Favorite methods of checking bass in recordings

[Cryonicsound]

Hey all,
One of the issues that just about every engineer seems to fight with is the low mids and bass in their recordings. Unfortunately, not everybody has a access to a nice set of full-range speakers, so I'd like to ask you all:
What's your favorite method of checking the bass in your recordings?

[drumsound]

One thing I do is listen on little speakers at medium and low levels. I'm trying to make sure I have ehough upper mids in the bass so it speaks on "lesser" systems. Also if they start farting out I know there's too much low bass.

[leftofthedial]

For me it's kind of weird. I used to have problems with low end woofiness when I mixed analog through my outboard gear and my ghost. But ever since I switch to ITB mixing, that problem doesn't ever happen to me anymore. FWIW, I have a sub that I can solo, but ever since I switched to ITB mixing, I rarely even bother.

[darjama]

I'm in the box and I still have the hardest time getting my low end right. I actually use my laptop speakers for checking low end, if the bass & kick are audible on them but not overpowering on my nearfield monitors, I know I've in good shape.

[mjau]

I'm in the box and I still have the hardest time getting my low end right. I actually use my laptop speakers for checking low end, if the bass & kick are audible on them but not overpowering on my nearfield monitors, I know I've in good shape.

It's a difficult thing for me to get right, too. I end up burning a mix to cd and then checking the car. It's not efficient at all, but it works.

[DefD]

i'm still blind in that area and never really know until later.
but i do try to listen on alot of different things (apart from my my JBLs and KRKs) including earbuds, closed phones, old 6x9 car stereo speakers mounted in closed back boxes, a boombox and at least one home stereo.
i also work the upper mids on the bass-related instruments, those have to speak well.
the 6x9s are often my best gauge.

[I'm Painting Again]

I sometimes split the difference between phones and 3 different sizes of speakers..

[mjau]

True - phones can help tons. I've got a cheap pair of Koss headphones from back in the day, and bass problems are usually very obvious on those.

[8th_note]

It's a difficult thing for me to get right, too. I end up burning a mix to cd and then checking the car. It's not efficient at all, but it works.

Me too. I also check it on our other computer which has a boomy sub. If there's peakiness in the midbass it will show up there in spades.

[rydberg]

I find the best thing to do is listen at low levels for balance issues. For EQ, headphones are good references and so are car systems. I also like to crank up the mains and walk across the room to listen. Fletcher-Munsson kicks in, but it works for me sometimes.

P.

[JASIII]

For me it's kind of weird. I used to have problems with low end woofiness when I mixed analog through my outboard gear and my ghost. But ever since I switch to ITB mixing, that problem doesn't ever happen to me anymore. FWIW, I have a sub that I can solo, but ever since I switched to ITB mixing, I rarely even bother.

I had a similar experience, ITB I have fewer issues. I do a lot of the things mentioned before: listen in car, listen at low volume, different speakers. I have a really crappy Aiwa bookshelf stereo system from 1997, that has the worst fake sounding, exaggerated bass. It woofs in a very obvious and not so good way. If I can burn a cd and it sounds somewhat firm and tight in the low end on that system, I'm happy.

[kayagum]

I have a cheap consumer subwoofer that I use only as a spot check towards the end of the mixing process (kind of like an Auratone for the sub 100Hz area).

[themagicmanmdt]

this may be a horrible way to do it, but i directly compare the tracked material to another like minded produced album, or, for extreme cases, some of the albums with tons of low end.

for example, no album can be muddier and bassier than the microphones' "the glow pt 2" (which is actually one of my favorite albums, btw).

or, i'll put on RAM by mccartney. or, drums not dead, by liars.

and if the track is overpowering or stands out in those lows by THOSE albums, then that frequency sticks right out at me, and it gives me confidence in squelching the lows, so to speak.

my personal problem areas: 80-110 and 250-450. for the album i recorded recently, bringing down 300hz about 2db for drums did wonders for the entire mix.

[Brian]

I do the NS-10 trick = look at the edge surround at 90db, if there is one crease in it you have too much, then I listen in different spots, different speakers/systems, then I look at it through a spectrum analyzer and see if there are any really obvious proble notches. Then I put it through my home made routing scheme in PT I call the "Masterizerer" yep, that's spelled correctly.

[T-rex]

yeah, this is the toughest part for me too. I use a $10 pair of powered computer speakers and they rule for bass. Exactly like drumsound says, if there are enough upper mids than you can still hear the bass in those tiny speakers, but if not, when you switch to the little speakers the bass goes away.

I can throw a multi-band comp on the bus and it always hits the 250 - 400 hz area hard while leaving the rest of the mix relatively untouched and immediately makes the mix sound better and cleaner. So I know I need to focus on clearing that area up but I am still working on being able to do it.