Waves Renaissance Bass Alternative
Argenta Sugden
This article will help you find a bass enhancer VST, as well as better understand how they work. Likewise, if you are looking for an alternative to the already popular Maxxbass, you will find options as well.
Maxxbass is made by Waves. The concept behind how it works is really clever and makes use of psychoacoustics. In short, it makes use of upper harmonics to psychologically alter the listeners perception of bass. It makes it sound as if there is more low end on smaller speakers such as headphones.
"LF Max Punch provides a low-frequency effect specially designed for serious contemporary music producers." Voxengo's web site states that LF Max Punch is a Sub-harmonic synthesizer which indicates to me that it adds low end rather psychoacoustically in a different manner than the method mentioned above. It is a bass saturator and harmonic enhancer. It works by splitting the upper and lower frequencies of the signal and applying effects to the lower frequency band only. The site provides audio examples.
Refuse's Lowender seems to be similar bass enhancer VST as Voxengo's LF Max Punch. I like that they apply a gate, "The generated subharmonics pass through a gate tailored for low frequencies, which is useful for cleaning up unwanted bass rumble (e.g. from between kick drum hits in a drum loop)." They have a great faq which answers, "Does the Lowender do the same thing as Waves' RBass or MaxxBass plug-ins?" Even though they are both bass enhancer VSTs, they actually do opposite things. They go on to state, "To clarify one small point about Lowender, it is actually capable of generating some higher frequencies, through use of the Drive control." The explanation is great, and I recommend reading.
Another, psychoacoustic bass enhancer VST that seems to be targeted towards the same niche as Voxengo's LF Max Punch. It works by creating the low, subharmonic frequency. And, at 15Euros 20USD, it wont break the bank!
"Bass Landscapes VST is a bass boost plugin that creates new harmonics." It's free. It works using psychoacoustics. It has a knob for sub harmonics, and one for mid harmonics. BUT... it's a win 32bit VST only.
I'm unaware of a Bass Enhancer VST that works the same way as, "Maxxbass," by creating upper harmonics. I've heard they patented the technology, but that's just hearsay, as I don't know for sure.
R.E.M. were an American alternative rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternative rock bands, R.E.M. was noted for Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style; Stipe's distinctive vocal quality, unique stage presence, and obscure lyrics; Mills's melodic bass lines and backing vocals; and Berry's tight, economical drumming style. In the early 1990s, other alternative rock acts such as Nirvana, Pixies and Pavement viewed R.E.M. as a pioneer of the genre. After Berry left in 1997, the band continued with mixed critical and commercial success. The band broke up amicably in 2011, having sold more than 90 million albums worldwide and becoming one of the world's best-selling music acts.
The band released their first single, "Radio Free Europe", in 1981 on the independent record label Hib-Tone. It was followed by the Chronic Town EP in 1982, their first release on I.R.S. Records. Over the course of the decade, R.E.M. released acclaimed albums including Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Lifes Rich Pageant, Document and Green. During their most successful period, they worked with the producer Scott Litt. With constant touring, and the support of college radio following years of underground success, R.E.M. achieved a mainstream hit with the 1987 single "The One I Love". They signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing arenas worldwide.
R.E.M.'s most commercially successful albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), put them in the vanguard of alternative rock as it was becoming mainstream. Out of Time received seven nominations at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards, and the lead single, "Losing My Religion", was R.E.M.'s highest-charting and best-selling hit. Monster (1994) continued its run of success. The band began its first tour in six years to support the album; the tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by three of the band members. In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract ever. The tour was productive and the band recorded the following album mostly during soundchecks. The resulting record, New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996), is hailed as the band's last great album and the members' favorite, growing in cult status over the years. Berry left the band the following year, and Stipe, Buck, and Mills continued as a musical trio, supplemented by studio and live musicians, such as multi-instrumentalists Scott McCaughey and Ken Stringfellow and drummers Joey Waronker and Bill Rieflin. They also parted ways with their longtime manager Jefferson Holt, and the band's attorney Bertis Downs assumed managerial duties. Seeking to also renovate their sound, the band stopped working with Scott Litt, co-producer and contributor to six of their studio albums, and hired Pat McCarthy as co-producer, who had participated before that as mixer and engineer on their last two albums.
