Bass Compression: A Definitive Guide

Bass compression is a critical aspect of the music production process. Bass compression plays an extremely important role, especially in electronic dance music (EDM), hip-hop, and pop music.

The bass plays an important role in the music industry, which makes it crucial for music producers to get the bass sound exactly the way it was planned to be. This is why compression is one of the fundamental tools that help them add warmth, depth, and consistency to the track.

Is Bass Compression Essential?

A compression is an important tool to even out the dynamic range of an audio track. This works by quieting the louder parts of the track and increasing the silent parts when the audio signal's volume exceeds or drops from a certain threshold.

Bass has a wide dynamic range, unlike a vocal compressor. Often, some tones sound louder than others in the recording, making certain bass sound overpower others. Hence, the importance of Bass Compression. It works to manage the dynamic range of the bass track, evening out the volume of these notes, making it more consistent and easier for the music producer to work around the bass when it comes to the final mix of the track so that all the elements of the music sits well together.

Types of Bass Compression

Now that you know why Bass Compression is important let us tell you the different types of compression used to compress bass sounds. Each of these types of bass compression techniques has its pros and cons.

Remember, there are many audio compressor types, so if you’re interested in something else, you should look into that more.

Standard Compression

As the name suggests, Standard compression is the most common type of bass compression used by music producers worldwide. This technique compresses the bass signal by attenuating peaks above a certain threshold.

Although Standard Bass compression is one of the easiest techniques to use, mastering it requires a little attention when setting the attack and release settings. Incorrect settings can kill the initial transient of the audio signal if the attack time is too fast.

If used properly, Standard Bass Compression can add sustain and body to the bass, adding more life to the bass element in the final mix.

Multiband Compression

Multiband compression is a slightly more advanced type of bass compression. Multiband Bass Compression involves dividing the bass signal into different bands in order of their frequencies and then applying compression to each of these separated bands individually. This separation gives music producers more freedom and liberty in controlling different frequency ranges in the bass.

With multiband bass compression, you can apply compression only where you feel it is needed, leaving the rest of the frequencies unaffected, which helps maintain the punch of the bass, which is important for genres like EDM, hip-hop, pop, and rock.

Sidechain Compression

Sidechain compression uses a signal from one track to trigger the compression on another. This is helpful when someone wants to create a pumping sound effect between the bass and kick drum, as the bass will go low when the kick hits the set threshold. Keep in mind this is different than sidechaining in fl studio.

Sidechain bass Compression allows music producers to create a more cohesive sound between the kick drum and the bass by routing the kick drum signal to the sidechain input of the compressor on the bass track and set to trigger as and when the kick hits.

Parallel Compression

Parallel Compression is one of music production's most effective Bass Compression techniques. In Parallel Compression, the bass track is duplicated, and then one of the tracks goes through extreme compression, blending with the original uncompressed track. This is music producers achieve a balance between punch without sacrificing the naturality of the sound.

FET Compression

Field-Effect Transformers are analog compression used mainly for equipment that produces low-frequency sounds. And, because Bass has a wide dynamic range, FET Compressors with fast attack times are often used on bass for creating an attractive and aggressive-sounding track.

The fast attack times in the FET compressors make them well-suited for compressing the transient signals in the bass sound. It is important to note that music producers should carefully consider the threshold, ratio, attack, and release settings; otherwise, FET compression can distort the bass.

How to Set Up Bass Compression

Setting up bass compression can be tricky if you don’t know what you are doing. This is why in this section, we have focused on how to set up the bass compression. We assure you that you will get it right quickly with some practice.

Set Your Threshold

The threshold is the level post at which the compressor will start compressing the incoming audio signal. It is the first step in the process of bass compression.

To set the threshold, you will have to play the bass track and adjust the threshold levels till you see that the compressor is reducing only the volume of the loudest notes. Setting the threshold too low will reduce more notes, eventually ruining your bass's natural tone.

Adjust Your Ratio

Next, you must set the ratio in which you want the compression to be applied on the incoming bass signal. If you set a higher ratio, more compression will be applied, and vice versa.

