BASSLINES

Ive been making tracks for years and occasionally I come up with a track that needs "filling in" at the bottom end....

I was just wondering if anyones got any suggestions. You can have a cool beat running and some nice warped noise (high pitch) as the driver... but what about the bassline....

Sometimes I find that sticking in a 303 makes it sound too trancey and ruins the pace,, which isnt the aim...

how do ya create an unpitched instrument that can fatten up the bass like I hear in quite a lot of hard techno choons...:)

also, I tried adding reverb to the bass drum but ths dont seeem right...

any ideas:P?

Sub bass is quite good for Techno tracks I quite like using sine waves to create a bass sound. You can also take a kick drum and kepp time stretching it until it resembles a bass sound this is what many dri=um and bass and hip hop artists use to create bass.

we use sub bass all the time for techno. decide on your style though - a 1 bar loop for hard techno - a 2 bar loop for summit more funky and a 4 bar loop for total chillout out tech-houseyness...

there is a cool sub-bass processor in SX (as a vst plug-in)... another trick is to get a good loop (or even the main loop on yer track), then use an almost closed lpf with lots of resonance, afterwards some distortion, just a fraction though!!

Z

i was thinking more 1/4 bar repeats on the sub bass:) after each kick drum.

Double kick drum is another good trick you see in a lot of the harder trax or layering multiple kick drums. ever use this?

making use of the atack and release when using kickdrums also gives a nice bit of hum to it :)

Distort a pure triangle wave and roll the top off with a filter after the distrortion i if you can. Makes the most fantastically solid sound.

U mean digital dist. (clipping) or analog. Will analog simulation do (like plug-ins.. there is an amp simulation in SX)?
Regards,
Z

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Originally Posted by Basil Rush

Distort a pure triangle wave and roll the top off with a filter after the distrortion i if you can. Makes the most fantastically solid sound.

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i'm so trying this... thanks!!

Dunno I'm using Digidesign's Lo-Fi on it here which is a warm analog type distortion, still pretty nasty on a complex sound but just does nice things to a triangle wave. Digital distortion and guitar amp simulations are probably both a bit complex/hectici. Try whatever plugin's you've got to hand, there's probably one that'll do built into your app.

If it's not working then I'll upload a sample of what I'm getting so you can see what I mean.

Dunno I'm using Digidesign's Lo-Fi on it here which is a warm analog type distortion, still pretty nasty on a complex sound but just does nice things to a triangle wave. Digital distortion and guitar amp simulations are probably both a bit complex/hectici. Try whatever plugin's you've got to hand, there's probably one that'll do built into your app.

If it's not working then I'll upload a sample of what I'm getting so you can see what I mean.

@basil: pleaz do!

Get some nice sine wave sub sound with a lot of attack.
Knock the release and decay down so it becomes percussive like a low tom.
Make a 1 beat, repeating , 4 note random appreggio in a low register that you can feel as well as hear (make the second 2 notes in each 4 higher than the 1st 2, to emphasise the offbeat).
Add a teeny bit of verb, maybe some low fi to grunge it.
Roll off the top end.
Make sure it`s mono, with basslane or something.
Sidechain compress to the kick so it pumps just a little.
Hey presto, deep, rumbling hard techno bass.
Now just wack any old metallic sounds on top, crunch em a little, and there you have it.
Loop techno for beginners!!

one way of adding some fat bottom end, is a filter down a percussion loop with a kick in it to lpf then reverse it. Or do the same as obove but instead of reversing it, use the 3/4 delay on the ohmboyz plugin.


Also there's a free plug in by some one which is a sub synth just wack it on your bassline. Or just patch a behringer sub synth into your bassline channel on your mixer

go on :love: