Bass Solving conflicts between Sub-Basses and Kick Drums (?)

L

|Lazarus

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Apr 7, 2013
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Porto, Portugal
So I'm currently working on my remix of Int Company's Panther, and I've come to realize the bass stem provided with the pack doesn't contain a quarter of the punch of sub I want or that the original track has.

I've tried cloning the bassline, applying a low pass so only the low frequencies would sound, and boost them, but that didn't work quite well, it boosts the sub but not enough for it to punch it's way out through the speakers, maybe for lack of technique from my side, or maybe it just doesn't work good enough.

Now I'm trying something else, I've created a sub of my own with Massive, put it to a good punch of around -8db, which fits perfectly and gives that body filling feel that the track otherwise lacks. The problem is, this being a sub-bass with a peak at around 30hz with -7.0db but with a few frequencies showing up until 110hz, it creates conflict with both my layered kicks, taking in account that the kicks are cut at 70hz and the sub is cut from 50hz ahead. I've tried lowering the sub down and it does fix it, but it takes the intended punch out of the sub, I've also tried diminishing the attack of the sub but it has the same effect. Any suggestions?
 
I'd say your two best options are as follows:

1. Quick and easy, sidechain compress the bass to the kick. Simple enough

2. Surgically EQ those harmonics out of the sub bass with a high-Q peak with loads of gain reduction applied.


A combination is probably your best bet.
 
Three suggestions:

1. If your compressor has an advanced sidechain section (ex. Logic's stock compressor, FabFilter C), use your kick to trigger the sub to duck but only at the fundamental frequency (ff) of the kick. For example, if the FF of your kick is ~80Hz, then set the sidechain so that only the 80Hz portion of the sub will "duck" when the kick triggers it.

2. There could be an issue with regards to the key of your kick. Throw it into a sampler and audition different keys while the sub is playing to see if another key will reveal a "sweet" spot.

3. If all else fails, get a different kick sample–it will save you trouble and time.

Cheers.
 
Encourage the conflict, sell weaponry and ammunition to the involved parties. Then buy a ghost producer with the profit.
 
I tried Dugg's suggestion and it worked, I didn't know how to sidechain, but saw a couple of tutorials and got the hand of it, the rest was all about killing the harmonics on the sub so they wouldn't go berserk when the kick pushed in.

Thanks for your suggestions!
 
Yes, sidechaining, eq and probably different techniques of compressing should do the trick.
 
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