I’ve been working on this track for a while now, and I can’t seem to get the low end to sit right—the kick and bass just feel like they’re fighting each other no matter how I tweak the EQ. I’m wondering if maybe my monitoring situation is part of the problem, since I’m mostly mixing on headphones in a pretty untreated room. How do you guys usually navigate that kind of murkiness when you can’t fully trust your speakers?
Your monitoring in headphones in an untreated room is a familiar starting point. Do a mono check to hear the real relationship between kick and bass. Flip the phase on one signal and listen with everything in mono to hear cancellation. Then try a tiny high pass on the bass to give space and use a light side chain to tame the bass when the kick hits. Reference a track that translates well and compare the groove energy rather than chasing the perfect tone.
I am skeptical that the room is the whole story. If the mud stays when you swap monitors, maybe the issue sits in the arrangement or the bass tone itself. Try rebalancing the loudness so the kick breathes and the bass gets out of the way at the essential moments. The monitoring can help you hear it but you must decide the groove from the feeling.
Maybe the question is really about translation not a fixed problem with the mix. What sits right in headphones may not translate to club speakers or car stereo. In your monitoring chain you might be chasing a standard that does not exist outside a particular room.
Here is a concept you can try without over thinking. mid side processing can let you split the bass energy from the kick so the mono bass does not fight the stereo kick. When you listen via the monitoring chain you may hear the separation more clearly.
When I get stuck I try to focus on the feel of the groove rather than the exact numbers. The weight in headphones is a vibe thing and the monitoring setup matters but can trick you. Let the track breathe most of the time and fade small details until the groove gel is there.
One practical move is to run a sub bus with gentle compression and pull the bass back at the kick hits. Make a reference track and test on a phone or car to see if it translates. Keep listening in mono now and then to ensure the low end is not canceling out.