Delay on a base line

jackrabbit

jackrabbit

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I never put a delay on a base line 'cos I heard it was a bad idea on low frequencies in any type of music.
However the base line I am working on is crying out for a delay as it seems to keep things moveing/less static.
Is this a no,no and going to cause problems in a mix?
 
You wont have trouble with your low frequencies if your delay has a low cut/high pass filter on it. Most delay plugins have a filter of some kind built in.



I would have the delay FX on bus and then EQ the delay as you wish. This will give you more control over the delay sound.




Nothing is a no no if you do it right right.
 
Cheers for that.
The delay I am using is one built into my novation synth. I will have a go using another delay which has a filter and experiment with eq placement. :cool:
 
Disagree with purusha. Ping pong all you like but just keep the low cut on the delay bus. Gives it a really nice flangy sound which is good. Have that on high authority.
 
totally depends on the bassline, if you've got a regular repeating pattern, say, solid 1/16 or even 1/8, you'l just end up with a foggy mush. But delay a short phrase say every bar or half bar, then you could ping pong it; but cant think how this would work for pumping psy-trance.
 
mad ron said:
Disagree with purusha. Ping pong all you like but just keep the low cut on the delay bus. Gives it a really nice flangy sound which is good. Have that on high authority.
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And a disagree back atcha!

:Wink3:

The reason I said that is that panned bass will cause problems if you press to vinyl unless it's mono-ised.

Also, its more difficult to ascertain direction from low bass, so it's a bit of a pointless exercise to pan it via stereo ping pong.

Like I say - depends how low you go. If you're low cutting as you suggest, the providing you cut enough out, you should be OK.
 
mad ron said:
Disagree with purusha. Ping pong all you like but just keep the low cut on the delay bus. Gives it a really nice flangy sound which is good. Have that on high authority.
Click to expand...


Purusha said:
And a disagree back atcha!

:Wink3:

The reason I said that is that panned bass will cause problems if you press to vinyl unless it's mono-ised.

Also, its more difficult to ascertain direction from low bass, so it's a bit of a pointless exercise to pan it via stereo ping pong.

Like I say - depends how low you go. If you're low cutting as you suggest, the providing you cut enough out, you should be OK.
Click to expand...
If you delay is rolled off from 120Hz then you wont have this problem. If your concerned about the mid and high of the delay upsetting the bass sound then this is why I suggest you EQ the delay on a bus. You can even put other FX on the delay such as reverb or stereo widening FX to distinguish the delay from the bass further.
 
the delay bass is quite a flavour of the month thing. Give it a try. I know I will. Obviously keep the low cut above the vinyl problem area. Not like its really goling to get cut to vinyl anyway. It just sounds crap if you delay all the low frequencies. You don't wan't flagey sounds drawing too much attention down there.Don;t listen to Purusha!
 
These are interesting ideas hear. The base line in question is a busy 16th note one.
I think I will experiment with delay patterns and bounce down the wet signal individually to the dry and treat them as if i'me layering a base line. Maybe thow a noise gate in if things start messy.
Cheers all :ismile:
 
mad ron said:
the delay bass is quite a flavour of the month thing. Give it a try. I know I will. Obviously keep the low cut above the vinyl problem area. Not like its really goling to get cut to vinyl anyway. It just sounds crap if you delay all the low frequencies. You don't wan't flagey sounds drawing too much attention down there.Don;t listen to Purusha!
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Erm - I'm sure we're saying the same thing Ron if you look back through the thread!?

Maybe you just misunderstood me?

When I first said "I'd steer clear of ping-ponging it in stereo though. Depends how low you go..." - I was implying (perhaps not specifically enough) that the low frequency component shouldn't be stereo. Pretty much what you're saying above n'est pas? So, we're in agreement?

:Wink3:

As everyone has pointed out, the delayed signal can be low cut and hence avoid the problems.
 
mad ron said:
Don;t listen to Purusha!
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Handbags at ten paces.

Purusha was pointing out the potential pit falls of delay on Bass and if you don't consider the facts of these "rules" then you wont be able to correctly break them.

But don't listen to me.:ilol:
 
Of course, you *could* just double the bass melody up on another instrument and apply the delay to that...

J.
 
i don't reall yunderstand what a low cut will do anyway, the bulk of freuencies in a bass sound are down in the bass area, trying to delay the top range of the bass will still just result in a muddy spatial effect, albeit spatial, and probably be obscured by the sounds of the other instruments in the mix..hmm must explore...
 
Not necessarily in the sub 120Hz range though...

No harm in experimenting though - anything's worth a try!
 
I've tried delaying the bass. It's not uncommon to take out parts of the bass and treat them on sends.
For instance you could take part of the bass on a send, hi pass it, and delay it + other fx.
Then you are free to treat the original post send bass, either low passing it, or creating a broad notch around the freq area your send is affecting if you are worring about freq clashing.
However I definitely agree, you don't want rich sounds including treated basses, much in the sub 200Hz region, they are best off in the lower mid area.
 
Only kidding Purusha. I think we are defo saying the same thing. Just got a new track by a brazillian artist called Visua which has a great delayed bass. So too do the new sun control species and dickster tracks. I think it works best on a VB1 with a touch of distortion on the send as well as the filter. That gives you a fairly classic sound. Tristan uses them a fair bit (Grow more pot on UNs1 I think).

Classy production trick I reckon.
 
Yeah - it's strange how a lot of people seem to use VB1.

Not something that springs to my mind when considering which bass vsti to use, but people obviously do get good results with it.
 
dukas said:
i don't reall yunderstand what a low cut will do anyway, the bulk of freuencies in a bass sound are down in the bass area, trying to delay the top range of the bass will still just result in a muddy spatial effect, albeit spatial, and probably be obscured by the sounds of the other instruments in the mix..hmm must explore...
Click to expand...
Well by that logic you wouldn't put delay on a lead sound ether. Or any sound for that matter.:ifrown:
 
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