Originally Posted By: rayc
Originally Posted By: Bass Thumper

But what I think I’m learning from Kenny is that the sequence order matters. At 4:19 he talks about EQing after compressing.

The reason is, and it ends up being quite logical, if you boost and cut EQ before compression the compressor will attempt to level out the boost and cut...it will squash the boost & try to lift the cut. In a way compression will undo much of what the EQin does.
Yep, this makes sense, I'm beginning to get this now. I will definately make this change in my signal diagram when I revise it.

Realistically your amp isn't necessary. You'll find a great clean sound straight from bass to interface.
You're probably right on this, but I really like the sound of my amp when I record or practice.

I'm not a fan of normalizing. I try to get a decent level on the way in and if I'm not loud enough I can lift the level ITB norm'ing will lift the noise floor as will raining the volume but normalizing reduces "head room" or the appearance of it anyway. Compression, EQ et al add a lot to a signal so I like to do those things without that process. I used to do it back in my dim darks but too often didn't like the sound I ended up with after processing. There's probably no logic in this but it is a process that ought to be unnecessary in 16/24/32 bit recording.
The last issue for me is your export to MP3.
I need to research this a bit. I don't follow "I can lift the level ITB norm'ing will lift the noise floor".

It's a compressed, lossy format that doesn't decompress on playback, (unlike FLAC), so you're losing some of your very low bass in that - nothing that most folk will hear but - the loss and the compression undo a little of what you have achieved in processing.Alos need to research what this means.

Unless you have really bad internet you should upload as a .wav file or equiv. Soundcloud adds it's own compression/processing so the better quality the file & the closer it is to their preferred LUF, (current wisdom - White Sea Studio - is that slightly over is better than under as the processing also lifts and that can be more damaging), level the less undoing occurs there and the better your bass will sound.
I do happen to have poor internet, not even full broadband yet; they keep saying "2 more years". But I recently discovered the M4A format. From what I understand it is higher quality than MP3 and is 40% smaller in file size. So far I haven't seen any incompatibilites with it yet.

What I'm piecing together in terms of importance to the listener regarding bass EQ and mixing is the following.
1. Volume Automation is top dog. No matter how well you process your bass waveform a volume that is too high or too low is bad.

2. EQ is 2nd in importance. The super-low end mud and the high frequency artifacts need to be attenuated.

3. Compression comes in 3rd.

4. Everthing else is less important.

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