How to get a rock-solid bass sound in real world (without being stupid) ?

[DJErmac]

Hey all,

I’m never fully satisfied with my bass content. I love the kick drums I create. Then I love the bass I design. Then I mix them and I’m happy. Then I finish my mix. And I think the bass content seem not "deep" enough.

And whatever I try to maximize the bass content, I get distorsion and saturation.

Or lower levels of course... that can’t compete a second with what’s released in today’s real world.

Please don’t think I’m just learning. I started making music in 1991, I’m signed to a lot of labels, I have a sound engineer degree, i won a lot of remix contests. But I’m trying to improve myself : I want to get the best out of everything I can. I dream of the best bass content ever.

How the f$$%&#&ckin*&$* hell can you reach that depth on basses ?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=op4B9sNGi0k
(if those basses seem uninteresting to you, either your speakers are lying to you or you’re in a bad mood, they’re absolutely crazy, no matter what you may like or not)

OK, there are things you can’t deny :
- there is only one note on the bass here, it’s easier to deal with on mix
- chosing the right instruments, that already have the bass content that suit your needs, is everything, so you can’t compare that easily from one track to another

But knowing that all... do you have tricks, plugins, ways of working, or even advices after experience on bass music (psytrance...) ?
I’m not buying the trick plugins anymore... No, no bass maximizer plugin works in the real world to get the same bass sound as the example I posted above.

I know it’s just about mixing choices. What are yours ? Heavy compression ? No compression ? Limiting ?...
I’ll try everything you may suggest until I find a way that also works flawlessly for me. Thanks !

[vurt]

one thing ive found over the years, flabby kicks make the bass seem weak. tighten the kick, nice short click.

leave all the low end for the bass

[DJErmac]

one thing ive found over the years, flabby kicks make the bass seem weak. tighten the kick, nice short click.

leave all the low end for the bass

Yes, I agree with you : I’ve shortened my kicks with years.
I was surprised to hear that the best kicks I hear are most of the time shorter than I expected.

[Septimon]

Since you mentioned your experience it‘s hard to answer.
What do you think of paralell compression (Kick/bass)?

[vurt]

one thing ive found over the years, flabby kicks make the bass seem weak. tighten the kick, nice short click.

leave all the low end for the bass

Yes, I agree with you : I’ve shortened my kicks with years.
I was surprised to hear that the best kicks I hear are most of the time shorter than I expected.

i originally come from a death metal background. lots of drilling the kick on 32s and fast! but each kick still had power and was present (in good mixes, there were a lot of demo quality releases too...)
i just noticed over the years the kick in a lot of dance stuff, did start to become a bass instrument, with long heavy tails, which is ok for some things i guess, but it does eat up all your mix space.
so now i do more electronic stuff than back then, if i use drums (rare in personal stuff) i tend towards the short snappy kick.

my actual bass sound is often a triangle with a sine an octave or even two below, but im not so "dancy" so not looking for the same "oomph" but you could just try doubling the bass line an octave down, a bit lower in the mix.

[DJErmac]

Since you mentioned your experience it‘s hard to answer.
What do you think of paralell compression (Kick/bass)?

That’s how I ALWAYS work at the moment. This is what gives the best results for me.

I’d love to know if there’s a better way...

[Mogular]

Something to note in that mix is that there's not actually a lot going on. There is lots of room for bass frequency without much overlap

[hues]

you could make another pattern with a low sine wave from any cheap synth. sync the notes with the kick drum and/or bass pattern, like with really low ones around 50hz, then mix it in

[Uncle E]

(if those basses seem uninteresting to you, either your speakers are lying to you or you’re in a bad mood, they’re absolutely crazy, no matter what you may like or not)

The bass sound is flat and that's a good thing. A lot of people choose animated bass sounds and that makes it hard to get the tight interaction between the bass and kick that you're hearing here. You want a bass that covers a narrow frequency range and doesn't have a significant attack. You specifically want an uninteresting bass.

- there is only one note on the bass here, it’s easier to deal with on mix

The bass plays two notes in that song.

I’m not buying the trick plugins anymore... No, no bass maximizer plugin works in the real world to get the same bass sound as the example I posted above.

Ozone has a preset called Enhance Bass that's great for this.

I know it’s just about mixing choices. What are yours ? Heavy compression ? No compression ? Limiting ?...

Heavy compression and limiting. I usually side-chain basses but, with a bassline this simple, you could bounce the bass part and draw volume curves around the kick attack.

Anyway, here's a list of people on Sound Better who've worked with DJ Snake. Maybe try contacting them and asking if they mixed Magenta Riddim, then hire the one that did:

https://soundbetter.com/s/dj-snake

[DJErmac]

Thank you very much for all those suggestions my friends, that’s great !

Actually I’m not trying to get the very same result at all : this bass sounds indeed uninteresting to me also as a bassline. That’s not what I would write for any of my songs. But the bass content is crazy as is. So it’s a good example to study for me. What you all told me can help me rethink how I make my choices. Thanks !