Tag Archive for: bass

Bass Line and Low-End Mixing Tips

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Tips on mixing low-end is an often-requested topic in our community and Facebook group. Handling low-end in electronic music is important to give it the glory it deserves, since it’s one of the most important parts of the genre. In this post, I’ll cover tips on how to handle low-end from multiple points of view, not only from the software side, but also from a monitoring perspective. As I’m writing this during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine, I’ll also propose some tips on how to manage low-end at home.

The Theory

I won’t go into boring engineering theory here because it’s not my blog’s style. I like to keep things simple and straightforward. So for making low-end easy to understand, let’s cover a few important points:

  • For the purposes of this post, “low-end” means 20hz to 300hz.
  • The low-end is basically the fundamental part of your song. If it’s muddy, your track will not flow.
  • Low-end is the most powerful part of your song in terms of loudness. If your song has a lot of lows and not much mid, it will feel less loud while in theory while actually being very loud from a technical point of view.
  • Over-powering lows makes a song feel muddy and empty in a loud, club context.
  • Lacking lows will make your song feel wimpy.

When it comes to mixing, I usually start by cutting everything with a filter or high-pass EQ at 20hz with a 24db/octave slant. This cuts unnecessary rumble that most sound system can’t reproduce. If you feed monitors garbage frequencies, it takes away precision in the “good ones.” So I cut everything on the master/mix bus, but I will also high-pass every channel by removing any frequencies aren’t needed. When mixing claps, for example, I will remove everything under 300hz.

Low-End Frequency Bands

  • 20-30hz: The section is the sub area. Not always present in every sound system, but when it is, it really creates a warmth that is quite addictive.
  • 30-50hz: I find this section is where a song gains in power. Most clubs cut at 30, and on vinyl records they also cut there—this zone is critical.
  • 50-80hz: The range that creates a lot of punch.
  • 80-100hz: Punch, presence and precision.
  • 100-320hz: This is the body of the song. It gives a lot of weight.

I usually put everything under 150hz in mono. This really solidifies the low-end and avoids phasing issues that are often present, which can help in clarity. Vinyl cutting requires mono low end or the cut will make the record skip. I’ve seen producers who enjoy the weird effect of a stereo low-end but that’s for home listening mostly, and they know there can be issues.

Frequencies are shared by many sounds, and the more you free space for your low end content to breathe, the better it will perform. I know it’s time-consuming but there’s nothing like doing it this way compared to using a side-chaining tool. This phase of mixing is critical for clarity. The more care you put into each channel, the better the results will be in the end.

Since the low-end has fundamental notes, in electronic and dance-oriented music, it’s generally important to pick a key note for your song and not change it much. You can change it as much as you want, of course, but if you do, you’re going to deal with a few headaches.

The Challenges of Mixing Low-End

Handling low-end has multiple challenges, but with time, but hopefully some of my suggestions here help you to deal with those challenges more effectively.

Monitoring

In general, people who can’t hear or deal with low-end properly is because they’re not equipped to work with it. Using a sub is a good, but it will never have the precision of a tool like the Subpac. The Subpac is a wearable device that reproduces the low-end more physically, making it easier to understand what’s happening down there—you feel low-end on your back directly. Headphones, on the other hand, can mislead you, as you cannot hear lower frequencies.

After figuring out the bet monitoring options for your setup, you need to A/B your mix with something to see how your low-end compares to it. There are two main plugins I highly recommend for A/B tasks: Bassroom and REFERENCE. Both allow you to pick a song you like, and then it measures your work in reference to that song to show you how to manage your song to get the desired result. Doing this without these plugins is very hard unless you’re a veteran engineer.

A/Bing requires something very important that a lot of people find difficult to understand when I explain it: you need to find quality song that has well-mixed low-end to compare your work to.

You can’t make quality music if you have never been exposed to it beforehand.

Low-end mixing approaches also vary widely in genres and producers. I would recommend that you pick a song to A/B that you like the feeling and sound of, and then try to emulate it with those plugins. For instance, some techno producers prefer the bass too be present all the way to 20hz and the kick to hit at around 80hz, while some other genres, it will be the opposite. One isn’t better than the other—they’re just styles—but both will create a certain feel on a dance floor.

Shared Frequency Ranges

Speaking of the kick, I should also mention pads, toms, and synths, as they all share space in the low end with the bass elements. It can quickly get messy down there, and the more shared space, the muddier it gets. If you look at the different bands I mentioned, I try to make sure one one sound per section occupies each band. This is why side-chain compression can come in handy—when the kick hits, you can apply ducking to all the rest of the signals that could be present in that range as well. You can also side-chain the bass with percussion or synth so they all have a moment but not at the same time. For quality side-chain compression, I highly recommend looking into the Shaperbox 2 plugin. It’s a “knife” for extremely precise ducking, filtering, and applying mono to your low end—it’s crazy-good.

