Should I cut lows from the bass or from the kick?

Neither as a rule. What works is deciding who owns each zone: typically the kick keeps the thump between 60 and 100 Hz and the bass keeps the sustain above or below it, depending on genre. Cutting lows from the bass «because it's in the way» usually leaves the mix without a foundation.

Do I always need sidechain?

No. Sidechain is a mixing solution to what is often an arrangement problem, and in music with a constant kick and sustained bass — house, techno — it's practically mandatory. In a band with real drums and electric bass, dividing frequencies and setting the compressor's attack usually does the job and sounds more natural.

Why does my low end vanish on a phone?

Because a phone speaker reproduces nothing below around 500 Hz: what you hear there are the harmonics, not the fundamental. If your bass only has energy in the fundamental, on a phone it doesn't exist. Gentle saturation that generates upper harmonics keeps the note perceptible even when the low frequency isn't reproduced.

What level should the bass be relative to the kick?

There's no fixed ratio, because it depends on genre and on which one carries the weight. What's useful is the check: pull the rest of the mix down and listen to the two together. If the bass disappears when the kick lands, or the other way round, they're competing. If they sound like one thing with two jobs, it's solved.

How do I know if I have too much low end?

The most reliable trick is listening on several systems, especially a small one that doesn't reproduce sub. If it sounds fine on a laptop and rumbles on headphones, there's excess energy below 60 Hz. An analyser helps confirm it, but cross-checking systems spots the problem sooner.

Mixing11 min read

Kick and bass: how to stop them fighting over the low end

Splitting the low register between the two elements that occupy it, with or without sidechain, and how to tell a mix problem from an arrangement problem.

Two elements, one place

The low register is the narrowest and most expensive part of a mix. Below 200 Hz there isn't much room, any excess piles up fast, and it's where the master limiter spends most of its effort. And down there you have the two elements that hold the song up competing for the same space: the kick and the bass.

The starting mistake is treating it as an EQ problem. Before touching a filter it's worth asking whether the arrangement even lets them coexist: a bass sustaining the same note the kick is tuned to, with the kick landing on every beat, has no mix solution that sounds good. Changing the bass register, shortening its notes or tuning the kick elsewhere solves in a minute what three plugins won't.

Dividing the register

When the arrangement does allow it, the work is assigning zones. The most common approach is complementary: where one has its strong point, the other gives a little. If the kick lives at 60-80 Hz, you relieve the bass there with a gentle bell; if the bass has its body at 100-120 Hz, you relieve the kick there. These are 2 to 4 dB moves, not 10.

Decide first who carries the sub. In hip hop and electronic music it's usually the bass or the 808; in rock and pop, the kick.
Whichever doesn't carry it gets filtered underneath: a high-pass at 40-50 Hz on the bass if the kick rules, or the other way round.
Find the kick's thump (typically between 60 and 100 Hz) and its beater click (between 2 and 5 kHz). They're two separate things and get adjusted separately.
The click is what makes the kick audible on a phone. Don't sacrifice it for more low end.
Check in mono: if part of the low end disappears when summed, there's a phase problem between mics or layers.

Harmonics: hearing a low end that isn't reproduced

Most people listen on devices that don't reproduce low end: phones, laptops, small bluetooth speakers. None of them usefully goes below 200 or 300 Hz. And yet the bass is still perceptible on them, because the ear reconstructs the fundamental from its upper harmonics even when the fundamental isn't there.

Hence a very profitable technique: add gentle saturation to the bass to generate harmonics in the 200 Hz to 1 kHz region. On a big system it barely changes anything, and on a phone it's the difference between hearing the bass and not. It's more effective than raising its level, which only eats headroom without solving anything.

Sidechain: when it's right and when it's laziness

Sidechain makes the bass duck every time the kick hits, clearing its path. In genres with a constant kick it's a structural tool and part of the sound: without it there's no way for both to coexist at that level. There it isn't a patch, it's the right move.

The problem is reaching for it as the first answer to any dirty low end. If the kick lands irregularly, the bass moves erratically and you hear the pumping. And if the real conflict was in the arrangement, sidechain disguises it without solving it: you still have two instruments playing the same thing, now with one of them flickering.

Before reaching for it, try the attack on the bass compressor, which achieves something similar more gently — it's covered in the compression guide — and check the balance with the mix analyser, which shows at a glance how much energy is piling up below 100 Hz.

Frequently asked questions

Should I cut lows from the bass or from the kick?: Neither as a rule. What works is deciding who owns each zone: typically the kick keeps the thump between 60 and 100 Hz and the bass keeps the sustain above or below it, depending on genre. Cutting lows from the bass «because it's in the way» usually leaves the mix without a foundation.
Do I always need sidechain?: No. Sidechain is a mixing solution to what is often an arrangement problem, and in music with a constant kick and sustained bass — house, techno — it's practically mandatory. In a band with real drums and electric bass, dividing frequencies and setting the compressor's attack usually does the job and sounds more natural.
Why does my low end vanish on a phone?: Because a phone speaker reproduces nothing below around 500 Hz: what you hear there are the harmonics, not the fundamental. If your bass only has energy in the fundamental, on a phone it doesn't exist. Gentle saturation that generates upper harmonics keeps the note perceptible even when the low frequency isn't reproduced.
What level should the bass be relative to the kick?: There's no fixed ratio, because it depends on genre and on which one carries the weight. What's useful is the check: pull the rest of the mix down and listen to the two together. If the bass disappears when the kick lands, or the other way round, they're competing. If they sound like one thing with two jobs, it's solved.
How do I know if I have too much low end?: The most reliable trick is listening on several systems, especially a small one that doesn't reproduce sub. If it sounds fine on a laptop and rumbles on headphones, there's excess energy below 60 Hz. An analyser helps confirm it, but cross-checking systems spots the problem sooner.