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-- A little curious about a waves plugin.. and need some help in general.

A little curious about a waves plugin.. and need some help in general.

I remember reading on this forum I think its Waves Maxxbass that does it I'm not 100% sure but thats not what really matters anyway.

My question is I remember reading about how it colors sound, and partially thinking "bullshit, that sounds like a producers dream", and it just seemed a little too promising for my skepticism.

But I remember reading that it adds overtones to the bass, that supposively tricks the ear into hearing bass on shitty headphones and what not.

My simple question is does it actually do it? Is it a super subtle change thats almost impossible to notice, or does it REALLY add those overtones like it says? I've been trying to layer mid frequencies in most my bass sounds so they break through on lesser systems, but I'm always eating valuable headspace from my percussion and leads by doing that. And can you buy that plugin by itself? I guess you have to get the whole package deal? (I know I can search the site but I figure since I'm asking 1 legit question I can throw a lazy question in there too =]).

Thank You!

This is best overall write up I've found - it doesn't say it suddenly "makes yo' beatz phat", just can add some harmonics if needed, in the right context.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb...cles/waves.html

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN This is best overall write up I've found - it doesn't say it suddenly "makes yo' beatz phat", just can add some harmonics if needed, in the right context. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb...cles/waves.html

Ok great just what I was looking for.

I was more or less curious of where the harmonics were coming from. It it looks like it just bumps the bass up an octave like it says at lower volumes than compresses them.

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is exactly what Maxxbass does that CAN NOT be replicated with the usual fx or varying note placements. I'm still reading through it right now however maybe it'll seem a little more promising after the first 4 paragraphs..

If you want, send me a short audio clip of one of your basses and I'll slap a basic MaxxBass preset on it so you can hear for yourself what it does to one of your basses. I think it's a great plugin, as are all of the plugins in the Renaissance bundle - definitely worth the money IMO.

Ok great Cryo I would really appreciate that.

I'm gonna wip up a simple kick/bassline right now. I was kinda wishing there was a way I could hear it myself before really giving in to the waves craze I see on these forums so often.

Going into the lab right now!

you realize maxbass was made to make bass more apparent on the radio at the cost of the original bass by highlighting the added overtones and whatnot. Isn't really a tool I would recommend unless you are blending it with the original. It terms of real bass, it actually makes it smaller. It is an illusion effect that works for radio, not dance clubs.

quote:

Originally posted by Mad for Brad you realize maxbass was made to make bass more apparent on the radio at the cost of the original bass by highlighting the added overtones and whatnot. Isn't really a tool I would recommend unless you are blending it with the original. It terms of real bass, it actually makes it smaller. It is an illusion effect that works for radio, not dance clubs.

I didn't realize it was at a cost to the old bass no. I was figuring it had to have some sort of downside to it.

But even if I have to layer it with the original I'm more concerned with people hearing the lower bass sounds on headphones. Sometimes I'll make a real warm subbass and it will sound great with a woofer but the second I put headphones on its lost completely. I thought of layering a lower volume/higher octave sound over it, but than it seems to lose essential depth simultaneously. Which sounds kinda like what you're saying about Maxxbass.

I just don't understand how some subs come through on headphones so well, when theres no apparent "in your face" harmonics over it. I think every aspect of my music has gotten better over the years except really my subs. Really is one of the harder sounds to get working right in a track.

edit: And cryo its 80% rendered right now should be up in a matter of minutes.

all you can do is listen to music your trust, which honestly in this climate is pretty much impossible, and compare your track and elements you are examining. You just need to know your monitors.

Yeh very true. I shouldn't even really be complaining soley about my subbasses cause it was my kicks that really initiated this thread. But along with my subs my kicks always lack essential low end on lesser systems.

Even on good headphones with larger cones the kick will come through, but it always seems about 10times thinner than most "pro" kicks.

I compare my work a lot to Aly & Fila and Alex Morph because once the bass in their kicks drop, you can feel the gravity behind it. I've tried layering other kicks, layering pitched sinewaves, but it can sometimes take me months before I accidentally wind up with just an ok kick.
It doesn't really suprise me why some pros will use the same kick drum over and over (like Steven Angelo in Future Music). I remember him even saying it took them years just to find 1 that worked, and thats when you KNOW what you're doing. For someone like me... I might not find the lowend I want for another 5-10 years for all I know lol.

and cyro heres my sample:
For MaxxBass

Its another generic trance bass I put together (all my mid bass sound the same lately) and nothing remotely engaging at all. But I wanted to really see if maxbass will do anything interesting to the kick coming through headphones.. which is why the last few bars are just the kick.

Thanks!!!

slightly over compressed making it sound a little too clicky. Would round it off a bit but other than that , it sounds fine.

Uploading three versions (3 different MaxBass settings) of it plus the original right now (all in WAV format). Do you want me to post the link here for others to hear, or PM you the link? It's about 46MB compressed (RAR format).

One thing I will mention is that, when I use MaxBass, I always use it on individual tracks (e.g., bass, sub-bass, kick) separately, rather than on a submix, but you can probably still get a good idea of its effect here.

quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik Uploading three versions (3 different MaxBass settings) of it plus the original right now (all in WAV format). Do you want me to post the link here for others to hear, or PM you the link? It's about 46MB compressed (RAR format). One thing I will mention is that, when I use MaxBass, I always use it on individual tracks (e.g., bass, sub-bass, kick) separately, rather than on a submix, but you can probably still get a good idea of its effect here.

Ok thank you SO MUCH cyro I really appreciate it.

If you wanna upload them here thats perfectly fine. Just as long people realize this was an experiment and nothing more.

I was originally thinking it would have been smarter to give you a zip package of all the sounds but I also didn't wanna drive you crazy with loading them. Although it would have only took like an extra 5 seconds anyway. But I'm excited just to see how it sounds now, so you can go ahead and get that link up =].

Thank you!

Yeah, it didn't take long at all. HTH:

http://www.cryophonik.com/files/djrr_bass.rar (46MB)

You'll need WinRAR to unzip. Four files included - the original plus 3 MaxxBass presets (indicated in the file name).

I'm absolutely sold on this plugin.

I already pm'd you Dave but I can NOT get that type of color/warmth with Maximus or Izotope, the plugin itself is incredible for what it did in the "bigbottom" set up.
And the best part is on my headphones it seems VERY close to my reference tracks. And lightyears ahead of what it was before.

I try not to get crazy about a plugin doing things I should be doing on my own but I really don't think thats an effect I can get w/out Maxxbass. I've tried enough at this point to know I need to save $400 now.

=] Thank you!! I really wasn't expecting it to be that "in your face".

edit: I also want to note that I couldn't hear what Richie said about it making the sound smaller. I don't think you did any layering to the original like he mentioned should be done with Maxxbass, but it sounds perfect w/out it imo.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox I don't think you did any layering to the original like he mentioned should be done with Maxxbass, but it sounds perfect w/out it imo.

Nope - no layering. I just slapped the plugin on the track, selected a preset, and rendered it. As I mentioned earlier, that's not how I'd normally use it - I usually use it on individual bass parts and dial in the amount of bass goodness that I'm looking for. There aren't that many parameters, so it's a pretty simple plugin to use.

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