Big, Engulfing, Bass tips

Mr Fletch

Mr Fletch

aka KRONIX
VIP Junglist
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Location
Essex, England
So I'm finding myself more and more, struggling with getting my bass sounds as big and full as I'd like! I know how to create the sounds that I want, it's the actual depth of them that I am having difficulties with. I see alot of posts on here asking similar questions so I figured I'd get a thread going where people can share the tips they know. Now this isnt a thread on how to create different sounds, we already have multiples of those threads, I want this thread to focus on getting already created sounds, to sound frickin huge! Like what we hear in alot of neuro dnb, or heavy dubstep, where the bass sounds just seem so wide, and quite literally engulf the listener.

I already understand the importance of frequency splitting, but whats next? How do us mere mortals go about getting our basses to the next level? If you want examples I have shit loads I can post!

Fuck it, I'll post examples anyway. Dont focus on the actual tracks, just the big basses for examples for this thread, and what I want us all to be able to achieve

https://soundcloud.com/vibe-magazine%2Fcalyx-teebee-we-become-one-ft



https://soundcloud.com/quartussaul%2Fquartus-saul-tim-ismag-ibenji



https://soundcloud.com/wobbelix%2Fwobbelix-elonious-this-is



https://soundcloud.com/amon-tobin%2Fgoto-10
 
Last edited:
Panning my reverb I find gives a great effect after frequency splitting! I get what you mean, and I've been chasing that quality for a long time.
 
Also, give some examples. I'll see if I can help.


Edit: Scrap that, I'm tired and missed the rest.

The large bass does lie a lot in frequency splitting. Even then, I find the process is just correct frequencies and loudness, haha. Reverb etc. can give you those extra subtles that give you goosebumps with panning, etc.
I get told a lot to use chorus, but to be honest.. I find that ruins the integrity, or just the originality in the sound. Now, I'm not sure what else to call it.. But there's an effect in Massive called "Flanger Pos Mono" that I absolutely love that fattens up a lot of any sound that I really choose. I just find making the sound as loud as possible wins for me. But, I'm sure that's not the right way to go about it, lol.
 
Last edited:
modern said:
Panning my reverb I find gives a great effect after frequency splitting! I get what you mean, and I've been chasing that quality for a long time.
Click to expand...

As have most of us on here I believe. And it seems like a magical pact, that the people who do know the secrets to getting these monsterous sounds, dont share it with anyone! I understand we all gotta come up with our own stuff, and I agree. Like I said in the OP, I dont want to know how to create certain sounds, I think we can all create our own unique sounds to a certain extent, but I also think we all need to be able to learn the secrets of getting our sounds that big and full.

It's killing me, I've been chasing those big full basses for so long now, and just cannot grasp what it is I'm missing?!?!
 
Mr Fletch said:
As have most of us on here I believe. And it seems like a magical pact, that the people who do know the secrets to getting these monsterous sounds, dont share it with anyone! I understand we all gotta come up with our own stuff, and I agree. Like I said in the OP, I dont want to know how to create certain sounds, I think we can all create our own unique sounds to a certain extent, but I also think we all need to be able to learn the secrets of getting our sounds that big and full.

It's killing me, I've been chasing those big full basses for so long now, and just cannot grasp what it is I'm missing?!?!
Click to expand...

It could be the synths, even. A big bass isn't quite a big bass without the big drums and the atmosphere, you know? Do you have something we could talk on where I can send you shit? Give you examples of what you want? I'm sure in my head somewhere there's something there. I have quite a lot of stuff to share if you need it.
 
Good topic. I'd like to see the same focus on drums too.

Bass. I am useless to be honest at producing big baselines. I am therefore working on drums more and getting bass from them. Raving in the 90's, I was used to that bass that goes straight through you and also the Jungle bass (Dred/sine). It ruled the clubs at times. I find a lot of stuff these days lacks that kind of bass and guess it may be to do with equipment. I find it hard to believe I can get the bass I require without hardware but I may be short of finding it digitally.

At the moment I'm trying to get bass off 808/909 drum samples with tuning/envelopes I heard in the Jungle days that was what they used to do. Toms also produce good bass IMHO.
 
modern said:
It could be the synths, even. A big bass isn't quite a big bass without the big drums and the atmosphere, you know? Do you have something we could talk on where I can send you shit? Give you examples of what you want? I'm sure in my head somewhere there's something there. I have quite a lot of stuff to share if you need it.
Click to expand...

I'm on AIM fella if that helps? "dnbdimenzions"
 
Swayzy said:
Good topic. I'd like to see the same focus on drums too.

