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Recently I have been noticing my bass is all sub that you feel but can hardly be heard:( how do you go about making the sub stand out? You are going to say harmonics. To get a Distorted sounded is easy but I want to try and get a clean sounding sub that you can hear. I have tried adding another Sine a octave higher and also tried some Overdrive/Bitcrushing but it does not achieve the sound I am after, it is never clean and warm.

I think it is done with Sine waves but it could be square/triangle with a LP filter and I am just not hitting the right spot. Am I doing the right thing? Any suggestions would be good.

Below are some audio clips of well known tracks that have the clean sound I am after.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpKf_or4v6w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gAzdQqyrhQ

I use two sine one triangle

what kind of EQ are you applying to your sub?

dignan wrote:what kind of EQ are you applying to your sub?

if you're using a basic sine sub then eq is basically pointless, a sine wave is just one frequency.

try using a lowpassed square instead of a sine. if you set the cutoff right it will cut out the right amount of high end, but still have enough harmonics for that higher presence.

gravity wrote:

dignan wrote:what kind of EQ are you applying to your sub?

if you're using a basic sine sub then eq is basically pointless, a sine wave is just one frequency.

try using a lowpassed square instead of a sine. if you set the cutoff right it will cut out the right amount of high end, but still have enough harmonics for that higher presence.

This^

I would only use EQ/Filters if using distortion etc.

I have been trying single different waves alone but it does not sound as smooth as the links above. Layering another Size an octave higher does not seem the way either.

Guess I will just play with the square more...

tripwire22 wrote:I use two sine one triangle

You get the same sound?

What do u do then? two sines at different octaves, what octave triangle? then with a LP I guess?

serox wrote:

tripwire22 wrote:I use two sine one triangle

You get the same sound?

What do u do then? two sines at different octaves, what octave triangle? then with a LP I guess?

well i usually put all of it at a low octive. in albino its on negative 2.

check this link

http://www.dubstepforum.com/post916665.html#p916665

tripwire22 wrote:
well i usually put all of it at a low octive. in albino its on negative 2.

check this link

http://www.dubstepforum.com/post916665.html#p916665

I already know that ^ but I must be doing it wrong?! I cannot get it sounding smooth and full like that.

Square/saw waves even filtered down dont give that sound so I assumed another technique is used.

serox wrote:

tripwire22 wrote:
well i usually put all of it at a low octive. in albino its on negative 2.

check this link

http://www.dubstepforum.com/post916665.html#p916665

I already know that ^ but I must be doing it wrong?! I cannot get it sounding smooth and full like that.

Square/saw waves even filtered down dont give that sound so I assumed another technique is used.

im sure deadly or sharmaji will help u when they see this

why dont you just get a sub bass 1 shot, then copy the notes of the bassline into piano roll?

ive got a CLEAN subbass that i use for more hip hoppy tracks, ill send u a wav. if u want. With regardsto synths however, i dunno i only uses synths for dirty basses...

has worked a treat for me tbh

Layer a sine an octave above and satuarate it

i actually have the same question, i always wondered how cats are getting that warm resonant sub sound. and ur right, saturation doesnt quite do it for me either. sounds great but its doesnt have that same quality. i question if it might be outboard gear, like an analog synth, rather than a vst or va synth. supposedly they have a unique tone and character, unfortunately my broke ass cant afford outboard gear to test my theories.

junior spesh wrote:why dont you just get a sub bass 1 shot, then copy the notes of the bassline into piano roll?

ive got a CLEAN subbass that i use for more hip hoppy tracks, ill send u a wav. if u want. With regardsto synths however, i dunno i only uses synths for dirty basses...

has worked a treat for me tbh

Dont understand what you mean.

I have loads of sine samples and also know how to make my own sub frequencys.

What I was asking was for a sub you can hear as well as feel. A standard low freq sine is all that is needed for a sub but you wont be able to actually hear it I dont think.

The bass sounds used in the two links above have subs that you can actually hear so it has some mid frequencies somehow and still sounds clean.

legend4ry wrote:Layer a sine an octave above and satuarate it

You saying satuarate the one an octave higher or both?

serox wrote:

legend4ry wrote:Layer a sine an octave above and satuarate it

You saying satuarate the one an octave higher or both?

