Strange Sub Bass Issue...

[OfficialDAPT]

To be honest, I don't hear anything wrong. At what time in the song are you hearing problems? it could be because I'm listening on headphones with average low frequency response.

[halifaxer12]

I'm listening on headphones too, I honestly didn't think it sounded out of key either. You guys just made me paranoid so I guess I was trying to hear something wrong with it...lol I think the sub bass I recorded under it helps it though. It's just with this synth sound I had to make it 23 and -24 for it to sound exactly how I wanted. If it sounds right then it's right then. Thanks for listening

[SunkLo]

Hard to tell with the full track going. Sounds like the sub has some detuning or stereo phasing going on? I only hear it in the second part though. Do you have the detune on the sub or the mid bass? Did you highpass the mids properly? If the sub sounds fine by itself then it's something in the mids going on. It doesn't sound out of tune with the rest of the track but it sounds like it's chorusing with itself.

When in doubt, scrap everything except for the sub and a bongo

[halifaxer12]

Oh yeah the second part I added chorus to mid, I thought it sounded better with the tremolo but I don't know if I should keep it yet or just lessen it.

[OfficialDAPT]

Yeah you're going to definitely want to have your subbass in mono or you might have some problems

[halifaxer12]

Isn't it already in mono? I thought the sub bass in Massive was mono already...Did it sound stereo when you heard it?

[SunkLo]

Did you highpass the mid? Cause it could be chorused lower freqs fucking with your sub. And if the chorus is stereo, it can still fuck with a mono sub.

[halifaxer12]

I turned up the high pass (equalizer in Reason) on the mid if that's what you mean...Oh I see, maybe I should take off the chorus then...I'll select mono in Massive and see if the mid and sub sound better, if not then I'll just bypass the chorus effect.

[halifaxer12]

Selecting mono in Massive for the sub doesn't sound as good, not enough presence. And I tried bypassing the chorus effect on the mid but it didn't make a difference as far as making the synth flow with the sub bass better. I just lessened the chorus on the mid for the second drop more and I think the rest should be fine as is. I did the best I could with it and I'm happy with the track overall. Thanks for your help guys

[halifaxer12]

I also think shifting the sine wave in Massive over helps the sub move with the mid, I think the wave form of the mid synth might not have been the same as the sub's

[SunkLo]

The mono switch in Massive sets it to mono voicing. In other words it only plays one voice at a time vs being able to play chords. This isn't the same as having the audio outputted in mono.

What does your sub patch look like? You can highpass your mid bass in Pro Tools again to make sure it's not fucking with your sub. Did you highpass in Reason before or after applying other effects? Stuff like distortion and modulation effects can add low frequencies back in.

[halifaxer12]

Oh I see, but I didn't bounce out the sub, it's still playing through Massive in Pro Tools. So your saying I should always bounce out the sub as mono to desktop? And I turned up the high pass for the mid in Massive and then added the EQ plugin in Reason (and turned up the high pass a tad bit more) with other plugins to distort/modulate the sound.

[halifaxer12]

My sub patch in Massive is a smooth square with -12 semi tones, with a low pass micro filter going to 3 o clock, and I have a tube effect with the low pass Massive eq turned up a little bit.

[SunkLo]

You don't have to bounce to audio to get mono. It should be mono anyway unless you have some effects going on. You sub patch should be pretty barebones so that shouldn't be an issue. Any issues with the sub is probably due to interference from the mid. Solo the sub during the second drop. Does it sound fine? Solo the mid. You should be able to hear if there's any fuckery afoot.

You've got a bounced file for your mid right? Or is it rewired from Reason? Either way slap another highpass on it at the very end of the chain to make sure there's no low end interference.

What's going on in the Sub patch voicing tab? Did you modify this from another preset? Check to make sure the unison is set to 1 and the spread settings are all off. Careful with using the included presets because they'll usually have a bunch of shit cranked somewhere to make it sound wide and impressive. That's great for demoing the synth to see what it can do but it's not practical for use in a track, especially for a sub. Add a bunch of wide and impressive patches together and you get a wide pile of shit.

[halifaxer12]

Ok good I was getting worried that the sub wasn't mono...The sub and mid both sound fine when I solo them, but when I play them together the sub still isn't flowing with the mid right. It's really strange to me, I thought turning off the reset for the sub would fix it. What's even wierder is that on the second drop the first part of the bass line (1/12 rate) flows well, it's only when it switches to 1/8 that the sub and synth break off from each other...

Yes I bounced the file for my mid sound, then I resample it into Reason and add more plugins/effects. What do you mean slap another high pass? There's the M-Class Equalizer I use in Reason for it, and I just turn up the Hi Shelf*. Unless your talking about turning on the *Lo Cut (30hz) to cancel out the lower frequencies.

The voicing tab unisom is set to 1, the default setting. I basically followed the dubstep producer "Distance's" sub bass tutorial and liked his preset. You can watch it on YouTube to see for yourself

[halifaxer12]

You know what I can do is post up just that specific part of the bass line with the sub and mid synth solo on SoundCloud, and you can hear them for yourself.

[halifaxer12]

https://soundcloud.com/zoroasterdubstep/testing <Listen for yourself

[SunkLo]

High pass = low cut. Set it in the 100-250hz range. Basically turn it up until you hear a gap between the sub and mid and then pull it back down a bit. Do it in Pro Tools, not Reason.

The sub lfo probably isn't resynching when it switches to 1/8. Does the mid vibrato switch at the same spot? Cause if not, you're superimposing triplet 8ths over straight 8ths which is probably why it sounds wonky. You can get triplet 8ths and straight 8ths to sound good together but usually it takes a bit of swing which isn't really a common thing in lfos as far as I know.

Edit: I realized you meant the mid switches to 1/8 not the sub. In that case swap mid and sub in the paragraph above or just see my next post.

[SunkLo]

Yeah just switch the sub lfo to a timing that works with 1/8 for that one section. 1/4 or 1/2 could sound good too.
1/12 will work with 1/4 because 4 divides into 12. But 8 doesn't divide evenly into 12 so you get sub swells in between gaps of the mid.

[halifaxer12]

Both the sub and the mid switch to 1/8 (I have two different sub tracks, one that's 1/12 and the other at 1/8) Switching the sub lfo to 1/4 instead of 1/8 kind of works but it's still kinda funky. Did you listen to the link I posted?