Following the success of Lifes Rich Pageant, I.R.S. issued Dead Letter Office, a compilation of tracks recorded by the band during their album sessions, many of which had either been issued as B-sides or left unreleased altogether. Shortly thereafter, I.R.S. compiled R.E.M.'s music video catalog (except "Wolves, Lower") as the band's first video release, Succumbs.
R.E.M. released Around the Sun in 2004. During production of the album in 2002, Stipe said, "[The album] sounds like it's taking off from the last couple of records into unchartered R.E.M. territory. Kind of primitive and howling".[48] After the album's release, Mills said, "I think, honestly, it turned out a little slower than we intended for it to, just in terms of the overall speed of songs."[49] Around the Sun received a mixed critical reception, and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard charts.[50] The first single from the album, "Leaving New York", was a Top 5 hit in the UK.[51] For the record and subsequent tour, the band hired a new full-time touring drummer, Bill Rieflin, who had previously been a member of several industrial music acts such as Ministry and Pigface, and remained in that role for the duration of the band's active years.[52] The video album Perfect Square was released that same year.
Work on the group's fourteenth album commenced in early 2007. The band recorded with producer Jacknife Lee in Vancouver and Dublin, where it played five nights in the Olympia Theatre between June 30 and July 5 as part of a "working rehearsal".[58] R.E.M. Live, the band's first live album (featuring songs from a 2005 Dublin show), was released in October 2007.[59] The group followed this with the 2009 live album Live at The Olympia, which features performances from its 2007 residency. R.E.M. released Accelerate in early 2008. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard charts,[60] and became the band's eighth album to top the British album charts.[61] Rolling Stone reviewer David Fricke considered Accelerate an improvement over the band's previous post-Berry albums, calling it "one of the best records R.E.M. have ever made".[62]
In 2024, during their first interview as a foursome in 27 years, the band was asked what it would take for them to re-form. "A comet," replied Mills. "Superglue," added Berry. When asked why it would not happen, Buck stated, "It would never be as good."[72]
In March 2016, R.E.M. signed a publishing administration deal with Universal Music Publishing Group.[76] In March 2017, R.E.M. left Broadcast Music, Inc., who had represented their performance rights for their entire career, and joined SESAC.[77] The first release under SESAC was the 2018 box set R.E.M. at the BBC, followed in 2019 by Live at the Borderline 1991 for Record Store Day. On March 24, 2020, Rieflin died of cancer.[78]
In September 2021, a decade after disbanding, Stipe reiterated that R.E.M. had no intention of regrouping: "We decided when we split up that that would just be really tacky and probably money-grabbing, which might be the impetus for a lot of bands to get back together."[79] In 2023, R.E.M. was nominated for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame[80] and were inducted in June 2024.[81] To mark this occasion, on 13 June 2024, all four founding members reunited for their first public live performance since 2007 and performed an acoustic rendition of "Losing My Religion" in New York City.[82][83]
R.E.M. was pivotal in the creation and development of the alternative rock genre. AllMusic stated, "R.E.M. mark the point when post-punk turned into alternative rock."[13] In the early 1980s, the musical style of R.E.M. stood in contrast to the post-punk and new wave genres that had preceded it. Music journalist Simon Reynolds noted that the post-punk movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s "had taken whole swaths of music off the menu", particularly that of the 1960s, and that "After postpunk's demystification and New Pop's schematics, it felt liberating to listen to music rooted in mystical awe and blissed-out surrender." Reynolds declared R.E.M., a band that recalled the music of the 1960s with its "plangent guitar chimes and folk-styled vocals" and who "wistfully and abstractly conjured visions and new frontiers for America", one of "the two most important alt-rock bands of the day."[97] With the release of Murmur, R.E.M. had the most impact musically and commercially of the developing alternative genre's early groups, leaving in its wake a number of jangle pop followers.[98]
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