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Trance bass & Compressing

Hi Everyone,

AS you all know most trance tracks have more than 1 layer of basses.

What is your setup to make them sit good together?

Example;

You have 3 basses (low/mid/high) and you may compress and EQ them individually (+ other FX), then send them to 1 compressor to compress them together, maybe with some eq etc and have this on a sidechain.

Shorter to say how do you usually work with basses? How do you compress them? What things are you watching carefully to glue them good together?

I'm curious how everyone here is working regarding to this subject.

Thanks!

never really compress basses, although sometimes will stick a limiter on them to keep them in control, but only with about 3db max gain reduction

Why 3 layers?? Surely 2 would be enough? The more layers the more mud

I'm gonna start copying and pasting this to every one of these threads:


Whether or not you want to use EQ and compression on a sound depends on the specific sound. There is no one-fits-all recipe.

quote:

Originally posted by wayfinder Whether or not you want to use EQ and compression on a sound depends on the specific sound. There is no one-fits-all recipe.

Exactly. Every sound must be approached differently, there are no hard-and-fast rules like that for mixing and mastering.

I usually work with two layers of bass, if I'm creating a basic trance tune. You never really need as many as three. For trance more directed towards electro, I have multiple channels of bass playing in a sequence, but never more than two at a time.

The bass and kick work on close-to-similar frequencies, and the entire tune will clip if you don't sidechain. For the layers, use a spectral analyzer to see where the excess frequencies are and tame them. Using this method, you can also EQ the basses accordingly. Don't forget to sidechain

Gotta throw on a multiband stereoimager and compressor, widen and compress the low mids. Just mud up the rest, and you have an up-to-date uplifting trance track.

quote:

Originally posted by MSZ Gotta throw on a multiband stereoimager and compressor, widen and compress the low mids. Just mud up the rest, and you have an up-to-date uplifting trance track.

Lol, tru dat.

Oh, and fucking answer the question in the mixing contest thread

do what sounds good to you! but dont let it get muddy as mentioned above

quote:

Originally posted by MSZ Gotta throw on a multiband stereoimager and compressor, widen and compress the low mids. Just mud up the rest, and you have an up-to-date uplifting trance track.

compress them with what end result in mind?

Compressing things individually is pretty pointless as there are other tools that are far better suited, like adsr envelopes, to alter the dynamics of a sound.

I've read about compression soooo many times, but I still don't feel like I "get them", so I rarely use them for anything besides glueing buses together, either with themselves or other buses. The trick is keeping it together, yet seperate. And if you squash everything from the get-go, you're gonna end up with a transientless, muddy shit-mix.

compressor is faster than any envelope tool and can colour the sound in ways an envelope tool can't.

bass is one of the few things i compress... bass and leads or in other words what i want to stand out in the mix, never got complaints about my mixes in fact people usually remarked this, except the m4b contest track which btw was 2 years and a half ago and was my first experience with a saturation plugin :P i remember using it on every single bus lol.

quote:

Originally posted by Looney4Clooney compressor is faster than any envelope tool and can colour the sound in ways an envelope tool can't.

+1

I compress my basslines because I do not want the volume to be fluttering or changing. Compressing low bass is a great way to keep it as consistent as the kickdrum, which never changes, and those two frequencies areas are supposed to work together. There is no exact formula, since every sound is so different.

I feel compressors are badly misunderstood by most people

Sure, there are times when you can use them as a "creative tool" to shape the sound dramatically, but their main purpose is really meant to be very subtle.

In terms of a tool box, I kind of think of it as sand paper; something to just take the edge sharp edges or peaks off and make things of a different grain flow from one part to another smoothly or to make transitions between different parts smoother.

As a generalization, you don't use sandpaper to change the basic overall form of an object, and in the same way, you don't use a compressor to change the total form of sounds.

In that respect, they are badly overused or misused.

well maybe i should say that i rarely use compressors, i use limiters which by the way is a form of compressor and no i don't slap one on the master like most people do.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN I feel compressors are badly misunderstood by most people Sure, there are times when you can use them as a "creative tool" to shape the sound dramatically, but their main purpose is really meant to be very subtle. In terms of a tool box, I kind of think of it as sand paper; something to just take the edge sharp edges or peaks off and make things of a different grain flow from one part to another smoothly or to make transitions between different parts smoother. As a generalization, you don't use sandpaper to change the basic overall form of an object, and in the same way, you don't use a compressor to change the total form of sounds. In that respect, they are badly overused or misused.

