How do I get that full bass sound?

[Ian R]

Newbee alert!...Well, I'm slowly learning, but I'm struggling to get a decent bassline and I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall.
What do people use for a decent bass, any recommendations?
Synth? (-which one?), find a sample to use? Any tips or advice, links to tutorials etc would be much appreciated :cheese:

[Ian R]

I better add that I'm using FruityLoops (at the moment anyway, until I learn the basics, and then I'll make the switch to SX!)

[loopdon]

Just regarding the fl statement: you can make a bass just as good/bad in either of the programs and millions of other hosts. fl is very very capable, now if you like the interface etc or not. is a different, subjective topic.

post an example of what you are trying to achieve and you are bound to get some helpful answers.

[dirty_bass]

Any instrument will do that goes low enough without breaking up.

Bass takes up a lot of room, so look at the sound you are using, decide what it`s main sweet area is, ie low bass, mid bass, high bass. Then cut the rest out using subtractive synthesis.

Copy some basslines you like first, to get an idea of notes and frequencies.

Compression on the bass, sidechained to the kick, will reduce the volume of the bass when the kick strikes, to ensure the two don`t clash.

Try to make your kick tuned to the same key as your bassline.

For growling bass, rather than trying to make one sound have that mid range growl and low end rumble (an eq nightmare), use 1 sound for sub, and another for the mid range growl, and cut the 2 around each other with EQ.

A very simple bassline is just to have a note on each offbeat (where the hats generally sit). It`s a staple sound of hard dance, hard house, and early acid techno. It`s very cliched in techno these days though.

Generally I find it better to make parts that syncopate with the kick. So they call and reply to each other, but never both start their attack phase at the same time. This is a good secret to funk.

that`s all for now, there`s some stuff that might help you in my tutorial here.
http://www.blackoutaudio.co.uk/content/view/29/29/


And I promise my part 2 tutorial will be finished soon. It`s all written, I just need to type it up now, and this goes into much more depth into techno production.

[tonyc2002]

cant wait to check out part 2 :)

[Ian R]

Wow, thanks guys! That was really helpfull! :) Especially "Compression on the bass, sidechained to the kick, will reduce the volume of the bass when the kick strikes, to ensure the two don`t clash." Thats a handy tip to know.
I've gotta say, this section of the forum is spot-on for people just starting out like me as there's loads to read, some interesting stuff to be found, and people are helpfull!
Think I'll enjoy my stay here, be prepared for me asking alot of 'basic' questions tho, this production malarky is a steep learning curve for me! Everyone's got to start somewhere tho!

[dirty_bass]

Wow, thanks guys! That was really helpfull! :) Especially "Compression on the bass, sidechained to the kick, will reduce the volume of the bass when the kick strikes, to ensure the two don`t clash." Thats a handy tip to know.
I've gotta say, this section of the forum is spot-on for people just starting out like me as there's loads to read, some interesting stuff to be found, and people are helpfull!
Think I'll enjoy my stay here, be prepared for me asking alot of 'basic' questions tho, this production malarky is a steep learning curve for me! Everyone's got to start somewhere tho!

Don`t worry man, ask away, that`s why this place is hear.
And it`s also surprisingly open in here, you`ll not find info like this on many forums, I love it.

Although all tricks and advice are just guides and pointers, the real lessons come with experience and experimentation.

turn all the knobs and move all the sliders (oo er) and have fun!!

[Radic]

also mate one of the most important things u need when mixing bass is a decent set of monitors and it helps if your room is accoustically treated as much as you can. You'll never get your room acoustically perfect (unless u have a lot of money) but doin the best u can will help a lot. I mixed for years on hi fi speakers and was always struggling with the volume of bass. Monitors fixed 80% of me bass troubles. If techno and dance music in general is your thing then the ABL bassline 2 plugin is an important weapon to own. Remember to hi pass your bass frequencies somewhere around 40-70hz depending on your relation to your kick as well.

[Jutt]

Reversing a deep bass sound can get you a typical hard trance " whoomph" bassline.

[presuminged]

Thanks for the tips...I've struggled myself to get a punchy bass and kick combo for a long time...I definitely be giving these a try.Much appreciated. Ed

[GRAHAM ACIDIC]

yeah cheers will have a play around with some of these tips

[Ian R]

Glad to see I'm not the only newbe on here!

[judas_beast]

Glad to see I'm not the only newbe on here!

Everyones always learning mate!

[danielmarshall]

Don`t worry man, ask away, that`s why this place is hear.
And it`s also surprisingly open in here, you`ll not find info like this on many forums, I love it.

Although all tricks and advice are just guides and pointers, the real lessons come with experience and experimentation.

turn all the knobs and move all the sliders (oo er) and have fun!!

