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-- no bass impact?

no bass impact?

Hi!

would love to get your advice on this issue i got,

i start running a nice groove, got my kick tight and punchy and everything sits well in the mix but the subbass or deeper bass doesn't create that impact im after, for example after a breakdown and this massive climax when everything is up and running. how should i approach this to get the subbass nailed down.

You have to provide a sample, otherwise its impossible to give any advice on it.. it can depend on so many factors.

you haven't really described the problem. Is it not loud enough ? Is it too loud ?

One of my fav things to do is to use the C4 plugin and just solo frequency bands and really listen to what is going on. You don't want too much movement in the sub bass region therefore you will obviously want some mb compression but it is really impossible to say without knowing the issue. By the way , sub bass doesn't really create punch or drive or whatever it is you use to describe it. It is really a cumbersome region that provides more of a underpinning that makes you feel the upper partials of the bass. Of all the regions , i would say this is the region you need to control in terms of dynamics the most or it will cause many issues down the road. You don't want huge changes in gain for many reasons. What you should be listening for is a very slight rhythmic bass sound along with the kick that is fairly even that is extremely subtle with very little pumping. Just a slight pulsating rhythm.. Then put it to the gain you think sounds good. Then take it down a little bit .

I'm having this exact same problem. Basically, what I've done is - I have a bassline that I think is thumping. It drives the groove of the track. Now after the breakdown, I've automated it so that the cutoff of a phase distortion insert on the bassline goes up, giving it a bit of a roar. Thing is, I'm not able to hear the impact of this. I've also tried lowering the compressor threshold on the various layers of my main melody, to give the bass more room to breathe. Also spent about 16 hours trying to figure out if the EQ levels were clashing. Is there any other reason why the bass wouldn't be having as much impact other than EQ? If not, I guess I'll just have to look harder at my mixdown!

quote:

Originally posted by Mad for Brad One of my fav things to do is to use the C4 plugin and just solo frequency bands and really listen to what is going on.

Just to be clear, do you suggest doing this on the master channel? Not discounting it as a bad idea at all, but just wondering. There are many more ways to do this of course, but as you say compressing of the bass range can help a lot.

quote:

Originally posted by Imu Now after the breakdown, I've automated it so that the cutoff of a phase distortion insert on the bassline goes up, giving it a bit of a roar.

What do you mean by this?

quote:

Originally posted by Atlantis-AR What do you mean by this?

lol it's on the track I posted on the other thread. Basically I have logic's phase distortion insert running on the lowest layer of my bassline. The cutoff is set to zero for half the track. Once the bass returns with the kick after the breakdown, I raise this to about 1300 khz, so that I get a roaring effect, kind of like in Dakota - Johnny The Fox (Barnes & Heatcliff Remix). In the other thread, you said the bass was too loud post-breakdown, which was true. The problem is that this roar has now - after some EQ-ing, become difficult to hear. So I was just wondering if there is a way to increase presence so that this roar effect I have can actually be heard.

After having given this some thought, I'm guessing that the kind of sound I'm looking for probably fits better at a slightly higher frequency. Is it possible (or more like, common) to automate EQ levels of a particular channel so that they fall at say low ranges for part of a track, and higher ranges for other parts?

Hey while this topic is up just wanted some advice on a painting I just finished. It looks pretty cool, but I just can't help but feel like it's missing something. There's like a beach, and some sky up at the top and a seagull right around there, and some people walking down the beach. Just wanted to know what I could do to make it look better.

/this is exactly what you are doing

Happy Trees.

quote:

Originally posted by Imu Basically I have logic's phase distortion insert running on the lowest layer of my bassline.

I'm just not sure what a phase distortion effect is really.

quote:

Originally posted by Imu After having given this some thought, I'm guessing that the kind of sound I'm looking for probably fits better at a slightly higher frequency. Is it possible (or more like, common) to automate EQ levels of a particular channel so that they fall at say low ranges for part of a track, and higher ranges for other parts?

Still not really following so maybe someone else can help out here. Or do you mean a high-pass filter?

quote:

Originally posted by floyd741 Hey while this topic is up just wanted some advice on a painting I just finished. It looks pretty cool, but I just can't help but feel like it's missing something. There's like a beach, and some sky up at the top and a seagull right around there, and some people walking down the beach. Just wanted to know what I could do to make it look better. /this is exactly what you are doing

I disagree. I think this is a problem that all noobs face in production, which is why I completely understand what the OP is saying. The problem is simple: the bass sounds great right after the intro, form say 32 bars to 144 bars (which is in my case when the breakdown comes in). After the breakdown, there seems to be less impact than before the main melody was introduced. So what I'm asking is that is this purely an EQ-ing issue or is there more to it? I don't know enough about music production yet to know what else could be wrong. I'm increasing the compressor threshold post-breakdown, but it just sidechains the melody more than I want and doesn't affect the bass impact. Of course, why should it - I'm sidechaining on the kick. Either way, I don't think this topic is too vague.

quote:

Originally posted by Atlantis-AR I'm just not sure what a phase distortion effect is really. Still not really following so maybe someone else can help out here. Or do you mean a high-pass filter?

Well the phase distortion bit is irrelevant really. All I'm saying there in short is that there's a particular sound I'm trying to bring out. As for the automation, what I mean is this:

Suppose I have my bass on a certain EQ level. Is it acceptable to change the EQ levels on this sound as the track progresses or should it be the same throughout the track?

quote:

Originally posted by Imu Is it acceptable to change the EQ levels on this sound as the track progresses or should it be the same throughout the track?

You're the artist. You may as well ask "is it acceptable if I use a supersaw lead?" It's your music, they're your decisions.

Personally, I can't remember changing the EQ of one of my bass sounds between the intro and main section. If it's getting lost when other sounds come in, I'd look at which sound is covering it up and either use a different sound or EQ it so it doesn't clash.

quote:

Originally posted by derail You're the artist. You may as well ask "is it acceptable if I use a supersaw lead?" It's your music, they're your decisions. Personally, I can't remember changing the EQ of one of my bass sounds between the intro and main section. If it's getting lost when other sounds come in, I'd look at which sound is covering it up and either use a different sound or EQ it so it doesn't clash.

Lol, I suppose what I was asking then was has anyone done this before. so, your answer was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks! As I thought, back to the EQ-ing board!

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