Old 11-19-2014, 12:59 PM   #1
spottydog10
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Default basic question about bass drums in the mix

When I'm doing a mix, bass drum is sounding good until I stand and move away from the desk. It becomes much bassier so, I trim a bit of low end off.
Then it sounds like there is no bottom to the bd.
How do I sort this?
If I listen to a pro mix the bass drum stays nearly the same or maybe alters slightly but not the amounts I'm talking about.
My main monitors are Yamaha HS50M's.

Thanks for any help,
Mike
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Old 11-19-2014, 01:24 PM   #2
Fergler
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Well first and most obvious answer is that your room is swallowing up that bass sound because of poor room treatment. How is the mix in headphones?

Also you mention standing and moving away. You may be feeling less of the bass through your feet than you would both through your feet and sitting on a chair.

Make sure the phase of the kick drum is aligned with your overheads, too.
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Old 11-19-2014, 01:30 PM   #3
spottydog10
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Hi Fergler,

All good points but as I say, a pro mix doesn't change that much in the same room.
The room is basically untreated but I have the ARC 2 correction plugin on, which helps quite a bit.
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Old 11-19-2014, 01:48 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by spottydog10 View Post
Hi Fergler,

All good points but as I say, a pro mix doesn't change that much in the same room.
Yes it does. Else, the "pro mix" has its bass centered on a frequency which is slightly more linear in your room.
Quote:
The room is basically untreated but I have the ARC 2 correction plugin on, which helps quite a bit.
No it doesn't. Can't. It might help in the one spot, but it pretty much has to make other spots worse in the process.
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Old 11-19-2014, 01:55 PM   #5
spottydog10
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Hi ashcat_it

The ARC certainly does help, the measurements are taken at various points in the room. Is it an ideal solution? No, but it helps. I can tell by playing mixes with that plugin on (whilst mixing) in other places and on other systems.
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Old 11-19-2014, 01:59 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spottydog10 View Post
Hi ashcat_it

The ARC certainly does help, the measurements are taken at various points in the room. Is it an ideal solution? No, but it helps. I can tell by playing mixes with that plugin on (whilst mixing) in other places and on other systems.
It depends. If helping with overall balance then possibly but for nodes/modes pretty much no processing can fix that which this sounds like because it changes in different room locations. I've never been able to use any fix it processing for room problems because all it ever did for me is increase, not reduce the guesswork. Not dismissing it, just saying there is pretty much nothing to fix such anomalies other than fixing the room itself.

However, if there is a spot in the room where the pro mix sounds right, judge your mix from there and it should be right.
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Old 11-19-2014, 02:11 PM   #7
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So how do I tame this bass drum distance issue?
I've cut some 80hz which is where it seems to be doing the most damage.
Compression as well possibly? but I don't want it slapping around like a fresh fish
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Old 11-19-2014, 02:12 PM   #8
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So how do I tame this bass drum distance issue?
I've cut some 80hz which is where it seems to be doing the most damage.
Compression as well possibly? but I don't want it slapping around like a fresh fish
As I was hinting earlier, you only need to know what position in the room is the most accurate and go by that. I have a treated room and I still have a section near the back of the room where bass piles up. I ignore that spot when mixing because I know it is the room not the actual response. IOW, if you start modding your mix to suit a bad spot in the room you are screwing the mix for everywhere else.
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