Bass Loss on TV / Bluetooth Speaker

[Jimothy Swing]

Hey all. Made this beat a few days ago, and it's one of my favorites from among my own work.



The trouble I'm having is this: it sounds the way I want it to sound on my dogshit $20 headphones. It sounds nice on my wife's slightly better-quality headphones too. Bass comes through with that nice, thick sound I want.

But on my TV (using the built-in speakers) it's like the bass disappears entirely. The kick drum sounds thinner and punchier than I want too. Same approximate issue happens with my little Bluetooth speaker I use to listen to music in the shower.

Pretty sure it's just the speakers lacking capacity to play sounds below a certain frequency, but does that mean I have to avoid these sweet, deep bass frequencies that sound so great, just to accommodate low-quality equipment?

Seems like such a waste.

 

[crog85]

Yea, probably just the speakers... but I came across this a while back and thought it could help...

plugin is free too btw

 

[2GooD Productions]

Some speakers just aren't capable reproducing bass

 

[2GooD Productions]

Saturation can help making the bass more audible in higher frequencies, or laying higher frequency layers that follow the bass and give it a wider frequency range

 

[Jimothy Swing]

Saturation can help making the bass more audible in higher frequencies, or laying higher frequency layers that follow the bass and give it a wider frequency range

Will keep this in mind. The beat in question (and a couple others with this issue) lean heavily on sub bass, which sounds fantastic but apparently is too low on its own to register properly on a gas-station-quality speaker.

A little surprised it misses so hard on the TV but still registers on my super-cheap headphones, though. The headphones don't sound great but do seem to catch all the low end.

I think they're missing some of the high end, though, after listening to a couple beats in my car. Again, sounds good on the headphones, but in the car the snares are so sharp it's like they're trying to pierce my brain.

 

[digis]

You are not alone in this battle!!!

I've run into this issue many times. I'll make something on my desktop monitors (Adam F5's on my desk with books underneath), followed by testing it on a few other sources, an Iphone, a pair of ear buds, and usually some open back headphones. All sound great!
Then I go into my truck that I put a decent aftermarket head unit in, ran new wires to all decent aftermarket speakers and two 10's. Sounds shit .
So i'll take my laptop out to the truck, hook up to the stereo, mix the track again in there, and woulda guessed it, sounds shit on my desktop speakers now!!!!
Then I can go and play it through a buddy's stock car system and it will sound great, but shit coming out of his phone speaker.
I usually have the same issue as you with my bass just being non-existent, or sometimes something (usually a vocal or drum) will peak through the mix and sound ear piercing. I don't understand how the professionals are able to make the mixes sound so good on every set of speakers.

I've had the best luck with just trying to find a happy medium with the speakers you have access to. It's a pain in the ass but in my experience it just takes time playing with the mix and you can usually find an in between that will sound pretty decent everywhere you can play it. I find myself exporting like 10 times before i’m content with it. (Also, make sure to listen to the export and not just in the daw after you make some changes, depending on plugins, i’ve had some sound different before and after exporting.)
Best of luck!!!!