Cleaning up the Low End...

C

ChestOr

Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2009
Location
Germany
How do I put some Sounds together, which mainly appear at 50-250 Hz?

When I try to put a Reese-Bass and a Sub-Bass and a kickdrum together, it always seems kinda messed up in that area...all so blurry and stuff.

I usually put a HP on the Reese, and a LP on the Sub, then Sidechain it with audio from the kickdrum...I think thats not enough to get a good sound, at least i can hear that its not the clean sound, that i'm looking for.

So how do you mix up your LowEnds? Any Advice?
 
You might be overdoing it. If you have a reece coming from a synth, you can possibly take care of the sub with that as well by using an extra sine 1 octave lower than the other oscillators - then ditch the hp filter. Optimum would be to design your sounds/choosing samples in a way that you need as little processing (like highpassing or just meaningless EQing) as possible. Build a reece that doesnt have anything to interfere with the sub in the first place. If you just have to process, try to be as transparent as possible, listen to all the elements together when making surgical cuts, lowpassing or highpassing to retain a good perspective in what you're doing in the mix.

Using sidechain might be making things overly complicated, if its just there for technique's sake. It's a cool style for getting a house feeling to tracks, but on sub you only need it if it interferes with your kick. Interfering is not the same as occupying the same spectrum area, it also has to do with the phase of the sounds. If you feel the sub eats out the kick, then sidechain. Using it when it's not needed will take away power and impact.

Then the most important part - use arrangement to make space as well as fill it. Making a bassline powerful by keeping the sub playing 99% of the time is pretty boring, but using the sub to emphasize the rhythmic groove you got in the drums is much more efficient, as bass is a rhythmic instrument for a reason. This will create more space as well, and clarify things notably.
 
this is how I do it,maybe it can help you

16-60hz = sub bass ( single sine wave )
70-120hz = kick drum
120-200hz= snare drum
250-10.000hz = higher layers of bassline


from 16-200hz is very important to cut and eq thigns very tightly,dont let any sounds in this region to play at same freqency.Little bit of compresion ( mainly if you use distortion ) with smooth it out.Because 16-200hz region isnt very wide and you need to put alot sounds in it,EQ them with sharpest roll of freqency curve you can.
 
i tend to go with wats sounds good!lol
im so much less technical than all u people!haha
 
DJ MARLOK said:
i tend to go with wats sounds good!lol
im so much less technical than all u people!haha
Click to expand...

I did the same, few years ago...as I didn't have Internet etc. and never really heard something about mixing/mastering/producing.

I think that helped me a lot, it helped to train my ears...but the endproduct will be much better with both of it, good ears and good technique.
Just keep on working.
 
ChestOr said:
I did the same, few years ago...as I didn't have Internet etc. and never really heard something about mixing/mastering/producing.

I think that helped me a lot, it helped to train my ears...but the endproduct will be much better with both of it, good ears and good technique.
Just keep on working.
Click to expand...

i think im probly doin the right thing tho but not realising it!lol
im fairly happy with the mixdowns on most my new tunes
 
I would say also a bit of good advice is make sure anything 200 hz below is mono .
You would be suprised.
 
Yeah, I always forget that...but whats so good about that?
Do some Frequencies interfer, while they are Stereo? Anyway, gonna try it out as well^^...
Now I think that i can put some more songs online, with everybodys help here and dont need to be ashamed of the sound:)
 
The only reason why producers convert everything below 200Hz to mono is that it will be mastered and cut to vinyl.
 
ChestOr said:
gonna try it out, thx:)
Click to expand...

If your gonna make high energetic dancefloor piece,make fat thick ( more layers ) kick and snare that have deeper freqency range,this will make beat alot more hyper.If you want to make heavy sub bass oriented inteligent roller type tune like Xample & Lomax - Link 2 The Past ( future?) Lomax - Mercia,Lomax - Artisan VIP or Origin Unknown - Lunar Bass ( Commix VIP ) cut Kick,Snare and lowest oscilators above sub bass layer more so less lowest freqencies will flow from them.This will alow sub bass stand out much more,you can put master higher too without more distorting whole tune.Good thing before making tune is pre planing what elements should have extra room and what will be more secondary.Its good to keep things in this freqency range,minimal in some sense... like EQ master boosting with lowest value that sounds good, or smallest portion of distortion that still makes that sick sounds you want,on big audiosystems tune seems to be somewhat bigger,you can see it with higher detail,side sounds and small elements starts to play big role,so dont overdistort it even when it may seems better in your home studio
 
That mono thing is also a contributor for clarity. It doesnt need to be mono, but having a stereo sub will likely muddy things up - imagine if you have 2 subs coming out just sligthtly different times from 2 speakers. It will be mush.
 
kama said:
That mono thing is also a contributor for clarity. It doesnt need to be mono, but having a stereo sub will likely muddy things up - imagine if you have 2 subs coming out just sligthtly different times from 2 speakers. It will be mush.
Click to expand...

how can I do this in Reason 4? how to make my thor sub bass mono?
 
When you roll off you kicks etc
Give the a very steep Q
Waves REQ Band EQ is pretty good,
But dont just stick it through 1 eq
Hammer it through 3 or 4
This makes sure that the roll off is full on dB cutoff
Also gives more headroom and the ability to push the volume further up!!
Keep it sweet, Keep it simple ;)
 
CH3SH said:
When you roll off you kicks etc
Give the a very steep Q
Waves REQ Band EQ is pretty good,
But dont just stick it through 1 eq
Hammer it through 3 or 4
This makes sure that the roll off is full on dB cutoff
Also gives more headroom and the ability to push the volume further up!!
Keep it sweet, Keep it simple ;)
Click to expand...

this
 
Back
Top Bottom