Strange Sub Bass Issue...

[halifaxer12]

Hey guys, I've run into a pretty obnoxious problem while listening to my sub bass/mid bass lines. For some reason when the sub bass and mid are heard together, the sub's lfo speed slows down instead of keeping up with the mid bass lfo. On their own they both are going at 1/8, but once I play the song and they are both running together, the sub seems to be slowing down or running at a different lfo speed. I don't understand, there is some kind of interference happening but I don't know how to fix it. I'm hoping somebody on here is familiar with this type of issue and can help me out with this.

[zosomagik]

that does sound strange. what DAW and synth are you using? I usually find when stuff like this happens its due to some extremely small or simple detail i overlooked. i would look and see if they have the same min. and max values if your using macro knobs, double check all your automation, or maybe even google it and see if theres some bug with one of the programs your using.

[halifaxer12]

I'm using Pro Tools and the synth was created in Massive as well as the Sub. I resampled the mid synth into Reason 6 to add more effects like I always do. But this time the synth I'm using hasn't flowed right with the sub. This time I used a tremolo plugin onto the synth rather than just using the lfo in Massive, but I have it at a synced rate. For the first drop the synth has no tremolo and the sub bass has no lfo, so they work fine. But on the second drop with the tremolo running at 1/12, the sub still seems to keep up until the second part of the bass line comes in at 1/8, then the sub seems to slow down almost at a 1/4 lfo speed. Maybe the pitch adjustments I made on the synth in Massive is the cause of it, I have the first osc at +23 and the second osc at -24, but I can't change them because the sound won't be what I wanted...I think these pitch adjustments might be creating a movement underlying the synth and that's interfering with the sub bass lfo, I don't know but hopefully the info I provided can help scope out the issue better.

[halifaxer12]

I'm thinking of possibly resampling the sub bass into Reason as well, and adding the same tremolo plugin to it and hopefully that will make them run together correctly...

[SunkLo]

Uh do you have it set at +23 semitones or +23 cents?

Also it sounds like you resampled the mid but not the sub? If you resample something and then pitch it to different notes the modulation will scale as well. It could also be that one LFO is set to restart whereas the other is free running.

[halifaxer12]

Semi tones. Yea I always resample the mid but keep the sub in Massive..that hasn't got me into any problems until I added tremolo to the resampled mid bass rather than the lfo in Massive. So I'm hoping that by resampling the sub and adding tremolo to it (rather than lfo) also then they will flow together right. I'll let you know.

[halifaxer12]

Yeah that didn't work at all, the tremolo effect on the sub sounds awful. I don't know what else I can do other than just make the second drop the same as the first without any lfo or tremolo...but it sounds better with the second drop switched up

[halifaxer12]

WOW, you were right Sunklo, I had the lfo on the sub bass in Massive set to restart and that was what was interfering with the tremolo on the mid synth. I usually do have the lfos on restart but I guess they didn't work together this time since the mid bass was using a tremolo instead of restart lfo. Thanks!!

[SunkLo]

Glad to hear you worked it out. You might wanna watch out for that tuning thing though. If you have one oscillator set at 23.00 that means it's playing a major seventh above the root note which will be out of key depending on what note the bass plays. If I were you I'd use the fine tuning instead. You can double the top oscillator and set them at 24.50 and 23.50 or something. Then there will still be a semi-tones worth of dissonance there to create the beating effect but the average of the two oscillators will be at 24.00 which will make it sound more in tune. In the end, if it sounds good it is right, but you may run into some unexpected issues down the line when you play different bass notes if you're still using only the coarse tuning.

[halifaxer12]

I'm using different sub bass notes to make it sound in key. But thanks for the input!

[SunkLo]

The lower voice of your synth is at -24 though, so they're at a fixed interval to each other. It'll sound fine on certain notes but off on others.

[halifaxer12]

Yea that's probably true, but the notes I'm recording don't sound out of key so I should be good.

[halifaxer12]

I'll try the 23.50 and 24.50 just in case though to see if it sounds better

[halifaxer12]

the 23.50 and 24.50 makes it sound realllyyy off...I tried playing around with the semi tones and cents but I'm afraid that's the only way to keep the sound (23 & 24)

[SunkLo]

if it sounds good it is right

[OfficialDAPT]

the 23.50 and 24.50 makes it sound realllyyy off...I tried playing around with the semi tones and cents but I'm afraid that's the only way to keep the sound (23 & 24)

try like 24.04, 24.5 is way too much to still sound on key

[halifaxer12]

God this is really irritating me now. When I bring the notes down a key the sub underneath the synth sound right, but then the mid part sounds off. And visa versa, if I bring the notes up a key the mid part sounds right and the underlying bass sounds off......Can you guys listen to the track if I post it up temporarily on YouTube? You can hear the sound I'm trying to put out in the bass line

[halifaxer12]

I don't hear much of a difference at all with 24.04 ...

[OfficialDAPT]

yeah sure, just post the link. Soundcloud would be easier that youtube too btw

[halifaxer12]

Alright I'll post it on SoundCloud temporarily, I just don't want people hearing the unmastered version yet. Here's the link: https://soundcloud.com/zoroasterdubstep ... -demo-test (Please listen to both drops because the bass lines are different and I want them to both to sound right) Thank you