I’m always wondering this so thought I’d ask. I mainly make house, purely on the DT. I normally have a bass, and another track handling sub-bass (i.e. LPF, low cut-off, not very tonal.) This tends to just stab, every crotchet, either on the beat or syncopated between the beat.
Is this a mainstay, or is a sub-bass not always necessary in your experience? Sometimes I find the main bass alone, particularly if it’s a jumpy bass (common in house), doesn’t give the track enough bottom end, hence.
I don’t know a rule.
If there’s room in the mix for very low bottom end, it’s nice to have if it makes sense in a musical way. Depending on your typical audience it might also just eat up bandwidth (crappy speakers vs decent club). If the kick is somewhere in the 40Hz range you won’t need it. Many older productions surprisingly don’t go very low and focus on transparency, frequency separation and playability on a variety of systems instead.
Final wisdom: If you think/feel your tracks need it, they need it.
i have never done that so it certainly isnt necessary! i feel like the samples i use for basses tend to have enough low end by themselves
I guess it’s not a “no” or “yes” to this question.
Do you need to reinforce the track, do you need sort of humming bass in the very low, do you need a Reese bass, do you need a proper layering with a clean fundamental sub + a layering timbre of a bass that could eventually get a bit into the stereo field… DO you have Low Tom in your track… Do you use a 808 kick or a 909 or even an acoustic one… it’s all about purpose and sound selection to make your track working… and also the destination the track is heard mostly or dance, if people dance then low frequencies we feel can seriously enhance the groove and the emotions 
also sub bass will “probably” need extra-processing that you can’t really make on the DT itself (traditional sidechain to me kill the groove) so it will probably be processed after wise (same for proper layering) - also the key of the track can influenced that… (a spectrum analyser is your friend to see how things goes in the low end register)
Don’t forget phase correlation analyser too.
Add : also the length of the kick drum is very important. (usually they are too long in length and making shorter also remove some bass content, so better to have a drum machine hw or soft to access to the synthesis in some way)
I find myself using a sub bass more on ambient/soundscapish stuff, because on more rhythm driven tracks it tends to eat in kickdrum region. Workaround is to use a more transient focused kick, with a very short decay, and/or make space for both via sidechain
If you can spare a track just for sub bass go for it.
If you have a bass track thats low-mids which also gives your track the desired low-end, you can preserve a track for something else.
For me it’s mostly been economics, but a more “mixed down” sound of course (almost) requires dedicated tracks.
Already all good answers, nothing to add except that i try using is as often as i can because i love that low end rumble.
Single cycle waveforms are good solution for sub on digitakt
But to say i have subwoofer at home and good headphones to do checks.
In some production stages i would run in trough daw and i always have Span or Tdr Prism to see where is my low end.
If you don’t have gear that goes that low and can’t hear it, you will create more problems then make it sit good in a song.
Depends on if you need it sharp and noticeable.
If I want more subtle, less… electro staccato 808 thump, I can just add it at a later stage of production.
Not sure it’s exactly the same thing, but I often like to have a clickier kick and a stubbier kick and the bass interacting with each other. Usually not a sub but something with just a little bit of transient. Takes a bit of care to find space for each in time and in frequency range. And depends on your taste as well, but it seems to me like it’s a pretty common thing.
One thing that’s worth considering is that a sub bass like that translates to a lot of energy coming through the speakers, so using it for emphasis or bringing it in and out and/or varying it might make it more impactful than just a constant pulse.
Of course not. Rules only exists in theory
Thanks all, some really interesting points here that I’ve learned.
Someone mentioned that older productions tend to be quite spartan in the lower end, optiong instead for a more transparent mix that works across a range of devices. I had noticed this, but didn’t really have the language to articulate it, but it’s interesting listening to some of those seminal 90s house/rave tracks that seem to be really situated in the treble more than the bass range. Yet they work.
As for spectrum analyser, that’s a bit in the future for me. I’m still operating entirely on a DT, no DAW, no idea how to use any of that stuff, or plugins, yet. But it’s definitely in my short-term plans to start learning it.
I do find kicks particularly hard to nail, whether it should be a heavy/bassy kick, or a lighter one. Lighter, and my track seems to lack bottom end. Heavy, and it can get to feel a little obnoxious. I’m sure things like this are part of a normal learning curve, though.
…if u can “afford” spending an xtra track, dedicated to lowest octave only, then hell yeah…
but u gotto keep in mind all the trickyness involved, when it comes to well translated lowest octaves…
it’s the hardest to judge and to achieve sucessfully…but nothing beats the felling if u nail it to be enjoyed on any bigger soundsystem…
personally, i’d never tried this with hw only…
usually, this a clear daw mission to do…
but the basic rules remain the same…even the slightest too long envelope can ruin it all…even one db too much or too less can ruin it all…dead end center MONO is a must…
oh, and the trickiest of them all…kik, bassline and sub better swing as one, since all phase can work FOR u, or AGAINST u down there…to either make ur lowest octave shake the room or just killing each other while vanishing hopelessly in all their own mud…
Yeah, it’ll lack power/dynamics to have it just constantly woofing out.
LCD soundsystem live didn’t overdo the sub bass, one song (not even the finale) had an amazing kick to my guts but only one effect for one song.
I mean the gear and recording technology often was very mid-centric which is not the entirety of the decisions but people used what they had which often was cassette. The technology of the time can’t be fully isolated from the lack of crisp, present sub bass.
It is not. how you approach the lowend depends on the circumstances.
when the kick is boomy and long, there is no space for sustained sine in the range below 60 Hz. when your kick is like 100 ms short and tight, you can fill the gaps in between with layers of different basses.
when there is a rolling 16th bassline that is not filtered down a lot, Id probably go for a dedicated sub bass layer because Its nicer to process that way. when there is rumble, just put enough (tamed) low frequencies in there and youre fine.
I hope that makes clear what I mean by circumstances 
If I had to give you a rule of thumb: go for a dedicated sub bass if
a) it probably helps you with a cleaner mix
b) you think there is a lack of it
Its your music! you like the way it sounds? perfect. nothing in music is mandatory.
maybe having fun is.
You can also sort this in the mixing phase in a DAW with a plugin that can add sub to your chosen track, instead of adding an instrument just for sub. I use Refuse LowEnder, can recommend!
I would go so far as to say if it’s “always necessary” someone’s music is probably formulaic and not dynamically interesting track to track.
you might be completely right!
to be honest I personally stopped judging music.
mostly because every piece of music – that is not just blatant copypasta – comes from deep within the person that made it. thats a beautiful thing, so I accept it just the way it is. (not that I suggest you do otherwise!)
I dont have to like it, but I certainly wont say something bad about the piece of art itself
@mitya33
just because im also making something, my “current state” lowbus:
I wouldnt and will not put a sub bass layer there, even if I could. it would just crowd up the lowend but disappear in the mix.
How many gigs on big sound systems have you done?
How many records have you made?
If you can answer either of those two questions, you should be able to answer ‘do my tracks need a sub bass?’ Yourself.
There is no rule. It just depends on the music.
Personally I don’t bother adding subs to my tracks (anymore). Mostly because it’s not relevant to the music, and also, when heard on a big system, the bigger speakers make sure it all punches and rumbles and sizzles in the right places
