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Dark Lizardro

The Lizard that used to have a hammer
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Hey there fellow forum members!

I'm working on a track, which is heavily inspired by Noisia stuff. But I reached a point where my mid-bass lines are too "melodic". I'm composing on a D# minor scale, so my question is: should I abuse the 2nds and 7ths of the root note?

I know lots of those sick basses from Noisia comes from heavy modulation of the sound, gliding notes and whatever other modulations, but they seem to be not so melodic at all.

Or am I talking bullshit here, and I just need to process more of my basses?
 
I guess the best way to keep from being melodic is to change the key, but even noisia have times where they are melodic

Yeah, I know, man. There are times when their basslines just follow a more melodic way. This track of mine is more like "Shellshock", you know? in this track, the basses are, to me, not much melodic.
 
Heaps of tracks stick with only the flat 2nds and melodic 7ths added to the root, too keep an ongoing tension associated with 'dark' music. keep the 3rds 5ths and 4ths for your synths and melodies and it will give the track a really solid 'chordy' sound that will give it a lot of character. Just make sure when you mix and match intervals it sounds right.

A build up with a 1-4 melody in the build up transitioning to a 1-4-7 right before the drop, and then hitting with a 1-2/7 bassline would sound fucking sick.
 
Okay well my theory is pretty shocking(gonna work on it next year), but what you could do and what it sounds like they have done in that song is run two notes next to each other so like a C and a C# next to each other simultaneously or just play C and then C# one after the other cause that will definitely give it that non-melodic dirty sound. You could try that. Cause it sounds like they just play a E, D, D# in that main bit at like 45 seconds onwards, but its difficult to discern with a piano. So try breaking keys and if that doesnt work maybe you have to process a bit more and try layer one of your basses with another bass a semitone down
 
Okay well my theory is pretty shocking(gonna work on it next year), but what you could do and what it sounds like they have done in that song is run two notes next to each other so like a C and a C# next to each other simultaneously or just play C and then C# one after the other cause that will definitely give it that non-melodic dirty sound. You could try that. Cause it sounds like they just play a E, D, D# in that main bit at like 45 seconds onwards, but its difficult to discern with a piano. So try breaking keys and if that doesnt work maybe you have to process a bit more and try layer one of your basses with another bass a semitone down

I guess that if I'm going to layer two different basses, I'll need to take extra care for unwanted/clashing frequencies and phase issues too, right?
 
I guess that if I'm going to layer two different basses, I'll need to take extra care for unwanted/clashing frequencies and phase issues too, right?

Yea, but i have never tried layering two basses with different notes, so that might cause other problems i am unaware of but if not damn, it could be the sexiest sounding bass ever :2thumbs:

But dont take too much advice from me about production though, cause i havent been doing it long at all (y)
 
When you say melodic, do you mean happy and major scale sounding, not dark and creepy enough?

Which minor scale are you using?
D# natural minor: D#, F, F#,G#, A#, B, C#, D#
D# melodic minor: D#, F, F#,G#, A#, C, D, D#
D# harmonic minor: D#, F, F#,G#, A#, B, D, D#


The melodic minor scale is only one note away from the major scale, and can sound happy, especially if you avoid the 3rd.
The natural minor is not as dark as the harmonic minor scale, which is probably the best.

For even darker sounds, try adding a flat 2 (E instead of F) to any of the normal minor scales.

If you do try layering two basses at different notes, one of them needs to be D#. The other should be a minor third above.
You could do some cool two note chord things in the bass, I might try that myself actually. Try playing some chords with one note removed. EQing would be a bastard though, especially if you wanted to change the interval between the two notes.
 
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When you say melodic, do you mean happy and major scale sounding, not dark and creepy enough?

Which minor scale are you using?
D# natural minor: D#, F, F#,G#, A#, B, C#, D#
D# melodic minor: D#, F, F#,G#, A#, C, D, D#
D# harmonic minor: D#, F, F#,G#, A#, B, D, D#


If you do try layering two basses at different notes, one of them needs to be D#. The other should be a minor third above.

You could do some cool two note chord things in the bass, I might try that myself actually. Try playing some chords with one note removed. EQing would be a bastard though, especially if you wanted to change the interval between the two notes.

I'm composing on D# natural minor. And yeah, that's what I'm thinking about all the layering bass stuff. The EQ needed after will be a pain in the ass. But I think I'll try it, though. Thanks on the info!
 
I guess that if I'm going to layer two different basses, I'll need to take extra care for unwanted/clashing frequencies and phase issues too, right?
not necessarily, sometimes clashes and phasing is what makes the sound! (eg two sine waves a semitone apart phase heavily to make wobble sub) Phasing just creates an extra modulation source in a way (am)
 
Between tensions 9, 11, and 13; and scale modes, pretty much music theory doesn't matter anymore. Just make sure it sounds good.
 
Try using notes from the D#Harmonic minor or the phyrigian scale. Failing that use tritones and diminished progressions.

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I just smash shit on my keyboard until I hit a few notes that sound grimy together lol, but thankfully there's some real advice to be had from the other posters. Might even try it myself tho I'm not exactly trying to do a Noisa-style bass.
 
Hmmm, minor seconds are usually quite good for creating moody tensions when played in succession, but I wouldn't imagine layering 2 notes a semitone apart is gonna sound particularly good... Melody's a difficult one when it comes to basslines, it's hard to steer it away from sounding cheesey if you use too many notes. I find it's best to keep it centered around the root note of the minor scale throughout most of the measure and use other notes within the scale sparingly, but I guess it all depends on the other elements of the track.
 
dont worry about it being ''too melodic'', its your music, write it how you feel it, if you like what you hear then you dont need to change it.....if you just want to sound like Noisia, then thats fine too; whichever way you go, people will tell you its wrong lol
 
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