How do you guys get your sub frequencies right?

[sargentpilcher]

I consider myself pretty adept at production, but one area where I'm especially lacking is the sub bass category. I have headphones that I use (50$ studio monitor headphones. Nothing crazy), and some monitors with only 5" speakers, so getting the lower bass right is very difficult for me to get right. I see a lot of people talking about adding in a sub bass sine wav on bass, or kicks, to get the frequencies in there, but I don't have any method to know what it would sound like on a dance floor. How do you guys handle that? Do all of you have subwoofers? Are there special headphones I can buy with excellent bass response?

[narcissus]

when i originally became interested in making bass music, this was an issue for me as well. i think the best way is to go listen closely at parties with fat sound systems, and see what you really like. later, listen to the same tunes on your monitors, phones, car system, whatever you can. this'll get you familiar with the 'optimum' amount of sine wave to mix in.

i originally just turned my monitors way up when i wanted to feel the bass.. but it's hard to get a good feel in a small room for the rest of the mix when it is blasting and shaking the building.. so i got a shitty little sub to help me. it definitely let me feel my basslines and how they interacted w/ the rest of the mix, but you wanna get one with an accurate frequency response.

after a certain amount of doing this, i stopped feeling the need to plug the sub in... i already just "knew" where it would sit and how it would feel. now i just use my monitors at medium level, but when i play a party the bass always bangs just right.
so basically... you will develop 'feel' for how much sub a tune should have even when working on shitty phones, but it may take some careful study before that happens.

[Artie_Fufkin]

For working on headphones/laptop speaker or just if I don't feel like having a lot of subbyness(lol) coming out of my speakers (for fear of damaging them...), I distort the sub. It's easier to listen to longer. This doesn't work very well for finding the right levels, but I think it helps when working on speakers that can't handle sub bass. Then take off the distortion before rendering your song.

[deadly_habit]

make sure my drums are cut for subs, then mix my subs 2 dbs higher than the rest
as long as it sounds good on my monitors, headphones, home system and car all compared i succeed
though i tend to hate my kicks

[wormcode]

Listen to the tune at really low levels, you should be able to hear everything in the mix still, including the sub bass.
Constant cross referencing, lowering mastered tunes to match your levels and comparing the basses. Low pass the tune, listen to the sub bass, there should still be a nice little thump from the kick around 60-100hz. Solid air pushing out of bass ports is good. Subs aren't necessary as long as you have some good cross referencing going on, and know your room/speakers well.

[lloydy]

I have monitors with a sub but do most of my mixdowns on headphones.I use logic pro,when i mixdown with headphones i use logics multimeter,it has a meter that spans the whole of the spectrum and shows you whats peaking where.My subs are allways peaking at around 65 to 70hz,i cant hear it normally well dependent on the track really but the multi meter shows me if it is peaking to loud.Usually doing it this way i don't get problems with distortion if i do a bounce to check in my car which was a problem for me with sub levels before i started using the multimeter.

[drooka]

yo op check this thread out, loaads of stuff on sub bass...
http://www.dubstepforum.com/legend4ry-s ... 43648.html

a lot of that can be applied without even hearing your sub bass.. you'll get a feel for where it should hit and how hard. normally i try to aim for around 2 db less than what my drums are peaking at and then adjust from there accordingly

[Genevieve]

Just use a single sine wace with nothing else on it, about 2 or 3 db quieter than my drums are peaking. If you've got a subby kick, sidechain the sub to it. If you're about the weak kick but heavy sub, make sure your kick has no sub in it.

[.onelove.]

I'd say it's better to automate some EQ'ing of the lower end of the kick rather than sidechain. You don't want your Sub ducking out whenever a kick comes in.

[blinx]

Operator single sine wave usually. Ill paste over my bassline midi and then drag the midi up or down octaves int piano roll until i find the correct octave. You know your in the right place when the entire bassline is really hitting well maximizing the presence of the sub and adding the lower freqs to the track. I LP @ around 100hz and some time add a slght db bump @ 85-90hz. Generally ill set the operator track to hit around -12dbish in the mix and adjust to taste for the track. I dont modulate or nothing either just feed sine waves to subwoofers.

[DrastikMeazures]

I have a 10" sub that I use primarily just to check my sub bass in a mix. I usually just copy my bass line midi onto a new midi track for the sub then drag the notes up and down the piano roll until they're at that perfect spot where you can't so much hear the bass as feel it in your chest.

[bustadoug]

not really what i practice but you can put a tune you like in your project file to compare on your freq. analyzer. or in logic, multimeter is even better. investing in a sub is what you should plan on doing. i recently got mine after producing for over 10 years and it makes a huge difference. but never hurts to compare your tune/ bass to a release that sounds the way you like.

[venuq]

http://passivepromotion.com/tighten-the ... y-analyzer That might be worth checking out.