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basslines

Hi.
I wonder how you make basslines?
Do you make bass and kick on the same channel or you use own channel(s)?
If you make both together, how can you use drummap in cubase if you want to have bass in the same channel? Is that possible?

Thanks for answers

Goldenscan (pro producer) posted this on the AudioPioneers.net forum.. it's basically all you need to know about basslines.. after this just experiment to get the sound you want..



Bass is usually made up of 2,3 or 4 parts.

Let's start from the bottom and work up.

All dance music has a very high presence of sub, usually generated by either sawtooth, square, or sinewaves. The notes are always spaced around the kik (never on it or spilling into it). Rhythmwise, it's all about screwing it into the bass parts that we will talk about in the next section. To get a good resonating sub experiment with the res in relation to the cut off, try working with the res about half way up and work the cutoff down until you start to hear good sub harmonics (your speakers should start to rattle (not too much though))

Next comes the part of the bass that drives the rhythm. When programing this mute the sub that you have fiddled with.
Program a basic sound that sounds punchy. Start with a sawtooth and put the filter env amount up to about half way and set up the filter envelope so that the decay drops relatively sharply. Set the sustain at about the same level as the Decay. Now drop the cutoff until the saw starts to sound choppy yet not too short. All of these setting require alot of anoraking so take your time.

Next you want to get a rhythm that works with your kik. This is up to you and depends on what sort of line you are trying to acheive. They usually fall into few categories; offbeat (spaced on the half note between kiks), opposing (sixteenth type rhythm playing between the octave on a particular note ( e.g space, d2, d3, d2, space, d2, d2, d3) and half time triplet (e.g space, space, space, d2, space, space, d2, space, space).

This is probably a good time to work on the sound. A basic way to do this is to flick through presets until you find something that has the sort of frequencies that you like and apply the previous filter principles to the sound. The best way is to programm the sound taht you want but I could never explain this in writing.
Once you have got something that's grooving with you kik it's time to start blending.

Your sub is occupying the low frequencies, if your rhythm bass has sub frequencies it will phase and sound shit so you need to kill all the eq up to and around the 200 hz area. Now listen to your top bass and sink into the groove, where are the most prevelant notes (the ones that are really dictating the groove, this should give you a good idea as to where to try placing the sub notes.

Remember all of this is trial and error, there is no magic formular to bass.

Now you need to start playing around with the rhythm of both parts until they start to sound good. Experiment with note lengths they are very important. Try muting and unmuting notes. Experiment with all the eq aswell as the shelf on your bass kill on the top sound.

I could go on forever but bass is real a black art. It's all about working many things at the same time; the cutoff on both sounds, the res, the filter env, the filter adsr, the eq and the rhythm etc etc.

A few tips once you have got something you are happy with

Try adding chorus to top bass sounds

Try adding 4/8 delay with very short feedback to teenthy style top bass.

Add tiny amounts of distortion bass to increase harmonics.

Use compression. Also try compressing the kik and bass together.

Don't be afraid to stack extra sounds to add other aspects.

These are the basics, I could go into side chaining compression and miriads of other stuff but these are all things that are part of the very long process that is bass.


Hope this helps you as well as others

Do you EQ away pretty much everything above 200-300Hz on your sub bass?

quote:

Originally posted by BetaFactory Do you EQ away pretty much everything above 200-300Hz on your sub bass?

I would go with 150+ actually

Great post!

Gunna try out some of these methods later.

Meeee too!

I've always sucked at basslines

Can someone please give me two presets just to demonstrate what the two layers might sound (and look) like? I have the following vsts :

FM7, Atmoshphere, Triangle I + II, Junglist, Albino and z3ta+

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Also, at what frequencies might I EQ the two? TY ;D

I'd like to see that too.

Cmon... somebeody... anybody, it will only take 5 secs ;(

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm Cmon... somebeody... anybody, it will only take 5 secs ;(

use 2 or 3 bass sounds and one sine wave at a low range

quote:

Originally posted by alanzo use 2 or 3 bass sounds and one sine wave at a low range

are these bass sounds equal or different?

quote:

Originally posted by nec are these bass sounds equal or different?

different sounds.. if you want I can post a more visual tutorial.. but I would basically just be doing what goldenscan wrote above..

quote:

Originally posted by alanzo different sounds.. if you want I can post a more visual tutorial.. but I would basically just be doing what goldenscan wrote above..

yes please, that would be really nice

quote:

Originally posted by nec yes please, that would be really nice

I'll write on up for cubase and take some screens and such. V-Station is a good VSTi for bass so I'm going to use that along with the included Cubase FX. I'll post it in here in a few days.

wouldn't it be easier to just take a screenshot of the synth and make a sample? a tutorial is overkill, people can figure such things out for themselves.

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm wouldn't it be easier to just take a screenshot of the synth and make a sample? a tutorial is overkill, people can figure such things out for themselves.

obviously "people" can't since you didn't seem to figure out Goldenscan's post..

it's a bit more complicated than just one synth.. it takes 3 or 4 different layers, each with their own sound, rythem, and FX

don't roll your eyes at me, I'm here to help and I don't appreciate sarcastic gestures

...

I didnt mean to offend or be sarcastic, i meant that if people just heard a small sample of the sound theyre aiming for, then most people would be able to do it.

I can't read this stuff and then make a sound just by being told to "put the doodad half way". I dont know enought to do that. I can however keep messing around until i get something similar to a sample

I appreciate your help, truly. I just thought it might save you a bit of time if you made some samples instead. But if u want to write a tutorial, by all means go ahead!

EDIT: Goldenscans post didnt have any pictures or samples in it, what are you talking about? And I'm aware that a bassline comprises of layers, i meant a sample for each layer and a screenshot of the synth used

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm I can't read this stuff and then make a sound just by being told to "put the doodad half way". I dont know enought to do that. I can however keep messing around until i get something similar to a sample

Ah Grasshoppa, but to have the sample AND to know where to put the doodad makes even easier.

here is the original link.

http://audiopioneers.net/forum/showthread.php?t=167

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm I appreciate your help, truly.

His name isn't Truly.

Hilarious.

ok.. i did a cubase project with V-station and the included cubase 2.2 FX.. I only layered 2 basslines but you would layer others about the same way..

if you wanted more audioble parts to the bassline.. u would EQ out the lower frequencies like bassline 2 is.. if u wanted more bass in it.. u would cut out the higher frequencies...

BASSEY

see if this helps u to understand a bit better..

Thanks

i cant seem to get v-station to work under cubase SX2, i mean it installs fine... but not sure where to put the serial?

quote:

Originally posted by Yella Fella i cant seem to get v-station to work under cubase SX2, i mean it installs fine... but not sure where to put the serial?

if it doesn't ask for the serial then dont worry about it..

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