The Most Important Frequency Ranges for EQing Kick and Bass 

holy sh*t ! It was 25 minutes, but it took me an hour to watch the whole video because of the very good and useful information you put in. it was like an online class! you got a sub, great work

8:00 You described exactly what I'm working with in a mix: busy bass line and a simple kick hitting on the 1 and 3 of the measure. Thanks for giving me clarity on this! It's been confusing.

Justin, been mixing for 20 years, view much of the tutorials on line and yours is by far, the best. It concentrates on strategies, rather than giving exact numbers, etc... most new mixers don't want to take the time to develop a solid game plan they' use over and over, but rather want to piece together small pieces of a puzzle they don't know what the entire picture is supposed to look like . Its like trying to learn Jimmy Hendrix guitar lics without learning how to play the guitar, the scales , etc. I bought your mixing breakthrough course years ago, and although have been mixing for 2 decades, it was the best thing i did, as it brought me back to getting my basic plan in order and sticking with it. fundamentals... It always amazing me that people criticize guys like you, who have made it in one of the worlds's most competitive markets, in every line of work, you compete with the worlds best, hold your own for years,, thats an accomplishment in itself. I grew up in New Jersey and in that culture, your either produce at a high level, or your are overlooked.. I have to wonder what kind of competitive environment the ones who criticize you , work in,, would they last in your market ? Its often the big fish in little ponds that have the most to say about areas they know so little about.. I went back and am redoing a few mixes I did years ago, using your mixing course, and it have re-ignited the fire in me to take mixing to another level, one that i though was already decent. thanks, bro.. you rock.... ed

It took me a long time to figure some of these things out for myself... A lot of what he's saying serves as affirmation for me, but it's really refreshing to hear someone that knows what he's talking about basically confirm that your approach is viable. I started to realize that the cuts he talks about in the 250 to 500 hz range were eliminating SO MUCH of the frustration I was having with their effect on other instruments! So many people out there give bad to terrible advice... It's great to find someone that actually knows what he's talking about!

You just saved my mix and possibly my life 😆 This one has an eBass, Fretless, moog-ish buzzy, and a mono thumpy synth bass . Decided to make the kick the “lowest” and now this complicated melange is starting to sound cohesive. Finally! Thank you!! I’ll send over for mastering when it’s done 😉

'Moon Safari' is my go to reference album.

Excellent, cogent advice. Thank you, Justin.

This is always a major challenge in any genre of dance/house music.

I never thought how simple was to choose which one goes where in the low-end, I've been scratching my head and now I know I just don't need to.

One of my favorite Air songs!

This is highly informative and clearly explained. Thank you!

Great vid - thanks for sharing!

sidechain can be useful but also dont forget arrangement is important too before you even get near a mix

Great video, thank you!

Justin is about to drop major knowledge as I start the video. Gonna sit down with a cup of tea

Fantastic insights.

Great great great video! This was very helpful

Your video cleared up so much for me, thanks a ton! I usually go to sidechaining bass and kick and that works, but I could never figure out how to choose which should be lower, but your logic is brilliant I will definitely use your suggestions on my next mix!

This episode is great as usual. Mastering low end when a remix isn't possible would be interesting...getting the bass tight, and the bass drum popping out nicely...

You did good on explaining how bass frequency words thank you

good advice Thanks

Great summary

Lots of good info here!

Thank you for sharing. =) that is very helpfull!

very very nice !

Great video though, thanks for sharing your knowledge & looking forward to watching more of your stuff. Subscribed.

one of the best kick/bass videos ever…

Thank you

Amazing video, Justin! I enjoyed every minute of this, as I am more of a WHY person as opposed to a HOW person. I always prefer to get the “philosophical” side of something before I get to how to do it, and what you have done here speaks to me very loudly. When thinking about tight bass and kick, so many songs come to mind, and I really want to ask you a favor. A BIG FAVOR man! So please try to do this for all of us out here. There’s a cover of Uptown Funk by the famous jazz/brass band Tim Akers And The Smoking Section. You can find the video on RU-vid. The video is shot during the recording session in the studio. You can’t miss it. That production has one of the best bass sounds I’ve ever heard in my life! Drums are tight too. Besides loving the arrangement of the song and the skill level of the musicians, I have always wondered what is going on with the mix, particularly on bass and kick. So, if you could please, please listen to it and share with us your views as ti what you think is going on there, it will be awesome! Of course instrument and gear quality plays a big role in superb recordings like that, but I think the mixing part also had a great impact. You will do me a big one if you could do this man. Thanks Ashraf

Superb.This is very valuable to me.Thank you for your expertise and talent for teaching.

