Inquiry on how to get "fuzz" out of wobbles in NI MASSIVE!

[Casprin]

Hello everyone, first post here! I've read the rules and think I'm posting in the right area. If not, I apologize.

I have a quick question regarding the quality of my wobbles in Native Instrument's MASSIVE plug in in the Cubase program. I'm using everything completely up to date, so no worries about that.

My current project is really frustrating me. I'm trying to re-create Sonny Moore's "Father Said" just for practice since his "real named" songs are fading fast behind the wake of Skrillex songs. I'm trying to get the bare bones skeleton of the song as near to his wobbles as possible, to really get a feel for the more simplistic 1/1 1/2 1/4 1/8 LFO sync wobble oscillations. However, in this song and other songs in which I've incorporated wobble bass, both in original songs, covers, and my own patches from scratch, I just can't seem to get this "fuzz" out of it. No matter what I tweak I can't seem to get that clean, boosted BEEFY volume and this higher end hiss or "fuzziness" is driving me mad, it really muddies up the whole mix. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. I'm still fine tuning my mixing knowledge so, forgive me if some of my statements seem ignorant. Thank you for reading and I look forward to any replies!

-Cas

[Casprin]

If it helps get an idea of where I'm currently at in my own original from scratch bass wobbles, here's a cover my project did of Final Fantasy VIII's "Eyes On Me" with some of my more current wobbles. Please, any help on cleaning them up some would be greatly appreciated.

Soundcloud

Thanks so much!

-Cas

[RandoRando]

use the inserts on the bottom of massive, for fuzz, try the sample & hold, bitcrushes, sine shaper, parabolic shaper, try them all. Also try to add the "drive" effects in the Fx section. Also read the "sound like skrillex" stickied thread at the top of the forum

[Sine69]

What inserts, effects, and filters are you using?

[Casprin]

I find its easier to take screen shots than type it all out, these plug ins are very visual and I took them high res enough to see the settings clearly. I hope this helps. To the first response, I'm trying to REMOVE fuzz and get cleaner, clearer wobbles without losing fullness or beef.

In these two photos, these are the two patches I have made to get a full "Father Said" era Sonny wobble. They are set to the same oscillation rate and follow the same pattern so that its the normal doublebeef with two samples sounding like one, but I am still getting trouble cleaning them up. The oscillation itself is plenty sharp, but the high end is just unruly no matter what.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/ ... ssive1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/ ... ssive2.jpg

They're too wide to post in-thread, so just hit up the links.

Those are the two Massives with their settings. I'll definitely take a look at that thread. While I don't want my original stuff to "sound like Skrillex" this cover is practiced just for that purpose, should help. Thank you both. At the moment, the actual TONE of these settings is leaning more towards a more hardcore or harsher industrial, almost noisy Datsik-esque, and it just doesn't fit. If I could cut out the high end fuzz, I could have an easier time giving it more the melodic tonal quality that was such a hallmark of Sonny's early work.

Thanks again.

-Cas

[Casprin]

Also, the LFO wave settings, I am using a combo of two wave forms, no performers.

Its simple oscillation ratio changes to form the wobble bass rhythms.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/ ... veLFO1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/ ... veLFO2.jpg

Thank you!

-Cas

[Sine69]

Try taking the Sample and Hold insert off, and see if you still have the same problem. Any time I've tried to use it I remember it making everything have that messy bitcrushed sound.

[SunkLo]

And don't open your filter so much. Reduce the modulation amount on the cutoff. Having it sweep all the way to the lowest cutoff point is just gonna create resonant instabilities.

[RandoRando]

yeah your wobbling your lfo way too much, just make the grey and green lines extend from maybe, lets say, 9 or 8 o clock to 11 to 12 o clock, just a little opening, and move the lfo knob itself if its too low, and you using all square waves, massive have some very nice wavetables experiment by trying out different wavetables on oscialltors and remember, it doesnt always have to be the lfo on the cutoff, try using a lfo on the wt position, or an envelope on the wt position, and sample & hold is giving you alot of grit.

[jrisreal]

I get fuzz with my sound pretty often in sytrus. sometimes, it compliments the sound, other times I wish it were gone.

One thing that theoretically may help is to add a vocoder on top of your bass signal, modulator and carrier coming from the same source.

[Teknicyde]

MAke sure your not clipping massive in-synth, turn massives master volume down.

[Casprin]

Thank you all for the great replies. I'll get into the mix and see what works, I'm really excited to try all this. Thanks again, it means a lot to not have my face trolled off the planet on my first post. Thank you!

