Bottom end of mix/Sub Bass

[Phase Ghost]

If you want full, spacious music and big sub bass, TURN DOWN YOUR SUB BASS, turn it down to -12db and start your kick at -6db and go from there.


You'd be suprised how much louder everything gets when you are not taking up so much energy from the bass.


Less bass is more bass.... seriously though.

This is a million percent true! I'm pretty lucky to have a friend who has a mobile soundsystem. 15 or 16 15" subs, maybe more. It's massive. It's usually in a trailor, but we hooked it up in his basement over the weekend. I ran a few of my tracks through it and really got a feel for what the bottom end is up to. Something that is so minute in the studio comes blazing through when listening to it there. It really made me rethink how liberal I've been with the sub line.

[Myfirstcasio]

Couple of tips:
1) Depends on the situation of course, but the effectiveness of a sub bassline is only about 20% dependent on the bass itself. It's really important to pay attention to what's going on *around* the bass, because a pure sine wave needs to be given space in order to work well.

By the space around the sound, do you mean freeing up the frquencies around the sub (creating empty/silent content) or paying attention to additional harmonics in this space?

Both, but I actually meant the mix as a whole. When you have quite a stripped back arrangement (which IMHO is where subs work best), the effectiveness of the sub is directly related to what the hihats and percussion and everything else are doing. I guess what I'm trying to say is that from a psychoacoustic standpoint, the purity of a low sine wave means that its interpretation by the listener's ears depends a lot more on its context than, say, a big fat saw lead, which leaves very little to the imagination...

Got ya, I will keep that in mind, thanks dude.

[Dusk]

Take a sine wave, maybe sampled from an analogue synth (I use Trilogy for this)

->good dose of saturation and/or overdrive

->24 db LP filter right down at between 100 and 150 hz

->heavy compression (6-9dB gain reduction)

->optional sidechain limiter linked to your kick, if using a longer release on the sine wave

-> switch between monitors and headphones to monitor! Cans typically go lower and are free of the acoustic interference and standing waves which can destroy any chance of creating accurate sub bass

[maximini]

case in point: listen to deadly deep subs by dillinja. then listen to slap by umek.

damnit... again this umek track

[damagedgoods]

case in point: listen to deadly deep subs by dillinja. then listen to slap by umek.

damnit... again this umek track

whoooosh

[Daemonix]

Take a sine wave, maybe sampled from an analogue synth (I use Trilogy for this)

->good dose of saturation and/or overdrive

->24 db LP filter right down at between 100 and 150 hz

->heavy compression (6-9dB gain reduction)

->optional sidechain limiter linked to your kick, if using a longer release on the sine wave

-> switch between monitors and headphones to monitor! Cans typically go lower and are free of the acoustic interference and standing waves which can destroy any chance of creating accurate sub bass

In my case I have tested a triangle wave (I use a Tetra) but I thing with the LP filter so low is almost the same as a sine. is killing the harmonics

[Brankis]

you can do it with a single pure sine wave

there are alot of techniques to getting a fat bass sound. but i honestly believe the main concern is in the tuning/musical relationship in the bass/kick and rest of the track that makes it sound "big"

more about music than production process imo

[Minimal Samples]

case in point: listen to deadly deep subs by dillinja. then listen to slap by umek.

damnit... again this umek track

whoooosh

Lol, you're too cruel