Emika style sub

[punching_sandwiches]

Hi guys, I've just recently got into Emika as I was amazed by her incredible use of sub bass. It's not too aggressive/mix filling than most dubstep kind of music but seems to have a huge impact.

This is a good example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd2Ogts9ZXQ

I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to achieve this in ableton?

I can't seem to get a sound that sub that doesn't sound really weak or take up too much headroom.
Also the dubstep kind of throbbing seems to be more fluid than most that I've heard, it doesn't sound like the LFO has been quantised since it move freely between speeds, yet it's always in time.

Also the filter tweeking throughout the song feels really fluid and doesn't make the sound jump in volume much.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks.

[stonee]

sound really automation and edit heavy to me.

theres probably no easy way of doing. just go through it bit by bit tweaking stuff, and cutting the vocals up.

[punching_sandwiches]

thanks for your reply. I think it is all very heavily automated and edited. I'm just wondering with regards to the sub though (ignoring all other aspects) it seems to be very low frequencies but can also be heard without sub woofers and on shitty speakers.
Would she be using a sine tone or a filtered square/sawtooth?
Is it saturated to add more harmonics higher up?

Also the filter on the sub is very much like dubstep filters on bass (that wobble sound), yet it's more fluid than others that I've heard. Rather than chopping between different quantised LFO's it seems to flow between them yet still stays in time.

Any further thoughts?

[anybody human]

I don't know, but that is filthy. I agree the bass and sub bass modulation/automation and overall sound are very cohesive. Super cool.

There's definitely saturation of some kind on at least the bass, and frequency modulation on both. The same automation could be used for both, with the level of modulation less on the sub, perhaps. Just a thought. Thanks for the link.

[2be]

My god, what an awesome track. Thanks for introducing me to emika!
I read she is a sound designer at Native Instruments, so I guess she knows her shit. I guess the basic waveform makes a saturated sine wave or a triangle, low-pass-filtered and automated. But maybe she uses some kind of FM to get that grit, no idea.
I think a nice subby bassline is one of the most difficult things to archieve. Would love some tips as well.

[pepezabala]

great track, very cool sound, extremely great sub. I have no clue how to achieve this, but I believe some clever use of compression might be important. Problem with subs is often that they are totally right for one note, but for the other not at all. A semitone above or below can have a drastic change in the feel. Not so with Emika, it sounds wonderful. Even without having a subwoofer, and listening on low volume.

[punching_sandwiches]

From analyzing the tracks a bit I think part of the impact of the sub might be that if you look at the waveform, when the sub isn't there the rest of the track peaks at about -20db yet when the sub comes in it's hitting a healthy 0db.
Also in terms of arrangement she seems very careful. For example, the is not a lot of mid range grit going on anywhere, giving the sub and highs more headroom.
Also if you listen to her kick drums, when the arrangement is more sparse, the kicks will ring out (like 808's) yet when more stuff enters the kick's release time is shortened (though it's done so carefully that you don't really notice).

I think she definitely deserves the creation and award of the title 'queen of sub'.

Just so the people who have just heard her know, the rest of the album is THAT good too.