#155 - 13th September 2024 - Producing low end

There is always new stuff to learn. And there is always someone who breaks the (internet) rules and reveals that rules are stupid.

"Bass should be mono" is one of these rules that the internet taught me and turns out to be horse shit.

Inspired by a "how to produce psy trance kick and bass" video (I don't even know what psy trance is) I'll be working on a low end pre-set this weekend.

There are techniques I learned and employed over the past months that I want to have handy when productions go into the polishing phase.

• separate sub frequency sine wave to double a kick or bass note and to control its loudness fully (Serum)
• short stereo field enhancement of a kick's sub frequencies (Imager)
• rack for mid and high frequency splitting and manipulating, chorus and similar stereo space FX on upper mids (Ableton)
• M/S manipulation (BAX EQ, Ozone EQ)
• multi band group saturation (Ableton Roar)
• transient design (oeksound)
• kick sidechain presets (Shaperbox)
• dynamic control through compression and clipping (Ozone Low End Focus, KClip)

Not all of it is needed all the time. But I made great experiences with each of these techniques. So having readily available, prepared FX racks in Ableton will be a workflow boost.