Sub bass notes

[dubdub]

I recently realized that my (sub) bass is basically always in F#0. It seems low enough but not too low. What do you guys like to use? Obviously it depends on the kick but to me it feels like it's much easier to pitch the kick around the bass than the other way around.

[Planar]

The 3/4 notes around F#0 tend to sound best to me as well. I don't stick to that one note though, I pick the one that best fits my track. And I usually key the kick first.

[Amøbe]

I suffer from a bad past as a indie/noise/whatever-pitchfork-liked-around-the-first-decade-of-the-2000s/guitarist, where when I wrote songs it would usually hum melodies, so the root would be in somewhere fitting for my voice - which is somewhere around a D1 (I find it hard to not sound like a fart below that, do you just make sure to have a lot of overtones in your soundsource or what?)

[terly]

I try not to go below D# at 37hz. I like it lower but most sound systems (that I get to play on anyway) are attenuated below that. It's ok if one note in the bass line drops below but if the tonic is too low it can ruin it. I have been finding myself using E1 (41hz) a little more often too. 35-55hz is a pretty good range for the fundamental. Below that it doesn't always have the same impact and above that it starts to sound a little thin. I wish that lowest octave of 20-40hz was more pronounced on most systems but it seems like a lot of sound engineers treat that range like speaker-damaging mud. I like to sound check with deep sine waves to see how much I can pitch stuff down, and unless they let me tweak the system it rarely gets down to 30hz.

[terly]

Double post, not sure how to delete this on my phone

[arkos]

Like I've said before G hits the spot

[dubdub]

I find it hard to not sound like a fart below that, do you just make sure to have a lot of overtones in your soundsource or what?

Overtones help, of course, but I think having the right envelope and the filter cutoff and resonance right is the important thing. 45-65hz as the cutoff seem to work for me right now.

I try not to go below D# at 37hz. I like it lower but most sound systems (that I get to play on anyway) are attenuated below that. It's ok if one note in the bass line drops below but if the tonic is too low it can ruin it. I have been finding myself using E1 (41hz) a little more often too. 35-55hz is a pretty good range for the fundamental. Below that it doesn't always have the same impact and above that it starts to sound a little thin. I wish that lowest octave of 20-40hz was more pronounced on most systems but it seems like a lot of sound engineers treat that range like speaker-damaging mud. I like to sound check with deep sine waves to see how much I can pitch stuff down, and unless they let me tweak the system it rarely gets down to 30hz.

I like really low bass aswell, although I think only few club system can really accurately put out <40hz. I remember someone, I think it was Rodhad, talking about how even on the Berghain system the kicks on some DVS1 tracks just get swallowed because they're sitting at like 35hz.

Like I've said before G hits the spot

lol

[dubdub]

Working with toms a bit for sub bass right now, they seem a bit more flexible in regards of pitching. I've also noticed that the amount of saturation you dial in with something like SDRR drastically effects where the harmonics are, ie. where the bass actually sits.

[L8Night]

^^^ is there any harmonics in that 30-60hz range though?

[Lost to the Void]

Well, the first harmonic for 30hz would be at 60hz, the second at 90hz, 120, 150 etc
SDRR can emphasise odd or even harmonics, it doesn`t change them it only emphasises or adds them.

[borg]

SDRR can emphasise odd or even harmonics, it doesn`t change them it only emphasises or adds them.

A slightly different beast, but I'm enjoying the VSM-3 a lot lately. I would never buy this at $299 as a not so wealthy hobbyist, but got it at 30-ish when it was on sale+voucher. For me it's a game changer. Brute or subtle, it does nice things to my sounds.

My ear seams to enjoy E0 a lot, too.

[dubdub]

SDRR can emphasise odd or even harmonics, it doesn`t change them it only emphasises or adds them.

A slightly different beast, but I'm enjoying the VSM-3 a lot lately. I would never buy this at $299 as a not so wealthy hobbyist, but got it at 30-ish when it was on sale+voucher. For me it's a game changer. Brute or subtle, it does nice things to my sounds.

My ear seams to enjoy E0 a lot, too.

Never tried it, how would you compare it to SDRR?

[Amøbe]

I try not to go below D# at 37hz. I like it lower but most sound systems (that I get to play on anyway) are attenuated below that. It's ok if one note in the bass line drops below but if the tonic is too low it can ruin it. I have been finding myself using E1 (41hz) a little more often too. 35-55hz is a pretty good range for the fundamental. Below that it doesn't always have the same impact and above that it starts to sound a little thin. I wish that lowest octave of 20-40hz was more pronounced on most systems but it seems like a lot of sound engineers treat that range like speaker-damaging mud. I like to sound check with deep sine waves to see how much I can pitch stuff down, and unless they let me tweak the system it rarely gets down to 30hz.

Aren't we working on the brink of what the human ear is capable of hearing? I just wonder whether we hear the actual tones in this frequency area? (I don't know very much about this topic)

[Lost to the Void]

Human auditory range goes down on average to 20hz ish.
Of course once we get down to 35hz we begin to feel the sound as much as hear it.
Techno without the gut rumble on a soundsystem just isn't proper techno.
Not to me anyway.
Full range or go away.

It is with good reason seminal UK dubstep label named itself Chestplate Records.

[terly]

I try not to go below D# at 37hz. I like it lower but most sound systems (that I get to play on anyway) are attenuated below that. It's ok if one note in the bass line drops below but if the tonic is too low it can ruin it. I have been finding myself using E1 (41hz) a little more often too. 35-55hz is a pretty good range for the fundamental. Below that it doesn't always have the same impact and above that it starts to sound a little thin. I wish that lowest octave of 20-40hz was more pronounced on most systems but it seems like a lot of sound engineers treat that range like speaker-damaging mud. I like to sound check with deep sine waves to see how much I can pitch stuff down, and unless they let me tweak the system it rarely gets down to 30hz.

Aren't we working on the brink of what the human ear is capable of hearing? I just wonder whether we hear the actual tones in this frequency area? (I don't know very much about this topic)

I think people respond differently to low bass but I can hear 30hz very clearly where other people say they can only feel it.

[innovine]

There's some research which suggests that those super low frequencies are not detected by our ears as sounds at all, but picked up in some other way (as vibration)

[dubdub]

Techno without the gut rumble on a soundsystem just isn't proper techno.

Isn't the "gut rumble" on most soundsystems around or even above 50hz?

[Merah]

Human auditory range goes down on average to 20hz ish.
Of course once we get down to 35hz we begin to feel the sound as much as hear it.
Techno without the gut rumble on a soundsystem just isn't proper techno.
Not to me anyway.
Full range or go away.

It is with good reason seminal UK dubstep label named itself Chestplate Records.

Some great tunes on Chestplate, i own a few bits on vinyl.

[Merah]

Yea, one would assume the gut rumble to be a bit higher than 30hz, i high passed a reverb kick rumble sub to about 45 hz the other day ..thought i did a good thing..

[Lost to the Void]

45hz!!!! Where are you people getting your information.

I've noticed over the last 3-6 months, only in techno, that a lot of the stuff i get sent to master has been cut waaaay too high. Like 40-50hz. And I end up having to fill in down there if possible.

I've been wondering if it's either that people have all these small nearfields and just can't hear the low end and are cutting it, or some YouTube video has gone round that is full of bad info.

All the sexy stuff is 25-60hz. Technically sub bass starts at 60hz.
If you cut high you are going to take away that deep rumble in the club.
Decent soundsystems get down to around 30hz.

Have kids forgotten what bass is?