In this episode of MakeMineMusic, Marc Daniel Nelson shares his 4 favorite plugins to achieve heavy low end.
When you need your bass to be heard even on a laptop or mobile device, Renaissance Bass is your best friend. Using Waves’ patented MaxxBass® psychoacoustic technology, R-Bass accurately reproduces low-frequency content on playback systems that cannot physically handle these signals. This is achieved by the creation of harmonics of the fundamental, which fool the brain into perceiving bass frequencies that are not actually there.
With a simple, user-friendly interface—just 3 controls for frequency tuning, intensity and output gain—R-Bass makes it quick and easy to dial in a punchy bass sound that will sound great on systems of all sizes.
Defining the sound of electric bass, the Ampeg B-15N has been instrumental in everything from Motown cuts with James Jamerson to classic Stax records with Donald “Duck” Dunn. The 30-Watt, 1X15 all-tube power machine is filled with character, giving you a thick fundamental note that has been responsible for huge records from the ’60s and ’70s – Rock, Funk, Soul, you name it!
Crafted by Brainworx, the Ampeg B-15N plugin emulates the circuitry, tone and iconic beefiness of Ampeg’s Heritage B-15N amp.
Vitamin Sonic Enhancer Plug In
Waves Vitamin is a multiband harmonic enhancer and tone-shaping plugin that can make any track sound powerful and full of spark by mixing an enriched version with the original signal.
With its zero-latency processing, Vitamin caters to studio and live mix engineers alike. Used as an insert on any track or buss, Vitamin instantly delivers a warm, vital result that is comparable to what you would get from a parallel chain of EQ, compression and saturation processors, but without the hassle.
Vitamin’s controls are intuitive, easy to use and immediately responsive, letting you smooth or accentuate punchiness and dynamics, determine the crossover frequency points between the plugin’s five bands, and control the mix of the direct signal with its enhanced version. To top it all off, when Vitamin is in stereo mode, each band has a width control that lets you create wider sound images or make room for a vocal right in front of the mix – a great tool for mastering.
Whether used on vocals, guitars, synths, drums or an entire mix, Vitamin opens up the sound in a way that truly complements and enhances the original signal, ensuring your tracks get the nutrients they need.
The Haas Effect
The Haas effect is a psychoacoustic phenomenon discovered by Dr. Helmut Haas in 1949. Also known as the “precedence effect,” the law states that when one sound is followed by another with a delay time of approximately 40 ms or less (below humans’ echo threshold), the two are perceived as a single sound.
This relates to how we determine spatial location by sound. Because two noises with a very short delay between them are perceived as one, spatial location is determined by the first heard, dominant sound–regardless of where the second came.
To summarize, we determine the source of a sound based on what arrives at our ears first. Any subsequent reflections or noises arriving after a short delay give the sense of depth and spaciousness and do not appear to be individual sounds.
Watch the video below to learn more about Marc Daniel Nelson’s 4 Favourite Plug Ins For Low End!
