Hello all,

Recently finished a track but I'm having a lot of trouble getting the sub bass to sound right on different systems. Sorry for the lengthy explanation below.

On this tune, I have a sub bass playing a simple offbeat pattern with a mid-type bass playing a busier pattern on top.

The sub bass isn't meant to stand out too much as I don't want it to give a bouncey stabby feel. Its meant to be very subtle to give a low warmth, nothing more.

When making the track, it sounded just right on my monitors and I was very pleased. But when testing it on my hifi downstairs, the sub was completely non existant, couldn't hear any of it and as a result, the track sounded cold. So I compensated for this and boosted it a little. Now it was just about accepatable on my monitors (though a touch heavy) and audible on the hifi though not much.

But testing this in my car, the sub was ridiculously heavy (actually made me jump) overpowered everything and made the track sound like a slow hard house tune.

After more tweaking, I have it sounding good on my monitors, okay in my car but still lacking on my hi-fi.

Could some of you please give it a listen on your setup and tell me

a)if its okay on your system

b)Possible reasons why I'm having this problem.

Incidentally the sub is a single sine wave in V-station wbich is my usual method for sub frequencies and usually works okay.

The short sample below plays 8 bars without the sub, then 8 bars with the sub then 8 bars with the sub and the mid-bass on top.

Thanks for your time..

...from someone who's been smashing his head against the wall many times because of this

Click Here
Right click - save as to download

(The sample has been converted from wav to mp3 back and forth a few times but hopefully the quality is good enough for this test.)

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To me it sounds like the kick is too bassy.

The sub bass sounds good though.

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http://soundcloud.com/subtara

the kick doesnt sound tidy. the sub hits a bit too far after the initial snap, which makes it sound a bit resonanceish. the bass sounds ok, but i think it needs a bit more separation from the kick (not in terms of eq, in terms of time - shorten it).

it does sound pretty good though...

I can't hear it for shit on my Alesis Mk II's but I know that it will overpower me if I play it in my car.

My opinion is that you shouldn't use a sine wave to add in extra volume or warmth to a track. A Sine wave of a single frequency is not a musical note, there are no overtones present from the fundamental.

The fact that it is resonating at only one frequency will mean that if that if your speakers have increased or decreased volume at that band, there will be no overtones to counteract that. You have more of a chance of balancing out a note's volume if you give it more overtones to resonate with.

I think that the rest of your track sounds great and that you should remove this sine wave and add something different, it has way more potential if you have something more dynamic there instead.

quote:

Originally posted by Cetra³ You have more of a chance of balancing out a note's volume if you give it more overtones to resonate with.

I agree. Use a filtered pulse, saw or triangle instead. They have more harmonics (overtones).
I can barely hear the sub bass on my cheap headphones. Transpose it up one octave or change the waveform.

Thanks for the responses lads. You've been really helpful.

Looks like I'll try replacing the sine wave with something else, a square or 2 triangles maybe. Hopefully this will sort it out.

Echosystem, just curious to know what you mean by "the kick is untidy". Too bassy, decay too long? I do actually like the kick but am open to trying small adjustments to see if it sounds better.

The sub hits late as the attack is quite long but I found this way it grooved better with the percussion. I see what you mean though. I'll also try shortening the decay on the mid bass to see if this helps so thanks for that suggestion as well.

Thanks again everyone

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Sorry to be a pain but I've got 2 more short samples of different subs now for you to have a listen. If you could tell me which one on your setup out of all 3 sounds best, that would be great. Remember I'm aiming for a subtle offbeat low end rather than an obvious stabby bounce.

Thanks very much.

1st New Sub

2nd New Sub

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The two new subs are much more audible on my internet computer's speaker system. The 1st new sub sounds great but may (probably will?) be too loud when other elements are added to the track. The 2nd one isn't as prominent, but still much more effective than the original - hard to tell which of the two new subs will be best in the context of the whole track, and at what volume.

leave it as sine ;]

quote:

Originally posted by G-Con Sorry to be a pain but I've got 2 more short samples of different subs now for you to have a listen. If you could tell me which one on your setup out of all 3 sounds best, that would be great. Remember I'm aiming for a subtle offbeat low end rather than an obvious stabby bounce. Thanks very much. 1st New Sub 2nd New Sub

The first one sounds best on my Event TR8s in comparison to the second and the one in the original post.

Agreed,

It's just a tad different than no. 3. but 16.4vsub2 is the best

Been away over the weekend so only just read the last few replies. Thanks very much. Think I'll go with the 1st one (of the two new ones) and just makes sure it doesn't over power the mix when all the other elements are in place.

Thanks

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Listen to and download all my tracks at www.gregnicot.bandcamp.com