📑 Sections (3)

3. Final bass check before mastering

The checklist so your bass survives mastering: mono, sub-lows, even notes, audibility on small speakers and comparison against references.

Last step before calling the bass done. These are checks of a few minutes that catch the problems mastering amplifies instead of fixing. Do them once, in order, and move on: this list exists so you can finish the song, not to open new work.

The checklist

1. Mono

Sum the mix to mono with a Mixtoolstock. The bass has to still be there, with practically the same weight. If it drops, there’s cancellation: check that it’s centered, that both layers are in phase, and the polarity against the kick. It’s the most important check on the list, because mastering cannot recover cancelled low end.

2. Sub-lows

Confirm the 30–40 Hz high-pass is in place. Look at the analyzer: there should be no significant energy below 30 Hz. That inaudible content is what steals loudness from your master.

3. Even notes

Listen to the whole riff paying attention only to the weight of each note. None should jump out or sink obviously. If one jumps, the master’s limiter will react to it across the entire song.

4. Audibility on a small speaker

Play the song on a phone or laptop speaker. You have to be able to follow the bass line, even with no low end. If you can’t hear it, saturation is missing (mixing section 4), not volume.

5. At low volume

Listen to the song very quietly. At that level the ear is less sensitive to low frequencies: if the bass reads well there, the balance is right. If it disappears, it’s probably short.

🟠 Better to set it now· in mixing

Five quick checks on problems that mastering amplifies rather than corrects. Doing them now is cheap; discovering them after the master means redoing the mix.

Hear what a master “emphasizes”

To anticipate what will happen, try this once: put a limiter at the end of the main bus and push it until the song sounds loud. Not to keep it — to hear what gets exaggerated.

  • If the song starts to pump along with the bass, the bass isn’t even.
  • If the low end turns muddy, there’s too much energy down low or the sharing with the kick is missing.
  • If the bass disappears when limiting, it’s depending on volume instead of harmonics.

Then remove the limiter and fix in the mix what you heard. That’s how to use it without ruining your headroom.

Check it with the analyzer

Load your exported mix and look at the spectrum: there should be a solid low-end body but not an overflowing one, plus energy in the mids (the bass growl and the guitars). Also check that the peak is far from the ceiling, in the headroom zone.

Recording monitor

Play a signal or load your own DI/take and look at the level and the spectrum: that's how you know whether your take was recorded well before moving on to the mix.

This is how a well-recorded take looks and measures.
  • •Level — the peak should fall in the green zone (−12 to −6 dBFS): strong, with plenty of headroom.
  • •Clip — if it touches 0 dB (red) there's digital distortion: lower the interface gain and re-record.
  • •Spectrum — a metal rhythm guitar has body in the low mids and energy at 2–5 kHz; very high “fizz” gets tamed in the mix.
Load your own DI or take to check your recording against these references.

🎧 Audio to processChoose which sound goes through the effect:

  • •🎸 Bass — a synthesized riff with dynamics: ideal for hearing compression.
  • •📢 Pink noise — an even sound across the whole spectrum: ideal for “seeing” the EQ.
  • •🎵 Load your audio — your own file (MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, M4A…); it's processed locally in your browser and isn't uploaded anywhere.

Peak level (dBFS)— ·

🟩 Ideal zone: −12 to −6 dB. Avoid touching 0 dB (clip).

References: the best tool

Nothing replaces comparing against a record that already sounds the way you want.

  • Pick two or three tracks in the style, import them into the project and turn them down to your mix’s level (references are already mastered and sound much louder: if you don’t match the volume, the comparison is useless).
  • Compare one thing at a time: how much bass is there relative to the kick? Does the bass draw itself or is it just weight? Does the low end reach lower or higher than yours?
  • Check the references on your own systems (monitors, headphones, small speaker) so you can discount what is your room.

What you should NOT chase yet

Quick route — pre-master check

Quick path

  1. Mono: the bass doesn't lose weight.
  2. Sub-lows: high-pass in place, nothing below 30 Hz.
  3. Even notes: none jumps out or sinks.
  4. Small speaker: the bass line can be followed.
  5. Low volume: the bass reads well.
  6. Test limiter to see what gets exaggerated, and then REMOVE it.
  7. Compare against two references at matched volume.
  8. Export 24-bit/48 kHz WAV with peaks around −6 dBFS.

Expected result

Expected result

Your bass ready for mastering: it survives mono, has no useless energy down low, weighs evenly note by note, is audible on a small speaker and withstands a limiter without making the song pump. With this you close the full electric bass journey — recording, mixing and mastering notions. The bass is now a solved instrument in your project: what follows is adding the remaining sources of the guide song.