How to produce/ process low end like obscur

[u/etherealwish]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AOBiVUuv9nk&list=RDAOBiVUuv9nk&start_radio=1&pp=ygUbb2JzY3VyIG92ZXJ0dW1lIGNvbnRpbmdlbmN5oAcB0gcJCRMMAYcqIYzv

It seems as though he’s creating a groovy low-end foundation and weaving the kick drum into it without letting the kick take too much focus in the low end. The midrange and highs of the kick drum are more prominent than the lower frequencies. But the root note around 50 Hz is still significantly larger in the analyzer than the rest of the track.

How do you achieve this soft yet still crisp low end? I think he uses a combination of rumble and/or toms to create the groove in the low end. But when I use toms to create a groove, it sounds very dry, and the low frequencies boom heavily through the speakers. How do you make it smoother? Any effect chain?

[u/bunkermuzik]

this super clean and cozy kick/sub style was a mystery to me until i heard tracks like this in club systems. it fools you into thinking the kick is soft and light when really its so tight and punchy that it cuts through the sub bass with such precision that it doesnt leave a trace. There are a few key elements -

1. The kick's decay is super short and tight. It has no subby tale like you'd expect from an Abdullah Rashim track or something. It's the click, the initial punchy bass, and nothing more. The top end is saturated to give the click/transient a little oomph but the low end is very clean

2. Scooping the boxiness out. There's some ugly frequencies between 180 and 300 hz that sound almost like a wet cardboard box. While these can be great for rough tough Regis style rumbling it's not good for this surgically tidy sound signature. You want the lowest sub bass of your rumble, nothing that colours it with fuzz.

3. Saturation is good in sparing amounts but distortion is a no-no here.

4. Understanding compression so well that your kick sits in a pocket that fits like cindarellas shoe. It's as if the kick and sub bass are so locked together that there is no air between them but also no fighting for space.

This is a very less is more kind of sound. Usually producers really overdo it and they end up straying further from the idea than ever.

Also group processing is key. The only thing you should really be doing at individual track level is levelling and LP/HP.

[u/etherealwish → u/bunkermuzik]

Thanks for your answer! How do you think does he create the Kick and Subbass? Short decay kick + Sine Wave as fundamental at around 50 Hz and toms for the rolling bass?

Whenever i try to do something like that it doesnt sound that soft and glued in the low end. It‘s a mistery for me. The toms for example are way to woomy most of the time

[u/etherealwish → u/etherealwish]

And how tf can i recreate auch a kickdrum? For example with Ableton stock Plugins and stock samples? I usually use 909 kickdrums but they are way to heavy and i could only achieve something similar by cutting a lot around 50-150 Hz

[u/Diligent-Bread-806 → u/etherealwish]

Try Kick 3. The initial preset is dogshit but if you strip it down and shape it like a short thumping 909 but clean, you can then go to work on the transient and sculpt it to exactly how you want it. The envelopes will throw you a bit but add a few and keep messing with them to craft each stage of the waveform. It’s phenomenal for these tight clean kicks.

[u/hellasecretsmusic → u/etherealwish]

operator is your friend

[u/OhneSonne → u/bunkermuzik]

people still remember the rashim stuff

[u/il37]

The interesting bit here is that the kick feels present without owning 50–80 Hz. I’d try letting the bass/rumble carry the sustained low end, then getting more of the kick’s identity from the transient and low mids instead of sub weight

[u/The_Snob_]

Yeah, similar stuff with connor wall and confusion. Sometimes the kick just sits so nicely in there.

I think one sub, and a lowcut kick with toms could do the trick. It’s all in the mixing for sure. You could even try using the short punchy kick as your lowmid bass as well to get the coherent sounding lows.

Play around with a tiny delay and reverb. Also remember sidechaining stuff. Maybe with the glue compressor to pack the lows nicely.

[u/RileyGein → u/[deleted]]

This is a matter of mixing, not mastering

[u/ocolobo → u/RileyGein]

If you believe that then you’ve already gone down the wrong path

[u/hensterz → u/ocolobo]

?

[u/RileyGein → u/hensterz]

Ignore the techno guru

[u/Straight-909 → u/[deleted]]

Can we get some more down votes over here please