Do you like your "bass" in the kick or the bass?

[Bodhisan]

To my ears, it seems like most modern music - most categories, focus the bass in the kick, and I feel it started back in the 80's (but that's not a major point of contention here). This isn't a debate on which is better, but more of a "poll" on which you prefer.

Back in the 70's I remember reading an article with Lou Reed, and he talked about how Stevie Wonder records had the best bass sound, and he attributed it to the fact Stevie went totally by feel and sound, not what the meters and other gadgets were showing the engineers. "You can just feel the bass," Lou said. That always influenced me, and while it's not the most glamorous and musical of instruments, the "feel" and rather slight dominance of the bass in a song has always been my favorite part.

For me, when I put on nine out of ten CDs to listen to (and I always get batches weekly from the library), they all sound rather thin, except the kick - and I was going to post this in the HP sucks the life out thread, but this doesn't really fit there. That said, I do occasionally run across a CD where the producer felt the same way as I, and really gave the production a rather dominant bass sound to carry the songs.

I could say, "where the hell's the bass nowadays?", but it'd be more interesting to see how others feel - bass or kick? Or both?

[shonky]

I'm a "both" vote, much to my detriment when mixing. I think the trick is to have a bass heavy kick and a bassline that plays off the beat. Playing on the one makes sense when trying to beef up an acoustic kick but not when you're using 808 kicks or similar.

[BertKoor]

Kids these days totally only focus on the lowest octave. Silly of you ask me, it's pure anal fixation while there's the whole spectrum from 20 Hz up to 20.000 Hz to fill and pay attention to. A song even can sound good when played on a phone that cannot reproduce anything below 160 Hz.

[mod.killer]

Just start a new music style - kick and bass. Or K'n'B.

[zeep]

Depends on the track. A flexible balance between Stevie Wonder go by feel 75%, and check meters 25%.

[andymcbain]

Speaking from an electronic music producer's perspective -

With the "trance" style electronic stuff I'm working on at the minute - I prefer the kick to have the most weight - so a long sub tail and a bass line with the subs thinned out. This way the low end remains more consistent if the track changes key.

In other styles or when the root note isn't moving around as much, I might leave more subs in the bass line, and where applicable choose a kick that hits a bit lower than the root note of the bass so there's some separation going on.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

In the bass! I'd imagine there are still a few like me who aren't really producing for any kind of dance-floor who would prefer this. I might be wrong

[thecontrolcentre]

There's plenty of bass in the modern electronic music I listen to

[vurt]

i rarely use any drums.
bass is usually provided by synths. if at all.

suppose its all a matter of style and taste.
if it sounds right it is right, even if the meters are glowing angrily red!

[herodotus]

When mixing acoustic kick with an electric bass guitar, I strive for a balance between the two elements. Because the kick has a sharp transient and a fast decay, it is the more easy of the two to bury in a mix. To avoid this I figure out its fundamental tone and high pass the bass to stay clear of it. If the bass part is a synth, or a bass guitar with tons of compression, I may add a notch filter to the bass and/or a slight boost to the kick at the latter's fundamental.

When both kick and bass part are electronically generated, there are more options, as you have the ability to change the EGs on both sounds before you even think about eq or compression.

[fluffy_little_something]

To me the kick should only be a relatively bright, juicy, punchy plop kind of metronome, without much bass, especially none with a noticeable decay stage.

And yes, the bass should be solid, one should feel the weight and density of it, so to speak.

[Aloysius]

For me, kick is bass. So I don't like bass + bass (kick) on top of each other.

[jordonpmusic]

For my house music kick = 40-68hz, bass = 70hz - 120hz.

These are both bass. So both!

[Robmobius]

Bass is for bass not kicks. But then again that's just the style I like.

Just use whatever works for the tune...

[sjm]

Depends on the genre, but I don't like kicks that sound like snares/hats. Too much click and no oomph in the kick makes for a lifeless track.

In general, I'd go for a blend of the too, and make sure they aren't completely on top of each other.