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Author: Fredo on August 19 2007 Viewed 3419 times. 26 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
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Here's a cranky little blog for you all... written about the evil of sub bass.
I live next to a bar that hires two djs every night of the week to provide "entertainment" to a bunch of young folk getting drunk. Now, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with getting drunk, nor enjoying music of any kind really. But when you can feel that music as it pulses and penetrates through TWO BRICK WALLS there is something deeply wrong.
This morning I awoke at 5am. Not sure why, this has been my habit lately. Maybe I'm tense about stuff... it doesn't matter. What matters is that I found that I could feel the sub bass' annoying fat invisible finger pawing at my all over my face and body and I do not like it. I went out to see if the bar was still going... it's closed. So this sub bass monster is emminating from some other source, probably much more distant, because literally all I can perceive is the mmmw. mmmww. mwwwmmm. of the sub bass.
What is the use of sub bass anyway? In movie theaters it destroys ones experience of any nearby movies. Seriously, I saw Transformers, and even in that loud movie I was distracted by hearing some other action caper's sub bwwooom bwwoooommmmw bWWWWoMMMMMM from behind the walls of the auditorium.
Also, the amplification of sub bass in current movies and music seems completely unnatural and monstrously over-sized. Could it be compared to the jumbo-sized coke or Burger King's quadrouple-patty-with-cheese-and-bacon-and-fat monstrosities...? Yes, I actually think it could.
Maybe I am just a horrible control freak. I know I probably am. I seem to get myself into trouble with my very particular virgo traits... But I really think there should be a law about sub bass. It should not be allowed in residential areas. There should be one Sub Bass City per state surrounded by at least 50 miles all around of desert or some similar kind of lonely terrain. Perhaps it should be surrounded by nuclear plants and stinky oil refineries and such... And in each state a monorail takes you there, the long ride through the surrounding wasteland best taken at night where the dawning of the town's clownish, cotton-candy colored lights can create the most excitement. Then fools can gorge on this over-ripe, ridiculously unnatural, irritating and rude sound.
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08/19/07
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mrspreston
I thought you lived in the country...
08/19/07
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energygiant
it tickles their tummies
what time do you go to bed?
08/19/07
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Fredo
usually around 11 or 12. every so often I will fall asleep really early, like 9:30 pm. every so often I will fall asleep really late, like 2 or 3 am.
Yes, I moved to the country and I sleep much better there!
08/19/07
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energygiant
me too! on both counts...early to bed and surrounded by leaves
08/19/07
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energygiant
no woofers though 
08/19/07
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Fredo
no woofers = 
08/19/07
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Fredo
When I was mastering my album in a studio with woofers there was so much sub bass distortion that I blissfully never heard it was scary to me! But listening on my wooferless system at home always felt like such a balanced and colorful range. I ask you, what is the point of a woofer? I suppose without woofers there would be no brown note, but is music really supposed to give you the shits?
08/19/07
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subset
I think there is a time and place for everything, and I'm OK with the woof when appropriate (ie not at 5am).
It does extend the range of sounds, and adds a physicality that otherwise might not be there.
But there is definitely such a thing as too much! And Hollywood movies and the god-awful theatres they're played in show us what too much of too much is.
That 'supersizing everything to the MAX' mentality also irks me. I also get annoyed when bright lights are shone into my face, or when someone wears so much cologne/perfume that my eyes hurt. Everything in moderation, right?
Here's wishing you better sleeps...
08/19/07
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Jetsom
'prime, you fight for the weak and that's why you lose!'
heh. really cool effects but yeah, meh.
08/19/07
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bleen
subbass is great to tell you how much LF energy is killing the dynamics of the rest of your mix. i'm mixing with a sub all the time even though i don't really need one with my focals - lots of revealing info there.
that said, yeah, clubs/cars/cinemas all seem to love jacking the subs to stoopid levels. i like the pantflap as much as the next guy, but not at the expense of clarity throughout the rest of the mix. i saw a show the other night of a band i recorded and i wanted to be near the stage. unfortunately, all i could hear, or more accurately, feel, up there was the smothering bass from the subs. i moved to the middle of the club and things balanced out.
i'm sorry you're being bombarded by the bar next door (i'm also sorry for that bit of alliteration...); sounds like a good excuse to spend more time in the house in the country!
08/19/07
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RogerRoger
I think it's a guy thing. I can remember at age 17 going to clubs and wanting to sit in "the bass corner".
But I get just as irritated, albeit over a slightly longer amount of exposure than yourself. I find bass punch (very dynamic 70-100 hz bursts) with subtle sub-bass underneath far more interesting now. And, as you say, it must be clean to really work.
08/19/07
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Fredo
I'm a dude and I don't find sub bass so interesting. I hear you on the stereotypical thing of bass = balls, but if that's the case sub bass is satan's balls.
And, yes, I think a touch of sub bass does make the music seem more full. But what about JUST sub bass...? How interesting is just taps of sub bass? Because that's really all you get from crapass bars, cars and cinemahouses in the vicinity when they're blasting it.
Interesting challenge: RogerRoger, I challenge you to make a sub bass-only composition.
Bleen... I am considering purchasing the Focal Minis and Solos... do you think it makes sense to spend the extra cash and get the minis?
08/19/07
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bleen
what are the minis? i thought the solo 6's were the smallest ones they made, no?
08/19/07
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RogerRoger
Heh, I'm lucky if I get a melody and a snare drum in three weeks. I do have Mackie HR824's though, so who knows...
08/19/07
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hecanjog
fredo said: "Interesting challenge: RogerRoger, I challenge you to make a sub bass-only composition."
Nosei Sakata beat him to it.
link
There's actually a good number of sound artist type people who use tasteful and heavy low frequency to really effective ends. Ryoji Ikeda, Dion Workman, Richard Chartier, Alva Noto, and Bernhard Guenter are a few that spring to mind. Though most of those guys are working on the quiet side of things - sometimes at almost inaudible levels. So if they played a show next door I don't think you'd mind as much.
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