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The black art of 'evening out' different bass notes - how the heck is it done?
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| Richard Butler |
Hello all,
Despite being into music production some time and having explored many forums and tutorials, I've never found out how the professionals 'even out' thier bass line?
What I mean is, any bass phrase using differnt notes, will be louder / more resonant on certain notes, so I end up with an uneven not totaly professional result.
I'm talking the low end here, not the mid or rolling bass.
I've tried using volume automation, but honestly I think there is more to it than this.
Does anyone know how this is done?
I'm guessing it might be done using certain compressors. Those I've tried have not solved this, and that includes TRACS deluxe compressors, and also a hardware unit by DBX.
Could it be WAVES or something, or just damn hard work on automation of volume and EQ?? |
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| EgosXII |
| have you tried just using keyfollow on your synth's filter? |
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| Richard Butler |
| quote: | Originally posted by EgosXII
have you tried just using keyfollow on your synth's filter? |
Do you think that would even out the 'bass low end' such that all notes within a phrase have similar weight?
How would I set this up - I'm guessing your'e thinking to use some kind of HPF to remove frequencies below a certain level - say 50hz or something? |
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| Pjotr G |
| I suspect that you 'evening out' the notes, would mean that you are compensating in the track for your speakers and your room. These are the factors that make different notes at the same volume sound at another volume. Have you checked on different speakers / in another room? |
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| Nightshift |
compression. but if you think about it it kinda depends on what you're listening on and how the room is acoustically treated whether some notes could have greater emphasis over others.
you also gotta remember a bass note hitting G is going to hit a deeper frequency than a note on B in the same octave.'
im like half asleep so i hope this informs you |
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| Morvan |
| Try transposing it to an area where the lowest notes are not too low. That's the way it's done in all Genres. |
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| Subtle |
| Yeah finding a bass sound that works on the notes you are using, that is the trick. |
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| Lucidity |
| One good tip I learned for evening out the bass is, once you find your sound or tone, if u are gonna let harmonics in at all, open filter all the way, then sample it on whatever your key note is. And just use that one sample, don't multisample it, while u can multisample it, if u use one sample it should be fairly even on all notes in that range. Then just use the filters and modulators on whatever your favorite sampler is. Now thing is, it is possible that you will lose fidelity the more your extend the notes into other octaves, but, if you stay around the same octave with one sample of your bass tone, you should be good then. That obviously is just part of getting a good even bass, not everyone does it, but, it was a tip I learned when I was frustrated about the same issue long ago. It can work wonders sometimes. Its not gonna make you have the best bass sound, making the sound is a whole other subject ;-) |
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| Waza |
I roll off everything around 40hz that will stop some low end rumble but you have to use your Eq wisely. my verse and chorus basslines are always on different channels so i can Eq and compress them to suit.
also velocity is your friend too. |
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| Richard Butler |
| quote: | Originally posted by Pjotr G
I suspect that you 'evening out' the notes, would mean that you are compensating in the track for your speakers and your room. These are the factors that make different notes at the same volume sound at another volume. Have you checked on different speakers / in another room? |
No, I'm talking about playing back professional tracks on consumer systems such as car stereo - on good tracks every bass note on the scale sounds the same, but on my tracks, and for that matter other non professional tracks I can hear different notes sounding with varying weights. |
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| Richard Butler |
| quote: | Originally posted by Nightshift
you also gotta remember a bass note hitting G is going to hit a deeper frequency than a note on B in the same octave.'
im like half asleep so i hope this informs you |
Exactly my point - on a lot of professional tracks, even though some notes comming out of the original synth would have more weight or resonance, somehow these top producers even them out - check for yourself in your car. |
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| Richard Butler |
| quote: | Originally posted by Waza
I roll off everything around 40hz that will stop some low end rumble but you have to use your Eq wisely. my verse and chorus basslines are always on different channels so i can Eq and compress them to suit.
also velocity is your friend too. |
Yeah I roll off, but still the problem persists.
Your other point about separate verse and chorus channels - that's a neat idea I never heard of and may use, so many thanks. |
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