Reply To: JADE & MINDSCAPE Q&A
jade_eatbrainThere is no rule how loud your sub _must_ be. Tunes differ a lot in that regard too. It’s also pretty hard to measure the sub alone, if you solo it the loudness will be entirely different from the loudness you have in the mix. The sub takes up the most space, and the rest of the mix heavily influences the eventual loudness of it in the mix.
Best you can do is use a reference tune or more, compare to them every now and then.
As far as it goes for gear – well that’s where things get crazy expensive. A decent speaker you can fully rely on sub wise starts at 2-3k.
Anything below that, you will need additional gear to check it. Headphones can be helpful, but the 100€ range is not really pro still.
There is a new invention, the sub pack. Either you wear it, or you put it on your chair, and it vibrates, gives you the sense of the sub that’s missing from your speakers.
But the best advice really, and not just for the sub, any time you have doubts – reference!!!
I always have 2-3 tunes actually loaded in Cubase, and every 10-15 minutes i solo them and listen for a few seconds. Then it doesn’t matter if your system isn’t perfect, you will have a base to return to, you will hear how it should sound, and you won’t get lost in your project, mix, system.
