BASSLINE COMPRESSION ?!?!

[Doppio Malto]

right, i kinda understand compressors, about making the overall sounds more balanced, the peaks quieters, the lows a little higher, and increasing ratio increases compression.

But i still can't really get what i'm looking for.


When using ableton Operator, I sometimes transpose a synth right down to about -26 to use as a bassline.

firstly, is this a bad method of making basslines?

My problem is that these very low freq basslines are very noisey, very deep, and ideally i would like to compress them so i get the same sound, but a lot less beefy, more punch, i don't like to have to reduce the bassline volume level all the way down to -25/30


To be honest, Basslines are by far my biggest problem when producing. I think i can make decent hooks, that swing, but giving them presence without them being overpowering is tricky.

Any help welcome.

[Doppio Malto]

hmm, i'm guessing by the amount of views and the lacks of replies i asked a daft question....

[mlexicon]

sometimes sh!t can seem really complicated, but the real answer was there right in your face


if i were you try a sin wave....pitch it down a couple of octave

use more than one signal or oscillator, but dont make them exactly the same value in pitch...slightly change one above or below....


doing that will beef up your bass without having to deal with all sorts of other crap that might or might not add what u want to it

i dunno if that makes sense or not, but it makes sense to me

[steevio]

hmm, i'm guessing by the amount of views and the lacks of replies i asked a daft question....

is not a daft question mate, but bass shouldnt be a head ache really.

i think the most important thing is to get the overall key of the track right, so that you're not using bass notes that are either too low or too high to have any punch.
i make all my bass sounds with synthesizers. if i want a deep subby bass i will use a pure sine wave, if i want a more textured bass sound, i might use a filtered square, or a combination of two different wave forms.
if i find a very low bassline isnt cutting through enough, i will mix in another wave one octave higher, and filter the combined waveform down to the required point where its fattest, but still sounds like bass.
pure synthesized waveforms should give you clean results, much better than say tuning down a sample, which to me always sounds rough.

do a spectrum analysis of the seperate notes in your bassline and see what frequencies youre using. if you down below 30 hz you're way too low, if most of the notes are above 150 hz you've got no depth.
try to make sure you've got plenty of weight in the 60 - 90 hz area.

compressing your whole mix is really only a way of patching up something that wasnt right in the first place. get it right at the start, pay lots of attention to whats competing in the bass area of the spectrum, make sure you havent got clashing notes, or wayward subs from other sounds in the mix, use a high pass filter to cut the subs from other sounds, leaving plenty of space for the bassline.

and when you can afford it, get yourself a real analogue synthesizer if you want the ultimate bass sound.

i hope thats some help, and good luck mate !

http://www.myspace.com/steevio
http://www.mindtours.co.uk

[Alphajuno]

Use your ears.

[tzusing]

no i rather use my feet. i think it is far more productive. rather than say hear the sound...i feel the low end with my feet. the bass..oh yea. totally...

i like how the topic says bass compression and no one said a thing about compression.

instead we have people talking about using your ears...
hmm...

i can't answer ur question doppio... i have asked many different people, a few with pretty good sounding releases out..and they have told me they don't use any compression at all. others say they use compression on every single channel. so maybe its like asking the...what is the best DAW question.

[Alphajuno]

The orignal posters question might have compression in the title but his problem has fck all to do with compression.

Compression wont somehow magically pull a big mess together.


My experience tells me that the first and foremost point of call is your sound selection program the synth right in the first place.

A sine wave, layered with a saw an octave higher is always a good starting place. Then work on your envelopes, get them tight as fck (filter and amp).

Once your happy with that, if its lacking a bit of bite, a little distortion can work wonders to bring out harmonics.

Once this is working then look at:

Compression, only if it needs it; try programming the compressor in this fashion:

Set the ratio as high as it will go, the threshold as low, and the release as quick.

Then adjust the attack time to your preference paying ultimate attention to what it is doing. In relation to bass, if its on the off beat you might want to have a large attack to allow some punch through, if its gonna interfere with your kick maybe a slower one.

Adjust release to taste. This is all about the sustain.

Then bring the ratio to a point where its having the desired effect, this is basically telling it how much to squash the sound. Higher ratios are more limiting than anything else.

Then bring the threshold up. To a point where its only effecting the part of the sound you want compressing.

EQ is vital too to tame the bottom end and make sure its not messing with anything else-

Oh and through the whole process use your ears.

[Doppio Malto]

thanks for the tips there folks