Recording - December 2017 - 47

Where it fits in

As I suggested earlier, this isn't something that is necessarily going to fit in a traditional
jazz or classic rock context. But it does excel in a couple of areas that are of significant
interest. It is heavy on rises and falls, so it is a natural fit for EDM styles as well as
cinematic, movie trailer-style presentation material. It also features some very strong
sequencing, so it can work in techno, industrial and electro contexts as well. In reality,
you could probably use Substance in any situation where you would say, "Yeah, an
electronic bass line would really work there..."
In fact, the sound design is so good that it initially affected the way I was mixing;
when I'd review a mix, I would find that I had pumped the bass a lot higher than
was typical for me. Perhaps the details of the sound were intriguing enough that
my attention was drawn to them-this can often happen to me with guitars-but
I'm not sure I have ever gotten quite this sucked in by a bass synth sound!

How I used it

I immediately found this library infecting my recordings. The bass instruments
were not only great-sounding, but seemed to provide a dominant thematic bass
line that was useful in a lot of music-especially instrumental tracks. I'm constantly
producing 'bumper' music, which features small musical segments that need to have
a dominant melodic theme. I'd never been able to feature the bass very much,
because it didn't seem to fit the focus of the work. But with the detailed-yet-big sound
of Substance, I found myself making many more thematic bumpers that featured the
bass as a primary instrument.
It also really worked for music-for-picture applications; the kinds of basses that are
predominant in Substance are awesome additions to any cinematic scoring environment, and the sounds simultaneously slot themselves into the mix while maintaining
enough personality to remain a signature part of the track. This is some prime time
sound design, and the result is super-useful in these kinds of production situations.
One of the things that really stuck out when working with this library was the attention
to detail-and the playability of the sounds. This was especially noticeable when I used a
pad controller (in my case, an Ableton Push 2); the sounds really lit up when played with
pads. I found myself responding to the great sound designs with the different velocities
and durations of my playing-and this drew me into more creative play. Simply lovely.

Conclusion

We live in bass-filled times. You need to have a serious low end to your tracks or
they are going to sound weak next to competing tracks. Substance inserts power
into the low end of your compositions, and its sound is just the ticket for lighting
up the dance floor, concert stage or cinematic soundtrack.
Its playability, fantastic presets and engaging user interface are also perfect for
creating great bass lines that match the sounds, and the result may just be what you
need to finish that massive electronic track-or just to put more meat on the bones of
an otherwise great production. If you need More Bass, then Substance might need
to be your first call!
Darwin Grosse (grosse@recordingmag.com) is a composer, recording and
mastering engineer, and software guru, living and working in the Minneapolis area.
Delivery: Download only, 10 GB uncompressed
Format: Windows 7+ and macOS 10.9+, loads in Native Instruments Kontakt or free Kontakt

Player (version 5.51+)
Copy Protection: Requires Kontakt, uses NI Service Center serial number
Licensing: Sounds can be used royalty-free in original music recordings; no resale or
repackaging in products for resale permitted
Documentation: inline contextual help, online Knowledge Base
Price: $199
More from: Output, www.output.com

RECORDING December 2017

http://www.output.com http://www.adkmic.com

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