Low End Problems when Mixing

Using this track as an example. When I play it through my KRK's the mix sounds nice and full, plenty of low end. If I play it just through my speakers on my iMac the low end is all but gone.

Other music I play doesn't have the issue, all my purchased songs sound full, what am I don't wrong in my mixing that isn't allowing the low end to translate to other speakers and sound the same as when played through my monitors?

why would u buy monitors if ur imac speakers could do the same??

laptop speakers arent big enough to play those low frequencies.

i would boost the low mids on the bass if u wanna hear it thru shit speakrs

First things that I noticed about the mix was that the stereo imaging seemed kind of strange for the drums and bass. There was nothing in the center, the kick was panned out to the sides and the kick drum was very hard to make out. Both seemed like they had nothing but very low end, like 90hz and below for the most part....that combined with the panning gave a weak sounding low end to me.

For example, listen to this track that m-phazes did. His kick sits slightly below his bass in the center of the stereo image. Hats on the side, clap/snare in the center sitting on top of the bass.



Also, you can't expect super low end to pickup on small speakers like on an iMac. There are a few things you can do to make your mixes translate better such as basic EQ'ing, compression. Your mixes are probably lacking in the low mid range (100-600hz) since small speakers like iMac speakers have a hard time picking up stuff under 100hz. Another difference is that these people's tracks are mixed and mastered by professionals that do this every day for a living. The only way to get tracks to sound like theirs is to spend time researching mix techniques and practice them. You should be able to get a great sounding mix without mastering....the mastering engineer should have to do very little to make a song radio ready if the mix is good.

Now, go over to gearslutz and start reading!!

TreCipher617 wrote:why would u buy monitors if ur imac speakers could do the same??

I wanted better speakers to listen to music through. The connection I have into my iMac for mixing doesn't allow for the internal speakers to play so I needed external ones for that reason as well.

sirparksalot wrote:First things that I noticed about the mix was that the stereo imaging seemed kind of strange for the drums and bass. There was nothing in the center, the kick was panned out to the sides and the kick drum was very hard to make out. Both seemed like they had nothing but very low end, like 90hz and below for the most part....that combined with the panning gave a weak sounding low end to me.

Very good point, I've gone back and adjusted, sounds better to me.

sirparksalot wrote:There are a few things you can do to make your mixes translate better such as basic EQ'ing, compression. Your mixes are probably lacking in the low mid range (100-600hz) since small speakers like iMac speakers have a hard time picking up stuff under 100hz.

I've adjusted some things and re-upload the track. Still not exactly what I want, but I'll learn more as I go. Going to keep messing with it, almost seems the mids/highs are now too high and not level with the rest.

sirparksalot wrote:Now, go over to gearslutz and start reading!!

Bookmarked now, thanks.

That combined with gear slutz should get you started! Just listen to what you think sounds good and try some techniques that you read about to try to achieve that sound. Good luck!

on the back of the krk monitors you might have a knob to adjust the amount of bass the speaker does... you should turn that down and mix to what sounds proper...

those front ports are probably emphasizing the bass a bit too much causing you to leave it out? I dunno.. didn't listen to the track, but I read someone said you panned the bass.. maybe you should try and keep kicks and low sub bass centered cause subwoofers are typically mono... what if you panned it to the side that the subwoofer aint on? (for example if someone else is listening to the song online or what ever)

if you have solid bass content that's only not translating to smaller speakers, try doing some parallel magic

e.g. have kick, snare (optional, i usually like the additional movement it brings) and bass go to an additional bus, low pass it (say 150-250 hZ), apply distortion, hi pass it (100 hZ or so, i wouldn't use a steep filter for either).
doing stuff in this vein will add harmonics that imply low end, without those harmonics actually being in headroom eating territory. this adds another variable to the eq, pan, compress equation

if you're into panned kicks and bass and such, i'd experiment with using heavier stereo stuff on the harmonics and/or higher frequencies of the low end instruments (as opposed to the actual sub 100 hZ stuff), you'll less likely run into practical issues

but imac speakers these days are quite good.. you might have some other stuff going on..

So I've been working on all of this. I re-tracked and mixed an old beat that just sounded way to muddy. The new one has much more clarity over all I feel. I stayed more basic on it, applying filters on different tracks to free up frequency room.

I am still having problems with this mid frequency thing on different kinds of speakers.

I think I am moving in the right direction, but still more to go.

Original:



Remixed:

TreCipher617 wrote:why would u buy monitors if ur imac speakers could do the same??

So iMac speakers are just as good as KRK speakers?

The new iMac speakers are meant to be rubbish, which is no surprise with how thin the opening is for them.

oh shit, apparently im not up on imac speakers the models from a year or two ago have good sound though

i like the new mix better (except for that kick drum beater sound.. sound like those papery metal drums), i think you've gone in the right direction

it's hard coming back from a 'bad' mix, so i would let this rest for a bit and come back to it in a few weeks or so, you'll probably spot some new things you want to change

quincy jones and MJ used to play their music through the studio monitors but they also had this tiny mono shitty ass baby speaker they would run EVERYTHING thru... and the trick was if it sounds big on the studio monitors fine... if it sounds big on the shitty baby speaker.... MONEY.

Just finished this one for another forum. But moving more in the proper direction I think. Focused each track down to the main frequencies. HPF/LPF out the unrequired areas to free head room and add clarity. Took some advise posted above on focusing in on problem frequencies that were lacking. Corrected some stereo field issues. Overall happy, but still much more to improve on. So far, out of all the speaker setups I have to test on, this one sounds the most consistent across them all.

Appreciate the help/feedback so far. Cheers!

I'm not able to listen to the track but if you apply some light distortion to your bass it will emphasize the harmonics allowing it to be heard better on speakers that don't reproduce those lower frequencies.

It's a pretty common mixing trick

My tip for this is adding a little bit of distortion. I do this with my kick drum and bass, so it can translate through consumer speakers.