Recommended Settings

A ratio of around 2:1 to 4:1 is a good starting point for bass. Ensure you don’t overkill the sound with compression, as tweaking the ratio will affect the compression exponentially.

Set Your Attack and Release Times

Now that you have set the ratio of your bass compression, we can come to Attack and Release settings. Attack time is simply when a compressor starts compressing the bass signal after it has exceeded the threshold.

On the other hand, the release time is the total time the compressor takes to stop compressing the bass sound once the falls out of the threshold limit.

Recommended Settings

For bass, we suggest you begin with a slower attack time, i.e., 20-50ms, and a faster release time, i.e., 100-200ms. These bass compression settings will help the compressor allow the initial transient of the bass note to pass through while compressing the rest of the note.

Makeup Gain

After the signal compression, you will notice that the track's overall volume has been reduced. To compromise for the lost volume, you must increase the makeup gain. You should set the makeup gain so that the average volume of the track is equal to before and after the bass compression.

Common Mistakes in Bass Compression

Although we have taught you everything you need to start your journey with bass compression, there is always some space to learn something that will make it easier for you to create better music. This section will explore some of the most common mistakes to avoid when compressing your bass.

Over-Compressing

You will not believe how common over-compression is in the industry. Rookie technicians do it all the time, and hence all of you need to understand it at the beginning.

Over-compression can make your bass sound flat, lifeless, lacking in punch, and, most importantly, it will take away the nature of the sound. Over-compression of the bass sound will make the sound difficult to mix with the other elements in the track, which does more harm than good.

The best way to avoid this situation is by starting with minimum settings and then going higher when and if required.

Not Using Sidechain Compression

Sidechain compression is a powerful tool for creating a pumping effect between the kick and bass. If you're not using sidechain compression, you're missing out on a key technique to help your bass sit better in the mix.

With sidechain compression, you can set the compressor to only trigger when the kick drum hits, allowing the bass to breathe and pump in time with the rhythm. This can help to create a more cohesive sound and prevent the bass from masking the kick.

Not Using Multiband Compression

As we discussed earlier, Multiband Compression is an effective bass compression technique that gives the liberty of freedom to music producers by allowing them to manage different frequency ranges.

Sometimes, you will not want to compress the entire signal equally; only a certain set of frequencies will need work. That’s why using Multiband Compression will greatly help you when creating music. Make sure to use it in the right prospect.

Not Adjusting the Attack and Release Times

Attack and release times are critical settings when it comes to compression, and failing to adjust them will make your bass sound bad and ruin the final mix of the track you worked so hard on.

An attack time that is too fast will crash the initial transient resulting in a flat and lifeless bass sound. On the other hand, a release time that is too slow will produce a clamped-down sustain of your bass sound.

Even after years of working in this field, all we would suggest is to experiment with different attack and release settings to find the sweet spot for your track.

Ignoring the Mix

Many beginner music producers forget to consider the mix when compressing the bass sounds. They forget that bass compression is a tool to be used in the context of the entire mix.

You should always listen to the compression and how it interacts with the other elements of the final mix to ensure that it isn’t overpowered or underpowered with respect to the other elements so that it sits well without being too prominent.

Conclusion

After working with Bass Compression for years, we know that it is not just an essential tool to enhance the quality of your track but also provides you with the creative liberty to create new and fresher pieces of music, particularly in genres like EDM, hip-hop, and pop.

Bass Compression will help you manage the dynamic range of your bass sound, making it more consistent and easier to mix with the other elements of the track. You should understand that learning how to set up bass compression will require some practice, but by following the steps outlined above, you will get it right.

Techniques like sidechain compression, multiband compression, parallel compression, and experimenting with different compression settings will help you get the most out of your bass compression. At the same time, don’t forget that bass compression should be used judiciously. Overdoing will increase the risk of losing the natural dynamics and punch exponentially!

♥ - Joseph SARDIN - Fondateur et Sonothécaire de BigSoundBank.com et LaSonotheque.org - Contact