Different basslines and problems with muddiness

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
TomViolenz
Posts: 6854
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 6:19 pm

Re: Different basslines and problems with muddiness

Post by TomViolenz » Mon Sep 07, 2015 9:31 pm

Well one could imagine two basslines that are very similar, just slightly different notes and effects processing playing around each other. I have tested this quite a bit in the past to good results, but here the problem does not present itself so much as you would seperate them timewise in a call and response fashion.

I guess until the OP tells us specifically what he really means, it's all (fun) speculation anyways 8)

Stromkraft
Posts: 7033
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:34 am

Re: Different basslines and problems with muddiness

Post by Stromkraft » Mon Sep 07, 2015 9:39 pm

Grandmasterbird wrote: Yes this is where the confusion has come in, the original guy was talking about techno, and without getting into debates about the genre there is mostly (in my mind at least) just the one baseline driving the track with maybe as you rightly said, another element in a higher or lower frequency also doing a job. But as the original guy was talking about muddiness and different baselines I came to the conclusion that he was trying to play more baselines than was needed etc etc.....
We're talking techno now?

Dual Bass example:

Shane Berry "Scrawlys"
Make some music!

Grandmasterbird
Posts: 81
Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:04 am
Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Re: Different basslines and problems with muddiness

Post by Grandmasterbird » Tue Sep 08, 2015 7:06 am

TomViolenz wrote:Well one could imagine two basslines that are very similar, just slightly different notes and effects processing playing around each other. I have tested this quite a bit in the past to good results, but here the problem does not present itself so much as you would seperate them timewise in a call and response fashion.

I guess until the OP tells us specifically what he really means, it's all (fun) speculation anyways 8)
Bingo! :wink:

Grandmasterbird
Posts: 81
Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:04 am
Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Re: Different basslines and problems with muddiness

Post by Grandmasterbird » Tue Sep 08, 2015 7:09 am

Stromkraft wrote:
Grandmasterbird wrote: Yes this is where the confusion has come in, the original guy was talking about techno, and without getting into debates about the genre there is mostly (in my mind at least) just the one baseline driving the track with maybe as you rightly said, another element in a higher or lower frequency also doing a job. But as the original guy was talking about muddiness and different baselines I came to the conclusion that he was trying to play more baselines than was needed etc etc.....
We're talking techno now?

Dual Bass example:

Shane Berry "Scrawlys"
Yes the original post was about techno.

Thanks I'll check that track out, always up for learning something new :)

H20nly
Posts: 16058
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:15 pm
Location: The Wild West

Re: Different basslines and problems with muddiness

Post by H20nly » Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:53 am

Stromkraft wrote:
H20nly wrote:
Stromkraft wrote: 4) Marry the kick and the bass with Corpus, effectively making them one thing.
Interesting... how do you do this?
The basic technique for adding subs with Corpus is described in Dubspot's video Ableton - Creating a Sub-bass layer w/ Corpus- Dubstep and the only thing I do beyond this I'm either bussing the kick and the bass together and apply the subs there or typically more often I use parallel processing. I have actually not done it with Corpus, I use Waves LoAir, but the principles are the same. I love Corpus for similar tasks like adding woody character on toms.

This is not a technique that fits all material and the bottom end does get a bit undefined if the bass line is very busy. I use it mostly for when the kick and bass patterns are near each other in frequency and rhytmically and are filling in a simple pattern, usually this is combined with side-chained EQ ducking or side-chained multi-band compression.

The basic (or bassic :P) idea when combining bass intense sounds is always that one will leave room to the other, so side-chaining or riding the EQ is vital. Only one bass sound can dominate the bass region at one specific point in time, you have to make the choice, but automated dynamic processing means the roles can be switched.

All of this is for when you have a specific vision for the bass. It's not the standard practice (I believe). Which is what makes it interesting.
Nice. Thanks :)

Never used Corpus and forgot about it after Live 7 (??)


*bookmark* for later

H20nly
Posts: 16058
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:15 pm
Location: The Wild West

Re: Different basslines and problems with muddiness

Post by H20nly » Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:55 am

Lol that the example is on Spotify. :lol: sorry Tom.

*hugs*


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