Space is not only shared in frequencies but also in time. We all love low-end and I see people getting a little bit too excited and have way too much decay on all their sounds down there, which means a lot needs to be removed. The shorter the sounds, the clearer your low-end will feel. You can do that with Shaperbox 2 but also with the very useful mTransientMB that can help you make super punchy sounds.

This means that picking your envelope can be a very delicate task. If your low-end has too much attack, it will compete with the kick and make things muddy. If it lacks attack, it will feel slow and lifeless. To shape your sounds, I would say Shaperbox is the best tool, but if you can look into understanding the attack/decay/sustain/release of your tools and perhaps looking into a good envelope follower, too. Some max patches can really come handy for this as well.

Density

It’s not because your low-end is loud that it’s dense. If you have your low-end coming in loud, it might need some compression to have more density. I find that the best way to get that is by having side-to-side compression (eg. insert 2 compressors), both in parallel mode (wet/dry at 50%) which will condense the signal and make it thick, warm, and fat—pretty much what we love in low-end. You can also add harmonics by using some saturation. I personally find that the most interesting saturation for the low-end is tape; it just works very well. My favorite is the Voxengo CRTIV Tape Bus plugin, it’s a marvel.

Practice Mixing Low-End

Practicing the mixing and design of the low-end of your song takes time, good monitoring, and understanding of each of the challenges that come with it. Once you start working on it and start feeling something isn’t right, check which challenge you’re facing. Try to be methodological about this.

Here’s how I approach it, step by step.

  1. Pick the root key of your song; G, for example.
  2. Find the hook, motif and main idea of your song, then tune it to the key. Usually the main idea, which could be an arpeggio, will situate itself in around G5.
  3. Use the same idea, pitched down to G1-2 to define your low end. It could be one or two octaves difference. It will support your main idea in the same key, making sure your song feels unified.
  4. Put in mono—all your elements under 150hz should be mono.
  5. Add your percussion. You can tune each element to the root key. Tuning the kick can really give a whole different feel.
  6. High-Pass all channels to remove garbage frequencies.
  7. Clear the decay. Fine tune the decay of all sounds so there’s no bleed and they have more dynamics.
  8. Side-chain elements that are masking one another.
  9. Add or control the attack of each sound for precision.

If you do the items in this checklist, you’ll have much better results already. The rest will come with time.

Writing Bass Lines

This tip builds on my previous post about chord progressions and music theory. I come from the dub techno world where we had one-note, one-bar bass lines that felt satisfying enough, so when people ask me if a bass line can be monotone, I sometimes reply that the simplier the low end, sometimes the more effective it can be. Sometimes making it complicated doesn’t mean good. That said, having a bass line over two bars instead of one is often pretty lovely for variation.

I also find that powerful basses are the ones that are reply to the main idea. Support is efficient, but it will make your bass line lack interaction and making it less engaging.

A good way to find a dialog for a bass is to put a square LFO modulating the volume and then using it to mute parts of your bass. If you change the speed of the LFO, you’ll gate parts out, and might find a good combo or variation. In Hip Hop, they often use a pure sine tone and they’ll duck with an LFO or kick. This makes the low end very full and thick.

Oscillators

If you’re going to pick a synth to design with, it might be wise to consider the use of certain wave shapes. For instance, a sine is warm and pure but it can have resonances which are difficult to remove with a bell EQ because they can phase. You want to control your low end only using filters (high-pass) or a shelving EQ. A filter’s slant will help control a rumble. You can put it at 30hz and then switch the slant from 6dB/oct to 12,18, 24 and see how the low-end changes. They all make it very different, from taming to numbing it out. I like to use a square oscillator, but I’m not a fan of the harmonics it creates, so I will filter some out. I’m very careful with resonances in the low-end, but they can also bring a certain warmth to it. For instance, you can use resonance as an extra sine oscillator, which brings fullness to the low-end.

I hope this covers low-end sufficiently for you. Feel free to share your own findings, techniques, or extra questions!

My Electronic Music Production Methodology (Pt. I)

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I’ had been thinking about recently how I should consolidate the many values, observations and principles I share regularly on this blog into a summary of music production methods and methodology. I regularly give feedback in our Facebook group and I find that I’m often repeating myself with regards to certain details and points that seem like basics. Not long ago, I wrote a post with a checklist to see if everything had been covered in order to know if your song is done, but what about a todo list to start? And what are the big points you should consider beforehand in order to avoid getting lost?

Let me describe my own mindset before I get to work on music in the early stages; it helps me greatly and I think I could also give you a boost in productivity.

