Part #11_Mixing Bass


Chuck Rainey / Dennis Belfield / Ray Brown / Tim Fahey / George Hawkins are bass players who make it easy to mix bass guitar into musical presentations. There are many more not personally known to me, but they share a common trait; they leave holes in the music they play so that other parts may fit in. The way they play around the holes allows their instruments to sound huge.

These bass players taught me how to mix music. They taught me how to let the show present itself. They have shown me the road to big and open mixing. Big and open is a mindset. It is how a mix engineer thinks about the process they are a part of.
Rainey

There is no correct eq setting, no perfect limiter/compressor tricks or where should you keep your meters to get a great bass sound in a mix. That takes a great bass player.

 Dennis Belfield


Ray Brown

You may or may not know the bass players listed above. This is a list of bass players I have seen provide big and open for other talented musicians, and a list of bass players who have shared their gifted abilities with those not so talented. 
With their open solid playing style, they either complimented the talent of those around them or they help to augment the show by covering low talent with its opposite.

Fahey

Hawkins

George playing bass on Keep the Fire LP.

Ray Playing on "The Gifted Ones"

Dennis laying down the foundation of "Feel Good"
Bass and drums are the foundation of most modern music. The foundation should be big and open even when placed soft and low into a mix. They should be clear, concise. They should be mixed as one. As stated earlier …you can’t have a big without a small to reference it too. The first thing to get small in a crowded music mix is Bass and Drums.

Next up …Whaaatt?

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