throbbing basslines

[tracatak]

so im starting to think maybe my problem is that i dont have a throbbing bassline in my track..i think i am hearing a quick bassline in most tracks..that repeats every 2 kicks..and has a little diferent pitch/octave every other 2 kicks..repeating that cycle/pattern of four (kicks) ..ami right..does this make sense..fi so what are some pointers for acheiving this...thanks

[Komplex]

half a bar, monophonic subby sort of tone with long decay. you can figure out the note combinations that make it sound throbby :)

[scotttechfunk]

Yeah if you listen to a lot of harder techno, the basslines are real simple one note affairs... I occasionally whack mine on the up-beat with a long decay like Komplex said, and then make your kick REEEEALLY pound! (if you want to, that is...)

[Evil G]

the easiest way to keep your bassline and kick drum from clobbering each other is to play them off beat. most hard trance uses this trick.

for a rolling bassline using 16th notes, you need to pay careful attention to compression and eq to keep the bassline and kick apart. it's usually the compressor that turns a flat steady bassline into one that pumps.

when you are developing your ear, you might want to look at your signal in a realtime analyzer to help you get a handle on what's happening as you experiment with compressor settings. listening for dynamics takes a more trained ear than listeing for harmonics because the sound changes so little.

[tracatak]

thanks.....so let me get this str8...a bar is 4 kicks long? and 16 notes is all 16 little buttons ..like this ..... k--- k--- k--- k--- (is this a bar with 16th notes) or is 16th notes..a way to make really quick drums rollls liek how they do in speedcore/terror core..where the drum rolls are fast n sound like a flat line ....lol..

[Evil G]

time signatures are scalable, but generally for people working with step sequencers, yes, each of the 16 steps is a 16th note, and altogether they make a bar.

a typical hard trance kick/bass sequence would have the kick firing on 1, 5, 9, 13, and the bass on 3, 7, 11, 15.

psytrance would have the bass hitting on all 16, but with the hits that coincide with the kick drum either eqed or compressed to stay out of its way. in addition to eqing, you need a synth with really fast envelopes for this to work, else it turns into a big muddy mess with the notes piling up on each other. for this reason many people actually construct their basslines out of drum samples (kicks or lo toms) instead of using a synth.

with techno, it's anything goes, but if you start with the hard trance style bassline, you can gradually add to it and make it more and more complex as your eqing skills grow.

[tracatak]

tip top ...im gonna go practice more..i got a few new tricks i learned up my sleaves...ill have to post my new productions as soon as i make em..well make one im proud of...ill make you proud daddy..lol

[Komplex]

Also don't forget that u can use velocity or volume automation so that the hits that coincide with the kick don't clash.

Or you can just pack it all on till the speakers blow.

It really depends how u want it to sound.