I was wondering what were some ways you guys process 808's/Sub bass. What do you guys to make them FAT. Also in the mix, where do you usually want it to sit on the Master?- 8? -12db?

 

I start out with the cleanest 808 sample I can find, EQ it to fit well with the mix and to beef it up, I add a lot of distortion. I rarely use compression in my stuff, unless it's sidechain compression. So maybe compression would help people out a bit to make the 808 bang. But mostly I think what people do that have big 808s... is just a clean sample to begin with, mixed with good EQ for the track you're working on and some distortion. Or at least that's what I do

PS, I don't keep the 808 on the set volume range, just whatever the track calls for. Although, thinking about it now, I'm not sure if I ever have them peaking above -6 or -7.

 

EQ, parallel multiband-saturation, EQ.

Giving the kick and bass space by highpassing (or low-shelving cutting) everything else in the mix, except kick and bass.

 

Hi there

It Starts at the Source, sound selection is half the battle when you produce, especially for 808!! First, try to find good sounding samples or choose a Vst of your choice (Massive, Sylenth, Serum...) use a sine wave and play with the pitch envelope.

Then for the processing, generally it's Transient shaping, parallel compression and saturation for the harmonics (R-bass from Waves is great for this task), overdrive a bit then maximize and limit hard to beef them up!

After of course, you will have to make the 808 sit in the mix, a good starting point to achieve clarity and to help the low end to be tight is to put a high pass filter to everything below 100Hz.

There is no right or wrong here, experiment with it!

Hope this helps

Cheers

 

big ass distortion and screw the rest

 

sorry only have time for short answer.

you treat your 808's like a champ! :D