![\"Smiley_Face_EQ\"](\"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Smiley_Face_EQ.png\" "\\"Smiley_Face_EQ\\"")
<\/p>\nWhile the very name “bass guitar” would strongly indicate that a bass guitar is all about bass frequencies, in a mix the bass guitar is actually better mixed as a midrange instrument. <\/p>\n
But before I get into that, a smiley-face curve of an EQ does in fact look like a happy face:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sometimes this is referred to as “scooping the midrange (or mids)” because it does appear like the middle was literally scooped right out.<\/p>\n
It’s easy to think, “Well, a bass guitar is about bass, so I should increase the bass, lower the mids and increase the highs to be best heard, right?”<\/p>\n
That usually doesn’t work, because in the end all that does is make your mixed sound whether studio or live sound “loggy.” Sure, you’re have thundering bass frequencies and hear the clack of your frets easily because the highs have been increased, but your sounded notes will more or less be drowned right out – especially when put “against” drums and guitar.<\/p>\n
In the sonic space you’re in as the bass player, the midrange is almost always the most accommodating in the respect that that’s the space you can use to cut through a mix effectively; this is why it’s better to tune your amplification towards the midrange instead of “all lows, all highs and nothing else.”<\/p>\n
If you have issues cutting through a mix now, punching up the midrange EQ a few ticks may get you heard better without<\/em> the need for louder equipment or an increased decibel level in the mix while in the studio.<\/p>\n The general consensus is that mid-scooping doesn’t work very well for most mixing situations where the bass is concerned. Do you agree? Or have you found that mid-scooping worked well for you? Where did it work? And more importantly, where did it not<\/em> work? Did you need to employ the use of better EQ control<\/a>?<\/p>\n Post a comment or two with your mid-scooping experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While the very name “bass guitar” would strongly indicate that a bass guitar is all about bass frequencies, in a mix the bass guitar is actually better mixed as a midrange instrument. But before I get into that, a smiley-face curve of an EQ does in fact look like a happy face: Sometimes this is … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3751"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Smiley-face\/Mid-scooping is not “bad,” but at the same time usually not good for bass in a mix – or is it?<\/h3>\n