Bass Boosting help.

I’ve managed to bass boost my songs to my liking, no distortion or anything. However, when the bass kicks in, the song’s volume goes down. From what I understand, the bass is muffling over the song. Is there a way to make the song louder without jeopardizing any part of the bass boost?

If you use a compressor after the bass-boost that reduction in volume when the bass kicks in is inevitable.
Solution : don’t use a compressor after the bass-boost.

Thank you for your reply. What should I use for an alternative, if one is available? Thanks.

I am using audacity with Windows 10.

I’ve managed to bass boost my songs to my liking, no distortion or anything. However, when the bass kicks in, the song’s volume goes down.

That shouldn’t happen “accidently” unless you are getting distortion. [u]Clipping[/u] is distortion but it’s also a kind of dynamic compression, pushing everything toward the same volume.

Are you sure you’re not distorting? Unless the recording is very quiet, it’s unlikely that you can boost anything without clipping unless you also adjust-down the volume. Did you use Amplify or Normalize to check or bring-down the levels after boosting the bass? Do you have Audacity configured to [u]Show Clipping[/u]?

You could install a multi-band compressor plugin into Audacity , e.g.,
and set it to ignore the bass frequencies, so it would compress everything but the bass.

(Some people actually like the pumping-bass effect that you are trying to avoid)

Thank you for the suggestion. I have downloaded it. However, when I try to enable it, it says it’s enabled, but it isn’t. According to Audacity’s wiki, “64-bit VST effects are not supported on Windows or Mac even on 64-bit systems.” I have 64-bit Windows 10.

What other multi band compressors are there, or is that the only one? If there are none, what other possible options do I have?

If you want GMulti get the version for 32-bit VST hosts.


Gale

Thank you, that worked. I’m a bit new to this, can someone give me instructions how to raise the volume without touching the bass?

For example, “Set the threshold in Band 1 to…”

The quick way to boost bass using G-multi …

  1. Create an in-sync duplicate of your track by pressing “Ctrl”+“D”.
  2. Apply the G-multi setting shown below only to the duplicate track, it will then only contain exaggerated bass.
  3. Create a mix to taste of the original track and the bassy duplicate using each track’s gain sliders.

    Bass-only-G-Multi preset , (bass expander).png
    Bass-only-G-Multi.xml (1.52 KB)

Sorry to say, but that isn’t exactly what I was trying to get. I’m asking about raising the volume without affecting any part of the bass at all. Thank you for your effort though.

Bump.

I realized that from using Audacity’s “Bass and Treble” alone, it reduces the volume when bass comes in. What should I do to fix this? Thanks. I am only changing the bass; level is 0, treble is also 0

If you boost the bass, then raise the volume of everything but the bass, you’ll be back at square-one : it will then be the same as before you boosted the bass.

A real-time equalizer plugin may be of use for you to experiment with.
You can get one here … https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/version-2-1-1-0-doesnt-remember-equalization/39205/5

Which settings exactly do I mess around with? Sorry, I’m a bit new to this.

Move a slider and listen to hear it’s effect, (no need to press “Preview” like Audacity’s native equalizer).
If you don’t like what you hear, slide it back to where it was, or try some of the pre-sets …
Demo of Voxengo GEQ equalzer in Audacity 2-1-3.gif
The bass-frequencies are on the Left (<200Hz) the treble is on the right (>2kHz)

Bump. (I don’t know if I’m breaking the rules because it’s been a month, I apologize)

How can I create bass that vibrates my headphones, while sustaining the original volume of the song? The method I used involved boosting the bass by a high amount of decibels to create that vibrating bass feeling, which drowned out the other parts of the song.

Sorry to say, but that isn’t exactly what I was trying to get. I’m asking about raising the volume without affecting any part of the bass at all. Thank you for your effort though.

That’s not what you asked for before. Raising the volume without affecting the bass is easy… If you have headroom… Use the Amplify effect. But if file is already normalized (maximized), you can’t boost anything digitally without clipping or compressing, and those things change the quality/character of the sound. Of course, you can go louder in analog with a higher-power amplifier.

How can I create bass that vibrates my headphones, while sustaining the original volume of the song? The method I used involved boosting the bass by a high amount of decibels to create that vibrating bass feeling, which drowned out the other parts of the song.

Again, you need headroom. You can create headroom by lowering the overall volume (before or after boosting the bass, but always before exporting). Then of course, you can re-boost the volume on “the analog side” if your headphone amp has enough power/analog headroom.

EQ (or bass boost) can only boost what’s already there. If there are no bass notes, or no deep-bass notes you’re boosting “nothing”. You can look for a “sub-bass synthesizer” which generates new lower bass from the existing bass. And again, you’re going to need some headroom if you are going to boost anything. (I don’t have a plug-in, but I have a [u]hardware bass synthesizer[/u] on my subwoofers in my living room.)

The trick to boosting the volume or bass without headroom is (dynamic) compression. And, you may, or may-not, like what compression does to the sound.

I’m going to guess the following would make you happy -
1. Bass boost and maybe some additional synthesized bass. (You will have to reduce the overall digital-volume to make room for this boosted/added sound.)
2. Bass compression (or limiting) for constantly-loud bass, and maybe some overall compression/limiting.
3. A “louder” headphone amp and/or “louder” more-sensitive headphones, since you’re going to have to lower the overall digital volume to make room for the added bass .