Kick and Sub Bass Trouble?

th3_ohmen · Post by **th3_ohmen** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 3:41 pm

IM NOT CLAIMING TO BE A PROFESSIONAL SOUND DESIGNER, THIS IS WHAT WORKS FOR ME...Alright Guys I've heard of a lot of people having trouble with getting their sub bass to get heavy in the mix without overpowering their kick or just straight up causing clipping distortion. Here is the KEY to getting that bass heavy mixdown with a kick drum that hammers. If you make dance tracks you know how to do this already. Remember sidechain compression? Well that's half of the secret. Send your kick drum to the sidechain and set the attack and release times to what you think sounds good (a little space doesn't hurt!). Then, I probably should have put this before the sidechaining part, you want to load up a low pass filter and cut the frequency down to around 100hz (IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE EXACT!!!!). Cutting your frequency back like this allows for a lot of room for your kicks, basses noises and lots of other good stuff you normally wouldn't have room for if you didn't cut your frequency back. I would also recommend cutting out 20hz and down because they are inaudible and take up a little head room, not a lot though, it does make for a sub bass that sounds a little tighter. And there you go, now your sub bass and kicks can live in peace and harmony! Now go crack that sine wave until your sub woofer starts smoking, that's how you know it sounds right.

mthrfnk · Post by **mthrfnk** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 5:14 pm

Why not just make sure you kick and sub don't interact sonically

Also what exactly are you cutting at 100Hz, because you're sub shouldn't be up that high imo.

ieatfunk · Post by **ieatfunk** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 10:27 pm

To be honest, if I wanted a really prominent sub bass, I wouldn't simply hi-cut to 100Hz. (it should probably be to 73-78Hz as that is normally the thump of the kick) I much prefer to scoop EQ my subs. You dont want frequencies from 70-200 but anything above can be kept to give it definition. If around the 200 mark is muddy in the mix, just take down that frequency when mastering.