Layering the bass (low, mid, high) is very common yes.

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Hello there.

Yeah, I often have 3 or even 4 layers of bass.

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When you guys have multiple bass lines are they just doubling the part of a single bass but being played by different synths or at different pitches? Or are there actually 3 different bass parts doing different things?

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i mostly use atleast 3 basses... and 3 different one's with different sounds and notes and all that

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Daniel

I have 18 - 25 basslines in each of my tracks. Who can beat this ?

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Usually I have two bass parts, the main one being layered with two parts playing the same notes..

Two basslines. One rolling and one offbeat.

i dont get it.

i normally use just 1 bass. and it seems thick enough. i rarely layer basses since most of my basslines are bordering on sub kind of frequency. i like the purity of bass. just generate a low frequency sine wave and it has this warmth and smoothness to it and the more layers you pile on top of it the more it just gets in the way of that purity. ill layer leads and pads and stuff. but as a general rule ill try to get it right with one instrument per part. its sometimes a necessity to make that instrument just pop out a bit but the better i get at producing, the less i find i need to layer. the more layers you pile on the more conscious you have to be of what physical space they are occupying in the mix. things get muddy really quickly and i never really kept tabs on what i was doing.

keep it simple. get it right.

one bassline does the trick... or maybe 2... using 3 or 4 i think Reason user mostly do.. anyways.. i think mutiple basslines are kinda the reason trance has been way too complicated the last years...

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hmmm well it depends on the synth you use...

if you can get a phat, distinctive sound out of one bassline...there isn't a need to mess with it...i mean adding more might just ruin the original.

layering helps you introduce different sounds which prevents the bassline from getting boring. It also helps fill in the gaps so that basslines sound more full. But then again, if you are looking for a distinctive, rhythmic bassline. I would go with one or two playing similar if not the same notes.

Hope that helps

Speaking of basslines...are there any good synths that can produce great sounds? I've tried bass-station and i havent' got much out of it...any suggestions?

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i dont think layering instruments necessarily makes them sound more full. apart from the fact that stacking up sounds within similar frequency ranges can cause phasing problems, it also destroys headroom.

theres loads of decent synths that make amazing basslines. some of them you might not think it jsut by listening to their presets, untreated - SC-101 is fat (freeware). SB-101 is fat (freeware). ASynth is fat (freeware). muon tau is fat (freeware), steinberg VB-1 is sick at bass (again its free). fucking boobass in fruity is fat (shame its not very programmable). going up in the world a bit, audiorealism bassline is amazing for 303 basses. heck anything 303 this thing absolutely rips. albino is awesome for most types of basses (303s, oberheims, sh-101s etc. one my my regulars.)

you dont need to stack up multiple instances of these to get a good bass sound. they all sound fairly cheap and hollow if you just boom out a few presets with no extra work. careful use of effects (in particular, compressors, high cut filters, low frequency stimulators etc can really fatten all of these up into dirty bassy little monsters.)