Trap: Sub Bass Design inconsistent levels for different keys

[nanekmusic]

So I've created a trap sub bass I think is ok but experiencing some issues. This issue doesn't only occur with sub bass, but i find it is far more notable with sub bass. I've uploaded a bounced version of the sub bass with and without a bit of percussion.

http://www3.zippyshare.com/v/xDFB2TPn/file.html
Heres a audio sample, I'm not too worried about the distortion kinda what I want.

The issue is some keys, particularly higher keys, are much louder and extreme than the lower keys. Attached is a picture of the wave form differences. The distortion also becomes more intense on the E3 compared to E2 notes, although i'm kinda looking for that distorted/saturated sound.

I understand this is common, but the sound design of artist like RL Grime, Hudson Mohawke, seem to control the levels of huge sub basses that constantly do change up and down in octaves. Any one able to point me in the right direction? I'm unsure if its totally fixable but the only ideas i can think of is compression/limiting hard to "flatten out" the dynamic range, but i still think the higher notes cut through the mix a lot more. Also not sure if changing velocity of individual notes will be some help.

thanks in advance for your help!

[ntom]

E is an interesting note all on it's own because of the frequencies in the bass range that it likes to play with. Bass is also interesting with frequencies as well. You should probably learn some of the basics on the frequency spectrum which might help you understand what is happening here.

It's funny that you say that it's louder than other notes, but the reality of it is that they are all being played with roughly the same amplitude. The human ear can only hear between 20hz and 20khz, as you begin to get closer to the extreme ends of the spectrum your ears may pick up on the sound less and less and it may more become felt.
Take the bass sound alone and drop it into a system that has a decently powerful sub woofer on it and see what happens (I like to place my hand on the cone gently as it helps transfer the vibrations through you to get a better feel - quite literally - of the sound)

There really is no fix for this directly, but you can help relieve some of the sound difference through EQing and compression.
I would route the bus as EQ - Compressor - EQ
where the first EQ is meant to chop of excessively low frequencies. The disgusting thing about this "All bass, no treble" music society is that there is some sort of misconception where more bass means better. Don't be surprised when you drop a "Phat ass kick" in and all of a sudden all your bass disappeared. Why, ol' sonny, if you just take some time to learn what makes music instead of trying to drop a sick beat to drop some panties you might actually be able to write something impressive. Or not. Some research done recently shows an impressive correlation between musical talent inherited through genes, so, on the other hand, you might just be a dud, but it's not your fault, blame science.

Back on topic, though, use the first EQ to remove frequencies that may conflict with you kick -READ THIS, THIS IS IMPORTANT: USE THE FIRST EQ TO REMOVE FREQUENCIES THAT CONFLICT WITH THE KICK
Did I establish that well enough? If not, please keep reading the above line until you understand the point. Bass is a fickle one, it's best to give your kick and your bass line it's OWN space in the spectrum to breathe, otherwise weird things will happen.
Seriously, don't be shy of using 5 or 6...or in my case, 20 high pass filters until you can get that low end under control. It's going to make the next step a lot easier. Also while you are here EQing, go ahead and look for problematic ringing frequencies or pops (which both were present on your demo) and get those under control too.
Now, using the Compressor, utilize the RMS function and compress the SHIT out of it. Like, you're going to be lowering the threshold and increasing the ration and you'll probably stop and think, "Wow, not even Nicki Minaj's producer would use this much compression", I'm going to tell you right now: Just keep going. You want this son-of-a-bitch sound to be as square as possible. Seriously. Go to Google and look up "Square" in the Google Images area and I want you to study that shape. That is the same this sound needs to be, got it?
You will now notice, thanks to learning how to make a basic geometric shape, that your sound has morphed mostly back into it's a original sound.
"But, Nolan, Why would you tell me to EQ before the compression if post compression the sound still has the pops, the ringing, and the FREQUENCIES THAT CONFLICT WITH THE KICK?" You ask.
Why don't you find out for yourself, now, why don'tchya? Just go and de-activate your first EQ. WHOA!!! Look at all dat red stuff on the Compressor...ooo, and that square looks rather chunky too...
So guess what step 3 is?
YES! That's right! Use almost the exact same EQ as the first one to REMOVE FREQUENCIES THAT CONFLICT WITH THE KICK, control ringing frequencies, and remove popping. Now it probably won't be an exact copy and paste, you may need to get the ringing more under control as well as be a little more heavy handed with the cut-off filters.
Now you have yourself a nice shiny square!...this is about as close as you are gonna get to controlling the natural way frequencies respond to the human ear.

p.s.
REMOVE FREQUENCIES THAT CONFLICT WITH THE KICK

Also, P.S.
Something else I forgot to mention, something that helps the nearly-entirely phased out frequency around 80hz - layer that same note but 1 octave up. Really simple.

Another EDIT
Hmm, I feel slightly silly, although all of the above still applies, I just noticed my analyzer was posted at the back of the bus before the first EQ, so I see why now one of the notes is nearly-entirely phased out and that was because I was way too heavy handed with controlling the ringing frequency. This is a prime example of trusting your ears, rather than your eyes.

