Waveform question

[f1rstsense]

hey there fellow dubheadz,

I have a question regarding the waveform of the bassline i made:



You can see that the highlighted points the waveform is expanding in the way down instead of both ways (up and down) like the otherparts

Question 1# why is it looking that way (what does it mean exactly)

Question 2# If lets say I layer it with a sound that is expanding to the top instead of down will they clash?

Thank you very much in advance

[Electric_Head]

Is the bassline in mono?

[Trichome]

I think it is called DC offset, in terms of electronics it is a bad thing but I don't think it matters in audio. Fl studio has a button to remove it.

[f1rstsense]

Hey its not mono (its a mid range bassline >400hz btw)

[mistercrow]

As far as I know, the only way it would impact audio is by wasting some available amplitude - if you were to normalise it, you can imagine only the lower half would touch the minimum value, restricting the amplitude of the signal. If you were to remove the DC offset and normalise, you would notice that it's louder than if you normalised without removing the offset. It will be a matter of taste essentially - everyone agrees that treatment should be kept to a minimum - if you can't hear the difference, don't do it! My preference would be to remove it if I can't hear the difference as I consider having the offset to be a deviation from the ideal unprocessed sound. Removing it *should* be a transparent process for the AC component of the signal.

Edit: The offset will also effect how the signal clips - a square wave sounds different from a +ve sine wave -ve square wave hybrid (a sine wave clipped on the bottom.) Also, some effects may treat the +ve and -ve portions of a waveform differently.

[outbound]

If it's a stereo file then from the looks of it, it's just leaning more towards the right side than the left at those parts. In that case if you layered another sound that leaned more towards the top (left) then it wouldn't clash, quite the opposite it would effectively balance the stereo field for you.

[Trichome]

Isn't it to do with amplitude? I've had offset samples that sounded perfectly centered.

[mistercrow]

Depends on how the waveform is represented. A stereo signal is obviously composed of two waveforms, and outbound seems to suggest that the viewer used represents differences between the waveforms with this offset. For a mono signal, it should just be amplitude. Pretty much any real audio reproduction system will have a HP filter that stops that sort of DC offset having an effect on the sound.

[syrup]

what outbound said

[Electric_Head]

what outbound said

f-you I suggested it first.
I just didn't lead you all down the path like he did.

[outbound]

what outbound said

f-you I suggested it first.
I just didn't lead you all down the path like he did.

[Electric_Head]

Hi outbound.

[SunkLo]

Looks more like DC offset to me, although I know some daws (Logic I think?) represent stereo waveforms as the two halves of a single mono waveform to save space. You should be able to easily tell if it's a stereo issue with headphones on.

[syrup]

Hi E_H.

and sorry if i hurt yer feels

[Electric_Head]

Hi E_H.

and sorry if i hurt yer feels

It's ok bro, I cried a little and then felt better.

[f1rstsense]

Thanks guys for all the replies.

I applied utility on it with the DC- button clicked and then frooze - flattened (bounced to audio) it but it is still almost the same waveform. Also @outbound its not the stereo image of it, coz the stereo 'sides' are pretty well balanced and not leaning to neither side too much.

Bests,
Sense

[outbound]

Thanks guys for all the replies.

I applied utility on it with the DC- button clicked and then frooze - flattened (bounced to audio) it but it is still almost the same waveform. Also @outbound its not the stereo image of it, coz the stereo 'sides' are pretty well balanced and not leaning to neither side too much.

Bests,
Sense

Have you mono'd the sound, bounced that and loaded that waveform to be sure?

[Hollotronic]

Sound is the compression and expansion of air molecules, and that's reproduced by a speaker pushing and pulling the air. The part of the waveform that is above the line is pushing, and the part below is pulling. All that's happening is whatever was put together to create that sound summed in a way where the pulling or expansion of air is stronger.

[Electric_Head]

Sound is the compression and expansion of air molecules, and that's reproduced by a speaker pushing and pulling the air. The part of the waveform that is above the line is pushing, and the part below is pulling. All that's happening is whatever was put together to create that sound summed in a way where the pulling or expansion of air is stronger.

really?
sauce?

[Hollotronic]

really?
sauce?

http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/01/sound-waves.html

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may13/a ... 0513-1.htm

The first link talks about soundwaves and how they're represented in the waveform graph and the second link talks about asymmetrical waveforms. Asymmetrical waveforms and DC offset look similar, but because you said removing DC offset didn't change it I think its just asymmetrical from some processing or summing. Hope that helps!