Bass frequncy
Hi there,
Although I am not familiar with the Zoom HD 8 Track I am a former sound engineer so may be able to offer some general advice.
Firstly, because the wave pattern of low frequencies is very long, there are a number of things that will greatly effect bass response caused by standing waves.
1) The position of your bass monitors. Ideally these should be low down but not directly on the floor, especially if the flooring is wooden.
2) Try your monitors/speakers at a slightly different angle. Bass can bounce off walls, back towards the sound source and phase out the signal, rather like a noise cancelling system.
3) Try listening to the sound in different areas of the room. You will be amazed at how the sound pressure level will vary, simply by you moving from one position to another.
4) Never put bass tracks exactly at centre, always offset them slighly by a few degrees left or right.
5) Do some of your mixing using headphones, you will not have to worry about standing waves. But remember that things sound very different on speakers in free space.
Strangely, the reason you are getting distortion when you turn things up is probably because your bass is on the verge of over modulation to start with. Really bass is felt, not heard. You could try is to decrease your mid and high frequencies a little. The ratio between high frequencies and low ones will then increase by default and your bass may feel heavier.
What are you mixing?
