Sub Bass Techniques

[RandoRando]

you don't know how far it goes but you want it to cut off at some point, like 30hz.

it really erks me when i see people say that cause 20-30hz are the BEST frequencies on a system/subs!!

I don't think I've experienced a setup that could reproduce that that range. So for me, 30hz.... What would you recommend then, 15Hz?

nah, human hearing only goes down to 20, everything under that is subsonic frequencies. i dont cut my subs at all cause your losing weight, but if you want to , cut at 20

[RandoRando]

you don't know how far it goes but you want it to cut off at some point, like 30hz.

it really erks me when i see people say that cause 20-30hz are the BEST frequencies on a system/subs!!

I don't think I've experienced a setup that could reproduce that that range. So for me, 30hz.... What would you recommend then, 15Hz?

nah, human hearing only goes down to 20, everything under that is subsonic frequencies. i dont cut my subs at all cause your losing weight, but if you want to , cut at 20

[Artie_Fufkin]

Hmm, let me correct myself: I've never experienced a setup that could reproduce that range at a decent volume. It just drops off so much and when I try to turn it up, the speaker...makes other sounds. lol But I just tried right now with some headphones and pushed them against my ears instead of turning them up and I could feel it a little bit. I used(before I knew how to deal with clicks on note ons and offs) to low pass and high pass filter my sub bass to make sure I would only get 30-100.
I've never really used sub lines lower than C at 32 Hz. It just seems like it's really hard on my speakers.

[killakam98]

I've always considered using Massive for a sub line a little bit of overkill. I just use 3xOsc with a single sine generator mimicking the movement of my bassline with a few minor alterations to the flow if required.

Do this, apply light compression and distortion (or Sausage Fattener) then send to another channel = big sub

[hasezwei]

PHAUSAGE SATTENER

i've stopped compressing my subs, takes the life out of them imo. distorting is nice though, pure sines and untreated 808's really annoy me lately. especially if they're so loud you can't hear the rest of the music (yes i'm referring to trap)
in general i think dubstep's sub-bass fetishism paired with modern laptop producer's disregard for sound quality has pushed the loudness war to a whole new level
pretty much every electronic track released in the last 2 years has way too loud and boring bass frequencies.

[skimpi]

PHAUSAGE SATTENER

i've stopped compressing my subs, takes the life out of them imo. distorting is nice though, pure sines and untreated 808's really annoy me lately. especially if they're so loud you can't hear the rest of the music (yes i'm referring to trap)
in general i think dubstep's sub-bass fetishism paired with modern laptop producer's disregard for sound quality has pushed the loudness war to a whole new level
pretty much every electronic track released in the last 2 years has way too loud and boring bass frequencies.

Lol, you really hate bass then? I love a big fat sub, in terms of like old ramadanman, martyn or summat, the basslines on those tunes kill it! like the sub is loud in the mix, but doesnt kill the rest of the tune or stop it from being loud (not in the compressed to fuck sense)

[hasezwei]

actually ramadanman - offal is one of my favorite tunes sub-wise
so nah i dont hate bass, i just think it's been overused in all kinds of genres lately.
and there's a lot of music where i don't see why there's sub bass, i mean dubstep and jungle are dance music made for soundsystem, that makes sense. but with newer releases i feel like people want constant <100Hz action just cause they're afraid people won't like it otherwise

[skimpi]

actually ramadanman - offal is one of my favorite tunes sub-wise
so nah i dont hate bass, i just think it's been overused in all kinds of genres lately.
and there's a lot of music where i don't see why there's sub bass, i mean dubstep and jungle are dance music made for soundsystem, that makes sense. but with newer releases i feel like people want constant <100Hz action just cause they're afraid people won't like it otherwise

well I have to have sub shit cos i wont like it without some bassweight you know what i mean? that done mean im gonna go putting some deep sine wave sub in all my tunes though

[SlayTen]

I usually duplicate my patches and take out all the FX, High end gain, and make it monophonic if not already. I also make sure to remove all the voices and eleminate and possible stereo sounds from the patch. Then ill take out any resonance in a filter and adjust it to my liking. Of course it all depends on what type of sound you're using. Sometimes for a synth or so you only need to make a patch and match the glide length if it has glide for example. Just be creative with it and use whatever sounds best to you.

[Artie_Fufkin]

Why would you guys compress your sub bass? If you're synthesizing it, it's dead simple to control the dynamics of it. Unless you're sampling something, I don't get why you would compress a sub.

[skimpi]

Why would you guys compress your sub bass? If you're synthesizing it, it's dead simple to control the dynamics of it. Unless you're sampling something, I don't get why you would compress a sub.

Errrr, to make it phat m8, bloody hell

[dougriley]

this technique might be obvious to any of you guys who use harmor, but i thought i'd add an extremely easy technique i've been using to create 808 subs...

open an instance of harmor
drop your favorite 808 kick on the harmor channel to be resynthesized
go to the imaging section
advance starting time to remove punch of the 808 kick
decrease speed to taste
process to your heart's desire...

wallah! 808 sub

sorry if this is way too obvious, but i was stoked when i heard the results

edit: now that i'm thinking more about this, its not per-say an 808 bass that most are prob familiar with since the cycle times are stretched

[bassinine]

808's are easy.

sine wave.
pitch bend +12 semitones, .5ms attack, 500 ms decay.
amp envelope, 6-8 second decay from full volume to nothing.
saturate it 4db, lowpass around 80hz and boost a tiny bit around 50-60hz so that the higher notes aren't as (apparently) loud as the lower notes.
layer it with any punchy kick sample. but don't bounce the two samples out together and put it in a sampler, that will make the kick sample pitch up too, which will sound weird.

takes like 20 seconds.

[dougriley]

the only difference between the two techniques is starting with a sine wave vs starting with an 808 kick.

my understanding of creating a typical 808 sub bass stems from using a few cycles from the tail of an 808 kick.

seems like you're just saturating a "clean" sine wave, pitch bending the initial portion of the wave, and messing around with the envelope in order to replicate the tail of an 808 kick. I don't understand how that is easier or how you can even call that an 808 sub bass? Especially considering that replicating an 808 kick digitally is not an easy task - it has very distinct characteristics.

perhaps i misunderstood your approach?

[hasezwei]

pff 808 subs
all about 808 midrange

[dougriley]

pff 808 subs
all about 808 midrange

shit is sick!

[Geey]

Use the es1 in logic.. Fattest coldest sub around.. Add slight distortion with slight compression cut the sub at 100 and add a little bump at 40

[skimpi]

Use the es1 in logic.. Fattest coldest sub around.. Add slight distortion with slight compression cut the sub at 100 and add a little bump at 40

Think ur Loefah or summat?

[Geey]

Just speaking tha truth friend. My channel setting for my sub in logic is the only thing I can honestly say I'm 100% happy with.. The sub bass you can make with the es1 is far beyond anything else ve come across.. Both mala and loefah use the es1 for sub bass..
Just passing on knowledge.. You can't knock a man for that.

[skimpi]

Just speaking tha truth friend. My channel setting for my sub in logic is the only thing I can honestly say I'm 100% happy with.. The sub bass you can make with the es1 is far beyond anything else ve come across.. Both mala and loefah use the es1 for sub bass..
Just passing on knowledge.. You can't knock a man for that.

hahah, yeah I know just saying it cos Loefah said it in that thread before. Ive never used it for sub though really, I havent used it since i used to make shit tunes lol, I use ES2 sine now, or just sample summat