked to see that there was overdrive and chorus on the bass. I like to add a little bit of overdrive and chorus sometimes to give the bass movement. However, in this case the the chorus and overdrive were creating phase problems in the low end. I think I was lucky to be able to hear it on my headphones.
I just re-export out the bassline with out the added effects and I instantly get a bass that sits nicely in my mix with out much tweaking. Now let’s go on and analyze what happened and how we determined the best solution.
What was the symptoms of my problem.
The bass didn’t sit well in the mix
It was distorting
There was phase cancellation in the low end of the bass
All this seemed to keep my meters clipping when the bass would hit.
How did I determine the best solution?
Because it seemed to distort easily when adjusting the gain, I looked at the wave to see if there was any massive clipping. In addition to that I listened closely to the low end and realized that there was some phasing issues.
I could have just tried to fix it in Protools but is that really the best solution? No. Simply because, I have the original project and could clean it up at the source. It takes less time, just open up logic adjust the levels or in my case remove the plugins and wait a few minutes for export. Then I’m back in business.
The last question is why did I have those plugins on the bass to begin with?
I like to add a little overdrive and sometimes chorus/phaser or something that will give it modulation sometimes. In this instance it wasn’t to enhance the bass, but it was so I could hear it more clear. Originally when I was writing this song I was using my Sony MDR Z700 headphones. I didn’t have my Yamaha HS50 monitors available. I added the extra harmonic modulation so I could hear the it better. Either I didn’t notice or didn’t care about the phase issues it was introducing. I’m pretty sure it was both. The reason I noticed this was when I was mixing I was using a different pair of headphones. (I know, don’t mix with headphones, but I have to at the moment.) I was using a pair of AKG K240 Studio. I have to say I love them. They are more comfortable and clear and have better frequency range.
The lesson here is be careful of your low end. Especially if you don’t have a sub available for monitoring. The sub bass region is easily susceptible to phase problems.
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