Mixing tip of the day – Getting a clear bottom
Often times the best way to bring out the low end, is to limit all all the other instruments having frequencies down there. If we have Bass, Kick and Heavy Synths playing at the same time, decide which instrument you want holding down the low end. Often times its either the kick or the bass, but sometimes a droning Synth with lots of sub bass can do it too.
Once you've made the decision, throw a high pass filter EQ on the other tracks and EQ out all of their low end, until the instrument you really want down there starts to clear up. For instance, if you want the kick to hold down the low end and thump, try high pass filtering the Bass frequencies starting at 80-100 HZ and move it up or down until the kick finally has some space to work and sounds clearer This technique will always make things 'sit in the mix' better than by turning up the volume until it drowns everything else out.
Get a good spectrum analyzer (like SPAN, which I mentioned in a previous article). See where your kick frequencies are, and move all your other instruments our of the way. This is a simplistic idea that you can take to all other instruments and frequency ranges, to help each instrument have its own real estate in your frequency spectrum, making your mixes much clearer and professional sounding.
-Mike Lizotte
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