My mixes are always too bassy

The Lounge General Discussion
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I think so, too. I also think a lot of modern consumer gear is garishly bass heavy.

My new macbook is like cartoonishly bass heavy. It makes every podcast sound like a Chris Nolan movie. My Bose headphones are nice but also overdo it on the bass.

Many of my “problem” mixes sound just fine on the stereo in my living room. I suspect it’s because most off my HiFi is inherited and almost as old as I am. But I have to mix for the most common listening situations, which are dogshit soundbars and overhyped headphones for the most part.

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Listened to the wavs. There’s a lot going on in Corps A, and sounds like a lot of low pass filtering, and I’m guessing that you are going for a lo-fi aesthetic?

I don’t have a spectrum analyser to hand, but think that there is a fair bit of congestion around 600Hz. I’d try to differentiate the sounds in the frequency spectrum a little more, for instance the glockenspiel could do with more sparkle. I’d try band pass on some sounds such as the reverse hits and vocals.

Also the horn stabs often land at the same time as the bass, so they’ll compete for space. I’d fuzz up and shorten the bass.

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Thanks!

Eh, I’m not sure I’d call it lo fi so much as I find the natural sound of the digitakt too “clean” and shiny for my taste. Six of one, half a dozen the other?

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This is true. I put some dance tunes on in a new car we got a while back and it nearly messed them up them immediately even at moderate volume.

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As mentioned in a prior post, the headphone version of Sonarworks SoundID Reference is worth consideration. Try out the trial demo.

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You can also just download the oratory1990 PDF for your headphones from this link and type the correction EQ settings into your EQ.

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In similar news, I’ve started doing some similar adjustments to my headphones only setup. I find that getting a balance is tricky and I’m thinking referencing with something on the master bus could be a good move even for tweaks.

To dip my toe in the water, I picked up Toneboosters (these guys seem to make pretty rad plugins in general) Morphit which seems to be a simpler version of Sonarworks. And rather than get the Goodhertz CanOpener plugin, I think I’ve got something of an approximation for that plugin via the (now free) Toneboosters giveaway of their legacy plugins which contains Isone (a monitor simulation plugin). Nowhere near of course the levels of detail you can get into with this stuff - but there are some pretty decent options out there for those looking to dabble.

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Genius!

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Or you can use the profiles in https://www.autoeq.app and then set up an eq to mirror the results. The good thing about plugins like SoundID is you can then emulate environments so it’s worth it for that… but AutoEQ and Oratory1990 are great for those on a budget.

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I like to eventually play my tracks in club, outdoor fest, and other gig settings, so overblown or flubby bass can ruin the vibe very quickly in those situations.

For a real-world example, there have been a couple of times that I have heard DJs play the “wrong” remix of New Order’s “Blue Monday”, where the bass frequencies have been made overly present and annoyingly “woofy”. If it were JUST four-on-the-floor, it wouldn’t be so bad, but those 16th-note bass drum hits have to be TIGHT and sit well in the mix or the dance floor will clear. And I’ve seen it happen.

For my tracks, I do the usual things like using eq to isolate instruments into their own frequency spaces, rolling off anything below 80hz on non-kick non-bass instruments, rolling off the entire mix at 20-30hz, etc. Even for genres like bass house, I personally don’t like bowel-rumbling bass and prefer tighter more focused punch on the low end. Even with the right frequencies, there is also balancing levels and doing things like side-chain compression on various elements like bass using your kick as a source. That alone can clean up low-end frequency conflicts and give your kick consistent punch and presence.

In addition to the great advice already given here of playing your tracks on all sorts of systems (I do studio, car, home stereo, mobile, headphones, etc.), I also have the luxury of having a DJ system and a mono PA with a main and sub sitting in my studio, ready to go at any time. So, I’ll load up a mix on a memory stick and run it through my DJ unit/PA to get a sense of how it’s going to sound in a club. Sure, my studio doesn’t mimic the sound of a crowded venue, but I can at least find out if my mix is too bassy or too flubby for raw PA playback. But a full PA isn’t something that most have access to. I’m just giving an example of how far I’ll personally go to make certain I have something compelling for live playback.

I did spend a good share of my earlier electronic music creation time with poor bass, too loud, too flubby, not loud enough, etc. until I got a few updated mixing and listening tricks under my belt. Once you find the sweet spot of these layered techniques, it will be harder to make a “bad” bass mix because you’ll automatically be doing the things that eliminate most of those problems right away.

Just keep at it and keep applying tips and tricks from people who have been there.

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Sorry, one more thing: the AKG K240s are NOT good at revealing bass issues. My wife is a radio DJ and she always seems to be getting K240s for free at various stations she has worked at. I have a couple pairs of those just laying around because of it, and I’ll certainly grab them for casual listening, but would never use them for mixing bass-heavy music.

Personally, I’m fond of the Audio-Technica ATH-M40x for studio work. I like the M40x because it has, to my ears, more flat frequency response than the M50x. However, if you’re really having trouble taming the bass frequencies, the M50x MIGHT be more revealing for your needs. But either has good bass response AND give some good isolation because of the closed backs.

Others might swear by other brands and models, and if they have performance suitable for studio work, those opinions would be just as valid. I just happen to particularly like and be comfortable with the M40x headphones.

Just my $0.02

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