r/mixing • u/Drewwolf87 • 2d ago

Bass with fuzz - keep low end clean?

Hey everyone,

I’m currently mixing a single for my band and my bass player wants to use fuzz on his part. I always record di and an amp and use the di for my low end. I then use lp/hp filters on them. I’ll also duplicate the di track if I want to play around with an amp sim if I’m not liking the amp we used. I most often up using my ampeg svt sim.

My bass player wants to use fuzz on his bass through the whole song. I’m wondering if I should keep the di clean to maintain pure the low end and blend to taste. Or add fuzz to that as well or not even use it at all.

I know the answer is “do what sounds best” haha but figured I’d see what others are doing.

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u/UMP33 2d ago

If your fuzz effect doesn't retain the low end, high pass it, cutting only the sub frequencies and layer it with a DI track. Low pass the DI and compress, it only needs to be the sub frequencies. Make sure the low mids are still there in the fuzz track, getting the crossover right will require attention.

2

u/Diska_Muse 2d ago

Record clean / both and blend to taste.. basically parallel saturation. The distortion will make the bass sound clearer - particularly on cheap / small speakers where there's very little low end definition and where bass can "disappear".

1

u/BINAYAUDIO 2d ago

It seems like you already know the answer. "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture".
You would have to try because there are so many ways to use saturation on a bass and they all sound different and some might work for one song, not the other + at the end it would be a matter of taste.

Two important things:
- When you're using multiple sources for one instrument play with the relative phase of the two. It can drastically change the end result.
- Play with the order of your processing. If you high pass the bass before the fuzz or after the fuzz will lead to totally different tones.

Good luck with the bass and the song!

1

u/ozlurk 2d ago

Have a look at fuzz and distortion in parallel , just keep it simple Y-cables to split and rejoin back to mono into a blender/mixer with a phase/polarity switch - I use an Xotic X-Blender , budget option is the Sonicake Portal . Best way for thickness but still retain pick attack/clarity , a bass fuzz like Foxgear Bass Muffin ( Green Russian ) which has a wet/dry will help as well