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Beginning to produce dubstep
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 3:27 am
by 8thMoon
Really simple yes or no question.
Should I buy a sub before I even attempt to start producing dubstep Because right now I have a pair of Bose speakers and A pair of Sennheiser HD 202 headphones and was wondering if that would be enough to start making quality sub bass and being able to know its there.
Also I'm pretty new to reason and don't know what will sound/feel good until I hear it so I can't just make the sub bass and expect it to work.
Not really 100% sure if this question makes sense but if you understand please answer or if you know of a thread where this discussed please post me a link to that thread
Re: Beginning to produce dubstep
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 3:40 am
by Phigure
You can actually make the sub bass and expect it to work. Just load up a sine wave. Perfect!
And I figure you'll do fine with that setup
Re: Beginning to produce dubstep
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:17 am
by 8thMoon
Really all you need is a sine wave?
Thank you
Re: Beginning to produce dubstep
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:19 am
by legend4ry
Re: Beginning to produce dubstep
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:20 am
by marshy
I don't know anything about Reason, but if you open up Malstrom (i think?) and initialise it, it'll open with up a pure Sine wave for you to start off with.
Re: Beginning to produce dubstep
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:23 am
by marshy
Reckon you could whack Logics EXS24 in for nice to use synths for sub? The initial patch, messed about with the ADSR can be a beast.
Re: Beginning to produce dubstep
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 7:57 am
by hasezwei
marshy wrote:
Reckon you could whack Logics EXS24 in for nice to use synths for sub? The initial patch, messed about with the ADSR can be a beast.
the only one you'll ever need
just make sure you always have slight attack and release, otherwise you'll have horrible pops n clicks.
but lately i'm starting to think that my subs don't sound as good as others, is that even possible? i mean a sine is a sine, no matter where it's from right?
@8th moon:
you'll do fine without a sub but do yourself a favor and read this one after you finished your first track. i mixed down on headphones and i had the bass basically eating up everything else in the mix, it sounded horrible!
http://www.dubstepforum.com/this-thread ... =moneyshot
that thread is your best friend, it'll spare you years of learning

Re: Beginning to produce dubstep
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 3:53 pm
by skimpi
marshy wrote:
Reckon you could whack Logics EXS24 in for nice to use synths for sub? The initial patch, messed about with the ADSR can be a beast.
Logics ES2 synth is good for sub too, i use it for every sub. it has a 'sine bass' preset which you can start from and alter things, or just use straight off, and it also has a 'sine level' control so you dont even need any oscillators on, just bang up the sine level, or add it to another wave.
Re: Beginning to produce dubstep
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 3:56 pm
by AllNightDayDream
You can use maelstrom, or anything really, but i personally prefer subtractor for subs because it's overall simplicity, and the fact it's mono, which subs sound better in.
Edit: for beginning, you won't need a sub. As long as you have your sub synth and you know what freq range it's in, you can just accept it's there, but if you finish a track you definitely want to hear the whole range so test it on all kinds of systems.
Once you get more proficient, if it's dubstep you're making, a sub is absolutely necessary
Re: Beginning to produce dubstep
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:03 pm
by RatRaceProducing
YOu an hear sub bass through head phones anyway, and "feel" it tickling your ears lol. reasonable flat rate headphones will do this, i only use song mdr v150s these were like £14.99 from virgin music store.
Sine is a good place to start but its not the only wav type for bass. Currently working on a track that uses 3osc vst all on Sawtooth type wave. requires a little more tweaking on the Eq to achieve the same kind of drive but makes for some nice sharp bass synths. sub is not necessary, infact i found it throws you off a bit with a sub unless you have a perfectly balanced system. You always think there is more bass than there really is.
Bose speakers are always pretty good anyway so you can get a headphone perspective and speaker perspective. Sub lows (20hz below) cant really be heard, they are more felt anyway. The 50-120 hz is the bit you can here driving through more. I always try and keep a bit of mid in there as well for some tone.
Babbling now anyway im crap for that on forums!
Your setup sounds fine and its just a case of having a play!
Re: Beginning to produce dubstep
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:16 pm
by jaydot
How I make my sub-bass is, I duplicate the bass track, load a sine wave into sampler, low-pass it below 100 but usually over 60 hz and set it to around 3-4 dbs below the bass (on average), but someone told me an obvious but vital tip today, which was nudge the sub-bass up an octave. Why didn't I think of that???
And you should "feel" the sub-bass even if you don't hear it. On the floor, on solid objects and through your earphones. Even I do on a lot of tracks and my headphones are shit!

Re: Beginning to produce dubstep
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:54 pm
by Dr Bloodnugget
You can buy Logitech 220 set up. It's like 15 quid. Google it

That'll do for production. You can produce without... But it's hella easier with and more precise.