Bring out the bass

Low end does not increase by however much you lift it. Boosted bass raises the overall level, so the limiter at the end takes it back off — and the track can end up thinner than it started. That is why "+10 dB and it still has no weight" happens.

This keeps the low shelf at +3.5 dB and leans on saturation instead. Saturation adds harmonics above the fundamental, so phones and laptops — which cannot reproduce the fundamental at all — still read it as bass. On the speakers people actually use, that works better.

The finished level is −14 LUFS, what streaming services normalise to. Going louder only means the service turns it down again, and you keep the distortion you paid for it.

Extreme bass (+8 dB and beyond) is not something this tool will do. It distorts, or the limiter eats it and the result is worse. If you need a change that large, it belongs in the mix.

QHow is this different from turning the bass up in a player EQ?

A playback EQ only exists on the device doing the playing. Move the file elsewhere and it sounds exactly as it did; hand it to someone and none of it comes along. This writes a new file, so the change is in the audio itself. A playback EQ also puts every decibel you add straight onto the output level, which is why loud tracks distort when you boost them — here the boost goes through saturation and a limiter, and the result is levelled to −14 LUFS afterwards.

QIt does not sound any bassier on my phone.

A phone speaker cannot reproduce the fundamentals — roughly 40–80 Hz — at all, so lifting that region only adds energy it will never move air with. That is exactly why this setting leans on saturation, which builds harmonics above the fundamental. Hearing infers the missing fundamental from the pattern of harmonics above it, so bass that is not physically there still registers. To check the difference, compare on earphones or a speaker that actually reaches low.

QCan I run this on a separated bass stem?

Only if the stem is the end product. If you plan to mix it back with the other parts, do not: the chain ends in a limiter and a level match to −14 LUFS, and those belong to a finished track rather than to one part of one. Applying them per stem changes what the sum comes out at. Mix the stems untouched, then bring the mixed file here.