"Synthesized bass" plugin

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

There was an article in AudioXPress some time ago about SoundEasy’s Synthesized Bass. SoundEasy is software normally used for designing loudspeakers and crossovers, but it is quite sophisticated and can do audio processing.

Here is a link to their webpage, I hope I’m not breaking any rules here as a first-time poster:
http://www.bodziosoftware.com.au/

Here is a link to the article on “Synthesized Bass” (there is a PDF in the ZIP file):
http://www.bodziosoftware.com.au/Synthesized_Bass.zip

So apparently his algorithm isn’t just an EQ, it is doing some “interpolation” (my word).

I’m wondering if anything like this has been done as a plugin or anything for Audacity? I’m using 2.0.5 at this time but will try any version (I’ll go backwards, for example).

My reason for wanting this is, I have a lot of classic rock tunes which were recorded back in the 70’s and 80’s and have anemic bass. I’ve build a fairly awesome little stereo system and have found newer recordings sound pretty awesome but some of that classic stuff just sounds awful. I’ve played with EQ a bit and have certainly made improvements, but wondered if maybe there was a better approach.

Again I’m pretty new to Audacity and I hope I’m not breaking rules by posting links and thanks in advance for any insight.

2

One way that you can achieve a similar effect is;

  1. Duplicate the track
  2. Convert the duplicate track to mono
  3. Use the Equalization effect to isolate the bottom octave of musical sound. You will want to remove sub-sonic noise (musically irrelevant rumble). For example, if the lowest musical sound goes down to 50Hz, then filter out frequencies that are below 50 Hz and filter out frequencies that are above 100 Hz.
  4. Use the “Sliding Time Scale / Pitch Shift” effect to change lower the pitch by 12 semitone. (this effect is better quality than the standard “Change Pitch” effect).
  5. Use the Equalization effect on the original stereo track to get it sounding nice and beefy.
  6. Mix in a little of the processed mono track to add a bit of really low stuff. Note, it is very easy to overdo this step and end up with a muddy mess. You are aiming to just add a bit of “depth” to the mix, not add a new instrument.
3

Thank you Steve, I gave it a shot and even with the little experience I have with Audacity, I was able to achieve some not-too-bad results because your instructions were so good.

I used Rush’s “The Spirit of Radio” and while exporting I adjusted the gain of the stereo track by -3db and the gain of the mono bass track I made by +3db, and it made a huge improvement. I then tried +6db and I think it was too much.

OTOH, I may have done a poor job setting up my mono bass track as I selected 40-80 Hz as my range and I think I’m going to try 60-120 and see how that goes.