splitting bassline

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
heuristics
Posts: 82
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 9:43 am

splitting bassline

Post by heuristics » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:36 am

Hey all,
So I'm wanting to split up a bassline I have into low,mid, and high frequencies. I understand there are a couple ways to do this (multiband compressor, rack + filters) . I decided to try the bass split chorus audio effect rack and it seems to be working well. But after having a look at my spectrum analyzer I see that there are two big notches out of the bassline where the low-mid and mid-high crossovers occur.
I want to manipulate the the low-mid-high section of the bassline, but dont want it all notched out.

dday
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 8:22 pm

Re: splitting bassline

Post by dday » Thu Jan 05, 2012 6:53 pm

ummm...well. uhhh. can't even describe how fucking insane this is. :|

puzzlefactory
Posts: 364
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2010 9:39 pm

Re: splitting bassline

Post by puzzlefactory » Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:04 pm

I saw a little trick that might help you here. Create an effect rack with 3 layers in and put a multiband compressor in each layer. In the first layer solo the highs, in the second solo the mid and in the third solo the low. Now you'll have your bass split up and the crossover points should be spot on (as I'm sure ableton put a lot of time and effort into making sure they are seamless).

Hope this helps.

heuristics
Posts: 82
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 9:43 am

Re: splitting bassline

Post by heuristics » Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:24 am

thanks puzzle ill try that out

tigali
Posts: 452
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:49 pm
Location: Ireland

Re: splitting bassline

Post by tigali » Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:56 am

puzzlefactory wrote:I saw a little trick that might help you here. Create an effect rack with 3 layers in and put a multiband compressor in each layer. In the first layer solo the highs, in the second solo the mid and in the third solo the low. Now you'll have your bass split up and the crossover points should be spot on (as I'm sure ableton put a lot of time and effort into making sure they are seamless).

Hope this helps.
+1

justchris86
Posts: 236
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2011 5:33 pm
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Re: splitting bassline

Post by justchris86 » Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:14 pm

i tried this for S&G. worked like a charm! thanks puzzle factory!
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djspirit
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:17 pm
Location: Northern California

Re: splitting bassline

Post by djspirit » Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:25 am

Here's a video that explains how to do this in detail:

http://www.quantizecourses.com/pages.php/?p=895

I've been using this approach but it does seem to color the sound a little bit. Where are you guys setting your low and high cut points?

Does anybody have any other favorite approaches to isolating the mid frequencies for effects?

Samaritan Sound
Posts: 93
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2011 5:41 pm

Re: splitting bassline

Post by Samaritan Sound » Fri Jan 13, 2012 5:13 am

You can also use a rack with three chains of EQ3. Of course EQ3 is not transparent, but you may like it. With the 24dB slope and some overlap, there shouldn't be any notching. If you want more transparency, you could try the same thing with EQ8 or a VST EQ of your choosing.

hdrpbx
Posts: 70
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:05 pm
Location: Italy
Contact:

Re: splitting bassline

Post by hdrpbx » Fri Jan 13, 2012 7:22 am

this is all you need

http://rhythminmind.net/1313/?p=43

4 bands transparent splitter rack

jpga
Posts: 137
Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:04 am

Re: splitting bassline

Post by jpga » Fri Jan 13, 2012 9:53 am

LOVE!

djspirit
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:17 pm
Location: Northern California

Re: splitting bassline

Post by djspirit » Fri Jan 13, 2012 2:58 pm

hdrpbx wrote:this is all you need

http://rhythminmind.net/1313/?p=43

4 bands transparent splitter rack
I've been looking at these racks and admit I don't understand why it would be considered more effective than using the multiband compressor approach (if you only need three bands like I am using).

Also, could you explain the difference between the regular and 24db version of these racks?

Thanks!

Samaritan Sound
Posts: 93
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2011 5:41 pm

Re: splitting bassline

Post by Samaritan Sound » Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:54 pm

djspirit wrote:
hdrpbx wrote:this is all you need

http://rhythminmind.net/1313/?p=43

4 bands transparent splitter rack
I've been looking at these racks and admit I don't understand why it would be considered more effective than using the multiband compressor approach (if you only need three bands like I am using).

Also, could you explain the difference between the regular and 24db version of these racks?

Thanks!
EQ3 gives you two options for slope at the cutoff: 48 or 24 dB per octave. So 24 is more gradual, while 48 is more of a Sharp cutoff. In EQ8 you have more control by using the Q value.

rhythminmind
Posts: 333
Joined: Fri Aug 13, 2004 6:34 pm
Location: Los Angeles
Contact:

Re: splitting bassline

Post by rhythminmind » Fri Jan 13, 2012 7:48 pm

djspirit wrote:
I've been looking at these racks and admit I don't understand why it would be considered more effective than using the multiband compressor approach (if you only need three bands like I am using).

Also, could you explain the difference between the regular and 24db version of these racks?

Thanks!
Soloing the bands in the multi-band compressor isn't transparent. These where created with transparency in mind. The 12&24db reference the filter slope.
http://rhythminmind.net | http://signaltonoize.com | http://popsound.com
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djspirit
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:17 pm
Location: Northern California

Re: splitting bassline

Post by djspirit » Fri Jan 13, 2012 8:04 pm

rhythminmind wrote:
djspirit wrote:
I've been looking at these racks and admit I don't understand why it would be considered more effective than using the multiband compressor approach (if you only need three bands like I am using).

Also, could you explain the difference between the regular and 24db version of these racks?

Thanks!
Soloing the bands in the multi-band compressor isn't transparent. These where created with transparency in mind. The 12&24db reference the filter slope.
Thanks Rhythm Mind!

I'm a newbie and don't know what you mean by transparent. Please provide a quick explanation and what advantage it offers? Also, someone wrote a comment on this page on your web site identifying a bug, "in the 24 db freq dividers the low mid and low x-over chains are swapped at the output, means only wrong named but causes little bit confusion which is the low mid and the low". Are you going to release a fix for that? Also, he asks you to explain the advantage of the 24db dividers.

Thanks so much for your work and help with this!

mharris
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2011 3:41 pm

Re: splitting bassline

Post by mharris » Fri Jan 13, 2012 8:12 pm

wow, I never realised just how much the Multiband Dynamics plugin colors the signal! I always presumed that it would be flat.

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