Mixing techno: low end, kick, bass and loudness

In techno, the kick and the low end carry the track. When they work, the rest of the mix has room to breathe. When they don't, work on the hats and synths won't make up for it. This guide covers the kick, the bass and rumble, the low mids, and loudness, with checks you can run on your own track.

Start with the kick

Choose the kick before you start mixing. A kick that already fits the track needs far less EQ than one you're trying to force into place.

A kick has two parts you can hear: the low body and the attack at the front. Kick drums also have a pitch (iZotope). iZotope's example is a TR-808 kick with its fundamental around 50 Hz. To find yours, put a spectrum analyzer on the kick and look for the lowest strong peak.

Then check:

• Does the pitch fit the key? A kick that clashes with the bassline makes the low end sound messy, whatever you do with EQ. Tune it, or pick another.
• How long is the tail? A long, boomy tail runs into the next hit and into the bass. With a rolling bassline, a shorter tail usually leaves more space.
• Can you still hear it on small speakers? Play the track on a phone or laptop. If you lose track of where the kick is, it may need more attack.

Set the kick's level first, and build the rest of the mix around it.

Give the bass its own space

Kick and bass carry most of their energy between about 20 and 160 Hz (iZotope). In techno they often play almost constantly, so they need a clear arrangement.

Write around the kick. Many techno basslines sit between the kicks, on the offbeats or in rolling patterns. If the bass and the kick land at the same moment, they compete for the same space.

Sidechain the bass. Ableton's manual describes putting a compressor on the bass with the kick as the sidechain input, so the bassline makes room for the kick. Set the release so the bass comes back before the next kick. If you only have a mixed drum bus, Ableton suggests enabling the sidechain EQ with a low-pass filter so the low end of the drums triggers the ducking.

Decide who owns the sub. Either the kick or the bass holds the very lowest frequencies. Give the other one a little less there with EQ.

Tune the bass to the kick. With the kick's pitch in mind, choose bass notes that sit with it rather than against it.

Control the rumble

The low, washy rumble under many techno tracks is often a reverb or distorted layer fed by the kick, filtered so only the low end remains. It can add weight, and it can also bury the kick.

Keep it in check:

• Duck the rumble from the kick, the same way as the bass, so each kick lands clean.
• Filter out the very lowest part of the rumble if the kick and bass already fill it.
• Mute it and unmute it. If the track feels emptier without it, keep it. If you can't hear a difference except more mud, cut it back.

Keep the low end in mono

Wide bass can sound great on headphones. But Ableton's manual notes that low frequencies can change color when they're played back in mono, which is why it gives the Utility device a Bass Mono switch. Its cutoff is adjustable from 50 to 500 Hz, and Bass Mono Audition lets you hear only the low end you're making mono.

Common practice is to keep the kick, bass and rumble centered and save width for hats, percussion, pads and effects. Check the whole mix in mono at least once. If the low end gets weaker or thinner, find the part that's spreading it.

Watch the low mids

Techno often stacks long, droning layers: pads, stabs, textures and reverb tails. They build up in the low mids. iZotope describes mud as a build-up of similar sounds below about 400 Hz.

High-pass the layers that don't need low end. Mute layers one at a time and ask what each one adds. Techno can sound full with few parts, as long as each one has its own space.

Percussion and the top end

Hats, rides and shakers drive the groove. Your ears are most sensitive between about 2,000 and 5,000 Hz (HyperPhysics), so any harsh edge in that range stands out fast. At high volume your ears respond more evenly across the range, so loud monitoring makes the top end feel exciting. Set hat levels at a moderate volume, where too much becomes tiring rather than exciting.

Loudness for streaming and for DJs

A techno track usually has two lives: streaming services and DJ sets.

Streaming. Spotify normalizes tracks to -14 LUFS by default and turns louder masters down. Spotify also notes that a dynamic master keeps its peaks, while a loud master gets turned down, so at the same playback level the dynamic track's peaks may feel louder. For techno, that's a reason to protect the punch of your kick rather than chase loudness.

True peak. Spotify recommends keeping true peaks below -1 dB, or below -2 dB if your master is louder than -14 LUFS integrated, to avoid extra distortion when the track is encoded. A meter that follows ITU-R BS.1770 reads both integrated LUFS and true peak.

DJ sets. In a set, the DJ sets each track's level with the channel gain. A master that's only louder gains you less than you'd think. A kick that still hits after limiting matters more.

A simple check: limit your master to the loudness you want, then turn it down to match an unlimited bounce and compare. If the kick lost its punch, ease off the limiter.

Check it against a released techno track

Pick a released track in a similar style that you know sounds good on a big system.

1. Import it into your project on its own channel.
2. Match its loudness to your mix.
3. Compare the kick and bass by ear on two systems, and on a spectrum analyzer.
4. Write down the differences before you change anything.

Slapback's Engineering Feedback runs this comparison for you. It measures loudness, tonal balance, stereo width, low end and dynamics against a released track it matches from a catalog of electronic music, or a reference you choose.