Bass. I am useless to be honest at producing big baselines. I am therefore working on drums more and getting bass from them. Raving in the 90's, I was used to that bass that goes straight through you and also the Jungle bass (Dred/sine). It ruled the clubs at times. I find a lot of stuff these days lacks that kind of bass and guess it may be to do with equipment. I find it hard to believe I can get the bass I require without hardware but I may be short of finding it digitally.

At the moment I'm trying to get bass off 808/909 drum samples with tuning/envelopes I heard in the Jungle days that was what they used to do. Toms also produce good bass IMHO.
Click to expand...

Ahh, a fellow 90's raver! good man! I grew up going to world dance, dreamscape, helter skelter etc! DJ Hype was the don back then! Old skool Prodigy, Altern8 etc etc.......those were the days!

It is possible to get the sounds you desire purely through software, you just gotta know what you're doing!
 
Went to a dreamscape at Sanctuary and a helter skelter. I started with Orange Club Astoria, then Labyrnth in later days (when feeling cheesy!). I really remember the Jungle days in Lazerdrome ( I think Peckham) and AWOL was a wicked little club. That raving feeling cannot be canned but was something else...

Yeah, I've heard people say you can get these bass sounds digitally. I think it would be a lot less trouble though using a Virus or Moog synth. I can't get that easily at the moment and circumstances don't really help but I'm thinking some analogue sound via a hardware sampler should help. If I don't get bass I'm sure I'll get something else!

Also something I've noticed is that just a little brickwall limiting can really help with low end. I find if I limit a little (less than 2db) and then on the final mix (after bounce 1) a little more (maybe 1db) it really brings out the bass. I'm starting to think the multi-pressor is not the answer as it does not naturally bring up the overall sound of any sample. The natural dynamics are lost but I'm really theorizing with that...

Something else I notice is that professional tracks don't tend to clip if you look at the audio. I find analyzing the audio every time a sound is created helps. I bounce each track now rather than the whole project and look at the sounds. My goal each time is to keep the volume as low as possible but the sound as big as; and you can see visually where the sound is bigger. Often to the ear this is not clear. I know using your ears is important but the visual representation helps.
With audio on the screen if you move the tracks slightly often you get different effects that can enhance bass.

finally Gates have helped me a bit. Gating the solid bass sounds at the attack and then mixing some softer bass into the decay.

Later
 
I saw the video u posted after I posted... :)
Yeah, exactly what I mean by resampling and get things done... Imagine what you can do once u get your riff and then reprocessing it in many different ways...
 
Another thing is layering, I find it to make the most "fullest" basses, give them a bit nasty from other layer and distort them together. Panning layers, or just widening sounds with stereo effects.
 
Eternaloptimist said:

Fletch this man might ya
Click to expand...

Yeah it's pretty eye opening stuff, but again, theres points where he'll say, "Yeah, so just throw whatever you want on there really"........it's throwing whatever I want on there, that causes my sounds to end up in a shitty midranged mess lol
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ive been messing around alot this morning with resampling, and layering. I think im starting to get a hold on it! I got a long way to go, but I'm over the 1st hurdle, which is understanding how to go about the resampling in the 1st place!

I made a patch in NI Massive
I used the performer to get some wild lfo movement
I added tube distortion and a dimension expander.
I had the unison on about 4

I resampled.

I duplicated the audio about 15 times! (I know right?!)
I turned the volume down!!!!!
I grouped all 15 together.
I added some saturation
I added some delay and reverb to about 4 of those samples.

I resampled

So now I have one audio file, with the power of 15 lol

I duplicated it again three times

split the frequencies

Added overdrive to the lows
Added saturation, distortion and chorus to the mids
Added reverb and delay to the high's

Guess what I did next....thats Right....I resampled it again!

So now I have one audio file again.

I then duplicated it another 3 times, split again, and repeated the steps above. I then grouped the mids and highs together and run it through Ohmicide!

One last resample

Then chopped it up, reversed bits, took some bits out etc. I then threw together a quick shitty 4 to the floor drum loop and sidechained the bass to the kick.

Here is my result.....

https://soundcloud.com/mr-fletch%2Fresampling-test-loop%2Fs-pVKlh
 
I think experience is the main thing here. i also think usings samples can help. all the pros say they started out using samples and just mashing them up beyond recognition! even if its just a punchy sublayer that you use underneath your own synthesised bass. Ive personally found that when resampling its good to split the sound into 3 seperate tracks, low mid and high. Something i picked up on from the sabre tutorial, well worth a watch. It deffinately helps with fattening the sound up and adding a bit more interest to it. But im still making substandard tracks. Just a few thoughts of mine! ps. im gonna listen to that bass when i finish work!
 
Back
Top Bottom