Hello everyone, I'm working on this track for an artist who wants to sing over it. Unfortunately, I'm still having an issue with it: the track sounds good almost everywhere (AirPods, Bluetooth speaker, studio, smartphone). But in the car, when the sub bass kicks in, the door starts shaking annoyingly. This happens in 3 different cars, which makes me think, 'Okay, it's not a car problem.' Also, other songs, even with a lot of sub bass, don't have this effect.

Looking at a spectrum analyzer, nothing seems abnormal, and what baffles me the most is that I've never encountered a situation like this in so many years. The studio speakers are too high-quality to distort the bass like in the car, and the Bluetooth speakers are too low-quality to reproduce it, so I'll never hear this kind of issue, right?

Anyway, I wanted to ask if any of you are experiencing this problem (and how you realize it) and how you would deal with it?

I'm attaching the track for you, and I appreciate your availability and the help you provide.

 

You need to check the permissions, the file can neither be played nor downloaded.

 

Same, can't see any file.
Anyway, if doors are rattling it means you hit the resonance frequency, that can go from ~30 to 100Hz, for the average car.
Unfortunately, every structure has a resonance from wich we must stay far away as much as possible.

 

I would just cut sub low frequencies below, oh, 45, 50 hz. And then gently attenuate below 60hz a couple db at a time until it stops. Then listen around on your other references again.

 

Try this video it is very good. I think your solution is here to be honest.

Bottom line, you are leaving too much unnecessary 'unheard' low frequencies. These are the ones that are most likely happening below 100hz. I bet you are not getting anything 'musical' from that range. So just cut it and see if that helps with the problem. You won't trigger any of these with headphones or most other systems. But in the car there is room for the air to move but it is also trapped in the doors. So of course the result is rattles.

 

For me the easiest way to control sub information is to cut the sh*t out of bass (until 50/60 cicles) and adding synthesized bass afterwards with some plugin like Waves Maxxbass. So i can dial in exctly the amount of subsonics i want. And be careful with frequencies between 80-200 cicles, because those are the most resonanting bass frequencies and the most oppresive in my experience if not controlled, because they jump around everywhere, conflicts with kick drum and lower snares, etc

 

there was just a thread here about low end control plugins: https://audiosex.pro/threads/is-there-a-good-waves-rbass-renaissance-alternative.42138/

there are some very good suggestions in there. I will mention one I might try first to fix your car, is Sonalksis Stereo Tool. You can easily set a frequency you pick, and then it will be a "mono-maker" on everything below the frequency you specify. There are other plugins like this in the thread i linked.
I wouldn't suggest upward compression to fix this, because it's often something you probably should have used a low-cut on. Remove the information, not put it somewhere else.

 

Thank you for the help!

I'm sorry for the broken link I try to paste here again, if the problem persist I'll upload on other share platform

I also leave a link for a download
https://we.tl/t-Hh6YKrE35U

 

As suggested above I would "cut" extra bass fequencies.
But for the sake of curiosity, I would create a very slow sine sweep with an editor from 30 to 150Hz, note the lenght of the audio file and play it in the car, this way I get at least roughly the (rattling) resonance frequency (use a stopwatch at the start of file play).

 

Oh my even without downloading it can rip off headphones, what's that rumble at 07?

 

Last edited: Aug 27, 2023

I would like to know too! There is no clipping or something like that...

(What headphones are you using btw? Thank you )

 

That's fine to me.

Yes, there is a formant in this tone. But to me it clearly is a characteristic, not an error.
There are a lot of hiphop beats that have brutal formants in the bass line where everything rumbles.

What you can do however, is loading the bass line into for example melodyne and make this note smaller.
Or simply reduce the whole bass line in volume by >5db first because it really is too loud.

 

Last edited: Aug 28, 2023

No, it sounds pretty bad in any listening device. The kick is very very weak and the bass is way louder than the kick and way louder than it should be. As long as you have dark red at 100 Hz on the spec, you're f-ed (generally 65 Hz is the highest frequency at which sustained bass should be that intense). Also note how the 100 hz is louder than 50 hz - you're heavily masking the subsonics with the next top harmonic.

@Riddim Machine already told you what to do.

 

I can tell instantly if my lows are too hot in my car because it just starts farting
Issues are always 80 to 100 hz, car can't reproduce lower than that probably.

 

bass sounds a bit jarring on my headphones too (neutral response)

 

all you have to do is look at the waveform after the bass comes in. the entire thing is clipped. there is also a static noise in there which probably should have been gated or something.

 

Same experience as @lxfsn in all my device here.

Your bassline is way over the top.

I wouldn't be surprised if you'd just lower it by 9 db and still have too much.

If you then lack presence, squash it in a 1176 or use some heavy saturation.

 

Try this plugin: Audified Mix Checker Pro. Place it as the last plugin on your master out. I like to place it after SonarWorks SoundID reference plugin to neutralise my headphones / speakers.

Info on Audified Mix Checker Pro plugin.

Check your reference mixes faster than ever before. Reveal the shortcomings of your mixes with over 60 simulated consumer devices, added background noise, and intuitive UI.

Comfortably True
The smartest tool to reference your mix

Master your craft with
Realistic device simulation
Choose from over 60 true-to-reality models of the world’s most used consumer audio devices and check your mix via the represented device.

Time-saver controls
Streamline your workflow using switches for mono monitoring, device distortion, and noise generation. Let the auto-scroll browse through the devices on its own.

Optional background noise
Apply one of 14 distinct and mixable ambient noise simulations, and monitor your track via the optional device-specific distortion and clipping.

Make the most of it
Customize your setup
Save your favorite device collections with specific distortion and volume levels. Adjust the stereo base width, and personalize your plug-in to your liking.

Be free, use the remote
Scroll through the models and features while just walking around! The proprietary Remote Control app is available for Android, iOS or as a web browser page.

 

Very informative thank you!

 

I didn't picked up any analizer, but i feel with my monitors a lot of low mids (that resonant area between 80 and 200 cicles) jumping out the mix and swallowing the kick drum and eating the midrange for breakfast. A little bell on the bass (on dynamic or normal mode) would solve this for sure. I don't feel you gonna loose nothing by doing that, low end mixing is basically taking gargabe freq out to enhance the good things that are musical