The low end of your mix is its anchor. If it’s too weak, too loud, too boomy, too anything, the entire mix will sound off. The right bass guitar EQ settings will help your bass cut through the mix/establish its presence while keeping that low end sitting just right. Let’s talk about the BEST guitar EQ settings to dial in on your bass to get it right fast, every time.
One, depending on the kind of sound you’re going for, and the kind of sound you’re starting with before you EQ your bass guitar, your ideal settings may vary slightly.
Two, I like to isolate my bass guitar by frequency (by low frequencies sub 200Hz and the rest) so that I can process each slightly differently. I still use the bass guitar EQ settings I’m about to share virtually every time I’m working on the bass.
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I’ll cover each adjustment I make, where I make them, and why I make them now. Replicate these approximate settings (with some exceptions I’ll cover) to get your bass sounding clean and professional every time.
First I like to drop a high pass filter on my bass guitar EQ with a relatively sharp curve of about 20-40Hz. In EDM and more bass heavy genres you might want to be a bit more liberal here, particularly if you’re using a sub or other type of synth bass. The higher you pass here, the cleaner that low end will be and it will leave space for the lower end of the thud of your kick which we’ll talk about more next.
Next, I like to find where the thickest part of the “thud” of my kick drum is and notch out space in the bass guitar EQ accordingly. Creating separate spaces for the fundamentals of the kick and bass allows them to compliment one another and makes for a MUCH cleaner low end.
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For me, it’s easy to know the exact frequency of the fundamental of my kick because I use the sine wave kick drum trick I’ve talked about before. This involves using a sine wave to simulate the effect of that thickness that kick drums always seem to have on the mixes of the pros. Most of them use this trick themselves, so that makes sense (but I digress!).
Setting the note the sine wave plays to the key of your song means you know exactly what frequency fundamental of your “kick” is. Make a cut in the bass guitar EQ right there to reserve that space for the kick.
By the same token we can now also give the fundamental of our BASS a little boost. It’s typically around 100Hz, give or take. Sweep around with your EQ to find that nice thickness of your bass and give it a slight boost right here.
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Going back to the complimentary EQ when we made that cut for the kick in that 40-80Hz area, we now want to make a notch in the EQ on our kick drum around 100Hz as well. Cutting there in the same place we just boosted our bass guitar EQ gives the bass its own space to thrive there so it’s not fighting with the kick.
As I covered in my overview of the 5 typical culprits which are responsible for a muddy mix, the low mid range of 250-600Hz is where a lot of unwanted sounds pile on top of one another.
The bass guitar is no exception, so I like to make a wide cut in that 300Hz range to clean up some of that sound I can only describe as boxy. This also creates some space for the electric guitar if you’ve got some.
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I recommend complimentary moves for the bass in my electric guitar EQ guide, so check that out to help clean up your electric guitar while simultaneously creating space for your bass.
But yes, cleaning out this boxy frequency on bass allows the low thickness and upper transients to shine through. Speaking of the high end.
If you feel like your bass guitar is getting lost in the mix, you might need to bring out the transients a bit more with a boost in the upper frequencies. Similar to bringing out the “click” of the kick drum with a boost in this area, on the bass guitar a boost in the 4-6K range you bring out the metallic sound of the strings.
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This helps listener find the bass guitar as it cuts through the mix. Once again, sweep around the upper frequencies to find where a boost would be best served and give it a little push up to give the entire bass more presence.
Lastly, roll off everything above around 7k with a low pass filter. We got the overtones and buzz from the last boost, so anything above that is unnecessary. Roll it off and save that space for the cymbals, vocals, etc.
Also consider rolling off everything over 20k via a low pass filter in order to remove unnecessary, inaudible noise. You can even come down lower since it’s the bass track; just put that filter on and sweep down until you start to hear the highest end of the bass strings.
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This creates more room for the song mastering process because the high and low end of your mix are truly empty. This is as opposed to them being full of inaudible sound which has piled up and removed headroom.
The result is that the mastering engineer has more room to achieve louder masters without having to run the limiter as hard, so you achieve a (competitively) louder final song without the artifacts of limiting.
Making a few bass guitar EQ tweaks can help contour the sound, focusing on the good sounds of your bass and cutting out the rest.If you have too much low-end in your mix, it can start to sound muddy and unclear. However, if you have too little low-end on your mix, it could begin to appear thin and lifeless.
How To Eq Bass To Sit Well In The Mix
One way to get your low-end right is by learning how to EQ bass guitar. While every mix is different, there are a few consistencies that you can take with you every time you face your bass with the need to EQ.
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The thing about EQing bass is that every single bass guitar recording is different in one way or another. Bass comes in different forms. Someone may have recorded a bass guitar going into an amp with a microphone, which is much different from getting a DI bass guitar recording.
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Both of those types of recordings are very different from a stand-up bass recording, which may have been tracked in an open room with a microphone.
The EQ settings can also depend on how the player played the bass. For example, you’ll get much warmer and rounder low-end if the player plays closer to the neck relative to the bridge.
EQing bass is almost as complex as EQing vocals, as there are so many different variables to consider. Plus, because bass often holds down the low-end in a mix, getting the EQ right is necessary for strong, foundational support.
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Low-end can get out of control very easily, and a single note can have a world’s more low-end information than the next. It’s up to you to know what sound you’re going for and ALWAYS EQ in context.
While there are always exceptions when it comes to frequency charts, here are a few frequency ranges you can start with if you’re trying to manipulate your bass guitar in a particular way.
Many amateur mixing engineers think they need a subwoofer to EQ bass. The truth is, if you don’t have the proper acoustic treatment in your room, such as bass traps, then having a subwoofer can do more harm than good.
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Your next best bet is to use a high-end pair of studio headphones with wide frequency response. If your headphones can’t replicate the low-end with clarity, you won’t be able to make the correct mixing decisions.
Low-end frequencies are often too long to stretch out in small home studios, which is why it’s essential to treat your room or use a good pair of headphones if you want to make sure your bass fits well in your mix fully.
Using metering tools is one of the best ways to see where you’re low frequencies are sitting if you aren’t working in a properly treated studio environment.
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With a frequency analyzer, for example, you can see where the fundamentals of your bass lie so that you can make cuts around the fundamentals without disturbing them or make boosts to accentuate the fundamentals.
You can also use leveling tools like VU meters to get your levels right. For example, if you’re not sure whether your bass is too soft or loud in relation to your kick, you can solo each and see where they peak on the VU meter.
When itcomes toEQing bass, you get get the job done with stock EQs. However, there are some benefits
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