How Loud Should Sub Bass Be? A Tech House & Techno SPAN Guide

You made a bassline that sounds huge in the studio. Then you compare it to a released track and something feels off. Maybe your sub disappears. Maybe it swallows the kick. Maybe the master starts distorting the second you try to get it loud.

Here’s a check I keep coming back to: pull up Voxengo SPAN and look at where the low end of a mastered reference sits. In a lot of bass-heavy records, you’ll see the main sub energy land around -30 on SPAN’s spectrum display. It’s useful. But if you turn that into “every sub must hit -30 dB,” you’ll probably make your mix worse.

So how loud should sub bass be? Let me show you what the number can tell you, what it can’t, and how to make your kick and bass work together.

Toxic by Chris Lake and Ragie Ban Reference

How loud should sub bass be?

It’s the reading under the cursor at the sub peak on SPAN’s spectrum, with a mastered or similarly loud reference playing. It is not your channel fader, kick peak, master peak, LUFS target, or an instruction to set your sub to -30 dBFS.

The view matters. SPAN’s default spectrum slope is 4.5 dB per octave. Change the slope, averaging, or playback level and the picture changes. Compare tracks using the same SPAN settings and a similar listening level. The number is a reference point, not a law of physics.

Here’s the exact SPAN setup behind this screenshot: RT AVG, HANN window, 2048 block size, 50.0 overlap, Avg Time 2006, and a 4.50 slope. Match those settings when comparing tracks. If you turn the reference down, the displayed -30.1 dB moves too.

Why do so many references land near -30 dB?

When I reference bass-heavy music, a lot of good masters end up in a similar ballpark because the low end has to do two jobs: give the track power without eating all the headroom. Too little sub and the track can feel small on a proper system. Too much and the kick/bass combination can push a limiter into ugly distortion before the rest of the track feels loud. An absurd amount of low end can also make everything i your track feel hollow and in the back.

I’ve taught this rough SPAN ballpark in my videos for years because it’s a fast reality check, not a number that overrides the song. The sub frequency itself also depends on the bass note, key, genre, and who owns the deepest part of the mix. Drum and bass, hip-hop, house, and techno do not all arrange their kick and bass the same way.

So the question isn’t, “Did I hit the magic number?” The question is, “Does my low end behave like the records I’m actually trying to sound like?”

Do the reference check

1. Pick two or three references that fit your track. Use songs with a similar groove and low-end role. A techno track with a long, subby kick is a poor blueprint for a D&B tune where the bass carries most of the sub.

2. Put SPAN on the output you’re checking. Start with its default 4.5 dB/octave slope. Keep every setting the same for your track and the references. Play a representative section, not a breakdown with no bass.

3. Match perceived loudness before comparing. Your mastered references are probably louder than your work-in-progress. Turn the references down to match your mix, or temporarily bring your mix up for a test. If you change playback level, don’t treat the -30 reading as a fixed target; compare your sub directly with the adjusted references instead.

4. Hover over the low-frequency peak. Note the frequency and SPAN reading for each reference. Is your low end in the same neighborhood? Is it steady across bass notes, or does one note jump out? Use your ears and speakers or headphones that can actually reproduce the lows to confirm what the display suggests.

Now make the kick and bass cooperate

Solo your kick, then your bass, then play them together. Which one is providing the deepest weight? How long does the kick tail hang around? Does it overlap the bass note every time it hits?

If the kick and bass are fighting, I’d check the sounds first. Try a shorter kick. Try a bass patch with a steadier sub. Move the kick or bass level a little. Sometimes that fixes more than another five plugins. If the sounds are right but still collide, a small, targeted duck on the bass when the kick hits may help. Check phase and polarity in context as well; a big-looking waveform is no guarantee that the combination hits hard. Sidechain properly, try using Compactor for Ring Mod Sidechain or normal compression sidechain, or better yet Kickstart 2.

And remember: SPAN shows the combined result on the master. A reading around -30 does not tell you whether the kick or bass is carrying it, whether one note is too loud, or whether the low end survives mono. You still have to listen to those parts separately and together.

What if yours is above or below -30?

If your sub reads higher than comparable references and the mix feels bloated, pull it down a little and listen to the kick again. Shorten a tail or tame an uneven note if that’s the real problem. If it reads lower and the track feels weak on a full-range system, check that the bass actually has the low fundamental you need before boosting. You can’t EQ a missing sub into a patch that never made one.

If the meter looks close but your bass vanishes on a laptop or phone, that’s a different issue: it may need audible upper harmonics, not more sub. If it hits hard in stereo but weakens in mono, check the width and phase of the low-frequency layers.

That’s the move: reference the number, then solve the sound. SPAN can tell you where to look. Your kick, bass, and the actual groove tell you what to change.

Try this on your next track: compare three references, write down their sub peak, then change only one thing about your kick/bass relationship. A/B it at matched level. Did the drop actually get better? That answer matters more than landing exactly on -30.

Make your Serum 2 bass fit the kick

A preset is a starting point. In tech house and techno, listen to the patch’s sub by itself, then with the kick. Check the amp envelope and note length: if the low note keeps ringing under the next kick, shorten its tail or shape a small, timed duck. Decide whether the kick or bass owns the deepest weight before reaching for EQ.

Turning up the whole preset to chase a SPAN number won’t fix the relationship. Want to hear the method in action? Read my rolling techno bassline walkthrough.

Need sounds to start with? Explore my Serum 2 presets for tech house and techno. Choose a bass you like, then shape its tail and level around the kick. That’s where the groove comes from.

I build these sounds to get you making music faster. Hardwell says he used my Paradox pack on “Pac Man,” and James Hype says he’s used my soundbanks for years. See what artists say about EvoSounds.