How to make a good sub bass?

[nightlights]

Hey everyone. I have a big problem. I try to do decent sub basses, but when the notes go down, the sound becomes a lot bad and inaudible. When the notes go high, the bass loses the low frequencies. This really drives me crazy Can someone give me hints about making a good bass? I use FL 9. Thanks a lot

[asteski]

It depends on plugins, just try and test, that's the best solution for ya. Sylenth1 is good one. And you should have a little fun with equalizer, that's all it is.

[thijsje]

What kinda speakers do you have? Are subs any good in released tracks?
Maybe it's good to test with a multiband compressor/sidechain or filter if you can hear frequencies below 50 - 60 Hz as that's the important part we talk about

Anyway, this is my trick:

Synths:
Use a simple synth playing just one sine OSC, and let it play LOW. Make the ADSR to your wishes, release should be SHORT usually

Effects:
1. Start with an equaliser, BOOST the lows, not just a little bit but boost them a lot.
2. Use a multibandcompressor (I use the Fabfilter Pro-C for it) tweak it and remove a lot of the highs. The highs will come back in another bassline. Also don't forget to make a good lowcut arround 25 - 30 Hz. probably, if you want to go that deep
3. Use a compressor at the end of the chain as the previous steps cause a lot of saturation. Don't start listening before you did this, you'll probably blow up your speakers instead
4. Use the channel mixer to make it fit with the other stuff in the track. It should be subtle in there, but that's to your own wishes

and there it goes BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM

[Euforix]

One good trick is also that try to have 2 basses at the same time. One for lower octaves and one for higher octaves. "Double power"

[aki]

yep^^ as for the speaker boom problem, monitor through your headphones, they usually go deeper than the generic speaker

[nightlights]

thanks a lot, i'll try that. My speakers are poor, generic pc speakers, but I have a good headphone

[Rodri Santos]

in a few words as a lot is explained here:

-EQ around 100hz
-Rolling Bassline + Sidechain Compression.

[aki]

100 hz is a bit too high to be called a sub bass, and it will interfere with the kick? (of course you can sidechain it and use it in breaks but I think you call it a normal bass?)

35 hz is good imo

[thijsje]

100 hz is a bit too high to be called a sub bass, and it will interfere with the kick? (of course you can sidechain it and use it in breaks but I think you call it a normal bass?)

35 hz is good imo

sub is always a sub, so usually there;s also an upper. Interfering with the kick thepends on both volumes and character also. Kicks aren't just at 123 Hz (or wherever). They have a whole lot at the rest of the spectrum also. Just make a good blend, and where necessary a sidechain.

^^ Great you have a good headphone. Check with a good filter how your lows REALLY are and take care of your ears when making subs

[illumin]

lots of good suggestions here. I might advise to stay away from a multiband compressor unless you're experienced with one. focus on the sound source first, and if it sounds good enough, bring it out with some eq and compression. definitely, stay away from those saws if you're trying to go low. mild side-chaining will help it sit well with the kick, or just make sure its in a different frequency range than your kick so they booth have oomph! watch out with the adsr editing on a sine wave so it doesn't become to clicky either.

[thijsje]

yeaps

[Rodri Santos]

yeah if you see a kick on an equalizer most of the frequencies are between 20hz - 200 but some kicks specially have a high pitched part, below 100hz the sound is very deep and it's very similar if you play a piano key 50hz and a violin they will sound alike. But sidechaining it there's no problem, the bass won't interfere much with the kick.

[aki]

Yeah I understand it has sound in the whole spectrum but the most vital, defining part is what I said in the <120 area.
For example in my production (which is far from finished by the way), the only instrument causing 22khz to rise above -96 dB is.. you guessed it, the kick

[nightlights]

thanks again everybody. I made a great sub here with sylenth1, a sine and a saw, with some adsr modulation on the cut off. then i cut everything above 178 hz and boost the 40 hz bass (i also removed the unwanted bass freqs 20 hz -) i made a multiband comp and sidechained. i had a wonderful result with those configs

[thijsje]

good one!!!