Tags: posts polarity-music Bitwig Bitwig-5.2.3 Sound-Design Tutorial Drum-and-Bass

Make Textures with an EQ

Tutorial | Sep 01, 2024

In this video, I demonstrate two tips in Bitwig Studio. The first tip is about adding dirtiness to kick drums using either distortion, noise modulation, or using the EQ with a render modulator. The second tip is about creating a mono effect below a certain frequency using the mid-side split and a high pass filter.

You can watch the Video on Youtube

In this video, I share two tips for enhancing your kick drums in Bitwig Studio, plus a workaround for achieving a "bass mono" effect similar to what you find in Ableton's utility device.

Overview:

  1. Adding Texture to Kick Drums: I show you how to make clean kick drums sound more textured and alive by introducing noise and modulation using different methods in Bitwig Studio, including some custom presets and EQ tricks.
  2. Creating a Bass Mono Effect in Bitwig: I walk you through how to recreate the "bass mono" feature from Ableton by splitting the audio into mid/side channels and using EQ to strip out stereo information from the low frequencies.

Key Points:

Questions & Answers

Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:

Kick Drum: How can I add texture and dirtiness to a clean kick drum in Bitwig Studio?

One option is to add distortion, but this can introduce unwanted overtones. Another option is to mix in noise, such as using the "Fake Distortion" preset or the VST plugin "Crisp" which ring modulates noise with the audio signal. Additionally, you can use Bitwig Studio's EQ5 and add a render modulator to introduce noise and ring modulation to a specific frequency range of the kick drum.

Utility Effect: Can I make everything below a certain frequency mono in Bitwig Studio like in Ableton Live?

While Bitwig Studio's Tool device does not have an explicit bass mono option, you can achieve a similar effect using the mid/side processing feature. By using the mid/side split, you can apply a low cut on the side channel to remove stereo information below a chosen frequency, effectively making it mono. You can also utilize the FX Grid to create a custom preset that incorporates other functionalities of the Utility device.

Can I apply the texture and dirtiness technique to other sounds besides kick drums?

Yes, you can apply the texture and dirtiness technique to other sounds like snare drums, rim shots, and hi-hats. By doing so, you can create a gluing effect and add texture to these sounds as well. This avoids the need for additional devices like a glue compressor on the bus, making it a practical and efficient way to enhance the overall sound.

Can I create a custom preset for the bass mono functionality in Bitwig Studio?

Yes, you can create a custom preset to make everything below a certain frequency mono in Bitwig Studio. You can use the mid/side split and merge modules in the FX Grid, apply a high pass filter to the side channel below the desired frequency, and then merge the processed mid and side channels back together. You can also add other functionalities of the Utility device and save it as a preset for quick and easy use in your projects.

Transcription

This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.

