bassline processing

[NuEra]

Just looking to gain a little insight into what sort of typical signal processing is effective with basslines. I know like all things, a good source sound is the most important, but what happens for here.

My template is set so I start with a low cut at 30hz, and then a compressor side chained to my kick, and then an eq where I'll usually end up with a couple 2-3 db cuts (with a wide q) at the frequencies I feel are the most resonant. Then I usually add some sort of vintage compressor from my UAD collection.

My first question is, when using multiple layers of compression, and sidechaining is involved, where is it best to put the sidechained compressor in the signal chain?

How much gain reduction should we be lookng for from the kick-chained compressor? About 4-6db? What about attack time? Because its from the Kick should we have a 0ms or because its being used on a bassline, should we give it a few m.seconds of attack?


I'm also looking to find out what other tools can be used to add a little bit of umfumf to the final bassline?

[przechuy]

multiple compressors i use on a mastering bus.When i sidechain single tracks,bass with kick,only compressor i use there is sidechaining compressor.And this compressor affects only my bass,as i use light kick sounds ,i like when more power of song flows from synths then from drum beats.And on this bass i play with threshold,when i hear desired pumping (or not here it,depends what i want ) and ratio,later i tweak my attack and release.



Actually you timed perfectly with this topic today.As i am working on my mastering chain trying diffrent approaches ,and how they affect mainly kick and bass sounds,i will try to post some demos of what i got so far,i mean just short loops,to polay on them and tweak the chain (i want to make a "deafualt" chain for my purposes).

[przechuy]

http://www.speedyshare.com/430449291.html

i was tweaking masterbus to get some pump and have it still quite clear,though in this loop i picked and tweaked bassline that doess a lot of mess and surely do not sounds clear,rather dirty and brings mess,but i wanted to hear some mud and mess,to tweak it on master.Shorter ,more dynamic basslines sound really good on this setup and are pumping as hell.Popping really nice

[sven hauck]

I try to avoid processing the bass like the plague. Maybe it's just me but I try to find a tone that cuts through the mix and works well with the kick. I may add a touch of sidechain compression with the kick as the key, should the bass hits come close to overlapping the kick. Otherwise I just run it without the sidechain.

Processing the bass in the past either made it sound less punchy or created some artifacts such as phasing, although I might not have applied the processing properly. My rule of thumb though is choose the proper bass for your track and then you may not need to process it at all.

[przechuy]

anyone ever used bass harmonizers? like psp offers in their mixpack ? I like the way their treble harmonizer from this pack works,heard it on few short loops and was great,though never heard in action bass harmonizer fro msame pack