One Note Bass

One note bass is not a performance technique, but rather a mixing/mastering issue whereby a particular low frequency band is noticeably louder than the rest of a recording. In this video, legendary mastering guru Bob Katz demonstrates this problem and shows us how to fix it, all within three minutes…

Mastering Unwieldy Bass

The one note bass problem often crops up in recordings, and tends to unbalance the entire mix. It’s vital to be able to spot it happening, and also to know how to remedy the situation…

It’s probably worth pointing out that a similar phenomenon can occur within the monitoring environment, particularly in a small home studio without proper acoustic treatment. Room nodes and reflections can result in particular bass notes being emphasised, and you might hear a ‘one note bass’ effect similar to what Bob just demonstrated. However, in such cases, applying EQ attenuation would simply mean that when you bring your mix to another stereo system for playback, the treated note will probably disappear – because the underlying problem was caused by the room/monitors rather than the recording itself.

This is why having an accurate monitoring system is important – so you can hear what’s actually in the mix itself, rather than what is being introduced by external factors.



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