Good EQ settings for bass?

[Magic Trix]

Sometimes I have a hard time getting the bass to stand out but not overpower every other instrument at the same time. What would be some good eq levels to fix this?

[richiebee]

What genre?

[Magic Trix]

Originally Posted by richiebee

What genre?

alternative rock with a little bit of electro rock thrown in there.

[Punker 96]

Sorry to throw more questions at you, but are you miking a bass cabinet or recording direct? This could also make a difference. I find that other than the EQ portion of getting a good bass sound, to have it stand out can be achieved easier by recording it direct. Not ALWAYS true however. If you have experience miking the bass and manage to get a sound that isn't too muddy (unless that's the effect you're going for of course) then you've done well. Getting the bass to fit well in the mix is just important at the source as it is during EQ and mixing.

[brandondrury]

Bass tone is tricky because it is entirely dependent on what the kick drum and electric guitars are doing in rock music.

There are many genres of bass tone within rock music. Muse has a totally different bass sound than Breaking Benjamin. In general, there are a few frequencies that really matter. (The new SPL Bass Ranger EQ seems to hit them all).

The big one is 400Hz or so. The midscooped bass is popular. It takes the boxy / honky / vintage qualities out of the bass and leaves the low end balls and the gritty stuff up top (from 1K-3k). Cutting that 6-10dB can go a long way.

If a bass isn't distinct there are a number of possible factors. Sometimes it's because it has excessive deep stuff. You may need to to do a low shelf cut at 150Hz to keep the subwoofer stuff under control while boosting 150-200Hz to give it some beef even on laptop speakers.

If you want the pick attack like you hear on the old Guns N Roses recordings you've got to have plenty of energy at 1K. If a song calls for it, I have no quams with boosting it 10dB or more.

Everything is highly dependent on the bass used (and amp, if applicable).

Brandon

[Magic Trix]

ok, so when you say "do a low shelf cut at 150 hz" what exactly do you mean?

[brandondrury]

It sounds like you need my home recording book. (The info is pretty much done. I'm working on my infrastructure (don't ask!) and such now).

A low shelf is when you take a parametric EQ and set it so that it does not cut/boost in the typical "bell" fashion. A low shelf cut at 150Hz of 3dB means that all frequencies below 150Hz are reduced by 3dB. A high shelf works the say way. All frequencies above X Hz are boosted or cut equally.

Brandon

[headrheum]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

Bass tone is tricky because it is entirely dependent on what the kick drum and electric guitars are doing in rock music...

Seconded.
Additionally, the tone, chords and the arrangement structure are also very important.

There can't be any ready-made tips&tricks for bass, as for many other instruments.

I could recommend some settings for bass, but if a kick drum, its pattern, its function in the arrangement is changed, then a completely new strategy has to be implemented according to many other dependent factors.
Hence, no pills, no ready-made solutions. A lot of practice, thinking and reading some theory is needed.

Or just send the mofo to a good mixing engineer.

[Guildpicker]

I am running a Jazz bass direct and I am having a hard time getting a punchy sound that isn't tight.. it seems unfocused. Any ideas?

[headrheum]

Can you upload a 30 second part of it as an mp3 file?
If you can, please make it higher than 224 kbps quality.