Question from an Amatuer: Raising the volume of a bass guitar

topic posted Wed, January 16, 2008 - 9:39 AM by  Unsubscribed
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Hi folks,

I recorded some duets between a guitarist and bassist live to CD and blew it. The bass is too low in the mix. I will never have the chance to redo this session. The guitar and bass are in both tracks, so a simple remix isn't possible.

Is there anything in the digital realm I can do to bring the bass up without screwing up the tone of the guitar and the vocals? I'm suspecting the answer is "no, not really," but thought it couldn't hurt to ask. I use Cool Edit but have limited experience with it beyond putting some simple compression on tracks.

Thanks in advance for any ideas you might have.
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  • fixing a poor mix in the mastering or post-mix stage is a hell of an uphill battle, but two things that are worth trying are using a parametric EQ to try to find and boost a prominent frequency in the bass guitar that isn't also being occupied by the kick drum; alternatively you could try an autogain multiband compressor, which might beef up the low-end where it is lacking without impacting the other bands significantly.

    that being said, i think this will be a tough fix :)
    • Unsu...
       
      Well the good news is that it's just bass and guitar, no drums, though there are vox too. So the parametric EQ thing sounds worth a try. I'm guessing that with a parametric EQ the odds are greater of screwing things up more than of fixing them... But it's worth a try.
      • use a thin Q (like a notch eq boost) and slide it up and down the frequency spectrum to find the frequencies in the bass that could be boosted without effecting the guitar sound.

        a tough fix, but possible.
        • if you're going to be doing a bunch of boosting, boost two frequencies rather than one, ideally with one being twice the other, e.g. 100Hz and 200Hz.

          a good reference point:

          sphex.tentacle.net/audio/eq.php
          • What are you using? In logic sometimes you can very succesfully fix bass problems in mastering using the sub-bass plug-in.

            I never use it on my own stuff, well almost never. But when I'm mastering other people's stuff and don't have access to the parts, it has often allowed me to fix tracks where, for instance, one bass note hits well and hard, but the other two just don't cut it.

            If there are many different notes going on you might have to use more than one instance of the plug-in.

            Either way switch it to one of the two generators 100% and fiddle with the frequency controls until you're only affecting the notes that need help, or perhaps in your case, until all the notes are affected.

            Good luck.
            • well I was going to suggest pro tools since you can draw in the wave form on low parts but I think that would be impossible to do with an already bounced down stereo track...it would more apply to a recorded bass track alone that was too low I think.

              the parametric eq, mastering plug in ( I use ozone 3 but if you can get your hands on waves plugins go for it with those), and compressor ( raises up low sounds and lowers loud sounds to put it simply) will definitely help but as said above it's going to be a tough fix... mastering is hard enough when you have a clean mix to work with ( at least for me it is). notching with a parametric eq will help you hear what your doing much easier and quicker, then you will find the area to work on and lower/raise the notch till it sounds the way you want it (your also sweeping the notch horizontally from one end of the frequency spectrum to the other till you find the spot that pops out your bass in the mix). pretty much all these guys have given you sound "sound" advice. I recommend researching techniques and the theory of audio engineering as well, it will really help you not make this mistake again and be prepared if you do.

              I used a compressor for a while without having a clue what it was really doing...actually I thought it was a limiter lol..then I went to school ( you dont have to go to school to learn about audio) and understood what it was actually doing, from there I taught myself or picked up various ways that a compressor can be completely awesome if used in variation with other effects such as delays and reverbs. it's like opening pandoras box but you can get a grip on it if you understand the theory behind it and then you can manipulate it into your sound.

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