Really Muddy Low End

T

Taybot

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I have this beat I made that I want to use to perform with but the problem is, when I play it on my boombox it the low end is super muddy. It sounds fine on my iMac and on my laptop but on my boombox it just sounds super muddy. The low end is so muddy that it drowns out most of the other sounds.

I went through and found the part of the beat that is doing that, and I sort of fixed it by lowering the decibels on the low end. I was wondering if anyone has any tips on dealing with this?

It sounded fine in my monitors but I was shocked when I heard it on my boombox and in my homie's ride cuz it sounded way worse.

Also, if it sounds like that on my boombox does that mean it'll sound like that on a pa system??

thanks a ton!
 
Hmm, i feel ya there.....I had the same problem.....But that's cuz my monitors weren't so good....My mixin and mastering drastically changed after i got some nice one's.....I think u should master ur final mix on some REALLY good one's...That makes the job way easier....But another thing (a very painstaking process) is fiddle around wit the EQ....N use compression on ur tracks or the final mix(depend's on the way you master) all over again...But dont n NEVER OVERCOMPRESS...That will reduce a lot of Frequencies n dynamics....Hope this helped...Best of luck with ur problem homie....z.Z.
 
ya thx! I already fiddle with the EQs tons and I've been learning about that so I'm starting to acquire some knowledge on the subject.

I have it narrowed down, I know exactly which 2 sounds are causing the muddiness. It's the 808 kick and the bassline. I know this cuz when I muted the bassline, my kick suddenly sounded fine.

So I cut the lows on the bassline and that helped a lot, but it was still kinda muddy. I couldn't get it perfect tho, and I spent all night working on it. I lowered the tone of the 808, I thought that would definitely fix it cuz I heard you're supposed to match the tone of your kick with the tone of your 808...but that didn't fix it either I was surprised!

I'm wasting hecka CDs going back and forth between my computer and my boombox.

One good thing is I can kinda hear what it's gonna sound like on my boombox if I unplug my monitors and listen to it thru my iMac speakers. It's this weird little sound that, once you play it in a whip or on my boombox, it just gets blown up to this crazy amount of muddiness.

the only reason I told that story is cuz I'm hoping someone will read it and know what I'm doing wrong, thanks to all the details I threw in. I have this show coming up so hopefully I can fix it. Anyways thx again!
 
ha good lookin out but the show aint til sat. and I'm still having tons of problems tryin to figure this out!
 
When people say to put a high pass filter on something, is that usually a special plug in or do they just mean make it yourself, like put an eq on it and turn the bass down, only allowing the high end through.

I always thought you could just make a high pass filter yourself using eq, but maybe I'm wrong? Thanks!
 
You can sort of make a filter like that (or rather EQ = filter), but of course the cutoff slope isn't probably gonna be too smooth. Whether anyone will actually hear the difference is another question...but as the saying goes, if it sounds good, it is good.
 
Oh ok so people mean to actually find a plug in called high pass filter, I take it?

Shoot that is good to know. Does Reason 4 have a high pass filter? All I see is an Envelope Controlled Filter, I'm not sure tho. Thanks!
 
just lower the low end frequencies on the bassline and kill some of the treble on the kick...a simple eq shud fix this...also go through and eq all the other instruments, try and create a space for each one
 
jpixels said:
just lower the low end frequencies on the bassline and kill some of the treble on the kick...a simple eq shud fix this...also go through and eq all the other instruments, try and create a space for each one
Click to expand...

well said.....But it aint dat simple...But i agree on creating the space...
 
whats up....ok for a cheap easy fix, slap on parametic EQ with 7 or more bands on ur master channel. ok step one... For the 1st band apply a high pass filter and then set it at 30hz(we want to cut everyone below that). Now on ur 3rd band, your gonna want to set it at around 300hz and apply a notch filter. It should look like a V shape. next, Ur gonna want to close it up. on ur 4th band, ur gonna wanna cut some around 500hz range. Drop the band down just a little bit, around 2-3%... Ur should also apply a a low pass filter around the 17.5khz range to remove any high end noise. Thats it...

I will also upload a graph for you incase my directions are hard to understand. This is fruity loops parametic eq 2 7band but applies to all the others.

i4g7kw.jpg
http://i35.tinypic.com/i4g7kw.jpg

These are just rough estimates as EQ varies from song to song.

Cheers
 
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ok well also try a slight pan, -2 to the left for the bass and +2 to the right for the drums...this can really help...lastly try tweaking the compression settings on the bass, maybe try and make it thinner instead of fatter by reducing input volume..
 
Without hearing a sample it's hard to say for sure but, try looking at bass conflicting tracks... like a piano riff in the lower octaves.... well any instrument in the lower octaves, you may need to reduce freq's that are fighting for space with the bass and kick, also look at all the other tracks, besides the bass and kick, roll off their bass freqs, just take the low shelf, drag it all the way down, and sweep to the right until you start to hear it "filtering" the sound, then back it off until you don't hear the "filtering" effect anymore, do that to all of your tracks, and I guarantee you'll lose a great deal of mud. Also, cut the high freqs, on your bass and kick....

The quick fix posted above should yield usable eresults, but I think when you eq the master buss to correct things, it almost always makes for a weaker sounding mix... just my two cents though...
 
yo! thanks for everyone's help. Over the past month I've learned a ton about this stuff, all thanks to a show I have to prepare for.

Anyways I agree that you should fix things at their source rather than on the master fader. Someone told me to put a high pass filter on the bassline at 50hz and the kick at 20hz, that has worked wonders.

I also am gonna take the other advice given in this thread, so thanks again!
 
If it's still muddy, roll off the 808s at 100 hz.
Your kick and bass are probably fighting around the 125 hz range, so some EQ should fix that.
I would cut the bass by about 3dB at 125 hz and see if there's any difference.
 
k I will try that. Someone sent me a link to a good EQ chart and the thing about rollin off bass at 125Hz fits with it. The chart says muddiness in bass is from 200Hz and less. At least I think it's a good chart:

http://www.sirgalahad.org/paul/music/eq-guide.html

yea that's why I don't mind askin questions cuz I figure someone out there is learning too, not just me. Whether it's someone helping me or just some cat lurking on the forums feel me!
 
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