Oh man, this AIR Song is so good !

Justin -- I LOVE your tutorials. Eager to start on your courses that I've bought. Question: What assumptions are in play here, in your frequency guidance for typical places to cut and boost? For example, I'm thinking that the END GOAL is the target. So, if we were to frequency analyze (or simply listen for) the end result, we would hear (for example) Kick owning 60-80 Hz, Bass owning 120-200Hz, kick being reduced from 250-500Hz, bass cutting through in mids, and both having beater and string clarity up high. But this all depends on mic'ing, right? Considering the source material, right? If the kick had a mic fully inside the drumshell, we might be cutting at 60Hz, even if it's dominant. Or reducing the beater at 5k if it was already too prominent. Or we might be using a sample that was already pre-EQ'd with cuts at 200-500 and would sound hollow if we cut more. So, rather than assuming typical boost and cut ranges, is it better to target and end goal from the beginning? Are there typical final curves that have been generally established to work well, toward which we can target? And even confirm visually as we train our ears?

Hey I am wondering if there is a special mic locker combo for the full band sound without needing to mess with eq in post??? My Aston Stealth mic has different modes with preset eq curves for example...

You are an angel 😂👍👍👍

Oh, I forgot,,, I have one suggestion on the mixing course, a suggestion not a criticism...why not add gain staging techniques in module one or two, like the K system...or any other strategy for gain staging. this was an area i over looked for years and made the rest of mixing harder than needed....if all the tracks from the edit window are hitting the mixer window at about the same level, you don't end up with faders all over the place in the mixer window...When I talk to new mixers, hardly any off them consider gain staging, or even are aware of it.... when t they do it, they always comment how come very few tutorials mention this, as its soooo helpful. thanks again, bro,,, as usual, you rock ed

I play both bass and drums and this is what I've found the biggest mistakes people make with bass is to use too much low end. It needs middle to cut. As for kick, it actually responds well to 4K, which gives it a nice snap , whereas too much middle will make it sound honky. Some 60hz gives a nice low thump, whereas that should be completely cut on the bass guitar.

You are worth your weight in gold Justin , actually .... double your weight in gold 😂🎯 I wish you continued success ✌️💚☯️

Great video man. At 19:49 you mean low pass 😋

Hi, I often use 3 kicks, live recording, low sample and a klick sample. The same for the bass, I have an sub, middle and plonk. How do I place those in the mix?

He finishes banging on about unrelated crap around 4:00

Excellent tutorial!!!

💪

I mix with the shittiest speakers. They sound the crap, but when I get it sounding good in those speakers and I move to my very expensive monitors, it sounds really good. I specifically mix kick and bass with those crappy speakers. I keep messing with it until it sounds good. I use my ears and that's it.

I have the solution that best fits your problem dealing with low frequencies fighting for the same range of frequencies considered as band 1 frequencies. Here is one area you do not want to use in resolving this problem, that is do not use equalization. Use Multi-band Dynamic (not compression, not expansion) attenuation. This methodology is not ever used as a common practice but should be used as a “best practice.”

8:03

How often are you told that you look like Clark Kent? :D

19:48 Low pass filter.. but.. we know what you mean. 😃

Been doing mine down to 34hz. Whatever, just tune to 432hz

Balancing will do 90% and eq to reinforce.

Nice Video , but some Germans maybe undstand some other Words here 21:35 xDDD

Speak less . Show more . Thanks. Strike to the bass

I think the podcast format is better for learning concepts. Anybody can watch someone fart around on a computer. It's about understanding what's going on so you can do it for yourself without watching someone do it on a computer and just copying it like a parrot 🦜

This reasoning is wrong. Bass guitar's low E string is 41 Hz. If you do not reproduce that frequency, you do not represent bass guitar. Therefore, one MUST reproduce and not cut down this 41 Hz and above. As for kick, it does not have definite musical note pitch (in general...)... As for bass frequences, first octave is 16 to 32 Hz and second octave is 32 to 64 Hz, those two octaves are SUB BASS. Third octave is 64 to 128 Hz which is BASS and the fourth octave is 128 to 256 Hz, which is UPPER BASS.