Mixing bass (as in bass eq frequencies)

[dj daywalker]

I play house music

How do you guys usually transition your bass frequencies? I have found that sometimes you can get away with blending them a little depending on the songs and the speakers you are playing on as well as how perfectly beatmatched the tracks are but a lot of the time bass swaps and the like are are required so the bass frequencies dont cancel each other out ect.

Well I hate bass swaps and think they sound like ass, 99 percent of the time. this is especially true on the pioneer djm mixers because the bass seems to cut into some of the mids as well.

What are some other techniques you guys have found to smoothly transition bass frequencies? or is it just my speakers that suck?

[Buszaj]

Be sure to mix tracks that work well together. Tracks that have basslines that will flow nicely and not clash. Mixing harmonically helps with this. Honestly, I've found that just slowly blending the low frequencies works well most of the time. Just add a touch from your incoming track as you take out a touch from your outgoing track. Once they've been blending for a while, you can do a full or almost full swap of the lo's on a new phrase. Occasionally when I'm bored I'll play the lo's from one track for a certain amount of beats, then swap over to the lo's of the next track, and back and forth like that for a phrase or so.

[TocaTone]

To reiterate Buszaj, track selection is probably most important for smooth sounding bass swaps. And you're right about DJMs taking too much mids out with the bass. Makes the incoming song sound underwhelming. The newer DJMs (2000, 900, 850) have the ability to switch between EQ and isolator frequency curves which pretty much solves that and gives you a lot more control over the individual frequencies. Other than that just rely on your ears and good old fashioned DJ skills.

Think about rotary mixers with only two EQ bands or no EQ at all and how DJs blend with only two knobs!

[Hygro]

too many DJs cut the bass during mixes and end up having really loud mids/highs. If the songs don't clash, don't be afraid to mix bass. I wish Marc.S still did faderwave, he does a clean mix rarely touching EQs at all.

[Atomisk]

If you structure your mixes and EQ both songs right, you can honestly just cut between basslines. That's how I usually do it.

[de.j.l]

its all about the timing and phrasing properly, so theres a "flow" to when you blend//switch the basslines.
when in doubt, just cut them both.. let the build up happen and kick the bass back in on the drop :p

[M!TCH]

Not a huge fan of bass swaps. Phrasing is key here. Have bass on one second kick off right as the first track cuts it out.

[Grifff]

Three options that I do: 1) play tracks with basslines that don't clash - this can be done by practicing and seeing which ones don't clash and which ones do; 2) have track one playing, beatmatch track two and turn the bass eq down, then bring track two up. Switch the bass down on track 1 four beats before the next phase and then turn the bass up on track 2 so it coincides with the start of the next phrase; 3) Beatmatch, then slowly bring the upfader of track 2 up whilst simultaneously turning the bass down on track one - this is more for really slow mixes

[Celestial]

all good points here, harmonic mixing can do wonders for your mixes from a "harmonic" standpoint but does narrow down a tune selection. Worth the effort to label everything by keys though ;)

[ben mills]

Yes, the actual beatmatching plays a role - but more importantly is how cleanly you've laid the beats on top of each other. I've found that if you've laid the beats on top of each other perfectly, that you pretty much never have to do a bass dump, and can cleanly, smoothly, and incremently transition your bass.

If the bass is sounding funky, rather than trying to fix it with the EQ try to nudge one of your records a bit one way or the other...many times you'll hear the bass "whoomp" back into place and start banging.

With experience you'll do this naturally, and instinctively know which way to go with which deck. It's an advanced element of your beatmatching routine.

[ben mills]

a clean mix rarely touching EQs at all.

When I mix I'm much the same way - hardly ever touch mids or highs...and with the bass it is always a slow and gradual change. I like to use the change in bass in time with the phrases over several minutes...until the main drop when I hit full bass on the incoming track.

I also use loops to delay the outgoing and incoming tracks to properly line up the breaks for this effect.

[SmoothOperator]

Three options that I do: 1) play tracks with basslines that don't clash - this can be done by practicing and seeing which ones don't clash and which ones do; 2) have track one playing, beatmatch track two and turn the bass eq down, then bring track two up. Switch the bass down on track 1 four beats before the next phase and then turn the bass up on track 2 so it coincides with the start of the next phrase; 3) Beatmatch, then slowly bring the upfader of track 2 up whilst simultaneously turning the bass down on track one - this is more for really slow mixes

^^^ What he said.

+4. Using volume only slowly take out the old track as you bring in the new track paying close attention to loudness/db levels and making sure they don't rise during your mix. That way when the bass is overlapping you don't overload the speakers and the bass has room to breath.

[mostapha]

You don't need EQs to mix.

If you're getting serious bass clashes and you know the beatmatch is perfect, you're mixing the songs at the wrong time. Listen closely and most tracks will flat out yell at you when to mix them.

Other than that, don't have more than 1 channel fully open at any point…and if you do choose/need to use EQs, don't think you have to turn them down all the way.

My mixing got a lot better when I stopped using EQs and started listening better.

Case in point: http://www.mixcloud.com/josephsimoneau/breaks-2007/

No EQs. No effects. No volume faders. Just tight beat matching (yes, done by Ableton) and tight phrase matching.

At this point, if I touch my EQs, it's either because adding mid EQ gives a weird phasing effect on my mixer that's kinda cool or because I'm already screwing up.

[Hygro]

What, do you crossfade? Without volume faders, how are you getting it so that when you bring a new song in, it doesn't up the output volume a bunch?

[mostapha]

Proper phrase matching.

No faders. No volume adjustment. Everything was trim'd ahead of time to be about the same vague volume, but that's it.

[mantis]

how does ableton work for djing?
any links to youtube videos that shows that?
ive seen mixmeister fusion used for djing and it seems easy enough but not aleton

[mostapha]

Uhh……big can of worms. I'm sure that searching for "djing with ableton" or something like it would find you something. Basically, you're DJing with a full production sweet at your disposal and the ability to chop up and re-arrange tracks at will……it just takes some prep work.

Imagine Traktor's looping and hot cues……except an unlimited number of them, beat grids that you can adjust to changing tempos, and access to thousands of effects that might actually sound good instead of the same 3 or 4 that everyone else uses too…as many decks as you want…and more control over everything.

It really is daunting, but it's the only all-computer DJing system I've seen or used that seems any more powerful than decks.

[Luke Ryan]

Don't listen to anybody who tells you EQ'ing isn't the proper way of mixing. That's bulls#@!. This is all about knowing your music in and out. Some songs will sound good mixed together without a bass cut. Some songs can be phrased so that you're using a part of the song with no bass but when you fully bring it in, the bass starts to kick. Or, you can use the bass swap pretty seamlessly if the song you're bringing in has it's bass cut totally and then you find a good spot to cut the bass of the song you're bringing out at the same time you bring in the bass of the song you're bringing in. It has to be on the ONE beat as well. Or you can do the same technique but cut the bass of the song going out on the THREE and bring the bass in on the song coming in on the ONE