The intention

Have you ever had sessions that were magical or others where you felt you did the same things, went horrible where you started to doubting what you’re doing? Making music seems like it should be as straight forward as playing a sport but it can’t be predicted or controlled, which can be frustrating. I’ve started noting down a common denominator in all my good sessions: they all had been started with a precise intention. What I mean by an intention is that beforehand – even before opening the session to work with – I’d spend some time developing a precise idea of what I wanted to do in that session. It could be simple sound design, mixing, arranging, or working on a client’s session.

I’d sum it by saying to myself “today, by the end of the day, I should have done X.” The X is a sort of a goal I can quantify easily, such as finishing the polishing of a track.

I also start sessions with something I do well and love doing; this important habit puts me in a good mood, helps my brain focus, and preparesme for bigger challenges.

The mood board

The term “mood board” is often used in visual design. It’s basically a pin board with all kind of images: the mood, aesthetics, concepts. Sometimes it can be a texture or drawing, but it can be also a few pictures; it becomes a reference for all the members of the team.

A example of a graphic mood board (image courtesy of https://www.sophierobinson.co.uk)

It’s basically the same in audio. I have a huge folder with music I like for use as references. I have also playlists on Youtube of each reference per client. I have yet another one on Soundcloud for ideas, inspiration, and arrangements. The audio quality of Soundcloud being not so great makes me use it more for ideas than anything mix/mastering related. Sometimes it’s songs, sometimes it’s just simple atmospheres or a weird tune just for its reverb (which I can use for convolution). There are new, amazing songs I see in my feed everyday and I really want to tag the ones I see. I honestly even have a mood board on Instagram/Pinterest. Some images help me generate sound ideas too. Yeah, I’m weird like that.

The main ingredient

In risotto for example, rice is the main ingredient but this dish can be altered in many different ways; audio works in the same way.

This main ingredient is the core of your next project. I often compare making music to making food; I find that relying on a first important ingredient helps to develop a theme for a song. The more you work on something, the more you’ll want to add. Remember that songs are split in sections and my rule is to have either one major change or one sound added per section. Songs have, in general, 3-4 sections. Some only have 2!

So, this means that your main ingredient could – in theory – have major changes 2-3 times maximum in a song  to remain understandable. Of course, this is my personal rule. You might have totally other views and that’s alright. The main ingredient will also have brothers and sisters. I usually form a family of 3 sounds per song. The main ingredients will have 1 brother and 1 sister. The brother will be a similar to the main ingredient as a way to complete it. For example, a higher pitched note. The sister sound will be in opposition to the main ingredient. For example, if the main ingredient has a fast attack, the sister would have a slow attack.

Setting up these ideas really helps me see what I need quickly. But knowing this method doesn’t help find the actual sounds though. Sounds come to me in many ways: sampling something you love, using jams you did on some machine that you recorded, recycling older ideas, browsing Youtube’s infinite possibilities, going to a local store and buy the weirdest record you can find, learning a new way to design sound from a tutorial you watched, etc. The idea is to make material to manipulate.

FACT: When I hit a wall, I usually do a remix for someone I know, for fun. Remixing is easy and fun. You try to juggle the elements and keep some of them true to the original to make the remix recognizable in a way. In remixes, you’re given the main ingredient already, and then it’s up to creativity to do the rest.

The foundation of the house

I invite you to view your song as a dish, but now let’s also picture it as a house. To build one, you need a solid foundation. Solid is not about making it loud or big. It’s about being clear. In musical terms, we refer to the foundation as its fundamental note, it’s lowest part. Therefore, I find that setting a few notes in the bass/sub will give ideas, support for the melody to come in the mids. But if it’s muddy in the lows, the whole song will suffer.

TIP: Try to keep it to only 1-2 elements under 80hz.

A hook

Your song will be memorable for others if they can actually sing it back to someone who has never heard it. Ask a friend to see if that’s possible. If not, your song would be categorized as “intentional music” (in the same vein as percussive African music) where you can’t sing it. In techno, the whole movement of Romanian music is partly built around a combination of hook-songs vs no-hook-song. What makes it addictive is that you feel you can sing it back but not, and then when mixed, the interaction of 2 songs makes it reveal something you didn’t expect.

Do you need a hook? No. But if you never use hooks in your music, try to make one. Or if you only do music with hooks, try to make one that feels… empty. it’s a pretty difficult challenge to go out of your comfort zone but it can also make you discover things you didn’t know you could do.

David Lynch said:”Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper.”

That’s all it for the first part on music production methods and methodology – I will provide more insights next week.

 

SEE ALSO :

My Electronic Music Production Methodology: The Mothership (Part II)