How does I low end ?

[nubbinownz]

Ok, so It's very apparent to me ( and i'm sure anyone who's listened to my music) that I am very obviously lacking in the low end for my songs. Now, I would have you believe that it's because i don't feel that the songs need low end. But sadly enough this is not the case. It's time to come clean. I have no idea how to utilize low end. I can cut breaks and sequence drums. I can throw a melody that seems to fit with the rest of the song, and have even gotten pretty decent on equalizing and mastering.. but i just cannot find a way to use low end. It's not that I don't have ideas for bass lines, it's just that I can never find a low end sound that doesn't sound incredibly out of bass. The best I can seem to do is just a boring sub bass running the root chords.

What about you guys ? Do you have a tried and true method for getting more low end into your songs ?

[lukethexjesse]

Take your channel EQ and boost the low end.

This is all I can really think of.

[gregaaron89]

There's a bunch of things you can do. Drive/warm distortion/exciting on your bass, saw bass with the cutoff fairly low paired with a sine subbass, lower your highs so the bass stands out more, EQ, Using LFOs to give your bass a dnb/dubstep wobble, resonance (be careful with this, can suck out the low end but when used sparingly can brighten the sound of the bass and make it more present, run it through a distortion or bass amp plugin...

Yeah I find bass pretty tough personally...

[lukethexjesse]

At 5/3/09 01:05 AM, gregaaron89 wrote: lower your highs so the bass stands out more

Forgive my ignorance for not thinking of this.

Yeah I find bass pretty tough personally...

Tell me about it. Maybe one of these days...

[nubbinownz]

Hehe no no i get mastering and equalizing that I can handle the problem is finding an instrument or a sound that will work as a good low end :(

[SmdSkata]

I don't know if I'm much help but I'll try.

Try to mix a saw and a square. If you can get it just right, it can take up a good amount of low-end. Here an example from this song I'm working on. (Don't mind the poor guitar mix.)

http://www.arrowsimpro.com/osff.mp3

[gregaaron89]

At 5/3/09 03:41 AM, SmdSkata wrote: I don't know if I'm much help but I'll try.

Try to mix a saw and a square. If you can get it just right, it can take up a good amount of low-end. Here an example from this song I'm working on. (Don't mind the poor guitar mix.)

Oh yeah, that's true, Logic has a synth called ESM for basses and all it has in terms of waveform is a mix knob going between saw and square. There is a sweet spot near the middle that sounds really nice, it sort of seems to drop an octave.

[xKore]

Make a sick bass, cut around 80-150 and layer ontop of a subby sine.

[nubbinownz]

At 5/3/09 07:02 AM, xKore wrote: Make a sick bass, cut around 80-150 and layer ontop of a subby sine.

hahah that's the problem.. need to learn how to make a sick bass. :( Working on it at the moment though. :D

[loansindi]

Just tune to B.

Oh... electronic music. Pfft.

[KgZ]

Personally I find Sine waves the easiest bass sound, also triangle waves for a nice alternative. You can't necessarily "hear" them, but they give the song a nice fuller timbre, which would probably work perfectly for your kind of music.

[Mid-Night]

At 5/3/09 07:27 PM, nubbinownz wrote:

At 5/3/09 07:02 AM, xKore wrote: Make a sick bass, cut around 80-150 and layer ontop of a subby sine.

hahah that's the problem.. need to learn how to make a sick bass. :( Working on it at the moment though. :D

I get exactly what you mean, I can't make "Sick" basses.

but I do love you ;) I needs to make more IDMs!

[nathanallenpinard]

At 5/3/09 12:42 AM, nubbinownz wrote: Ok, so It's very apparent to me ( and i'm sure anyone who's listened to my music) that I am very obviously lacking in the low end for my songs. Now, I would have you believe that it's because i don't feel that the songs need low end. But sadly enough this is not the case. It's time to come clean. I have no idea how to utilize low end. I can cut breaks and sequence drums. I can throw a melody that seems to fit with the rest of the song, and have even gotten pretty decent on equalizing and mastering.. but i just cannot find a way to use low end. It's not that I don't have ideas for bass lines, it's just that I can never find a low end sound that doesn't sound incredibly out of bass. The best I can seem to do is just a boring sub bass running the root chords.

What about you guys ? Do you have a tried and true method for getting more low end into your songs ?

All low end is, is bass. But you don't have to stick with just the root, you can use inversions (3rd or 5ths) depending on the sound of course. In Orchestral music, low end is essential.

Personally all music for me sounds unfinished without bass.

[Rucklo]

this is old, but there might be some good stuff going on in the discussion. i can't remember, haven't checked it through since it was made.

http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/5879 95

[Phoog]

At 5/3/09 07:33 PM, loansindi wrote: Just tune to B.

Oh... electronic music. Pfft.

If this was Facebook. Dexter Powercrush would like this.

[Envy]

Layer all your basses with a sub-heavy sine like xcore said, then boost that sine but keep the volume low so it doesn't overtake your bass. Also raise the low end of your regular bass, but lower the volume as well. With a bass you want more BASS and less volume, unless you want a growly bass to be noticeable.

Atleast thats what I do 8/ no real professional help has taught me how to do this so it may not be the right way, but it seems to work well.

Also, what I've been doing recently is octaving my bass but lowering the volume drastically of one octave to give it a fuller sound while not sounding octaved.

[HardcoreCap]

At 5/3/09 03:14 AM, nubbinownz wrote: Hehe no no i get mastering and equalizing that I can handle the problem is finding an instrument or a sound that will work as a good low end :(

just go for a straight up sine wave......that's bass city

[justanothergamer]

If your bass hasnt got enough punch, insert a low sine wave on another channel following the same notes as the bass.

[Slipstreamer]

Turn your master threshold down?