EQing Electric Bass Guitar

Hey guys, I'm in need of some schooling...

What, if any, guidelines do you follow for Eqing electric bass?

I use the Line 6 VariBass and love it...and I also use drum loops since I can't play drums to save my life. And the bass signal always seems to either get lost in the mix, or lack any kind of definition - just sounding *plegh*.

Any tips or advice?

Thanks,
Doug

I've tried a few different things, and have found it all depends on the song, and of course the bass. Sometimes I roll off a little of the lowest frequencies, other times some of the higher ones, but the one thing I always do is add a little bit of compression. Really helps focus things!

Cheers, Tim

The primary key thing about drums and bass is that you absolutely must define whether the kick drum or Bass will provide the low end, and which one will provide the high end definition.

They both cannot be the source of the low end, or you will end up with a huge acoustic muddy mess.

It's a common practice to roll-off the low end on the kick drum so that the kick drum only provides the crisp snap, and let the bass provide the low end. The combination of the kick drum snap (with low end rolled back) and the bass will give the audio illusion that you've got punch and depth.

Some guys do it the other way around - let the bass provide the higher frequency energy and "snap", rolling off some of the low frequency component on that, and then let the kick drum provide the deep low end.

Either way, the point is that both of them can't be providing too much of the same frequency energy.

Give that a try.

Cheers,

Shawn

shawn's right (i've gotten some good EQ tips from his previous posts) -- you gotta stake out turf for each instrument and keep 'em from canceling each other out.

i'm still rasslin' with it myself. i like the deep, fat kick sound, so what's been working has been to fatten the kick around 100 or a little below, and cut the bass there to screen out boominess. nudge the bass up a little at 250-300, and cut the kick at 250-500. sweeten the highs on the bass at 800-2K, then find a sweet spot to crispen up the kick without encroaching on the bass freqs. still honing this process, YMMV!