Heavily compressing the sub bass

[marshy]

Any reason why it shouldn't be done? Both for listening and playing in club reasons. Never compressed my sub before but i'm compressing the fuck out of it in the track i'm working on, i've been on it for a few hours now so all judgement has been lost.

How does it sound inside this track (trying my best to not make this a feedback thread) and what are the pro's and con's of doing so?

Soundcloud

[Genevieve]

For reasons unknown, I process everything in my track and cut out frequencies everywhere, except for my sub. No EQ, no compression, nada. The sub is entirely a clean, low sine wave.

...This is all I have to add. Which is essentially nothing. I don't even know why I do it, but according to my ears, that's the most powerful sub.

[-[2]DAY_-]

well this sub sounds great in my headphones (sennheiser hd280 pro's)...
methinks on a big rig the unadulterated sine would sound better.

[Kes-Es]

For reasons unknown, I process everything in my track and cut out frequencies everywhere, except for my sub. No EQ, no compression, nada. The sub is entirely a clean, low sine wave.

...This is all I have to add. Which is essentially nothing. I don't even know why I do it, but according to my ears, that's the most powerful sub.

This, you can pump it through EQ if you must to bring it out more, no need for compression.

Also, Bricked subs sound shitttttttt imho.

[qwaycee_]

alright.

so on a song like 'limit to your love', nothings happening on that sub? nothing at all?

[daft cunt]

I swear by this tutorial when it comes to sub bass : http://www.youtube.com/user/AnodyneIndu ... vSJtrCiso8
And this guy's production is tighter than anyone else's on this forum if you ask me - even though youtube's compression doesn't make it justice.

Back to the point, as you'll see in this tut, assuming you'll watch it, there's nothing wrong with limiting the sub if it sounds better to you.

[deranger]

My understanding, from what I've read from other posts and my own experience, is that it's better not to compress the sub. Why that is exactly I couldn't tell you but it seems to be true in general.

[gravity]

depends what type of sub you want really.

if you are just doing a standard sine sub then i wouldnt really bother

if you are using other things like lowpassed saws or squares then it can be really handy. although i tend to use a limiter rather than compression.

[marshy]

Cheers daft, nice tutorial. Am i playing my sub an octave too low compared to that youtube vid? The freq analyzer seems fine for me but i'm definitely an octave lower.

I guess on my compressor i am essentially pretty much limiting the sub in the same way he is, adding some distortion and harmonics that aren't usually there.

[Ongelegen]

For reasons unknown, I process everything in my track and cut out frequencies everywhere, except for my sub. No EQ, no compression, nada. The sub is entirely a clean, low sine wave.

...This is all I have to add. Which is essentially nothing. I don't even know why I do it, but according to my ears, that's the most powerful sub.

Same here, if it's a sine i leave it totally clean. But i do limit my lowpassed saws and squares like someone else mentioned.

[macc]

Bass is made to be abused if you ask me. You can always rebalance it after the fact with eq - it's always a sine at the bottom...

[Basic A]

I dont think Ive got a single tune on my soundcloud with an untouched sub... They sound good bare but I slap coloring compressor's on them all the time, nothing too severe color wise but Im pushing the cutoff/makeup's hard... i think it sounds great but I tend to toss technical right's and wrongs alot anyway...

Undeniably though, it will have an effect on say, the subtle volume lfo's you might do to match lead synth lines n ect... But on stabs for shaping, sustains for coloring, ect. ... mmmm....

*braces to get told to shut up and follow the rules of audio engineering because, this is, after all, dubstepforum*

[marshy]

Cheers guys, guess it all comes to do what sounds good, fuck what the book says.

Thing is though i have this problem where if i think i'm doing something different, i get it in my head that it'll sound wrong to everyone else, even if it sounds alright to me e.g track in original post. Guess it's something i just gotta get over.

[Sharmaji]

really smacking the sub never does much for me if it's a pure sinewave-- some comp to reign in the odd note, sure, but overall i don't like things pumping down there.

but then, come to think of it, I haven't used a bare sine as a sub in probably a year? 18months? I've got a 12" coming up that's got one in there, but the song's from 2008.

detuned, lo-passed reeses etc-- sure, i'll take 20db off of those. I want it to SOUND like it's beating and moving around, but not actually do so. give it back 4db of 60hz afterwards and yr golden.

but yeah, smacking a sinewave w/ compression always sounds like you're squeezing the balls out of it to me. I want depth and roundess out of a sub, and those seem to go away. If you're looking to make it more audible via distortion, tho, some good ol' VCA or FET compression can do wonders.

[serox]

Sometimes compressin it to much will just make things muddy when I try. It may sound better but its like a trick or something? a clean sub will do the job. Layer it up with something if you cannot hear it. each to their own tho!

[Dub_Fiend]

Typically I compress my sub pretty heavily... I just find that it's harder to hear the 'telltale' pumping sound when it's lower frequencies... I usually do it to make the sub a relatively uniform level (what with filters and certain notes causing fluctuations in volume) and from experience I do know that it's generally good practice to compress a real bass guitar as it's recorded so it's kinda stuck with me that way (though I know it doesn't really relate...)


Dub Fiend

[paravrais]

For reasons unknown, I process everything in my track and cut out frequencies everywhere, except for my sub. No EQ, no compression, nada. The sub is entirely a clean, low sine wave.

...This is all I have to add. Which is essentially nothing. I don't even know why I do it, but according to my ears, that's the most powerful sub.

This, totally this in every way. I'm not even sure why I do it that way myself, I used to process my subs quite a bit but after I read someone on here saying that they never bothered I tried it and was like "oh snap, this is better" never gone back

EDIT: Might be worth noting I never put an lfo on my sub, found in the past that it can send the levels a bit haywire for some reason I don't understand and to avoid compressing it or painful volume automation I just don't do it anymore.

[BABYLON]

If anyone need pure powerfull subbass read this article

http://techno-dnb.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 46&start=0

very intresting results from this...

[Dub_Fiend]

See, I basically do that already (take three square waves, low pass with no resonance) but as I said, I tend to find that keeping it uncompressed means that the overall perceived volume is normal but the actual volume fluctuates and can make some random spikes in the track... Thus, I compress the sub with PSP vintage warmer (which adds to the warmth of the sub) and add a couple of other effects which make the bass sound full and big but at the same time keep it at a uniform 'actual' volume whilst keeping the perceived volume about the same


Dub Fiend

[tripwire22]

I def compress my sub and I think my subs sound A OK