Making a (sub) bass sound good or full in your mix.

[steevio]

simple :

create harmonics....
Layer your bass sound with a triangle or a cutted sawtooth. Sometimes you need to hear the sound to think it has body!. Pure sine will only make you're pants go back and forth. Low sines won't impress the ears.

You could also try FM synthese to add some harmonics on your bassline

edit :

funny to see everybody talking in numbers of hz.... I mostly trust my ears. Not every sound needs the same processing.

no it isnt simple.

and its not funny talking in terms of Hz.

you cant say that sines wont impress your ears. it depends on what frequency sines your talking about. actually if you read my post properly i was talking about training your ears by listening to pure sinewaves, so that you recognise individual frequencies. as a sound engineer for many years i 've found it invaluable to be able to do this.
i never suggested using sinewaves for sub bass, but that doesnt mean its not a legitimate technique.
if you use a sinewave at 27 Hz, sure it isnt going to impress your ears, but things change if you are using higher sines, say G2 98 Hz, then a sinewave may be all you need to give you good bass which doesnt start to mingle with your low mids. the third harmonic of that note is 392 Hz which is well into the mids.

its not simple. this is a subject which we could talk about in depth for months.
we all use our ears, but approaching things scientifically can give you a much deeper insight into what is going on with sound.

[kdgh]

first : i didn't read your post really..

Well... if we're talking about bass, i don't mean stuff in G2 or whatsoever. Ofcourse the higher the sine, the more you gonna hear the sound.

Sine is just a pure tone... If you want a bass that stands out, you might try a higher octave or double the bass sine with an octave sine or a different waveform.

Besides the topic IS quite simple... you can talk in depth about it, but that will lead to mathematic's.

What's more worth it... the math or the sound? Ofcourse it has something to do with eachother, but not in the depth i think you're heading for.

Try a maxxbass... a plugin with psycho-acoustics that 'adds' bass. It does quite the opposite. It add's harmonics.

Eq'ing a sine is useless like you should know.... That's why i say try harmonics to add some 'bass' to it ;-).

[::BLM::]

On a track I made yesterday I used 2 sinewaves one pitched up to a 7th and it sounded really good. You can make basslines with whatever you want, there are no set rules.

[steevio]

That's why i say try harmonics to add some 'bass' to it ;-).

mate i'm not arguaing against harmonics, the point i'm making is that its not a simple subject, because we dont know how the OP is making his music in the first place, you cant add harmonics to a sine if you're not using a sine in the first place.
what if he's using a sample of a jazz double bass for his bottom end ?

i'm trying to look at it from an engineers point of view. look at your spectrum, thats where you should start if you've got problems with your sub bass.

this IS a very complex subject, and like BLM says there are no rules.

if it was easy, everyone would have perfect bass in their tracks, and all mastering engineers would be amazing.
this is simply not the case.

[AK]

@ steevio. Wouldnt argue with that and like i said in the reply, only talking about personal preference. I was replying to the OP though and these are mix questions not mastering. Since im not a mastering engineer, it wouldnt make sense for me to talk about it and whilst i know the basic principles, i dont see any value of them here. Much better to leave that to those guys, if/when something is to be mastered. Just dont see the value there of addressing anything but mix stuff.

Yeah the church organ stuff is well known but thats not really related to anything at all here, and yeah cant disagree with the bass frequencies although I do have my preference to their range. E is my favourite key/root note and i did say that in my post too so not sure why you are saying that to me. Anyway, im only replying to the guy if you want to pick me up on stuff carry on but i cant be arsed getting into that.

[kdgh]

as an engineer you should know that every sound has a sine.... the color of the sound is harmonics... If you use a jazzbass just layer it with a sine or something else... Like layering drums, you can also do that with ur sounds.

[steevio]

@ steevio. Wouldnt argue with that and like i said in the reply, only talking about personal preference. I was replying to the OP though and these are mix questions not mastering. Since im not a mastering engineer, it wouldnt make sense for me to talk about it and whilst i know the basic principles, i dont see any value of them here. Much better to leave that to those guys, if/when something is to be mastered. Just dont see the value there of addressing anything but mix stuff.

Yeah the church organ stuff is well known but thats not really related to anything at all here, and yeah cant disagree with the bass frequencies although I do have my preference to their range. E is my favourite key/root note and i did say that in my post too so not sure why you are saying that to me. Anyway, im only replying to the guy if you want to pick me up on stuff carry on but i cant be arsed getting into that.

sorry bro, i read my post and it sounded like i was pulling you up or something, that wasnt where i was coming from, hence the edit.

everything you said i pretty much agree with.

i'm pulling out of this as its already a shambles, like you said there are already plenty of threads on this subject.

ps i do think there is value in looking at this from a mastering perspective as well as a mixing one, i never seperate the two proceedures when i'm making music, i'm constantly looking at a track from both angles, adjusting and readjusting in both domains. the more you understand about everything to do with producing the better imo.

[steevio]

as an engineer you should know that every sound has a sine.... the color of the sound is harmonics... If you use a jazzbass just layer it with a sine or something else... Like layering drums, you can also do that with ur sounds.

please dont tell me what i should and shouldnt know.

you're preaching to the converted.

ive been contributing to threads on harmonics on this forum for nearly 5 years now, its a favourite topic of mine.

here's one that AK started a few years ago
http://www.mnml.nl/phpBB2/viewtopic.php ... =harmonics