Producing/mixing with a bass amp vs headphones

I am in the process of selling a bass amp. I plugged in my Syntakt to the amp just for giggles. The bass kicks and drum groove translates so much better versus my headphones. Does anyone produce like this?

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Hi, just from a general standpoint you want your music to sound good on any speakers, if you use a bass amp as a reference to mix your music you will have to re-eq everything if you ever decide to take it out of the box.

It’s going to hit hard, but it’s probably going to sound bad on your headphones or any speakers other than a bass amp if you eq anything or adjust levels to match the amp. A keyboard amp has a lot of range, you can get into bass territory with it without sacrificing all the dynamic range of your machines.

:v:

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Sounds like you need better headphones. What are you using currently?

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I have a pair of Sundara HiFi Mans? and then I have a pair of Sennheiser HD25 I use for DJing and mixing. But idk the Bass amp the groove just sounds so much better on the bass combo.

check the bass response curve of the speaker on the sealed cab bass amp combo vs that of the bass speakers they use at parties and you will find that the dots begin to connect themselves :slight_smile:

Mixing low end on headphones is not very easy. Not impossible, but just a lot tougher than on a proper speaker system.

I suspect that the reason it sounds so much better on your amp is on the one hand that it simply has way more bass :). On the other hand it’s probably because it’s mono right in front of you in stead of two seperate speakers in a room that has more influence that way.

Anyway, it’s not the solution to a better low end mix. But as an extra reference point, why not :slight_smile:

As for mixing on your headphones: check out SoundID reference for headphones by sonar works. And add a little bass boost with the build in shelf EQ after selecting the calibration profile formulier headphone. That will help a lot.

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I do agree that certain speakers are much more fun to jam on then on monitors. Because monitor speakers are designed to be as flat as possible (among with proper room treatments)
They are tools to help you make mixing easier and get a better mix to translate on other systems. Flat can also be kinda dull depending on the brand. There isn’t any real flat response speaker so you allways listen to some kind of EQ curve:

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By all means mic up and record the bass amp - you’ll achieve a unique sound.

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It sounds so much better, like the sound I want to achieve but doesn’t translate on my headphones XD.

Who cares​:rofl::rofl:

Jokes aside. If this works for the creative process you could switch between different monitor options while playing. This could help to listen the way you prefer and keep track of the actual balance in the mix. I’ts far from ideal and a bad advice actually but if it’s working why not. I like to have some impulse response reverb of a big hall 20/80 wet/dry on my master sometimes while jamming. Just to get myself
More of a glimps how things could sound in a club. There are no rules.

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you could wear headphones thru the headphone jack and play it externally through the bass amp from the line out, then you could check back and forth without sacrificing the creative process.

I care. It sucks tuning the low end for an hour to get it to somewhat translate. Then getting that same vibe plus way more oomph on a bass amp in like 1 minute lol.

you know, if your primary goal is to have fun playing music at home there’s no wrong way to have fun making music. if you get the most enjoyment out of having what you made sound good in your own space this seems like a good way to do it, it’s only if you care what it sounds like when played through other headphones/speakers that you need to plan ahead for.

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yes

not much to say other than that

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Not to mention, the bass amp is mono…Although checking a mix in mono can be good, you’re losing the stereo image with the bass amp & generally, this will not translate well to other listening devices/systems.

Have a good one,

3EO

If you have a decent mic, record it from the amp and see if you can mix with that. Why not? It works for bass guitar.

Exactly. Conversely, if the OP wants their music to sound good in a variety of situations, in professional settings, they might eventually want to consider some studio monitors and a matching sub. Eventually, mixing with both good headphones AND studio monitors, and even a SECOND set of monitors is often desirable to catch any sneaky problems in a mix. Add to that, playing on a phone speaker and in a car can be good checks as well.

I also keep part of my powered PA and a PA sub in my studio for final run-throughs of live sets and to test mixes that are meant for clubs.

All this may be overkill for most folks, but it’s just an example of how deep one can get down the rabbit hole of balancing music mixes for a variety of systems.

But if the OP is enjoying the sound of the bass amp and just wants to jam, nothing wrong with that.

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I’ve done this before but with a shit mic. Recorded the output of a speaker in a room and mixed it in with the original. Pretty good result.