That's so true. Best forum I've found on the internet, and populated by freindly and helpful people that actually put out (very decent) records like this guy.

[The 818 Kid]

Everyones always learning mate!

real talk..

[massplanck]

Here a simple one for making some patterns.

stick a few notes into your step sequencer in a loop. Make sure you have a few notes on higher and lower octaves. Play the pattern, and record yourself going nuts with Pitch Bend (make that ****er wobble as you pull it down and up) then get a lowpass filter , ( resonance at about 10 O Clock) , and record yourself going even more nuts with the cuttoff between 7 and 10 O clock(depending on the sweet spot of course) . If its distoring too much reduce the resonance to just below what you think sounds right ;). Do another another pass this time and play with the decay of the instrument a bit.. just basically add some variation to the lenght of your notes.

Usually leads to sub-wonky-madness whenever i do it. :)

[Ian R]

Cool, thanks!
I'm gonna read through that a few more times until I get my head around it, then I'll have a play around:) Some good advice there!

[The Overfiend]

real talk..

My N*gga said real talk, I love it!

[danielmarshall]

Put a L2 on the master and push the threshold all the way down to the bottom. Instant hits, it's sooooo easy!!!

*ducks a swift uppercut from DB*

EDIT: hahaha I just realised, ducking an uppercut would actually hurt more. I'm such a moron :P

[danielmarshall]

Here a simple one for making some patterns.

stick a few notes into your step sequencer in a loop. Make sure you have a few notes on higher and lower octaves. Play the pattern, and record yourself going nuts with Pitch Bend (make that ****er wobble as you pull it down and up) then get a lowpass filter , ( resonance at about 10 O Clock) , and record yourself going even more nuts with the cuttoff between 7 and 10 O clock(depending on the sweet spot of course) . If its distoring too much reduce the resonance to just below what you think sounds right ;). Do another another pass this time and play with the decay of the instrument a bit.. just basically add some variation to the lenght of your notes.

Usually leads to sub-wonky-madness whenever i do it. :)

Cool tip :)

[danielmarshall]

Dan's recipe for tasty a sub sandwich:

Find some fresh double bass jazz samples, pitch shift them down an octave or so and filter with a low pass for some great sub sounds.

[Siege]

Once uve found a bass patch u like and have messed with...when cutting out inaudable frequencys..32,34..over cut..say around 100,then replace with some warming...bbe sonic maximizer,etc....gets your bass sounding a lot fatter.
Dont forget to cut again after processing, keeps things tidy.

[danielmarshall]

Once uve found a bass patch u like and have messed with...when cutting out inaudable frequencys..32,34..over cut..say around 100,then replace with some warming...bbe sonic maximizer,etc....gets your bass sounding a lot fatter.
Dont forget to cut again after processing, keeps things tidy.

Hmmm. I try to stay away from bass processors since I don't have a sub woofer effective enough to give me an accurate image of what I'm doing. I used to run my mix though a Waves maxxbass plugin at the master stage cause it sounded wicked on my monitors at home until I played it out one night... Uggghllllaaarrggghh (that's bad)

[rhythmtech]

im trying not to cut my bass until the very last now.. usually when mastering it..

all i really do is a little notch at around 100 and a slight notch up on the kick at that point too.. find it give keeps the low end lovely and deep.. leave the final eging to the magicians (mastering engineers)

[danielmarshall]

I've also realised that often times the only thing that should be occupying those REALLY low frequency parts of the mix is the tail end of the kick to really have it thump through the bottom end.

Also if you make sure that the decay on the kick is such that it leaves at least 1/4 of a step of silence the track will sound so much punchier rather than just a wall of bass. Bass dynamics matter big time IMO.

[Barely Human]

My advice is keep it simple. I used to spend hours trying to come up with some really fat bass, but then i found that it was usually to over powering and wouldnt balance out in the mix. Make sure the bass compliments your kick drum.

[Siege]

Hmmm. I try to stay away from bass processors since I don't have a sub woofer effective enough to give me an accurate image of what I'm doing. I used to run my mix though a Waves maxxbass plugin at the master stage cause it sounded wicked on my monitors at home until I played it out one night... Uggghllllaaarrggghh (that's bad)

You gotta be careful with that maxxbass...easily over do it...i dont use that anyway.
What i was getting at was, instead of running ur trk through whatever means of processing at the master stage to achieve fattness or warmth....do in the mixdown itself...so if you want a fat bottom end,go and treat the bottom end in the actual mix as appose to relying on mastering tools to do it at the end.
Also my point about warming things up,is just a common proceedure in production and is used on other elements apart from the bottom end.
Im talking subtle...not just wacking up the bass on a bbe or whatever.

[danielmarshall]

If only Amon Tobin could give us some insight into sub bass technique...