Guitars in the mix are muddy,bassy

[platinumx99]

Hi, I am mixing a song where the guitars are too bassy, i wanted more of a bassy sound, but this is too much. How do I fix this where the guitars come out in the mix more, plus getting the bassy sound tamed, maybe more high end or something. THanks

[Roy Howell]

You might try backing out some lower EQ before adding highs. Someone suggested that a while back and it's worked well for me. Without hearing it, that's where I would start. I'm sure there will be other suggestions too.
Good luck...

[mjames08]

you want to carve a spot in the mix for each instrument... if the guitars aren't as present in the mix as you want them, maybe they are conflicting with another instruments eq.. too much at one frequency can make some serious mud..

[marcusb]

Most important tip for mixing guitars ... never EQ them when they are solo'd, always EQ in the mix. That tip goes for pretty much everything in my book but mixing is personal.

If you want bassy guitars the trick is not to add bottom end to them, all you will end up with is mud as you've experienced and a whole lotta mess down there. Listen very very carefully to the relationship between your guitar track and the bass. Can you hear the bass?, when you add the guitar does your bass lose definition? if so start EQ'ing some of the bottom and low mids out of the guitar to integrate it better with the bass. Your big guitar sound comes from the guitar + bass working together to give you that big sound.

If you want more cut, i've been loving the 500-700hz range to bring out the rock in the guitar, very wide Q and subtle boost but it depends on the arrangement and other instruments in the mix.

Another trick if you want wide guitars too and have double tracked guitar parts, even if they are recorded the same (ie. different take by same guitar+amp+mic+pre) I will EQ them both slightly differently. I'll usually get one sounding good, pan them about 30 degrees L+R respectively then EQ the right or left a little different, might add a little more top end or cut more bass. I don't use drastically different EQ but the slightly different EQ seems to give you that extra width, it's great.

Cheers,
Marcus

[dodo]

Do a low cut.