Sub bass is a music production term typically used to refer to frequencies in the range 20-80Hz - the lowest limit of human hearing. Although many acoustic and electric instruments generate frequencies in this region, sub bass only really became a usable sonic tool in its own right in the 80s, when the booming kicks of the Roland TR-808 and single-cycle test tones of various Akai samplers became available to dance producers. This resulted in records like LFO’s
LFO
(bit.ly/1ooH3oo) and JJ Fad’s
Supersonic
(bit.ly/1sJhyOg).
Subsequently, early DnB tracks like Urban Shakedown’s Some Justice(bit.ly/2Vs7Giv) and Kromozone’s The Rush(bit.ly/2Vqin5e) began to put sub bass gymnastics centre stage, and by the time dubstep rolled around in the early noughties, huge subs were de rigueur. Nowadays, even pop music has to rock the bottom end, so understanding how to get the most out of the sub-80Hz range is an absolute essential for any producer of music.