Psytrance Kick and bass mixing basics [Video]
It’s Friday, that means there’s another Glitch Psytrance Tutorial up on YouTube – following on from last week’s EQ episode, this time it’s all about Psytrance Kick and bass mixing basics.
Friday usually signifies the great migration of music producers from the outside world into their natural habitat, the home studio. There they will usually remain for the entirety of the weekend.
In perfect timing, today’s Psytrance Kick and bass mixing basics video tackles using an equalizer that has a built-in spectrum analyser to pinpoint and map out fundamental frequencies of a given sound, and then apply changes in EQ settings to other sounds which might be creating frequency conflict issues with the sound that you want to stand out in the mix.
This is an especially important part of creating a clean low-end, as the gap between harmonic intervals becomes more evident the lower the frequency of the content.
In layman terms – the bumps on the analyser are wider, the lower the pitch of your sound. When applied to the kick and bass of a track, this technique can improve the clarity and punch of both your kick and bass sounds.
The change is subtle but helps to bring the overall balance together.
Do as I say, not as I do…
Equalizing is not an exact science, it is a process that should very much be based on the source content.
This means your EQ settings for one kick sample may not work for another kick sample, so it’s always very important to analyse the differences the EQ is creating and apply tweaks to your taste.
Today’s Glitch Psytrance Tutorial also deals with peak levels of the kick and bass, what decibel level I usually aim for on the meter and the benefit of using group channels to quickly assess your peak levels across the mix.
The ultimate goal is to get the kick and bass to sound balanced, clean and punchy. I didn’t mention in the video, but if you’re not 100% convinced by your monitoring setup it helps to reference your kick and bass on headphones before and after you EQ.
Check out the Psytrance Kick and bass mixing basics video here:
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