Totally correct. Obviously the topic has been rehashed on this forum a billion times, but I think such an overly misused and abused effect should be a continuous discussion. I know a lot of people like my mixdowns and I've been getting a lot of compliments lately. Having said that, I can promise you that compression is something that it took the entire 10 years of "producing" I have under my belt to be able to use correctly and comfortably. I use it on all synths and most percussion, but very subtly.

You should be able to solo your channel for the synth, turn it up as much as you need to be able to hear it clearly, and unless it has peaks you can't control with the synth programming itself, major compression is never really needed. I use compression for volume control through peak reduction with automatic makeup gain, but like you said, very subtly. By the time I bus a lot of this stuff, all of the subtleties mesh together and my well-mixed product starts to appear.

quote:

Originally posted by Evolve140 Totally correct. Obviously the topic has been rehashed on this forum a billion times, but I think such an overly misused and abused effect should be a continuous discussion. I know a lot of people like my mixdowns and I've been getting a lot of compliments lately. Having said that, I can promise you that compression is something that it took the entire 10 years of "producing" I have under my belt to be able to use correctly and comfortably. I use it on all synths and most percussion, but very subtly. You should be able to solo your channel for the synth, turn it up as much as you need to be able to hear it clearly, and unless it has peaks you can't control with the synth programming itself, major compression is never really needed. I use compression for volume control through peak reduction with automatic makeup gain, but like you said, very subtly. By the time I bus a lot of this stuff, all of the subtleties mesh together and my well-mixed product starts to appear.

Completely agree with all of this, especially the sentiment that it needs to a continuous discussion. The loudness war has obfuscated that discussion and I hope that peole who actually understand what compression is keep correcting those that mis-use it.

You can of course use it to subtly change the dynamics of a sound, but we have to remember that all it's doing is reducing the difference between the quiet and loud parts of a sound (like my sandpaper reference above).

I have to admit, that even though I knew what it did and had used it many hundreds of times prior, I didn't truly understand how to use compression before I worked in a scoring studio; Using it on real drum mics to just tone down some of the peaks of the toms and snare, in relation to the rest of the kit; using it on short strings to make them smoother against the long strings; bus compressing groups of low mid and upper LF to place them in the correct volume range as a frequency spread for surround....these things really make you understand compression's real use.

If anything it's about layering subtleties - you really shouldn't "hear" compression in a fully mixed track, unless it's for those moments (which are the exception that proves the rule) when you're using it as an obvious effect.

Im only compressing on the mix buss these days, ive tried without it but cant get the mix to sit right...its just easier to make everything sit right in the mix, particularly kick and bass

I used to compress stuff to stop peaks jumping around but i realised i actually like some little peaks and jumps here and there, makes the tracks sound more alive
However on sub and and heavy basses i do use limiters, you gotta keep those bad boys under control!

I would imagine Skrillex and the likes are using lots of compression everywhere, any of that stuff that gets onto the radio sounds super loud

I disagree,

Enveloppe tools and automation work great for general levels, a limiter to catch any small peaks but compression especially in EDM or any modern music is something I find is sound carving tool. The last thing i want is a transparent compressor as that can be done with other tools. I find this particularly effective for single tracks rather than busses which you can't be so rough with.

I find people don't know how to use them , and others are just scared or have been brainwashed by the whole shunning of them due to the loudness wars.

You can make a very dynamic track and still abuse the fuck out of a compressor. It is just knowing how and when.

EDM artists that claim not to use compressors either make very sparse arrangements or don't understand their genre and how compressor is necessary, And multi band compression is also great used in ways you don't typically use it. I find using 2 Mb compressors in series can give you a colour you would think might be achieved by using a saturation plugin but i find this way cleaner.

Like looney said.

I always compress the shit out of my top basslines usually with some stereo delay, sounds great in uplifting trance. I also always compress my plucks and delays.

For example heres a clip from my upcoming track where i used that effect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0Eb4NLZfgA

Rollin Bass-> stereo delay -> stereo delay -> reverb -> glue -> saturator -> sidechain -> eq

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