Bass drones

[AcidTrash]

Im after a droning bass sound. One that you know is there but cant actually distinguish. What would be a good way of doing that?

[dirty_bass]

Sinewave.
Cut all the top end, compress.

[platform1]

What actually happens if u compress a sinewave?? arnt u just making it louder by doing that.... ive never tried it.. isnt a sinewave just 1 harmonic so your not actually making anything else quiter or louder??

I like to use a sinewave for my sub and compress it with my kick that always seems to nail the bass end making it nice and thick. Is this because i am compressing the sinewave?? i always thought it just levelled out the bass frequencies alittle!?

[geigercounter120]

Sinewave.
Cut all the top end, compress.

unless i'm mistaken, isnt a true sinewave simply a fundamental frequency; i.e. one tone? if you run it thru a filter, you'll end up with either nothing or a completely unaltered sound....

i think... :)

[dirty_bass]

Well just a pure sinewave your fine, I`m refering to multi oscillators.
Compression will even it out.
Just a single sinewave won`t need compression unless you want it to duck under the kick.

[ampassasinbirmingham]

Sureley it takes up a small section of frequency eg) 50-90hz? If so, the top end could still be rolled off?

[dirty_bass]

Ok read above. If you are talking about a pure sinewave generated tone, then yes it`ll be fine alone.
Bot most people will probably use multi oscillator synths, I would have though, and phasing sine wave based sounds can cause all sorts of problems.

And I thought I was a nerd.

Another way to generate a bass drone in a more techno type way, is to take a a bunch of low end percussion (toms, low congas or something), build a bunch of really downtuned percussion loops with them.
Cut all the top.
Maybe a little bass saturation too
compress the tits out of it
sidechain it to the kick.

Gives you that nice, but cliche, techno rumble under the kick, but with a more interestingly textural edge than just sinwave based sounds.

[ampassasinbirmingham]

Another way to generate a bass drone in a more techno type way, is to take a a bunch of low end percussion (toms, low congas or something), build a bunch of really downtuned percussion loops with them.
Cut all the top.
Maybe a little bass saturation too
compress the tits out of it
sidechain it to the kick.

Gives you that nice, but cliche, techno rumble under the kick, but with a more interestingly textural edge than just sinwave based sounds.

nice tip. i can imagine it makes it rumble along niceley

[geigercounter120]

Ok read above. If you are talking about a pure sinewave generated tone, then yes it`ll be fine alone.
Bot most people will probably use multi oscillator synths, I would have though, and phasing sine wave based sounds can cause all sorts of problems.

And I thought I was a nerd.

lol!

i meant no offense, just questioning! :-P

[dirty_bass]

That`s ok geezer.
Production nerds UNITE!!!

[tOM B]

cheers for the tips in this thread - have been having fun playing around

[Lag]

u can do what the dnb guys do.
take a sawtooth synth, lower a couple of octaves, lower shift, lower the filter, put two notch filters on different parts of ur sound and lfo them differently and compress. its usually the "taking" synth u hear in dnb. done this way, its the "mumbling" synth :)