Too much low end in my rough mix

[Sassi]

A strange thing is happening. I am mixing this band, and when they get the rough mix to home they always complain about the low end. Listen to mix in home and change the eq later is normal, but this time the diference from what we hear in the studio and later in home is huge. I have to drop 4 dB in 100 Hz to sound right. Had anyone this kind of problem? I start to thinking that the problem occurr when I bouce the tracks to estereo.

P.S.: I work with Pro Tools in my Mac.

[8th_note]

As a trouble shooting exercise decide on a CD or two of a similar genre to the band you are recording that has a good bass balance. Compare this "standard" to your mix in the computer and then to your mixed-down CD. Did the sound of your mix change relative to the standard when you bounced it to stereo? Have the guys compare the standard to your mix CD on their stereo at home. You may have a bass problem that is fairly narrow in bandwidth that is being exacerbated on the band's home system. It will show up more clearly if you compare it with a known CD or two.

[???????]

sounds like they have their home system speakers sitting on the floor. hahaha.

[Mark Alan Miller]

If you check your monitors with some known CDs like suggested above, and things sound pretty sane to you, i'd question the bands speakers, too...
Ask the band if it's a problem on more than one system. Ask them if their speakers are against a wall or worse yet, in corners.
It's most likely a combination of a little bass-light thing happening in your room and a little bass-heavy thing happening in theirs.

Keep us posted on what you find out!

[drumsound]

Have you dont other porjects with this set-up(room, monitors, placement)? If so how did those translate to the outside world? Have you taken said mix to other systems and and experienced the same thing?

If this is the first project in the room, or with new monitors, I'd say investigate your room. Bass trapping is monumental.

If its only happening on their system, well then I'd guess it's either their room or they have some kind of home stereo bass boost/cheap sub-woofer BS going on.

[surf's up]

Bass trapping is monumental.

agreed. your mixes will translate much more easily if you are monitoring in a room that isnt too wacky in those lower frequencies.

understanding that for a lot of us, on a budget and without proper control rooms, checking your mixes on other systems is important. it can give you a better understanding of the weaknesses of your room or monitors.

[joeysimms]

.. I have to drop 4 dB in 100 Hz to sound right..

For my own stuff I usually high pass everything at 100hz but drums, bass, and the occasional low synth part.

[joelpatterson]

I still say the reels on your moderator tape decks and moving at different speeds and you're stretching the tape.

[drumsound]

I still say the reels on your moderator tape decks and moving at different speeds and you're stretching the tape.

The reels will move at different speeds depending on where the in the tape you are playing. The reel speed needs to change as load of tape varies. The crucial element is, is the tape passing through the capstan and thus over the heads at an even rate.

[KennyLusk]

I still say the reels on your moderator tape decks and moving at different speeds and you're stretching the tape.

[supafuzz]

what speakers are you using?
what's your power amp
what kind of board?

that would help

[Piotr]

If your gear is fine, or if you know your mixes can stand up to outside scrutiny, then beware those who would have you change 4db...

[kayagum]

Bass trapping is monumental.

agreed. your mixes will translate much more easily if you are monitoring in a room that isnt too wacky in those lower frequencies.

understanding that for a lot of us, on a budget and without proper control rooms, checking your mixes on other systems is important. it can give you a better understanding of the weaknesses of your room or monitors.

And after you get proper bass trapping (and ONLY after), you may want to get a subwoofer, if only to be able to check on the sub 100Hz stuff. If you can rig it on a signal switch so that you can have it on or off, that can also help too (probably good to listen to the mix both ways).

[Mark Alan Miller]

Something else to seriously consider is tryng to make your clients aware of really how different every single stereo sounds! it's human nature to really not hear those differences so much when listening to other people's records, and to hear them radically when listening to one's own. In other words, they might have their stereo set really bassy, and simply not realise it...
... After i became aware of this occurring all the time with cients years ago, I now ask them to be aware of such things when listening to their mixes. I ask them to carefully evaluate the sound of their favorite records on the various stereos they use to really learn the differences in sound they all impart, and to have some sort of aural yardstick to use when listening to their own stuff.

My suspicion is, if the folks in question here were to do that, that they'd find that a lot of records sound bass-heavy on said stereo.

[markmeat]

I had a guy in a metal band come back to me and say there was too much low end in the mix when he got it home too, and though he was next to me when we mixed it and loved it here, hated it when he got home... I asked what he was listening to it on and he brings in a jambox from his car with "Bass Boost" cranked up... I asked him if he thought THAT might be affecting how bass-y it sounded and said (very matter-of-factly) "everybody listens to music with Bass Boost on... it sounds better" (I turned Bass Boost off on his box and he liked the mix, but I had to remix it anyway to his liking... which of course killed the mix on any "respectable" stereo)... sometimes you just can't win.

MEAT