[00:00:00] Hey folks, welcome back to another video and I want to share with you two tips
[00:00:05] today in Bitwig Studio and the first one is about kick drums. So here I have this
[00:00:09] drum racetrack in the background and it sounds like this.
[00:00:25] And of course I made this here with my bass generator I showed you in the last
[00:00:29] video. But here I have some kind of kick drum running, sounds like this.
[00:00:36] And the kick drum is a bit too clean so I want to add a bit of dirtiness to it. So
[00:00:44] there are multiple options I can choose here, I can add some distortion but then
[00:00:48] I introduce a lot of overtones or I can just mix in a bit of noise and I made a
[00:00:53] preset a few years ago called fake distortion. Sounds like this.
[00:01:00] So it's not distortion, it just ring modulates noise with the original audio signal.
[00:01:18] So this preset was inspired by I think by erosion of Ableton Live and I tried to do
[00:01:26] something a bit different, not exactly the same thing. And this one led to
[00:01:33] VST called crisp. It looks like this and it does exactly the same thing.
[00:01:41] So it brings in a bit of noise and ring modulates the noise with the audio signal.
[00:01:56] And you can download this here on KBR or on Github I think. You can see here the
[00:02:04] effect was inspired by a "Polarities Fake Distortion" video. So you can also download this
[00:02:09] as a VST if you want to. So these are two options or three options you have but
[00:02:15] there's also a fourth option and this is when you already have an EQ5 or any EQ of
[00:02:23] Bitwig Studio in place and that's mostly the case if you have a kick drum you
[00:02:27] probably have an EQ at a certain point in the chain. So here you can add for
[00:02:33] instance just a render modulator and the render modulator is kind of a noise
[00:02:39] source. So when we change this here to kilohertz we have audio rate modulation
[00:02:44] and we can also switch this here to bipolar mode. So we have positive values and negative values.
[00:02:50] And then we can use this and just modulate here a certain band. So let's say here
[00:02:56] band 2 right. So we modulate here the gain. You can see it's wiggling already. Sounds like this.
[00:03:06] Almost like a bit crusher.
[00:03:11] But we can also increase here the frequency.
[00:03:17] And then it sounds like noise. So the big benefit of this is that you don't need to add
[00:03:30] additional devices. You can just use the EQ and then you add the modulator to it and then you
[00:03:35] introduce a bit of noise and then you ring modulate or multiply basically here by modulating the gain.
[00:03:42] Another benefit is that you can choose the band or the frequency range where you want to apply this
[00:03:49] noise. So here we choose 2 which is in the range of 1k. But we can also instead of this we can
[00:03:56] modulate here this one right. So it sounds like this.
[00:03:59] So you can choose the frequency range which is interesting because you don't want to have
[00:04:19] sometimes not always noise over the whole spectrum and add it to it. Here you can just add it to a
[00:04:25] certain range which is kind of nice. We can change here the frequency of the noise which gives you a
[00:04:30] lot of options. Sounds also interesting by adding low frequency noise.
[00:04:46] And then you can change here of course the frequency.
[00:04:59] So instead of modulating the gain you can also modulate the frequency.
[00:05:12] But from that you need to add a bit of gain first so it makes sense. So you change something.
[00:05:18] So this effect is a bit more subtle but it brings them in a bit of you know it makes the sound a
[00:05:28] bit more alive a bit of more texture to the sound so it doesn't sound that clean anymore.
[00:05:43] So this is a way of doing it. We can also introduce a multiple of these random mods right
[00:06:02] and do it in multiple ranges here. Something like this and then we can use a follower envelope
[00:06:15] follower here. So instead of applying this all the time we use an envelope follower and then we
[00:06:20] modulate here the amount of these random mods. And then we can say we want to have a bit of attack
[00:06:29] here so the transients pass through and then you only add noise to the tail of the sound.
[00:06:45] In my opinion it's also a good idea to not only add this to just one sound. So here it's a kick
[00:06:58] drum. You can also add this to the snare or the rim shot or the hi-hats and so on. And then you
[00:07:04] have some kind of gluing effect so you don't need to add the glue compressor to the the bus or you
[00:07:10] don't need to compress that hard on the on the on the on the bus. So this is my opinion a good idea
[00:07:18] to do this because like I said you have already an EQ probably in place so you don't need to add
[00:07:23] additional devices to add some texture to the sound. So another problem was with the tool device.
[00:07:32] Someone asked me this here on my youtube channel. I don't know if you can help me but I try to
[00:07:39] explain what I'm wondering if you can do it in bitwig enabled when you pull up utility effect.
[00:07:45] It has the option where you can set the frequency and anything below it will stay mono. Okay it's
[00:07:51] weirdly worded but I know what he means. It's basically about the utility here inside of
[00:07:59] abled live. So we have here this bass mono knob and then everything below 120 hertz here then is
[00:08:06] mono instead of stereo. So it's nice for you know bass sounds and so on. So we don't have this feature
[00:08:16] inside of the tool device here in bitwig right there's only volume gain and width and pan and
[00:08:22] you can swap the channels and that's basically it. So a good idea would be to use to make everything
[00:08:32] below so the frequency mono is my opinion just use the mid side split looks like this. So we have
[00:08:38] the mid channel here and the side channel and then you put inside of the side box here you use an
[00:08:45] EQ5 and then use a low cut and cut everything away right. So everything in here is basically mono
[00:08:53] because you let it pass here in the mid channel and the side channel you remove every stereo
[00:08:59] information you adjust with the low cut. So this is something you can do if you want to make a
[00:09:04] preset out of this then you can utilize here the FX grid. Inside of the FX grid we can use a split
[00:09:14] and a merge split and merge. So we split the channel and then we merge it back together. So
[00:09:22] instead of connecting left and right we connect mid and side and we use a high pass on the side
[00:09:31] channel. It's the same idea basically and then you end dial in here 120 hertz and everything
[00:09:38] then below 120 hertz is mono. Yeah you can save it as a preset maybe do some macros here. You can
[00:09:47] also add all the other functionalities of the utility device gain, balance, mute. I think
[00:09:56] DC is also just a low low cut if I'm not wrong. So yeah you can make a preset out of this maybe I
[00:10:04] do a preset for this I don't know if it's needed but you can quickly do it yourself usually.
[00:10:10] So that's it for this video I think. Thanks for watching leave a like leave a subscription
[00:10:16] ask me questions in the comments down below. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video. Bye.
[00:10:22] [Music]