How does he separate the sub bass from the acid bass playing the same notes in this track (LSD)?

trancespotter

How does he separate the sub bass from the acid bass so cleanly? It starts at 0:53 and various other parts throughout the track (Hallucinogen - LSD):

Whenever I try to do the same thing with 2 instances of Troublemaker or Pure Acid by using a saw sub playing the same notes one octave lower than the square bass and using a 24 dB/octave low cut filter on the square bass I just end up with a really thin sounding square bass and a sludgy sub. However, he manages to have a fat round rough sub and a bouncy shiny square acid bass.

This track is from 1994/1995 and uses all hardware SH101, MS20, Kurzwiel K2000, and other all analog gear. He does this clean sub/bass separation throughout multiple tracks on the album too.

Any ideas?

EDIT: Embedded the YouTube link.

Sequencer1

That 101/303 acid line has no sub-bass, so maybe an HPF with bit of resonance. Sounds like a sub-harmonic generator on the sub-bass too. Good Eq'ing.

Sequencer1

That's not a saw on the sub either.

trancespotter

@Sequencer1 said:
That 101/303 acid line has no sub-bass, so maybe an HPF with bit of resonance. Sounds like a sub-harmonic generator on the sub-bass too. Good Eq'ing.
@Sequencer1 said:
That's not a saw on the sub either.

So is it two separate synths though? One sub and one square? What is the waveform on the sub?

Sequencer1

Actually it sounds like an Aphex/DBX subharmonic generator on the 101. Hard to tell with that new sound at 1:21. Maybe 1 synth (101) with the Aphex/DBX. Let me run it thru Spectralayers. Hold on.

Sequencer1

Hmmm, problem is that bass has a stereo effect applied too. Sounds like a chorus, in addition to the stereo delay. Anyway, give me some time.

trancespotter

@Sequencer1 said:
Actually it sounds like an Aphex/DBX subharmonic generator on the 101. Hard to tell with that new sound at 1:21. Maybe 1 synth (101) with the Aphex/DBX. Let me run it thru Spectralayers. Hold on.

Ah okay. The reason I say a 101 and not a 303 is because in some interviews he has said he uses one for Hallucinogen as well as Shpongle.

Here’s an interview where he talks about his gear, though oddly it’s one where he doesn’t talk about the 101 😆 (starts at 1:13):

BTW thanks, I’ve been trying to figure this out for years and finally decided to just ask here 😁

trancespotter

@Sequencer1 said:
Hmmm, problem is that bass has a stereo effect applied too. Sounds like a chorus, in addition to the stereo delay. Anyway, give me some time.

Ah yea no rush 👍🏼

Sequencer1

You're right - clearly 2 basses, I was only listening to 0:53, where they're both playing the same sequence. Sub-bass is HPF'ed at ~80Hz with boosted resonance at the cutoff for the sub-bass boost, heavily shelved above ~200 or 300Hz. Acid bass is shelved below ~200Hz with no rez, so no bass. Give or take a few hundred Hz Sorry, it's difficult to tell w/o the stems. Plus there's lots going on so hard to isolate them. And their sequences collide occasionally.

So could be him just using his mixer's EQ and his engineer polishing the stems in post. (?)

And can't tell but it looks like an old BBE or Aphex 1U in the blurry video.

EQ'ing goes a long way. That was fun, got to learn my software a little more. Sorry I wasn't much help.

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Sequencer1

Took careful listening, but there are 2 distinct basslines in that track. Cannot hear both using headphones with the iPhone/iPad's headphone jack. Needed to connect a better-quality audio interface. Their sequences collide occasionally so easy to miss. Not talking about the stereo delays or the other acid leads and bleeps and bloops.

Not the song of the decade, but was interesting to deconstruct.

jolico

@Sequencer1 said:
Took careful listening, but there are 2 distinct basslines in that track. Cannot hear both using headphones with the iPhone/iPad's headphone jack. Needed to connect a better-quality audio interface. Their sequences collide occasionally so easy to miss. Not talking about the stereo delays or the other acid leads and bleeps and bloops.

Not the song of the decade, but was interesting to deconstruct.

Now deconstruct the song of the decade.

Sequencer1

A bit musky, with subtle hints of rotting fruit. Tastes so good, but you're left with dirt between your teeth.

jolico

@Sequencer1 said:
A bit musky, with subtle hints of rotting fruit. Tastes so good, but you're left with dirt between your teeth.

Sandstorm by Darude?

gusgranite

Haha 😂 nice work @Sequencer1

trancespotter

@Sequencer1 said:
You're right - clearly 2 basses, I was only listening to 0:53, where they're both playing the same sequence. Sub-bass is HPF'ed at ~80Hz with boosted resonance at the cutoff for the sub-bass boost, heavily shelved above ~200 or 300Hz. Acid bass is shelved below ~200Hz with no rez, so no bass. Give or take a few hundred Hz Sorry, it's difficult to tell w/o the stems. Plus there's lots going on so hard to isolate them. And their sequences collide occasionally.

So could be him just using his mixer's EQ and his engineer polishing the stems in post. (?)

And can't tell but it looks like an old BBE or Aphex 1U in the blurry video.

EQ'ing goes a long way. That was fun, got to learn my software a little more. Sorry I wasn't much help.

Awesome thanks!

@Sequencer1 said:
Took careful listening, but there are 2 distinct basslines in that track. Cannot hear both using headphones with the iPhone/iPad's headphone jack. Needed to connect a better-quality audio interface. Their sequences collide occasionally so easy to miss. Not talking about the stereo delays or the other acid leads and bleeps and bloops.

Not the song of the decade, but was interesting to deconstruct.

Not the song of the decade but the artist and album is credited with spawning a new branch of EDM called psytrance 😀

@jolico said:

@Sequencer1 said:
A bit musky, with subtle hints of rotting fruit. Tastes so good, but you're left with dirt between your teeth.

Sandstorm by Darude?

LOL. Good song but then became a parody 🤣 He actually has posted on KVR or Gearslutz forum before so that’s kinda cool...

Sequencer1

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