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How to tell if your basses are going to cancel each other out?
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| utdarsenal |
How do you tell if your basses are going to cancel each other out before actually putting the second track out?
I've heard many mixes where you can't even tell the songs are switching because the basses are mixed perfectly but it obviously won't work to put both basses up on each song all the time.. how is it that this is performed?
thanks |
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| Apeattack |
| quote: | Originally posted by utdarsenal
How do you tell if your basses are going to cancel each other out before actually putting the second track out?
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By "cancel" do you mean that the listener won't notice a bass switch because the basses sound similar? |
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| utdarsenal |
Kind of I think? you know how when you're playing two songs with heavy basses at the same time, how the basses sound pretty bad when they're both going? well I know a lot of good dj's don't put the bass down on their upcoming tracks, they have it halfway or something or the mid's down a bit too, and slowly fix the basses to make the switch pretty unnoticable so it's not just complete bass switch.. it's kind of hard to explain .. but anyways it works really well on some songs, but on others it's a train wreck and the basses sound horrible, i'm wondering how you can tell if the basses are going to clash before putting the upcoming track on..
i've seen many dj's do it with no problems at all. I've tried listening to both tracks at the same time on my headphone on stereo before putting the second track in but it's really hard to tell..
do you kinda get what i'm saying? I don't know if I'm explaining good |
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| Apeattack |
| quote: | Originally posted by utdarsenal
Kind of I think? you know how when you're playing two songs with heavy basses at the same time, how the basses sound pretty bad when they're both going? well I know a lot of good dj's don't put the bass down on their upcoming tracks, they have it halfway or something or the mid's down a bit too, and slowly fix the basses to make the switch pretty unnoticable so it's not just complete bass switch.. it's kind of hard to explain .. but anyways it works really well on some songs, but on others it's a train wreck and the basses sound horrible, i'm wondering how you can tell if the basses are going to clash before putting the upcoming track on..
i've seen many dj's do it with no problems at all. I've tried listening to both tracks at the same time on my headphone on stereo before putting the second track in but it's really hard to tell..
do you kinda get what i'm saying? I don't know if I'm explaining good |
You won't know for sure if the two basses will go well together during the transition until you actually are in the middle of the transition.
However, if you play the incoming track in your headphones during the middle of the track that is playing, you should be able to get some idea of how the two basses will sound together.
You also can spend time at home before your set figuring out which songs sound good together and mix those songs during your set. For example, if you are playing track A you might remember from your time practicing at home that tracks B, F, and G sound good with A, but not tracks C, D, E, and H. |
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| Rodri Santos |
- Mixing in key
- Soft equalization. Mids are very important because they contain the audible part of the bass, i usually boost 2nd track bass to 75% while track 1 is at 100% (the 0 point) or so and when a new phrase starts i exchange them, 2nd track at 100% and track 1 at 75%. There is no method for the mids as tracks are very different and you'll have to react in consequence but if you mix in key no matter the songs are imbalanced, you can adjust them with your eqs and make the transition unoticeable. |
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| utdarsenal |
thanks everyone! very helpful..
btw
| quote: | - Mixing in key
- Soft equalization. Mids are very important because they contain the audible part of the bass, i usually boost 2nd track bass to 75% while track 1 is at 100% (the 0 point) or so and when a new phrase starts i exchange them, 2nd track at 100% and track 1 at 75%. There is no method for the mids as tracks are very different and you'll have to react in consequence but if you mix in key no matter the songs are imbalanced, you can adjust them with your eqs and make the transition unoticeable |
so you only leave your incoming track's bass up when you know the songs are in key with each other? unless it sounds good on your headphones.. |
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| Rodri Santos |
| even if they are in key you should do that but if you do this you'll notice if they're going to clash before they completely clash |
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| kadomony |
| what i got from your original post was that you were talking about the bass of the kick or bassline of the outgoing track softening the impact of the kick/bassline of the incoming track. this is from frequency cancellation. if you did mean this, then there really is no way around it except careful eqing, as said above. you could also try nudging your outgoing track verrry slightly forward or back so the frequencies cancel at a different point and preserve as much of the desirable sounds as possible. all depends on the sounds used between the 2 tracks. |
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| brucelee6783 |
I'm not sure how to answer this because you aren't very clear about what you're asking.
Phrases need to match obviously, and a very oversimplified way of explaining this is :
Track 1 - Kick, Snare, Kick
Track 2 - Kick, Snare, Kick
The kicks, snares, hi-hats and such all need to be in sync with each other.
Now, if you're asking about EQ'ing techniques, follow the advice of the previous posters. I wouldn't cut the bass of a track by 50% though, that seems like too much. I recommend killing about 20% of the bass.
If you can't tell if the bass of each track will cancel each other out, you're not using your headphones the correct way. Try moving your cue pan to the center. Listen to both tracks simultaneously in your headphones. Start out with the cue pan only playing track A. Slowly move the cue pan towards the center and listen to how friendly the bass of track B is. Pan back to track A, make some EQ adjustments, and try it again. |
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| Mad for Brad |
| quote: | Originally posted by Rodri Santos
- Mixing in key
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that is the worst thing you could do. Not that you should be mixing basses but if you do, the closer the key, the higher the chance of phase cancellation. But honestly, who mixes bass content. Highpass the track you don't want the most present. |
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| utdarsenal |
Ok so I've started getting used to telling if the basses are going to cancel each other out on the headphones..
but many times when they seem to go perfectly together without any bass interference, I put the 2nd track halfway on volume.. it sounds fine... but I start putting the volume a bit higher and a bit higher and the basses start canceling each other out on the speakers, even though on the headphones they sounded perfect ..
does this all depend on the type of sound system that is being used? I'm guessing the dj headphones can handle a lot more bass than a sound system can which is why this happens? Because i'd assume the songs would sound well on the speakers together if they sounded good in the headphones..
thanks. |
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| Mad for Brad |
| The crowd is not hearing your head phone mix. Use your monitors. |
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