For some reason 808 and sub bass drums give me problems when mixing, I can't get them to sound right. I want them to be present in the mix so I'll put them at a nice level but when I play the mix on some regular speakers with the bass up they sound distorted and too heavy.  I level them within the mix so I don't know why this problem occurs. I can play other songs where it sounds like the 808 bass is nice and heavy  and it doesn't sound like it's going to blow the speakers. How do you guys mix 808's in a mix.

Ah I figured out the problem. lol

well do share...do share

Any 808s I ever mix are AAAAlways the first thing i mix ill turn every other nob off get the 808 bouncing at a decent volume equed and compressed of course... Compressed sometimes sometimes not.. Then ill bring up everything around the 808s since usally its whats holding the track together.

^^^^^ same here

Posted By Pompey Productions on 29 Jul 2010 08:00 PM
well do share...do share

Oh it was just the compressor settings I had so I fixed the distortion problem,  im still learning the best ways to mix 808's down and thanks for the tips saint.

best ways to mix an 808 is to follow the recipe!

best way to stop them getting distorted and too loud is a limiter simple gives you control over it easily !

Haha this thread is slightly confusing.. here are my tips for mixing 808 drums

1. Paramic EQ 2 - eliminate any noise in the upper frequencies that might mud up the rest of your mix. Specify the tone and sound you want here

2. Compression - Sometimes I'll use compression to make my 808 more of a low banger rather than a strong kick with a trailing tone.

3. Limiter - Just like Tyler said ^, limit your 808's so they don't destroy the rest of your song

4. Layer - I like to layer my 808's with a kick drum to get some real thud.

5. Compare it's volume with rest of the mix and you're done.

If your bass sounds to heavy it's because they're to loud. Most soundsytems are manufactured to have a boost in the bass frequencies. Because of this you want to do your mix on monitors and headphones that cover the entire frequency range and is flat with no boost. When I use 808's I use a regular kick too. I cut the kick between 60-80hz and the 808 between 120-140hz so that they work around each other. I'll solo the two together and make sure they sit tight in volume levels. If the 808 is more audible then the regular kick you should turn it down because of the boost most systems will add to it's volume anyway.

What do you people do if the trailing sound after the 808 sounds out of tune? I dont mean the wrong pitch, I just mean out of tune like a broken piano?

I either find another 808, or "edit events" on the pitch knob to fit the tune that you want. It's very precise and boring to do.

i've always ran away from 808s because i had no idea on how to mix them down nicely without ruining the track
i'd love to see a new tutorial on how to get it smooth and tasty

I put up a few observations here : http://ryattreid.tumblr.com/post/912468415/music-halls-mixing-discussion-n-1

Wow Thank you guys you gave me some good tips i will tryout! check out my mix i have now www.bwrightonthebeatz.com tell me what i can improve on please

You can also try to autotune it.

^That's a good advice. The 808 sounds out of tune sometimes because it's not the same pitch all the way, its pitch is falling down, fast at the attack and slightly slower and subtle at the end. If you use a tuner like Auto-tune, it'll make it the same pitch all the way, and that's what you want sometimes.

On snap megiddo I didnt know that. Imma try it out. 808s that changed pitches always pissed me off.

Yup that is annoying.
I mostly use them to go to the next part of the song or something.