[nanekmusic]

I appreciate the reply, and some good advice there but what is with that sarcastic essay? Can someone please for once just give some straight advice without telling me to google what a square looks like? I'm on this forum to learn, I'm not going to be releasing this shit, you would know that it takes A LOT of time to get a to a decent level so i guess im going in the right direction if I'm on this forum.

Anyway, responding to your post, There are actually 2 kicks in there, one kick is has far more low end in it. That is the kick when there is no sub, during the pauses otherwise it would sound literally like a click. Then the same kick, only with the top end "click" is during the actual sub hit. Thats how i was hoping to avoid clashing frequencies, but i agree I can take a little more off with eq. Your answer seems to focus on my kick drum rather than the subbass, and problematic rings and pops which I need to sort out. I use the Voxengo SPAN plugin to look at the frequency spectrum, and yes I have already used a shit load of high pass filters etc. I've already handled the sub bass alone removing the rings/pops I've already pushed the compression pretty hard, but Ill have a go at your advice and make the son of a bitch square. I'll let you know how i go.

I hope I'm not a dud. Thanks for your help

EDIT:
I kinda did make shift fix for the "phaseout". But i don't think its a phaseout. 80hz is where the E3 notes hits so I put just the E3 note on a different channel, which is identical, but on the EQ I lowered 80hz a little bit. I can do a slight boost of the 80hz area on the other channel that has the lower notes which is sitting mostly below 80hz. I have considered putting the sub up an octave but it no longer sounds how i want it. This now the dynamic range is pretty damn good, now i just need to push them both with a compressor like you said. Not an ideal way to do it, but it could work? By the way I took your advice and cleaned up the ringing/pops already

[bronxsound]

or use a limiter plus eq

[ntom]

I appreciate the reply, and some good advice there but what is with that sarcastic essay? Can someone please for once just give some straight advice without telling me to google what a square looks like? I'm on this forum to learn, I'm not going to be releasing this shit, you would know that it takes A LOT of time to get a to a decent level so i guess im going in the right direction if I'm on this forum.

Anyway, responding to your post, There are actually 2 kicks in there, one kick is has far more low end in it. That is the kick when there is no sub, during the pauses otherwise it would sound literally like a click. Then the same kick, only with the top end "click" is during the actual sub hit. Thats how i was hoping to avoid clashing frequencies, but i agree I can take a little more off with eq. Your answer seems to focus on my kick drum rather than the subbass, and problematic rings and pops which I need to sort out. I use the Voxengo SPAN plugin to look at the frequency spectrum, and yes I have already used a shit load of high pass filters etc. I've already handled the sub bass alone removing the rings/pops I've already pushed the compression pretty hard, but Ill have a go at your advice and make the son of a bitch square. I'll let you know how i go.

I hope I'm not a dud. Thanks for your help

EDIT:
I kinda did make shift fix for the "phaseout". But i don't think its a phaseout. 80hz is where the E3 notes hits so I put just the E3 note on a different channel, which is identical, but on the EQ I lowered 80hz a little bit. I can do a slight boost of the 80hz area on the other channel that has the lower notes which is sitting mostly below 80hz. I have considered putting the sub up an octave but it no longer sounds how i want it. This now the dynamic range is pretty damn good, now i just need to push them both with a compressor like you said. Not an ideal way to do it, but it could work? By the way I took your advice and cleaned up the ringing/pops already

Yeah I apologize about the first post, I'm way too use to people coming in here with the Warez wanting to sound like Avicillexmau5 and don't know dick about this stuff...it's why the Sound Design section of this forum is mostly abandoned by frequenters of this forum and is left to strangers who don't contribute much to this community. Not really sure what motivated me to come in here in the first place, but either way, my post started off as hopefully to weed out someone if they aren't a serious producer, but I kind of started getting really into it and then I just kind of took the writing off into the deep-end.

But in all seriousness, this genre was an offspring of the "All Bass, No Treble" Generation of music which means it lives and breathes heavy compression.
This is how I like to do my kick and bass:
My kick stops at no less than 30hz - anything below that is mostly unheard and is just taking up head room.
My bass stops at no less than 50hz with a very rare exception at no less than 45hz. Primarily my kick stops at 35hz and my bass stops at 55hz, but it all depends on the song and style I am writing.
The one thing to keep in mind too is that it's typically a good idea to compress the bass and the kick together and it tightens that section up, and especially if you have a beefy sub-bass kick AND a beefy sub-bass bass, then pick which is the dominant instrument (which I am pretty certain 99% of the time will be the kick) and make sure it has more power than your bass - which is where those frequency cuts are going to benefit. Then using another compressor, compress the two together. The heavier the compression, the more the kick is going to knock the bass out of it's way to come through. This will add a natural ducking which will tighten the two together. Too much and the ducking is going to be distracting, too little and the dynamics that play between the two instruments might lead to a strange and loose contrast that might not be beneficial to the type of music you are trying to write, so I say try and find a happy middle ground between the two extremes, though, in this case, it's more than likely going to be leaning on the more heavily compressed side. Once again, this genre's life blood is compression. My point is just to remind you that while, yes, you do want to heavily compress the bass line by itself, don't forget that it's going to get a second round of compression when compressed with the kick drum.

And yes, this all seems very destructive to the audio's dynamic range, but remember the most valuable rule to all things music: Trust your ears.
You may find that having no dynamic range doesn't hurt this type of music.