An Alternative Way to Vitalize Your Bass

Basslines are a vital element of any decent-sounding song. Without them, music would not be the same. It doesn't matter if we are speaking about rock, pop, or electronic music - the bassline is one of the pillars of music. We can't stress enough how beneficial it is to mix bass properly with the other elements of the mix. Today, with some great tools at our disposal, this task has become more accessible.

Since there are many different approaches and tools for processing the bassline, we have decided to show you one that's relatively new and interesting. As usual, we'll start by opening the SoundBridge: DAW. In the current project, there is a previously prepared sequence that contains all the main elements of a full mix, including the bass guitar, which will be the focus of our attention.

Let us hear how it sounds:

~Full Mix - Unprocessed

Vitalize Your Bassline

As you can hear, the entire mix sounds pretty good, but the bassline lacks some clarity and character. In other words, it seems a bit muddy. While there are other options to get this bassline to sound more agile and precise, for the sake of this tutorial, we have decided to use a specific plugin that we feel can perform excellent results. The name of this plugin is Knorr Bass Vitalizer by Klevgrand. Let's start by loading a fresh instance into the bassline channel.

The Interface

As you can see from the picture above, the interface of this plugin does not seem promising. However, the capabilities of this plugin are proving this very wrong. Knorr is a plugin that adds intensity and edge to a monophonic low-frequency audio source (like a bass sound). The algorithm adds overtones to an existing sound in a way that isn't possible with ordinary distortion or filtering. The underlying algorithm uses a combination of filtering, amplitude- and frequency modulation to process incoming audio. Knorr was developed with bass sounds in mind but can be used on any monophonic sound source as long as audio content is available in the low mids (and below).

There are only three simple controls within the Knorr Bass Vitalizer. There is an X/Y Pad, which you can drag around to find a sweet spot for your instrument. Next, three modes are offered, ranging from soft to medium and ending to hard, which you can use. Finally, there is an Output dialing knob in the lower right corner of the interface.

Audio Examples

After a brief introduction to the Knorr and its interface, we think it is time for some practical examples. Let us first hear the unprocessed bassline and then process it with Knorr. Ultimately, we will listen to it in context with other elements in the mix, again first untreated and then treated with Knorr.

~Bassline - Unprocessed

~Bassline - Processed with Knorr

~Full Mix - Unprocessed

~Full Mix - Bassline Processed with Knorr