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Bass Sound Design

lol, I feel stupid starting a bassline thread here at this very moment. Anyway, moving on...

I've come to the realisation that apart from EQ, my other major weakness is bassline synthesis. Not the notes, but the actual sound.

Whenever I make a track, I always get asked when I will replace the bassline or when I'm going to fix it up. Obviously I need to work alot harder on making it fit.

I've soloed the bassline on my newest track so you guys can critique it. I've added some EQ to it and was just trying to make it fit in well with the rest of the track.

Obviously it's a bit hard to tell whether it fits or not without hearing the rest, but I'm looking for is feedback on what really stands out, preferably what's bad. I'm still getting used to my monitors but I feel like the low end may be a bit too boomy (if you know what I mean), and it also might be a bit too harsh.

Is it too central and not spread enough?

All feedback is welcome, and any tips on how to begin crafting a good sound for a bassline.

Don't worry about the notes so much, just the sound of it all

Cheers

Link here: http://www.trancetribe.com/production/Bassline Test.mp3

quote:

Is it too central and not spread enough?

id say the oposite

What SYNTH are you using? A decent bassline is not hard to make at all, a professional sounding one usually takes some extra finagling.

But yeh what synth.. thats kinda important buddy =]

It's two Polysix, using the Legacy Cell.

quote:

Originally posted by Fledz It's two Polysix, using the Legacy Cell.

Ok thats a decent synth from what I hear but I've never worked with them before. I personally prefer synths like z3ta, pro53 and sytrus for bass.

All I can tell from what you posted is it doesnt seem like your making the most out of your oscillators/sound waves. I also prefer a nice little delay but your looking for how to make actual bass and I really am not sure what your working with and what its capabilities are.

What I can recommend the most is:

1) Get a POWERFUL softsynth
2) Treat that synth like you would a women, get to know it inside and out, know how EVERY thing works together and how everything responds to what you do to it. For me, my favorite part about tweaking ANY sound is starting with a basic wave and slowly tweaking and reshaping the wave untill I have a CRAZY ass sound. Than what I do next I call simple "frequency layering" Every osc correlates to a specific frquency range in the sound I make. And I always start low and work my way up. The last osc is the one that will have the highest frequencies and will ultimately give the sound its over all character.

I can really go for ever about bass synthesizing. And Im not sure what your synth can do but I just know its not prefered among most producers I know or speak too. Maybe you should try a different synt?
I stick to the 3 I mentioned before but lately I've been getting INSANE bass sounds out of sytrus. So those are just a few things you can think about.. g/luck!!

Rox

I'll see what I can do with it, and also will try z3ta and Albino since I use them too

Any patches from z3ta that you want to post up? Would love to see a non standard patch.

Yeh I have about 22,000.(not just bass lol)

I'm new here though so whats the deal with commercial patches? Is that a no no or should I just post the noncommercial ones?

Commercial no (unless they are free)

Your own, allowed

quote:

Originally posted by Fledz Commercial no (unless they are free) Your own, allowed

Ok sinc Im just too lazy and tired to do it now Ill get them up tommorow when I get done with classes. So check back tommorow afternoon, I also have tons of presets for Albino too and a decent amount for Vanguard. So let me know if you want those too while Im at it.

Ok, I've lowered the spread to counter it being too wide. It's now more central.

The reverb has been removed but a slight delay is there. It does indeed give it a similar but much more appealing effect.

There's more attack on it now and it's easier to hear.

I've added a sub-bass to it which is hard to spot now, but it's noticeable if I mute it.

Ok, so that step is done. Next step?

http://www.trancetribe.com/producti...line Test 2.mp3

solo the kick and bass together, think of them as one instrument.

quote:

Originally posted by mysticalninja solo the kick and bass together, think of them as one instrument.

Does that make it easier to mould the bass as you can sort of see where it fits in?

Not a bad tip, I'll try that

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox extra finagling.

I really need to learn how to do this.

For one, I think it would help if you make sure you just use one synth for the bassline (not sure if you said you're using 2 at a time)

You want to make sure if you are using more than one oscillator that they are "synced" there should be a sync button on the synth.

Try not to use flanging or phasing type fx on the bass. From what it sounds like, the oscillators do not reset on each note on. Use a synth that the oscillators reset on each note on & make sure that you sync the oscillators together, or that they at least done sound like they are phasing. Each note of the same note and length should sound pretty much the same.

To make a consistent bassline your oscillators should reset on each note on (when each midi note hits)

Try on albino. Use a saw wave on one oscillator and a triangle on the other. The triangle will give you the sub bass, the saw will give you that trance bass sound. You may have to bring the triangle down one octave from the saw.

Now make sure to use a 24db LP filter on it. The next important part is that you use your filter envelope well. Make sure the attack is all the way down, the sustain should be almost all the way down, release almost all the way down. The decay, filter freq, and envelope amount, these are what will give you the shape of the sound from here.

Try making it a short decay maybe less than 1/2 of the whole knob. Turn the envelope amount up about maybe 1/2 way, the they filter should be up about a quarter of the way. Just play with different settings of these. Try different octaves, see how it sounds one octave higher and one octave lower...

Then use eq to bring up the low end just a bit, and use compression to help give it a little more snap and keep it under control...

Hope that helps some

Cheers,
~Airyck~

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