How to mix kick and bass: fundamentals for a cohesive sound

A unified kick and bass sound provides a solid low-end foundation for your mix and delivers much-needed energy and impact. In this video, follow along as engineer Sam Loose shares critical steps for mixing kick and bass that will take your mixes to the next level, including techniques like unmasking, sidechain compression, and more.
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Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:51 - Fundamentals of bass frequencies
04:40 - Step 1: Unmask overlapping frequencies
06:50 - Step 2: Use sidechain compression
09:53 - Step 3: Choose the right notes
12:42 - Final thoughts
Artist: Michael Klein
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#izotope #proaudio #lowend #kickandbass
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[@meinkezzmajestiktv]

kick and bass must be best friends👍🔑

[@stanley9875]

Kick 🤝 bass

[@djnordberg]

Have heard these tips said many times over, but this video made me understand what its all about. Thank you !!!

[@MaximeHendrickx]

Great video!

[@foyer94]

Thank you! Good information 🙏🏻

[@JCassish]

Really Great Video - when I teach, I often underline that the mixing process, really begins when you conceive the arrangement of a track. Choosing kicks that are in tune, more often than not, will just simplify the "mixing" process. This, actually, also often goes for your snare sound, as the fundamental of your snare dictates how well your snare sits or rubs up against other instruments in your track. As a drummer, it's interesting that drummers are not always taught to consider the pitch centres of their drums (this also goes for toms) when playing with bands. To echo what you say in your video, there are instances where having instruments in non-traditional pitch centres, produces the appropriate emotional response. Ultimately, if you want a hectic emotion, it helps to have hectic sounding instruments. Again ... your first point of mixing comes in your arrangement. Super interesting, thank you! It'll give me another thing to try other than trackspacer - maybe a more appropriate way of doing this, in certain contexts.

[@amado7760]

Thanks Sam.

[@andersflesche]

Thanks so much! Very helpful video 🙏🏻👌🏻

[@Evoke-Chaos]

this was great! thanks!

[@Rio-uv1gs]

Thanks

[@iPatttKerdsiri]

great view thx

[@dj_kik]

Thanks for your tuto :o)

[@ProjetoVOXUFOMIX138bpm]

VERY GOOD KICK VS BASS AND A MYSTERY ONE DAY ARRIVED AT THE TOP OF THE PYRAMID

[@alexkid1]

I wish you guys made a controller with Neutron and Ozone integration.

[@davidbasscooper9540]

I love bass🤘🤘🤘😂

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

I am working on a tune Kick and Bass sounds good but dont sound good in the mix despite having EQed evrything else making sure frequencys are not clashing. Its annoying and I think I will just have to pay someone eles to engerneer My tune, because I cant do it even with tools like you show.

[@jamiecorke3195]

Nice t shirt

[@SamLoose]

Thanks!

[@AudioReplica2023]

Doesn't that multi band parallel compression trick creates some phase distortion at the crossover point? I mean all its doing its lowering the frequencies at certain point on that track.

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

Probably thats why He said "These tricks might help" and "if your having issues then try this" what He says wont always work basically. The kicks key thing is not really relevant to Me because I use kicks that dont have a key.

[@stigaar]

@@HOLLASOUNDS Kicks that dont have a key? How is that possible?

[@Dave-Rough-Diamond-Dunn]

@@HOLLASOUNDS They all do. What's the fundamental frequency of the kick? The lowest note that is far stronger than the others around it, that is the key. For instance, I see on the TDR Nova plugin display that the fundamental of the kick I'm currently using is 55 Hz, therefore, the kick is in A. It might not tell you the key of the sample before you use it, but it does have one!

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

@@stigaar Some kicks especially for EDM have alot of bass and there for have a tone, however in Hiphop (which is about 80% of My music) there isn't that bass element to the kicks.

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

@@Dave-Rough-Diamond-Dunn In EDM kicks often have allot of bass, however in Hiphop and RnB they dont. I do pitch kicks up and down but I pay no attention to its key or frequency, if it sounds good, it sounds good.

[@IamSkyeOrion]

Ok, so how can I apply this to heavy metal?

[@ErixSamson]

I'm not sure to follow you: the kick always has the same pitch in a given tune, while the bass is supposed to play different notes. They cannot always be in tune, unless the bass always stays within a single tone center (C Major in your example) and avoids friction notes from that scale (F and B in this example). This might be the case in EDM where bass lines are often simplistic, but not in other music genres.

[@johnnydodgem4369]

The advice is (for ‘western music’) that if your kick is pitched to a note in the tonic triad of the key in which the bass plays, it is helpful in the context of mixing a musical bottom end.

[@ErixSamson]

@@johnnydodgem4369 Yes but we (bass players) never play just the 3 notes of a tonic triad. It does not exist.

[@daniel_seabra]

@@ErixSamsonas far as I understood from the concept, it is not only the 3 notes of the tonic triad. The kick just need to have a fundamental that is in the tone of the music scale. So if it is a music in C, you don't need to play only C, E and G, you can play the other notes of the C scale in the bass, where having the kick in C should be fine.

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

He is talking about the EQ frequencys having a key, which is something I never really thought about.

[@johnnydodgem4369]

Hello Eric. I play bass, too! Daniel is correct, see his comment. The key of the bass line determines the pitch of the drum. It’s the pitch of the drum that is then aligned to the tonic (pitched down into sub bass), or the fundamental. The bass line is not fixed. This advice is helpful if the key of the song doesn't change. The bass part will be in the key of the song, playing whatever notes of the scales that are fitting for the piece. The drum can then be 'tuned' to align to it, improving the cohesiveness of the mix.