Bassline

[Bitfiend]

Ok so thoughts, comments, discussions, arguments....does a bassline always need to be mono or can it be stereo?

[sven hauck]

I always heard that mono is best, because if you release on vinyl a stereo bassline does something funky to the lathe or cutting device.

I suspect that bass being omni directional has something to do with it also, meaning, in a club you wouldn't really hear the stereo separation.

[Medway]

Yes as Sven said one of the main reasons was for vinyl cutting. The more stereo information the wider the groove which in turn meant it had to be more shallow. This had the effect of a lower level cut and worse sound quality.

And also yes bass is omnidirectional so it doesnt make a lot of sense to have it "wide".

That being said we are talking about low frequencies here and many times basslines container higher frequencies as well, which would be suitable for stereo processing.

For PC users here's a cool freeware effect that will mono out your low freqs while retaining the higher ones in stereo:

http://www.otiumfx.com/basslane.php

[klooptheloop]

Cheers for all the info guys...

and nice for the heads-up with that vst

[Bitfiend]

Yeah thanks for the info fellas.

[James Stichbury]

What sort of frequency would you set the cutoff to for mono?

[Medway]

I'd shoot for at least 300hz but often higher. Set it so that you still retain some stereo effect on the bass yet keep solid low end.

[Bitfiend]

so what about kicks? same deal as basslines, for vinyl pressing? or will a stereo kick be more like cancelled out in a mix?

[Medway]

It goes for kicks too, don't really worry about the type of sound but the frequencies themselves. Just mono out anything below 300hz or so.

[James Stichbury]

I've searched for basslane equivalents for the mac, but have been unsuccessful. I found a similar plugin - monofilter, but again its pc only...
Can i take two copies of my stereo output file, hipass one, lowpass the other (and mono it), then bounce this down?