COOL TIP: Double Tracking To Get That Added Bass

dacalion

Hands Of FIRE!
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 259
Double Tracking is playing 2 of the same samples together at the same time. When its done correctly, it creates a boosting effect to your music. You can also take it one step further by targeting a frequency range, in this example we're looking at the bass only. So this tip will be helpful if you want to boost the bass of your sample up a notch. This is how it works...

1. I've added my sample called "Prime Time" to Pattern 1 which also has my drums (but you dont have to have your drums on that pattern). My "Prime Time" sample is 8 bars long so it's matched with the 8 bar length in the top left hand corner.

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2. Next, I right clicked on my Prime Time tab and chose "Clone". That created another "Prime Time" tab under the original one. At this point we've created an exact copy of our original sample.

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3. If we stopped right here and play this as is, it would bring the level up on the entire sample...but thats NOT what we want. We only want to increase the bass of the sample and NOT bother the mids and highs. So the next thing to do would be take the mids and highs OUT of the cloned "Prime Time".

I do that by (1) left clicking on the cloned "Prime Time" tab which opens your Channel Settings Window. (2) I set the FX to track 5 (you can use any channel except the Master Channel). (3) Now in my INPUT section, I open Fruity Parametric EQ 2 which opens the equalizer. (4) I made my no.4 slider my frequency cutoff point by right clickiing on the number 4 and choosing low pass (you can see how the white graphic line drops off). (5) With the music playing, I then adjust my bass freqs. no.1 thru no.3 to get my desired bass. Thats it!

Some will say...why not just eq the first sample and raise the bass? This way just gives you a much thicker and warmer bass sound. So experiment with it and you will definitely hear the difference. Remember we chose no.4 as our cutoff point? Well you can't slide it up or down now but you can slide it back and forth. This will change your cutoff point accordingly in whatever direction you move it.

In my example, I used an 8 bar sample, lets say you chopped your sample into more pieces...The same thing applies. Just clone each sample that you want the bass to pop out and set each clone to FX 5 in your Channel Settings Window.

Good Luck, and hit me with any questions here.

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thedreampolice

A backwards poet writes inverse.
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 21
This is a great tip, the only issue to worry about is phasing, this is actually an old engineering trick.

The great rip rowen talked about it in this article

http://web.archive.org/web/20050628...nsf/articles/5BE12CB69461932C86256B1D00772FB4

EDIT here is the main part of the article

I used a process similar to the approach used to record Chris Squire's famous bass lead on "Roundabout." The idea is to split the bass signal into two paths. One path is essentially full-range, direct, and a little compressed. This provides the bottom end to the signal. The other path is filtered to remove all of the bass content and run through a loud, distorted amp. When the two sounds are mixed together, it almost sounds as though the bass is being doubled on a distorted baritone guitar.

To do this in Vegas, I used a Cakewalk Amp Sim inserted into an effects bus. I also inserted a Waves Q4 into that bus before the Amp Sim. The Q4 was set up with a bass cut @ 70 Hz and a low shelf set at -15 dB @ 250 Hz. The low shelf de-emphasized the midbass while the low cut removed the low bass. It is essential to remove the bass content before hitting the amp, or else the amp will just fart out sloppy bass notes. By providing the cuts, the amp "sees" a lot more midrange, and it is this signal, not the bass, which generates the distortion.

On the bass track, I used a Waves Q4 to cut lows @ 30 Hz to remove some speaker-flapping stuff that was in the track. I used a Waves Renaissance compressor set to 4:1 ratio, fast attack and release and about 6 dB gain reduction to "ride" the signal, evening out the bass notes a little bit. I then followed the compressor with a plugin that I rarely ever use - a Hyperprism Bass Maximizer. This is a sub-bass generator that adds in low harmonics (as opposed to the Waves MaxxBass which works the other way, adding in high harmonics). I wanted this effect because I wanted the bass to retain its beefiness even when the highest notes were hit. Otherwise, the bass content seemed to vanish.

Now I had the bass sound that I wanted, but there was a problem. There was a slight amount of hum in the track, and the Amp Sim made it very obvious. And this wasn't just a 60 Hz hum - it was a square wave, with even-order harmonics at 120 Hz, 240 Hz, 480 Hz, all the way up to the highest treble frequencies. You can't EQ this noise out. So I took the track into Cool Edit 2000 and used CE's noise reduction to eliminate the hum. CE uses a sampling noise reduction that removes only the specific frequencies sampled. Sonic Foundry also provides a similar noise reduction, however, I am always able to get better noise reduction from the Cool Edit system. Don't know why. After the track was cleaned up, it sounded great (or as Rob described it, "really pissed off.").


Remember its a very old article.
 

dacalion

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ill o.g.
Battle Points: 259
This is a great tip, the only issue to worry about is phasing, this is actually an old engineering trick.

Phasing only comes into play when the signals are slightly off. If they are together they don't phase...plus we're talking about samples...little chops...even an 8 bar sample @ 85bpm (slow as hell for hip hop) wouldn't have enough room to even notice a phase effect. In fact, DJ's like creating a phase effect but my Cd Decks are so close on accuracy that I have to physically make them phase. My turntables will do it much easier.

For all general purposes...I've been doing this for a long time and though Im no audiophile, phasing is something thats easily noticeable. On the same token, would I do this on a "professional" track...hell no, would I do it for what we do on ill? ...in a sec. and I wouldn't even think twice about it.
 

dacalion

Hands Of FIRE!
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 259
lmao! LDB, phase cancellation occurs when you invert one of the waves. in others words...one is normal and the other is flipped up side down.
 

UNORTHODOX

Father Timeless
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 44
If you use too many effects, your wave can go out of phase and start cancelling out. Even alittle bit can ruin transients (which bass does need). Thats why they have Phase correction tools
 

Tr3ydeeze

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
Why is it every time I come back to Illmuzik somebody is having a brotherly dispute? lol. Keep it up though because I'm learning a lot.
 

dacalion

Hands Of FIRE!
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 259
lol, lately its just been that way around here but I'm not mad at anyone, I'm just trying to share tips that I use...thats it.
 

slik da relic

RS Jedi
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 1
on the real... textin and typin certain words without seein a person's attitude can get crazy... i can call u an asshole on here... and if i dont type "lol" or "j/k" at the end, everyone gets a lil peeved... even "lmao!" will rub people the wrong way... lol.. its the world we live in 2day.

da relic
 

Sucio

Old and dirty...
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 304
You're an asshole, Slik.

Nah means?





I definitely see what Dac is doing....and sometimes phasing does occur....and I found that out the hard way working with kick drums....I was in the studio and I couldn't figure the reason why that sound was coming out.....then I came across the phasing and realized that with certain sounds you definitely have to correct them for it to work...

But when done, it does sound pretty freaking awesome...

I agree that Dac should post a vid on it so people would understand a bit more.....

OR you could just get some dope ass bass and do it yourself, nah means?
 
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