Duplicating a Bass Track for EQ purposes?

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amra

amra

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I tried an experiment the other day by duplicating a Bass track, and Eq'd each one differently. I have heard of people doing this for drums parts, but never on a bass. In any case, I EQ'd the boomy lows out of one copy, and boosted the upper mids and high freqs to get a nice punchy, clicky sound. On the other track, I EQ'd out everything but the lower mids, and lows and compressed it some, giving me a nice "sub" type sound, but still with a little body in the mids. I had to lower the faders on both, to keep it the same level as the single track, but to me this sounds better than any EQ I could get on the one track alone. I am not trying to get two different sounds, I am trying to use the 2 tracks to get one nice HEAVY, nicely EQ'd bass sound.

Am I gaining anything by doing it this way? Or am I just hearing an increase in 'punchiness' because of increased db's since I duped the track? To me it just sounds better, but I wonder if I am gaining anything over EQing one track.
 
amra said:
I tried an experiment the other day by duplicating a Bass track, and Eq'd each one differently. I have heard of people doing this for drums parts, but never on a bass. In any case, I EQ'd the boomy lows out of one copy, and boosted the upper mids and high freqs to get a nice punchy, clicky sound. On the other track, I EQ'd out everything but the lower mids, and lows and compressed it some, giving me a nice "sub" type sound, but still with a little body in the mids. I had to lower the faders on both, to keep it the same level as the single track, but to me this sounds better than any EQ I could get on the one track alone. I am not trying to get two different sounds, I am trying to use the 2 tracks to get one nice HEAVY, nicely EQ'd bass sound.

Am I gaining anything by doing it this way? Or am I just hearing an increase in 'punchiness' because of increased db's since I duped the track? To me it just sounds better, but I wonder if I am gaining anything over EQing one track.
Click to expand...

I am reading contradictions here. You have two bass tracks now, and had to lower the volume of both to keep them the same as a single track. Then, you wonder if you are just being fooled by the "extra db's".

Come on man, THINK!

Certainly there is NOTHING wrong with ANYTHING that makes something sound the way you want it to sound. There are NO RULES in producing audio! There is only techniques that make it sound the way you want it to sound!
 
Ford Van said:
I am reading contradictions here. You have two bass tracks now, and had to lower the volume of both to keep them the same as a single track. Then, you wonder if you are just being fooled by the "extra db's".

Come on man, THINK!
Click to expand...
Ok, I guess I should be more specific. Is the 'better' sound due to the added volume/db boost that occurs since some frequencies still exist in both tracks, even if both levels are lowered? And perhaps it's not a better sound at all, just a louder one, but is perceived as better? I guess I was looking for some science to give a little insight as to why these two tracks sounded better than one.
 
Seems the answer is to compare them at the same volume.
Sorry, you knew that. :D
But even then, I'd bet that someone who started out expecting they would't sound different would be more likely hear them as the same.
Wayne
 
Ford Van said:
There is only techniques that make it sound the way you want it to sound!
Click to expand...

And the catch is:

If someone wants to get from Orlando to Tampa, they wouldn't drive to washington DC to then go to tampa.


Likewise, there are always efficent ways of achieveing the same, if not a better result.

But as always, the only law in audio is that there are no laws.
 
I do this all the time. It's practicaly the same concept of micing an amp and runing a DI at the same time.

once you've got your EQ and compression right for each track get your volumes sorted out then send both tracks to a buss, you can even add a bit more compression to the buss to gell them together and ofcourse you're now controling the volume of the summed tracks with one fader and not having to balance both tracks to get your blended sound every time you make an adjustment.

If it sounds good it is good.
 
I do this a lot when I am going to do SOMETHING to one band and not another

I would sometimes only duck the lows in a sidechain, I might distort the highs

I might chorus the hi's
 
i don't really care about the rep things i'm just tryin to get advice to make my music sound better lol if u can't help don't post!
 
thanks to all of yall who actually did post something up to try to help me out though :)
 
I guess the gist of what I am getting is:
1. If I like the way it sounds, go with it, already...lol.
2. Make a mental note to ask pipeline about sidechains and ducking in a different thread sometime...

Thanks to all who took the time to respond
 
amra said:
Ok, I guess I should be more specific. Is the 'better' sound due to the added volume/db boost that occurs since some frequencies still exist in both tracks, even if both levels are lowered? And perhaps it's not a better sound at all, just a louder one, but is perceived as better? I guess I was looking for some science to give a little insight as to why these two tracks sounded better than one.
Click to expand...

Do you mean overall volume, or volume of specific frequencies?

In the end, if it did what you wanted it to do, then it was the right thing to do!

"percieved as better" IS better don't you think?

Anyway, it is not uncommon to do what you have done. I have done it with bass, snare drums, kick drums, vocals (rarely), keyboards. On and on....You could really do it with anything.

Personally, I try a multiband compressor on the bass first. If that doesn't work out well, then I get into dual tracks with different eq/compression on each. If I need distortion on a bass track, then for sure you gotta split them up and only distort the highs! Although, I suppose you could distort the lows too, but I generally don't care for that kind of sound.

Anyway, if it worked for you, cool.
 
LeeRosario said:
And the catch is:

If someone wants to get from Orlando to Tampa, they wouldn't drive to washington DC to then go to tampa.


Likewise, there are always efficent ways of achieveing the same, if not a better result.

But as always, the only law in audio is that there are no laws.
Click to expand...

What if the more "efficient" road to Tampa has a ocean between? A mountain range? ;)

What if you just enjoy a long drive? :D
 
djclueveli said:
i don't really care about the rep things i'm just tryin to get advice to make my music sound better lol if u can't help don't post!
Click to expand...
:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:
 
the best way to record a bass is to have the Lows and highs turned down, and the Mids turned all the way up... this gives the recording unit a FLAT signal. DO NOT do any EQ until final mix. when you do one way and then do the opposite , you are going to be final mixing a signal that has been EQ'd twice.
 
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