The one higher innit, keep your low sub clean cause you won't "Hear" thats my logic anyways

jsills wrote:i actually have the same question, i always wondered how cats are getting that warm resonant sub sound. and ur right, saturation doesnt quite do it for me either. sounds great but its doesnt have that same quality. i question if it might be outboard gear, like an analog synth, rather than a vst or va synth. supposedly they have a unique tone and character, unfortunately my broke ass cant afford outboard gear to test my theories.

Luke Envoy was using Reason 3 but I think last time I saw him he said he was using Logic. Dunno what he used for this track, waiting to hear back about it.

I have heard this many times before and its not exclusive to these tracks.

It could be just a standard single sine wave used and after being mastered the track on record just sounds better?

legend4ry wrote:

serox wrote:

legend4ry wrote:Layer a sine an octave above and satuarate it

You saying satuarate the one an octave higher or both?

The one higher innit, keep your low sub clean cause you won't "Hear" thats my logic anyways

I thought you meant that.

You know I think I have tired this already and could not get it sounding smooth like this. No where near it. With a filter you it just filters down until you cannot hear it and it never goes past this warm smooth sound.

tripwire22 wrote:

serox wrote:

tripwire22 wrote:
well i usually put all of it at a low octive. in albino its on negative 2.

check this link

http://www.dubstepforum.com/post916665.html#p916665

I already know that ^ but I must be doing it wrong?! I cannot get it sounding smooth and full like that.

Square/saw waves even filtered down dont give that sound so I assumed another technique is used.

im sure deadly or sharmaji will help u when they see this

ha. everyone' pretty much on the same thing but yeah, a sine or low-passed square/saw/tri (which starts approaching a sine as you remove the harmonics) works great for your basic sub-100hz sub. the low-passed wave will have a bit more going on sonically so that alone might be enough to get what you need.

otherwise, if you're still in MIDI, you can layer w/ another sound that's richer in harmonics and maybe an octave up. if you're in audio, you can either double or parallel-process the track-- one stays clean, the other gets distorted, bandpassed (take out the fizzy bits up top, and the below 150/200hz that's being handled by the orig). you'll probably have to limit and/or compress this distorted one. to my ears, some stereo-widening via chorus or delay can sometimes work-- depends on how broad of a sound you want.

take it as a generalization that laptop speakers don't really do much below 250hz. if you want your bass to come out on systems like that, you'll need to have some info up in that region. And to pre-empt Macc , DON'T use something like waves maxxbass... all it does is create bullshit content in that range for you so that things feel "full." you'll have much more control if you just create something around there via one of the other methods.

Maxx bass is distortion, basically. If you use it in parallel it can be a handy way to generate that stuff, same as any distortion. In parallel you don't get it removing the fundamental though, and you hear it for what it really is

Anyway, what's important here (IMO) is to understand that not all saturation is the same, and that the specific distribution of harmonics is what makes something clean and audible or full and warm (and everything in between). So choose your method, and tools, according to the sound you want.

Sharmaji wrote:
ha. everyone' pretty much on the same thing but yeah, a sine or low-passed square/saw/tri (which starts approaching a sine as you remove the harmonics) works great for your basic sub-100hz sub. the low-passed wave will have a bit more going on sonically so that alone might be enough to get what you need.

otherwise, if you're still in MIDI, you can layer w/ another sound that's richer in harmonics and maybe an octave up. if you're in audio, you can either double or parallel-process the track-- one stays clean, the other gets distorted, bandpassed (take out the fizzy bits up top, and the below 150/200hz that's being handled by the orig). you'll probably have to limit and/or compress this distorted one. to my ears, some stereo-widening via chorus or delay can sometimes work-- depends on how broad of a sound you want.

take it as a generalization that laptop speakers don't really do much below 250hz. if you want your bass to come out on systems like that, you'll need to have some info up in that region. And to pre-empt Macc , DON'T use something like waves maxxbass... all it does is create bullshit content in that range for you so that things feel "full." you'll have much more control if you just create something around there via one of the other methods.

Well most people do seem to be making fuzzy, distorted bass thats in ur face or they have a plane sine under their track.

The two tracks I posted dont have either. They have a plane sounding sine that sounds like mid range but still clean n smooth....