who ate my bass?

[Accran]

Hi everyone, First of all im new here, even though ive been reading a lot of discussion on this page for the last 2 years now. Im 24 and 3/4 years old, im from holland, and have been producing for about 2 and a half years now. I mainly focus on producing Darkpsy, but i also started experimenting with ambient/abient-techno.

Sooo, this is a thing that has been discussed a lot, i know, but ive been struggling tweaking and trying for the last 2 years now, and now im at a point where im having trouble falling asleep cause of this.

After playing with my subwoofer knobs and equalizer, I had an sound engineer listen to my last song (ambient-ish) on his sound set up, and he told me the low frequencies were equalized “okay”, so still not perfect, but decent and acceptable. This tells me my subwoofer and equalizer is set up “correctly”.
So i opened my darkpsy project, and adjusted the equalizer, so it sounded good on the monitors, took me nearly 1 and a half hour to get a satisfying result. But when i plugged in my headphones (technics), there was no bass, at all. This leaves me really frustrated. Ive been reading and trying a lot but i just can’t seem to get at least a decent result. I played different songs of different genres on my monitors, and adjusted the subwoofer so they all sound decent, so i know its set up correctly. I do have to say that i don’t have an active subwoofer, i use some 60 euro computer subwoofer, with a volume knob, and a bass amount knob, but i don’t think this is really the problem
I work with ableton9, and use the build in 8 band equalizer.

Like i said, i know its been discussed a lot, but since it kinda drives me crazy, this was my last option, since i don’t really know any other producers i could ask. Im just hoping theres someone who had the same problem, and could help me.

Thanks in advance!

[d-s-m]

Sounds like either;

- Your monitors are too bass heavy.
or
-Your room is untreated and causing too bass

or probably both. What monitors do you have?

[VariKusBrainZ]

You could use a Spectrum analyser on a track you can successfully hear bass and compare it with one of your tracks that has the bass missing

[Accran]

Thank you for your quick reply!

I have some cerwin vega monitors, nothing to fancy since i have a limited budget.
My room is minimum treated, i live in a very old house, with almost no isolation... horrible,
so i have my sub under the desk, on some towels and foam.

I tried the spectrum analyzing some time ago without success, tried it before still not really good on the monitors, but after some adjustments i kinda got some good results i think... i hope. Need to listen to it again with some fresh ears and different headphones tomorrow, but i
think this tip got me somewhere, thanks a lot!

[transmetropolitan]

If you're in a small or not-fully-treated room, and you want your mixes to translate better from one system to another then my advice is do not use a sub.

It is likely to f**k your mixes up more than it will help them.

[Passing Bye]

Be aware you are comparing finished mastered tracks and your work in progress, many will disagree, but in that game, you need to get in same ballpark immediately at least once to learn your stuff, so try to do some master channel work, eq, compressor + limiter for example, some DIY mastering chain, nothing fancy, just usual, cut ultra low&hi's, gentle "glue" compression and try to get most out of limiter, now you can actually compare it, than tweak and go to individual channels, after you are happy, remove everything from master channel and see how that sounds "in progress".

I know, it's maybe worst advice ever, you should get good mix without anything, it's all good, but IMO that's how your learn your stuff on spot and how much is enough, after all to get in that ballpark, you really need to do some planning, so try it, it can't hurt, you will know how much is enough and than you will be confident with your stuff.

Some folks master their own stuff, so they can work with their trusty chain from the start, if you are sending your stuff, try to rely on minimum on that chain, just to get some picture, you can actually leave glue compressor, that can't hurt.

[thecontrolcentre]

... i use some 60 euro computer subwoofer, with a volume knob, and a bass amount knob, but i don’t think this is really the problem.

I think that is exactly the problem. Also, under your desk is about the worst place for a sub woofer.

[Passing Bye]

... i use some 60 euro computer subwoofer, with a volume knob, and a bass amount knob, but i don’t think this is really the problem.

I think that is exactly the problem. Also, under your desk is about the worst place for a sub woofer.

+1

I have some experience with similar setup and one thing is you really need to know how that thing actually sounds with referenced tracks, in every position cornering bass amount knob and I guess you will realize where most of them "brake" and how much low end is enough, so when you play your stuff, you will know where you are, that's where DIY mastering chain kicks in, that's how you can sense where you are when you squash your mix same way, than you can back off or add eq on kick&bass, cut something or whatever, point is, learn your stuff inside out, I know how it's like working in barely decent conditions and how that is frustrating, but get most out of it and learn it, learn how you can get close, it will never be perfect, but in that conditions, good is awesome.

[xoxos]

check out what kind of response your monitors have.. play a sine wave on a synth and see if you can hear it..

i've never used a sub but i'm guessing there could be a significant cutoff slope where it is involved.. eg. the 808 and 909 kicks go down to about 50Hz, which it about where the last consumer monitors i checked out went down to.. a 40 or 30Hz sub could be inaudible on headphones and monitors but i'd figure subs are engineered around 30Hz (and down to 20 or lower) based on passing automobiles..

also please don't monitor with a sub in your residence. your entire street will thank you