Bass

most commonly panned center, since it commands so much attention

Jazz oftentimes place the bass off to one side

• normally done if the sound of the bass is thinner

In a typical pop situation with the snare on 2 and 4 A common 'trick' used to help tighten a groove between bass and drums is to leave a "hole" for the snare hit: sustain your notes right up to the snare hit, and then stop it just before the hit.

Compression

Compress somewhere around 4:1

Use fast attack time if the bass player is inconsistent with dynamic range (ie. playing loud in some parts and quiet in others)

Use a long release time when final bass notes taper off too fast, combined with a moderate ratio (e.g. 6:1)

EQ

If bass sounds a little dull, experiment with:

Try

Geddy Lee tone

Feed a single bass signal into 2 separate Aux tracks, then blend:

1. A heavily distorted tone with EQ cutting out the lows and highs
2. A clean tone with compression, and with EQ boosting up the mid-low