superfat basslines

[jhusarek]

id like to find out how people like dj hazard,twisted individual etc are producing them superfat basslines ive been told its a lot to do with filtering if so what filters and are there any tutorials to help me jump on the bandwagon cheers

 

[Cee-Jay]

id like to find out how people like dj hazard,twisted individual etc are producing them superfat basslines ive been told its a lot to do with filtering if so what filters and are there any tutorials to help me jump on the bandwagon cheers

Check this out, something Alpha Omega posted on another forum, very helpfull piece.

Right,I'll try & give you some guidelines as to what direction to go in to get various bass sounds.

Take a basic waveform

Sawtooth
Square
Sine
Triangle
Pulse

For that more 'in yer face-rave till you drop' bass sound start with a sawtooth.

make sure it's normalized or at it's loudest level as poss without clipping.

Set up a program with it in your sampler & play a coupole keys with it,see how it sounds.Want it a bit more meatier? Bit crazier?

Overload it slightly in the desk & add a bit of that analogue growl to it or use the overdrive effect in Logic(i don't know about Cubase)

& re-sample that new sound you've come up with.

Now set that new sound up in a program on your sampler & compare it with your original sawtooth.

Notice the difference?

Then you can start incorporating other tricks of the trade like,having 2 of the same sample playing at the same time & slightly detuning the 2nd 2 create that mega chorus effect you hear on guys Like Friction & Clipz & Dylan Basslines.

Sometimes u can go crazy & have 3 or 4 copies all slightly detuned but sometimes this will end up as just far too noisy & confused sounding.

Too make the copies just copy the main keygroup in your sampler.

You can also take the two versions of the bass sounds further by putting different filters on each keygroup of the bass

The 1st one can have a lo pass filter which you can lower the cutoff amount on to just give you subs & the 2nd one a high pass filter.

You can use all kinds of controls to change the filter amounts like Lfo,Envelopes,Mod Wheel,Pitch Bend,After Touch,etc...

One thing that really helps to bring a bass sound to life when using 2 or 3 copies of a sound,is to seperate the different copies on different channels on your desk.

So the lo pass one on 1channel,the high pass on the 2nd channel both with different eq's.

An important thing to remember is to keep the frequencies clear & seperate so you don't want the 2 different channels clashing with each other by boosting the subs on both of them.

So you'll boost the subs(sub 80hz) on ch1 & cut the subs (sub80hz) on ch2 while boosting the highs(above 7-8khz) on ch2 & cutting the highs on ch1 (anything above 4-5k)

Now play some keys.See the difference in what you started with?

If your in a really devilish mood,you could re-sample the new bass sound again & set it up in a program to play & filter,reverse whatever.....

That's a little something for y'all to start with.

Hope it helps.

 

[bassMOVEMENT]

nice

 

[Jason oS]

nice info!

one addition:

compression, ducking in particular mids+makeup gain in the low band is very important as well...
this helps the bass sit prominently while the drums are able to hit hard as well.
a quality 808 bass sample is key too-either to use alone, for fill ins or layered.

let me know if this helps!

Jason

 

[bigb]

In reason, what I do is attatch a filter to a nice bass synth, set the fliter low, and the resonance high... makes for a really think bassline.

Its a pretty quick-fix kinda way to approach it though, there are better ways I'm sure.

 

[nemiziz]

You can add noise and FM effects as well.

:: Noise
>>Noise will add some fuzz to your synth, better for use with higher frequency sawtooth synths sounds.
>> You want just enough noise amount to give it that extra edge but be hardly noticeable.
The 'colour' is the main frequency of the noise; use a similar frequency to the synth sound.
>> Too much noise, or the wrong colour noise will make it sound bad though so be careful.

:: FM/Sine Effects
Will mess around with the sound, (not sure what exactly it does), but you can get some good experimental and techy sounds using it. Just experiment with different levels and combinations.



When you hear a phat bassline on a track, you can try recreate it by:

>>Listening for whether its a sine, sawtooth, wave, etc,
>>Trying to identify the approximate frequency(s),
>>What effects it has, noise, mod, bend, delay etc.
>> what octave/key.

Stuff like that

Then create something using those ingredients, Most likely it wont sound the same but it will be similar. After that you can mess around with it and make it better and more original. Alhough, its better to be inspired by someone than to imitate them. Cuz if u make somethng original, you'll break the mold and stand out more. Bandwagon = blandwagon


Just muck around with different combinations of effects, learn what everything does, get to know what things make what sounds. That way you'll have the knowledge. Then all you need is the inspiration/imagination. You'll be making phat stuff in no time.

Yeah, anyways got to get back to my tune
good luck mate!

 

[Affliction]

id like to find out how people like dj hazard,twisted individual etc are producing them superfat basslines ive been told its a lot to do with filtering if so what filters and are there any tutorials to help me jump on the bandwagon cheers

It's always good to add some tube overdrive to a bass to give it the extra presence... Antares Tube is a good plugin. Also any standard compressor can recreate very nice distortion effects.... set the threshold low, attack and release as small as possible, and you'll get a very flat, in your face bassline. (might also be an idea to add a gate).