Audibility of Bass on Small Speakers

[tommy_d]

Audibility of Bass on Small Speakers

What I mean is: creating bass that sounds big, punchy and powerful on large speakers but doesn't disappear on (e.g.) small multi-media speakers.

This is something I've been grappling with for years (I'm a bass player, so I suppose I have a vested interest) and I'd be grateful if I could share some thoughts and pick people's brains.

I've come to the following conclusions:

(N.B. Since I'm a bass player "bass" generally means "electric bass guitar" to me but I see no reason why this doesn't apply to e.g. synth bass, too).

1. It's very difficult (maybe impossible?) to create a bass sound that works equally well on all systems.

2. Making space for the bass - by rolling the low end off everything other than bass and kick - is vital.

3. Certain frequency ranges are critical. If there's too much going on at, say, 800Hz the bass sounds "nasal", but a moderate boost here can (sometimes) help the bass sound good on small speakers. Similarly, if there's too much happening at around 2kHz the bass sounds twangy, but a slight boost hereabouts can bring out the "articulation" of the note, which also helps it translate.

4. Saturation can be useful, presumably because it enriches the harmonic structure of the mid range. I like the pre-amp simulation of BootEQmkII for this purpose (I normally use MODERN mode with TUBE engaged).

5. Whilst there's no magic button, some tools can be really useful. CLAS can do great things for bass in a way that eq alone can't. And Voxengo's MaxLFPunch works wonders sometimes.

If anyone has any more advice, or could point me towards some good articles/resources, or could suggest some other useful tools, I'd be really grateful.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. Obviousy, doubling the bass an octave higher with (e.g.) guitar, clavinet (etc.) reinforces the part. But that's different and it's not what I'm asking about: making the bass line more audible is not the same as making the bass itself more audible

[highkoo]

The only 'special' thing Ive ever heard for just that;
http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=327

I think the idea is that they add matching harmonics upwards, and it tricks your hears into thinking the bass is there...
edit: Spose so:

MaxxBass® uses psycho-acoustics to calculate precise harmonics that are related to the fundamental tones of sound. When these harmonics are combined, it creates the effect of lower, deeper frequencies.

But anyway, it does something 'different' than say an EQ or LFPunch will do.
There must be some free/cheapware around now that copies MaxxBass, but Im not aware of it.

[tommy_d]

Hey highkoo, thanks for responding

The only 'special' thing Ive ever heard for just that;
http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=327

I think the idea is that they add matching harmonics upwards, and it tricks your hears into thinking the bass is there...
edit: Spose so:

MaxxBass® uses psycho-acoustics to calculate precise harmonics that are related to the fundamental tones of sound. When these harmonics are combined, it creates the effect of lower, deeper frequencies.

Interesting. I've heard of it - and according to Waves I've almost certainly heard it, it being "the bass enhancement technology used on more hit records and major motion pictures than any other" - but I didn't know much about it. So I read Waves web site and Paul White's review in SOS.

Apparently it works like a traditional HF exciter (but for the low end) and you can compress the added harmonics for extra impact.

There must be some free/cheapware around now that copies MaxxBass, but Im not aware of it.

You'd think so, wouldn't you? But I haven't been able to find anything. I'm surprised TBH; it was released in '98 so it's not exactly brand new!

The basic principle seems fairly straightforward - it's an exciter coupled with a compressor - so you should be able to achieve the same effect with a combination of existing freeware plugs. But I haven't been able to (yet!). The problem seems to be the exciter: I can't find a freeware exciter that works that low

I tried loser's JS exciter, which I've used occasionally to good effect. It goes down to 100Hz but it doesn't sound particularly good down there: it works much better on the top end (which is hardly surprising 'cos that's presumably what it was designed for). So no dice there

...On the other hand, in trawling though the JS plugs that come with Reaper I found LiteOn's bassmanager and Stillwell's (excellently named ) hugebooty, both of which are really rather good (I sometimes forget what a treasure trove those JS plugs are; I was bigging them up elsewhere earlier on today). The LiteOn plug offers frequency-specific saturation, high- and low-pass filters for "bracketing" the sound, a handy limiter and oversampling. The Stillwell plug has fewer controls; I'm not sure how it works but I think it's probably closer to MaxxBass. Neither works quite the same way as the Waves plug, though.

Not wishing to cross-post, but perhaps I should be addressing this to the Effects forum(?)

[tommy_d]

Any other takers - does anyone know of any specific techniques for mixing bass so that it'll "translate" well onto small speakers?