8 replies to this topic

[Jaxs84]

Hey punks. Thought I would start a topic specifically about bass. Am certain I am not the only one with this problem. I am constantly finding myself never quite happy with my basslines. Understandably it bears the heaviest weight in terms of rythmical purpose and groove but am very interested to hear anyone's approach to creating bass, specifically in stereo, yet still controlling that element, midi note lengths, midinote velocites, reverbs, layers of octaves, modulations techniques, quantizing techniques, genre specific waveshapes, delay techniques and pretty much anything else people have found in relation to bass. Love to hear everyone's thought am hoping this will spark some interest. Cheers guys

[dylab]

i'm not very musically proficient so i just grab a 808 BD sample with a long decay and cut it up into pulses of bass and use that for a bassline - all in mono and a little saturation to colour it, then cut off everything above 120- 200 depending on how it fits in with track

sometimes i might sequence one on a synth but its usually about the timing and i find sample chunks work fine for doing that

[rhythmboy]

Being a drummer I have particular interest in bass, as for years bass players have been my right hand men/women  

A few random thoughts...

1 - On occasion I've had bass players come in and record loop sessions, just dropping down lines in a couple of keys and tempos. For ages I've since used them to cut up, transpose and otherwise turn into other lines. My latest post in user track reviews http://www.soundpunk...hp?topic=2409.0 is an example of this.

2 - Simple rule of thumb as a starting point - the less interesting the line is, the more interesting the timbre should be. Interesting doesn't always mean dense or complex, but at least very full and warm, and perhaps with a slight motion created by a filter envelope.

3 - Stomping feels are created by accenting notes on the strong 1 2 3 4 downbeats. Lifting, bouncing feels are created by accenting the upbeats

4 - A nice bounce can be created by inserting little notes on the 16th syncopations, with 50-75% of the velocity of the main notes. When sequencing to a 16th grid, I make these notes a 32nd in length, to create that little 'pop' like a bass player hitting a muted string.

5 - A fave simple tone I like to start with is a generic 'finger bass' preset and roll off the tops with a steep LFP. Takes the 'General MIDI-ness' out of the sound.

6 - Fave bass compressor plugs are the Bomb Factory BF76 (the real 1176 unit is even better), Waves C1, PSP Vintage warmer, and T-racks for some distorted filth

7 - If a bass sound has a soft/slow attack, try nudging the notes a 128th note earlier in the sequence to ceate that real on-beat push

8 - Need a jazzy upright bass sound? Get that $80 nylon string guitar out of the corner, tune it up and record your lines on the low strings. Then pitch shift the lines down an octave. Voila - instant upright bass!

A track I posted here http://www.soundpunk...hp?topic=2363.0 has examples of points 4,5 and 6. The sound is a filtered finger bass preset mixed with a warm sawtooth waveshape - only the sawtooth has a slight filter envelope opening up the start of the note. At about the 3'30" mark where the bass is syncopated you can hear the little 'pops' with the half velocity and 32nd note length. Compressed through a BF76. Finally, the line mostly moves between notes that are a 2nd, 4th and 5th interval apart as these are the easy notes for a bass player to reach for on the neck, and therefore more likely to play in funky moving lines.

[rhythmboy]

^ One last thought on the compressor. Lately I've been taking a leap out of my comfort zone and compressing bass with stupid ratios like 20 or 50 to 1 and thresholds down around -60dB. On some sounds it works awesome! Others just sound honky but if the sound is really deep to start with it pushes it right into the stomach  

[Jaxs84]

Hey Dylab thanks for info have not heard of that approach as of yet, interesting way of using bass. Nice tracks mate. Had a listen and can definetely hear how you utilise this technique with your sub bass.
Rythmboy, didn't expect as much info but regardless every point extremely helpful. Point four was great something I had never taken into account as a way of humanizing. Had a listen to both tracks, loved the one you have posted second (doesn't seemed like you named it). Warm, bubbly, smooth, uplifting I like!!!
Once again thanks guys

[Jaxs84]

Do you have any other tracks up on your space I can check out Rhythmboy?

[Luka]

im no pro but
the best thing i ever did for basslines was start using high pass filters
not just on basslines too
high pass on everything
it opens up room for bass lines and kicks

[neo]

While we're on high pass filtering: you can also try creating a bass sound that is quite harmonically rich, in stereo, and high passing the real low end out of it (~200hz as a starting point). Then have a second part that is just a simple sine or triangle wave playing the same part in mono down quite low.

[rhythmboy]

Quote

Do you have any other tracks up on your space I can check out Rhythmboy?

Cheers for the feedback! 

I have a few others up the myspace page: http://www.myspace.c...thmboyaustralia

But I'm a bit slack, I don't change them very often