-Cas

[thedefinition]

After taking a look at the screenshots that you've posted, I'd try the following:

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First and foremost, turn all the effects off to see if one of them is causing the problem.

Turn the "Noise" oscillator off, It's located in the bottom of the corner. This can be used to add noise and other artifacts to a sound and may be the source of that fuzz that you're hearing.

In the "EQ" section, make sure you don't have any high frequencies or the high shelf boosted to far. As this will also cause artifacts to show up within your sound.

Use those "Intensity" knobs! They're like low-pass filters for each oscillator while you have them under the spectrum mode and can be used in conjunction with your other filters and effects to shave off noise from the high end.

Start small and then go big with your filter automation. The farther you open the filter up, the more high frequencies you'll get. You can also try turning down the amp section in your "LFO" settings so that it affects the target less.

Change the oscillators around. Some of Massive's oscillators have a lot of noise in them and can be overwhelming. Select a different oscillator type and see if that may be the cause of the problem. ( If in spectrum mode, you can fix this by turning the intensity down a bit to lower the high shelf of the oscillator. )
------------------

Try all of those and if it STILL doesn't work. Shoot me the preset, I'll check it out, and let you know what changes I've made to get rid of the "fuzz"

[Casprin]

Welp, here's what I have so far. With your help I was able to get a lot of the fuzz out, things are much clearer, but on top of the suggestions I also have to use an FX track and a couple plugins to really get a clean, while still getting a boost to the sound.

Let me know what you think, any constructive criticism welcome. Remember, its a cover, we'll be doing original vocals tomorrow and final mixdown.

Soundcloud

Thanks for everything!

[atticuh]

I'm assuming you're splitting your bass synth into at least a low and a high. If so, make sure you use subtractive equalization on your mid/high frequencies particularly in the 2-4khz and the 8khz range. No need to cut all those frequencies out; however, a -3dB to -6dB scoop out of those ranges would definitely help clean up the sound.

[Casprin]

I'm assuming you're splitting your bass synth into at least a low and a high. If so, make sure you use subtractive equalization on your mid/high frequencies particularly in the 2-4khz and the 8khz range. No need to cut all those frequencies out; however, a -3dB to -6dB scoop out of those ranges would definitely help clean up the sound.

BWALL yes, this has helped the most! Using the advice everyone had given up until this point, I was able to clean a lot of it up, but, yes, splitting the bass synths had created a lot of going back and forth tweaking one then the other in order to try and find a harmonies fit. When I used an EQ on the higher of the two and subtracted that range it really did help. I also am getting less feedback, or crackles or crinkles, when the wobble completes before waving back to no sound. I used to get a bit of ripping in the sound towards the end of each wave form, but this has also helped clear that up. Thank you so much, this cover is really moving along nicely. I have all of you to thank! Great community of people here, nothing but love and respect, everyone! Thanks again! I'll post the final version with vocals here shortly.

-Cas

[thedefinition]

Cas, you're one of the few people to actually ask for help on something that is original and doesn't involve on sounding like X artist's sound in Y track. We don't get much of that around here so I think everyone here is happy to help. I'm glad we were all able to help you out brotha. Can't wait to hear the completed track, keep it up!

[jrisreal]

Cas, you're one of the few people to actually ask for help on something that is original and doesn't involve on sounding like X artist's sound in Y track. We don't get much of that around here so I think everyone here is happy to help. I'm glad we were all able to help you out brotha. Can't wait to hear the completed track, keep it up!

[Casprin]

Cas, you're one of the few people to actually ask for help on something that is original and doesn't involve on sounding like X artist's sound in Y track. We don't get much of that around here so I think everyone here is happy to help. I'm glad we were all able to help you out brotha. Can't wait to hear the completed track, keep it up!

Yea everyone would rather get the quick fix to sounding like someone else rather than sculpt their own original sound. Its sad! Thank you, I do in fact aim to break the mold, despite covering an established artist for practice. You guys (and gals?) are awesome!

The track is all finished, I'm glad to say! PLEASE, let me know what you think! All constructive criticism welcome!:

Soundcloud

AND the instrumental if the vocals aren't your thing!:

Soundcloud

I hope you enjoy my take on what FATHER SAID! Hahahaha! With nothing but love and respect,

-Cas

[GothamHero]

Yea everyone would rather get the quick fix to sounding like someone else rather than sculpt their own original sound. Its sad

My current project is really frustrating me. I'm trying to re-create Sonny Moore's "Father Said" just for practice since his "real named" songs are fading fast behind the wake of Skrillex songs.