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I've been having trouble getting a really really BIG sub bass, without it muddying up the low end of my track. I've been using Emalkay - When I Look At You's sub for inspiration here (not trying to copy it, just interested as to how it's done...)

I've used the search function, and had a look at the production bible, had a play around, and I still can't get my sub to sound that good. I got roughly close by using sin/triangle, along with a sine wave an octave lower, and the sine wave being lower in volume, but it still lacks that punch and power that emalkay's track has . And I figured the best place to ask would be here - some of you might have some extra tips on getting that kind of sub... .


So, any ideas?


P.S. Don't insult me for liking the track , and helpful posts only please!

It's not really much more than what you said by the sound of it. It has movent so Id imagine theres a bit of detuning across the osc's. Other than that, just feels like a warm sub.

The answer in it's simply form is, clear up all unwanted freq's, hence leaving in mud in the lower end for it will stand out nicely.

Astral wrote:It's not really much more than what you said by the sound of it. It has movent so Id imagine theres a bit of detuning across the osc's. Other than that, just feels like a warm sub.

Detuning!! there's something I haven't tried! will try it

nitz wrote:The answer in it's simply form is, clear up all unwanted freq's, hence leaving in mud in the lower end for it will stand out nicely.

Hmm, I've tried low-passing it, but the thing about the sub in the track is that it has a lot of 'air' to it, and maybe I've lowpassed too much or something, but there's not a lot of 'air' to it after I've low-passed . Thinking about low-pass then exciter on the higher ranges of the sub...? touch of reverb with a high-pass too...you guys have given me ideas! will try all this

If you're losing too much when low passing just split the bass into two. One track for the sub and one for any mid/high freqs. This way you can concentrate on getting the sub as nice as possible and then play around with anything that sits above it.

layering up your osc's works but i usually work with one sine osc for my sub and layer my midrange bass on top of that. gives you more control and allows you to filter out anything other than the sub frequencies.

alexrb wrote:If you're losing too much when low passing just split the bass into two. One track for the sub and one for any mid/high freqs. This way you can concentrate on getting the sub as nice as possible and then play around with anything that sits above it.

Makes a lot of sense. I assume you mean purely sub bass on this - I have a seperate track for low/mid/high for my synth bass, and one track for my sub, which might be what you're describing already? Splitting the sub into different frequences seems weird cos there's not much->nothing above about 200hz.......

jsills wrote:layering up your osc's works but i usually work with one sine osc for my sub and layer my midrange bass on top of that. gives you more control and allows you to filter out anything other than the sub frequencies.

I do this normally, but the sub I'm talking about has much more punch, sounds a lot cleaner and more together than anything I can make by doing that...I've got a lot of ideas out of this thread biggups guys!

Keep in mind that that sub has probably passed through a fair bit of mastering gear before reaching your eyes, Don't be disheartened if its not as loud or as punchy, that may have nothing to do with source, rather been processed through.

freakah wrote:

nitz wrote:The answer in it's simply form is, clear up all unwanted freq's, hence leaving in mud in the lower end for it will stand out nicely.

Hmm, I've tried low-passing it, but the thing about the sub in the track is that it has a lot of 'air' to it, and maybe I've lowpassed too much or something, but there's not a lot of 'air' to it after I've low-passed . Thinking about low-pass then exciter on the higher ranges of the sub...? touch of reverb with a high-pass too...you guys have given me ideas! will try all this

I didnt mean the sub channel it slef, i meant all the channels with a mix, pads arp and stuff of that matter always need a fair bit of eqing work.

nitz wrote:The answer in it's simply form is, clear up all unwanted freq's, hence leaving in mud in the lower end for it will stand out nicely.

Aye, this track particularly doesn't have a whole lot going on outside of the sub (and a lead synth a million octaves above.) A pretty clean 'sine-ey' bass will go quite far if you give it enough room.

Astral wrote:Keep in mind that that sub has probably passed through a fair bit of mastering gear before reaching your eyes, Don't be disheartened if its not as loud or as punchy, that may have nothing to do with source, rather been processed through.

Don't worry - I'm not gonna go cry if i can't get the sound . Thanks

nitz wrote: I didnt mean the sub channel it slef, i meant all the channels with a mix, pads arp and stuff of that matter always need a fair bit of eqing work.

Yeah I high pass everything anyway to leave room for it...it helps, but doesn't get me the 'clearness' of the emalkay track .

therapist wrote: Aye, this track particularly doesn't have a whole lot going on outside of the sub (and a lead synth a million octaves above.) A pretty clean 'sine-ey' bass will go quite far if you give it enough room.

Now that's something I haven't really thought about - and you speak a lot of sense here .


Thanks guys! All this is helping

Astral wrote:Keep in mind that that sub has probably passed through a fair bit of mastering gear before reaching your eyes, Don't be disheartened if its not as loud or as punchy, that may have nothing to do with source, rather been processed through.

this.

when i listen to that track it sounds like someone mastered the SHIT out of it.

really cant say im a fan of the sub in that track, it sounds really limited and compressed. i prefer something with more "room".

bokatordubstep wrote:
when i listen to that track it sounds like someone mastered the SHIT out of it.

really cant say im a fan of the sub in that track, it sounds really limited and compressed. i prefer something with more "room".

Yeah I'm hearing the mastering now. I know what you mean about it being all one level and compressed to death, but I'm more looking into how he manages to keep it BIG, but leaving a lot of space for the rest of the track - without muddying up, but still having definition...

i guess im not really sure what you mean, but the best advice i could give is this:

just use a pure sine wave, drop it down a couple octaves or so below your midrange, and it should be good to go.

if it's still hella muddy, try bumping it up an octave.

and if it's STILL muddy, try side-chaining your kick and sub, so that the sub dips for a brief sec when the kick drum plays.

but other than that, if you're just using a pure sine wave, cutting the bottom off of your midrange, and your kicks dont have ridiculous tails, you should have a clean mix.

sine wave

low octave

eq out everything apart from the low los

if you're using a pure sine on an octave low enough to be sub bass, you shouldn't have anything to EQ out

Try using Albino 3 and detuning sine waves and adding a cream filter at around 2100Hz along with slight LFO modulation to the cutoff... mess around, see what you get. It's all about trial and error

bokatordubstep wrote:if you're using a pure sine on an octave low enough to be sub bass, you shouldn't have anything to EQ out

ya a sine wave at the correct volume should do it... but certain frequencies seem to sound fatter than others... there's debate on whether the tail of an 808 is bassier than a sine wave, but it's mainly because of the frequency a typical 808 hits at (50-48.8hz which a lot of bigger speakers pick up well)... then after that it's just getting a clean mix with your other tracks

I've been trying to make the lead in this song for a while, and the one like that in Pendulum's 'set me in fine' on their immersion album ... tried all kinds of stuff. Oscillators at different octaves... square, saw, pwm, triangle... detuning them from each other... monophon, pitch cutoff, portamento, chorus, reverb... and tried almost all combinations of these effects that I could think of, and I just don't feel I'm getting anywhere close... if anybody has any ideas please let me know