How to design a sub bass
A clean sub bass is a sine oscillator at the root note an octave or two below your bassline, with a short decay and lowpass filter to remove any harmonics.
A clean sub bass is a sine oscillator at the root note an octave or two below your bassline, with a short decay and lowpass filter to remove any harmonics. Mono, no detune, no reverb. The job is energy, not character.
- Oscillator: sine, pure fundamental, no harmonics
- Filter: lowpass at 800 Hz, kills any incidental highs
- Envelope: 5 ms attack, 200 ms decay, 0.6 sustain, 300 ms release
- Mono, centered, no detune
Sine wave for a clean fundamental
Sine is the only waveform that has no harmonics, just the fundamental frequency. For a sub bass, that's exactly what you want: pure low-end energy that doesn't compete with anything else in the mix. Saw or square subs need heavy filtering and still leak harmonics into the low-mids.
Lowpass filter as a safety net
Even a sine wave can pick up faint harmonics from oscillator drift or unison. A lowpass filter at 800 Hz with low resonance acts as a safety net, anything above 800 Hz gets removed. You won't usually hear a difference, but you'll see a cleaner spectrum analyzer.
Short decay to stay tight
Fast attack (5ms) so the bass tracks the kick. Short decay (200ms) so each note feels distinct, not bleeding into the next. Sustain at 0.6 keeps the body. Release 300ms lets notes fade naturally between hits, too short feels choppy, too long muddies the rhythm.
Mono and centered
Sub bass is mono. Always. Stereo low-end disappears on club systems, in mono playback, and on cheap speakers. Center the sub, no panning, no stereo widener. The width in your bassline comes from harmonics on a layered mid-bass, not the sub.
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