Get your sub bass right

Being a mastering engineer, this is a common topic for me.
I wrote a bit about how to get a solid low end for your bass music tracks – using a visual aid:
http://fanumusic.com/production-get-you ... ass-right/

If you find the blog post helpful, please consider sharing.

VERY, VERY DOPE BLOG POST!!! I've always have issues in this department. I can't seem to gain the knack for getting that Sub/Kick relationship to translate in a mix well. I fight over it for ages to get it sounding ok, but this is a GREAT shortcut!

Link says "get you ass right", which is kind of funny.

what's your recommendation on perceived higher volume of higher sub bass notes? i have a couple of songs that i've had an enormous trouble with because sub bass kind of limits you to 1 octave....and sometimes a note is either too high at one octave, but if you transpose it down it's too low.

i know it's all about environment, but it's very unsettling to suddenly hear a super loud sub bass note out of nowhere. do you understand what i mean?

The SubPac is worthy of serious consideration as a complimentary device for helping mix the low end. I'd definitely put it after the visual aids and a sub in a well treated room in order of importance, but you can instantly 'feel' when your frequencies are clashing. The kick/sub relationship and getting them in some kind of balance is it's forte IMO.

http://thesubpac.com

Nym wrote:what's your recommendation on perceived higher volume of higher sub bass notes? i have a couple of songs that i've had an enormous trouble with because sub bass kind of limits you to 1 octave....and sometimes a note is either too high at one octave, but if you transpose it down it's too low.

i know it's all about environment, but it's very unsettling to suddenly hear a super loud sub bass note out of nowhere. do you understand what i mean?

In my experience, this is down to speaker systems not able to reproduce the very low bass notes, so you perceive them as lower in volume. Constant problem with my Adam A7X if i go to low with the bass notes.

I have Adam A7, and they don't go low enough, so that might be the cause.
I've got the Sub8, too, which is much needed.

Someone mentioned clashing kick and bass; I've done a video of how to actually see it (using some Melda plugins):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84Ydvi93rAQ

I know nothing about mixing. This was definitely informative. When you say you want the bass at 40 - 60 Hz, do you mean volume? Also, lets say I make a decent mix in my software, it sounds good to me, but an engineer knows it sucks. Can that be fixed with mastering? Or would you want to have the songs remixed first? Check out my soundcloud page if you have a minute. I bump these in my car and they sound good, but I know it's definitely not good enough for an actual album release. Where am I going wrong? What are some basics?

Doc00Cosel wrote:I know nothing about mixing. This was definitely informative. When you say you want the bass at 40 - 60 Hz, do you mean volume? Also, lets say I make a decent mix in my software, it sounds good to me, but an engineer knows it sucks. Can that be fixed with mastering? Or would you want to have the songs remixed first? Check out my soundcloud page if you have a minute. I bump these in my car and they sound good, but I know it's definitely not good enough for an actual album release. Where am I going wrong? What are some basics?

No, I don't refer to volume: I only refer to there being meat in that frequency range. That can be seen via SPAN (or any freq. analyser).

Can it be fixed in mastering? That is case-specific and it's hard to say without hearing it first.
Sometimes you get pretty good results out of a crap mix, sometimes you just have to tell the producer that it's not going to work and/or he has to go back to work on the mix.

Also, "remixing" means something else, not "mixing it again"...it means a "re-interpretation" of the song. Terminology thing.

I do mastering, and if you ever need it, hit me up at [email protected]

Fanu wrote:

Doc00Cosel wrote:I know nothing about mixing. This was definitely informative. When you say you want the bass at 40 - 60 Hz, do you mean volume? Also, lets say I make a decent mix in my software, it sounds good to me, but an engineer knows it sucks. Can that be fixed with mastering? Or would you want to have the songs remixed first? Check out my soundcloud page if you have a minute. I bump these in my car and they sound good, but I know it's definitely not good enough for an actual album release. Where am I going wrong? What are some basics?

No, I don't refer to volume: I only refer to there being meat in that frequency range. That can be seen via SPAN (or any freq. analyser).

Can it be fixed in mastering? That is case-specific and it's hard to say without hearing it first.
Sometimes you get pretty good results out of a **** mix, sometimes you just have to tell the producer that it's not going to work and/or he has to go back to work on the mix.

Also, "remixing" means something else, not "mixing it again"...it means a "re-interpretation" of the song. Terminology thing.

I do mastering, and if you ever need it, hit me up at [email protected]

Ok. Thanks. I most likely will hit you up in the near future. I'm working on a lot of new stuff but it has to sound right before I put it out. I could definitely use your help.

this is always an interesting topic, though i don't have any real knowledge to share on it what i have found to work for me is not to let the sub bass clash with the kick, if it does eq or filter the clashing frequencies also make sure ur sub is in the same key as ur song and the thing i always find is the best sub bass seems to be one you don't really hear, but feel.