What makes a bass harmonic?

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Mar 3, 2013
Hi, before any of you start yelling at me for a "how do I" thread, I would like to say that I'm not just asking for the sound, I'm asking how it works, anyway

For example:
The bass is really smooth and has that typical liquid feel.
It seems like the bass has a little harmonic to it aswell, like, a higher tone than just the sub, I'm wondering what causes this, I tried using multiple oscilators in massive (1 for sub, another one for harmonics)
it sounds SO soothing to my ear, I can't even explain haha.
If anyone would like to explain this to me I would appreciate it very much

PS: don't kill me for showing a Netsky example, I'm very sorry.... :sadbana:
 
harmonics are produced depending on the type of wave you use as an oscillator...for example a perfect sine wave will only produce 1 harmonic. Changing the shape of the wave or adding 'voices' should increase the number of harmonics in a sound.

of course you can layer basses at different tones aswell


have a quick look at this pdf if you want to just ignore the equations and shit http://pdfcast.org/download/harmonics.pdf
 
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Play around with these settings on any synth:
1 osc for the sub (sine wave) -> 1 osc 2 octaves higher (sawtooth) -> low pass filter -> saturation -> eq.

Try with these settings, it works for me on some basses ;)

Cheers!
 
That standard liquid bass has a second osc 7 semitones above the sub (or an octave + 7 semitones) That combined with what the others said.
 
The effects you put into it ;) get creative with it and play with knobs and who knows maybe you'll even create your own personal sound :P

There really isnt a true specific way, every sound is going to be different :P happpy producing ;)

Edit- And i don't necesarilly mean effects only limited to effects you can place on the track itself, but as well what the other peeps in here are saying to play with the actual sound as well.. exactly that brotha! Play with your sound ;)
 
What makes a bass "harmonic" is partials, and it's the partials that define the timbre of the sound. We can create partials in a number of ways: adding distortion/overdrive (or other fx that "physically" affect the waveform), combining waveforms, additive synthesis, etc.
 
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I've posted this before but I'll post again for anyone who is really trying to understand synthesis and the basic building blocks. Whilst this guy is stuck in the 80's and has some awful jokes (which i kinda liked but some may hate) it's a pretty awesome explanation of synthesis and how it works plus also he has an awesome explanation of 'timbre' (which goes to your question about harmonics) - the one that really flicked a light bulb on in my head for me !! (10min into the first video) Even though he did this along time ago I think allot of it is still really relevant.

Takes a while to get through them but stick with it.....




But if all you really want to know is how to do that bass...what subprime said :)
 
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