Mar 17, 2010 10:18 am An EQ would give you a fixed point. A harmonic enhancer is "creating" harmonics against the original signal - It's following the fundamental and creating harmonics in real-time (almost).
Creating and manipulating harmonics
Posted on Mar 17, 2010 09:51 am
crux
Typo Szar
Member Since: Jul 04, 2002
Im getting really into Waves Renaissance Bass plugin, which is basically a slightly modified version of their Maxxbass plug. Im sure most ppl know of it, but just to jog memories it creates harmonics for lower frequencies in the higher ranges that trick the ear into hearing the bass region when its not there, ive found it works wonders restoring bass in thin recordings and just adding a thickness to instruments.
Im not content to just use the plug and be happy at that however and woudl like to know how if i didnt have the plug id go about achieving these results, whether for accentuating bass or adding grit or just overall control and creation of harmonics.
Could i just use an eq if i knew where the harmonics were suppose to be? how do i found out? can any eq do the job?
I wanna be able to do things that ppl take for granted with plugins in the event that im left with barebone essentials... just a weird tick of mine.
[ Back to Top ]
Mar 17, 2010 10:18 am An EQ would give you a fixed point. A harmonic enhancer is "creating" harmonics against the original signal - It's following the fundamental and creating harmonics in real-time (almost).
Mar 17, 2010 12:13 pm How would I do that if I were to say not have all these tools n gadgets, like how did they do something like RBass back in the analog days?
basicaly if i were in a very limited home recording situation with no fancy plugs, maybe some outboard EQ and such, is it possible to create and manipulate harmonics in the way that i need?
Mar 18, 2010 05:29 pm The problem here is that harmonics are multiples of the bass frequencies, so you would be affecting frequencies across the spectrum.
80hz, 160hz, 240hz, 480hz etc....
That's just ONE bass frequency in the entire range of bass.
You would need a parametric EQ to target and very narrowly boost or cut the higher frequencies. I suppose it COULD be done, so long as it were done only on the bass track and not any other instrumental/vox track. But it would be rather tedious and a lot of work.
Stick to the plug-in. :)
Mar 19, 2010 07:34 am i dunno if im following but,
with my guitar tracks i like to play my chords and then find the higher keys of those chords and track those along with em.
Eg, 4 chords on the lower end of the scale and then doubled up with those same chords a but a whole step up.
this gives my guitars so much more overall body and tonal quality, but you cant notice the higher chords mix in in the background. It sounds really sweet on the ear.
Mar 19, 2010 08:15 am Yaa, i've noticed that trick pretty often, especially in a lot of my favorite late 90's/ early 00's hard rock bands. Like they'd play a riff once or twice in a song less layered than that, and later in the song the extra guitar parts start to come in. Adds a nice bit of dynamic imo.
I still have a bit to learn about this more "scientific" stuff to music. It is interesting. Just a tad over my head still.
Mar 19, 2010 08:35 pm i dont know anything for certain. I just mess around with stuff and what sounds good stays and what sounds not so good gets mixed back. Hahaha.
Mar 20, 2010 12:29 am I more or less take the same approach trust me haha
but when stuff does sound good id like to know "why" and "how" so that every project doesnt have to start at completely 0. I want to know more about the "scientific" aspect of it all so that ultimately i can focus more on the art once i have all the technical stuff down pat. If i knew for certain that doing something would result in something else, then i could set out to tinker with that instead of just tinkering for tinkerings sake.
Mar 20, 2010 02:51 am Quote:
How would I do that if I were to say not have all these tools n gadgets, like how did they do something like RBass back in the analog days?
We didn't. If we wanted a certain sound, that's the sound we recorded. If we wanted something an octave lower, we found something that created that tone an octave lower.
Sure - we could run the (15IPS) tape at 30IPS and play the part twice as fast and then play it back at 15IPS again, then mix that in with whatever we're doing (essentially, creating a tone an octave lower) or do goofy stuff like doubling a guitar line with a bass or a bass line with a piano...
I sort of miss those days before plugins... People actually committed to things...
Mar 20, 2010 08:22 am @MM,
nothing sounds better than the "real" thing man for sure.
I dont even care to know the reasoning behind it anymore, real instruments sound better than plugs, except for maybe PODfarm, but that only because many people dont have well treated rooms when they do the real thing.
@crux, ha ha, yeah man, i dont forget once i nail something that sounds awesome. i anylise it till i workout "in my mind" why its so.
the reason playing chords with key octaves sounds good is simple. Its like multitracking sounds better than single. your just playing every note possible on your instrument that in chord.
im still writing atm but i tell ya now, im gonna milk every good sound as much as possible when i record it all properly.
When its called for of course.
|
Related Forum Topics: |
If you would like to participate in the forum discussions, feel free to register for your free membership.