help! bass trouble

[8bitwonder]

yo my sub wont touch this track!

when i listen on headphones its got loadsa bass but it dissapears when i put it thru speakers??????

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... 6B03F3DF0A

can anyone help out?

[ekaj]

lol first thought is I have that pad sample aswell

I know what you mean, I can hear the sub on headphones..
What I would do to make it stand out more is EQ is a little more on the bass end (30-40hz) and maybe add a little (and I mean a little) tape distortion and make sure it's mono.
Nice tune btw, like the main bass synth and that beep

[ekaj]

ps... if your sub was doing the same thing as your bass synth it would sound ultra phat man! Make that sub fucking mooooove

[8bitwonder]

lol first thought is I have that pad sample aswell

I know what you mean, I can hear the sub on headphones..
What I would do to make it stand out more is EQ is a little more on the bass end (30-40hz) and maybe add a little (and I mean a little) tape distortion and make sure it's mono.
Nice tune btw, like the main bass synth and that beep

thanks man yeah the pad is from waldorf q synth sickness

and i think i may try filtering a 909 kick and just get the pure sub off it anything elses is just too tuned i need just bass with hardly any note

[8bitwonder]

ps... if your sub was doing the same thing as your bass synth it would sound ultra phat man! Make that sub fucking mooooove

thats what im trying to get and its really hard man

[ekaj]

hmm I'd be careful with layering a 909 on top as it could phase an lose it's affect.

I think if you bounce (export) the sub as a wav and then process that, ie, cut the low end and focus on the low to mid range with EQ, add some slight distortion (not so that it's distorted, just so that it's more saturated, like a cake in the oven )

When that's finished, cut everything out of your original sub so you just have the low end and give the low end an EQ boost. Then layer your bounced sub ontop of that, so effectively you have a sub-sub and a kinda mid range sub.

I found that this works for speakers that can't put out the really low frequencies of low sub bass lines, since this seems to be your case.

The only other thing I can think of is to raise the key of your tune up a few semi tones, you might hear the sub a bit more then.

You should try playing each note up and down the keyboard with your sub and find which note sounds best through your speakers, and then shape the key of the tune like that so you have a kinda 'magic note' if you know what I mean

Ok, I'm drunk, enough rambling! Take it ez

[8bitwonder]

nice one ill have this one screen when i do it and get back to ya on that-enjoy da beer fest

[ekaj]

ps... if your sub was doing the same thing as your bass synth it would sound ultra phat man! Make that sub fucking mooooove

thats what im trying to get and its really hard man

]

Ok, what I do if I can't make my sub do the same thing is (well I use reason so I load the patch of my synth into another synth, I guess you can do the same thing in other synths) load the patch into another synth.

Copy the whole bass synth track onto this new one so you have 2 identical tracks.

Cut the highs and mids out of this new one with EQ. Put a filter on it (LP 12 or something) and put the frequency down to about 30-40.

Then give this new sound a boost around 30-40 hz, so now basically you have a subby version of your bass synth. You might need to EQ it a little more if it still sounds a bit crap.

I'm no expert, these are just things I've figured out myself from fucking around making tunes.

Have fun!

[i978]

Sub is out of Phase

[tmu]

could anybody give basic bass/sub instructions for a starting producer...
like ; should i always make my bass in mono?
and is reverb/echo in a bass track absolute no no?
what about the kickdrums (especially if theyr low) does same rules apply?

please help a fellow stepper out.

[narcossist]

like ; should i always make my bass in mono?

yeah, can't really hear panning on bass so no need for stereo, saves on phase probs.

and is reverb/echo in a bass track absolute no no?

dunno what the "right" answer is on this one but adding a tiny bit of delay helps things move along a bit. problem is really mud i.e. you don't wanna blur the notes togetehr into mush. tiny amount of reverb can imply layering. chorus is useful on low mid basses. personally wouldn't put owt on the sub cos ur not gonna notice really imo.

what about the kickdrums (especially if theyr low) does same rules apply?

again not a lot of point in a stereo kick, sending an amount of the signal to delay/echo works but probably high pass the result to avoid the mud again.

[tmu]

like ; should i always make my bass in mono?

yeah, can't really hear panning on bass so no need for stereo, saves on phase probs.

and is reverb/echo in a bass track absolute no no?

dunno what the "right" answer is on this one but adding a tiny bit of delay helps things move along a bit. problem is really mud i.e. you don't wanna blur the notes togetehr into mush. tiny amount of reverb can imply layering. chorus is useful on low mid basses.

what about the kickdrums (especially if theyr low) does same rules apply?

either:
a] have a clear divide between sub>kick>low mids
ie. sub 20hz>80, kick 80>120hz, bass 120>wherver you want

b] carve out frequency troughs using eq in the relevant places to accomadate the kick - still recommend low passing the sub whatever though.

c] use a side chain compressor to duck the bass/sub when the kick hits.

think its a balance of keeping each sound free of interference but also not making the track sound empty/overly clean.

Thanks for the info.

anything else thats good to know?

[forensix (mcr)]

practice really hard, also a very very small amount of reverb on a kick drum can make it sound a bit bigger and fuller

but what would i know im shit

[narcossist]

haha edited that cos i realised i'd gone of on some tangent

re: if anything else is useful to know, just keep asking questions - between everyone on here there's an amount of knowledge innit. sure evryones happy to help like.....

[ekaj]

could anybody give basic bass/sub instructions for a starting producer...
like ; should i always make my bass in mono?
and is reverb/echo in a bass track absolute no no?
what about the kickdrums (especially if theyr low) does same rules apply?

please help a fellow stepper out.

Make sure your sub is mono, make sure your kick and snare are mono also.
You can make your bass synth stereo if you like, it can make it sound fuller but most people in drum & bass make it mono also and make it sound fuller by adding chorus instead.
I don't put reverb on my sub, but reverb on a bass synth definately helps, just a little reverb done right can make it sound much better.
Low kickdrums - make sure you EQ the low end out of them otherwise they will clash with your sub. It's nice when you get a kick in tune with your sub so when they both hit it goes 'BOOOOM!'

[municiple]

Another silly question: If you make these bass and kicks mono, where you put them in the mix, right in the middle? Or, do you put them on two tracks and then pan them left and right? I am always concerned with spacing and panning things nicely to create that nice sense of spaciousness.

bass is making me a bit mad right now... can never get it to be as large and clean as I like. I am gonna try this mono advice. Sometimes I think I know what I am doing. Then it all goes to shit. lol.

[diverse]

Yes subs can be a bitch sometimes. Do them in mono but if you don't its not going to be that bad. a tiny bit of reverb on a distorty bass can be very cool just make sure to put on before compression, not after. I sometimes have tracks were the bass sounds great on about half the speakers I listen thru but the other half= no bass. Those low notes just are to low to work on those low cut speakers. Some times I can fix it with dif. compression but usualy I have to either raise the notes up higher, or replace the sub with a dif. one that can go that still sound that low but come thru. hope this helps