making a bassline

[andanywhere]

so....

i've been producing tracks for about a year and a half now, and when i first started out....zomg it was bad. however, ive improved a bit, but there's something that has always escaped me: the groove between the drums and the bassline.

maybe i just have no rhythm, but it's gotten a little better. i just can't seem to get the bassline to mesh well with my track it also stands out to me as too rigid most of the time and it kinda pulls things down... now i can make a basic bassline but im talking about making a cool bassline that's almost the center of a track. the sound on that bass is also really well done, most of my stuff just sounds really thin compared to that round fat sound he's got going on. im wondering if thats just his hardware or really well placed post-processing...hmm.

For example, i completely adore the Total Departure bassline. i've tried to recreate something with the same driving feeling as this, but it just quite hasn't worked out yet.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. i'm sorta at a wall here that i've been trying to get past

[Elektranik]

Try to not snap to the timing grid as much when making a bassline....a problem I had for a long time was that I was always perfectly in time which didnt have any groove to it. Try fucking with the timing, making every second 16th note a little late. That will give it more groove. Also learn to use sidechain compression or an alternative. Basically what a side chain compressor does is reduce the volume of one instrument (i.e. Bassline) in response to an increase of the volume of a different instrument (i.e. Kick). So when the kick hits, it reduces the level of the bass. This way you can get the pumping sound that Benny Benassi uses WAY to much. Use this on the bass as well as pads and anything else you want to "pump". I produce with Sonar 6 and there is no way to configure compressors to act as sidechain compressors, or "ducking compressors". I have to draw in the volume automation by hand, reducing the volume of any given instrument every quarter note. Anyway that was quite the rant! Hope you got something out of it.

[Atheory]

hi, welcome to the forum.

this topic has been covered many, many times here and on other forums like kvr. if u use the search button you'll find loads of resources to read there about basslines. dont mean to be a jerk or anything, but it will be more beneficial than waiting for people to repeat what they have already written about basslines on this particular thread.

cheers.

[andanywhere]

okay maybe a more focused question..

for that kind of nice subby but round sound on the Total Departure bass do you think it was hardware or software? (meaning a hardware synth or software as the point of origin.)

or is that impossible to tell now-adays? (i really havent got a good handle on any VSTs worth checking out yet....there. are. oh. so. many.)

sorry for the newb questions

[s.k.]

its software

[Atheory]

i would use a step sequencer to get the groove thing and maybe try a sine wav with loads of attack. play around with the equalisation

but more importantly, if you cant make synths make the sounds u want try and learn about synthesis.

theres a free book called "how to make a noise" its meant to be really, really accessable and straightforward.

http://www.noisesculpture.com/

theres a link. read it.

also get synth1, its free and its a great synthesiser.

do use the search button. its better to read about all of these things, there are many, many resources on the board. cause a bassline like that isnt going to do it for u forever.

take care

[The_Glass_Olive]

Try the synth 1 vst: it's free and with a little dedication you can get virtually any bass sound out of it you could ever desire. Read up on synthesis and how wave forms work and again, with a little research and trial and error, you'll find you will start getting results more to your liking.

As a basic guide I'd start with the Guide to Synthesis on Beatportal: a blog that goes through how these sounds are made right from the conceptual level to the practical (I wish I had thoroughly read something like it when I started out!) - it'll give you the ability to hopefully use any VST the way YOU want to. There are also many video guides out there which are much more useful than have someone on here just go 'sine+detune+filter+decay' etc at you.

Finally, never underestimate reverse engineering or whatever they call it -if you hear a preset you like, take it to pieces and then build it up again, each time gradually altering it until you have something that resembles it, yet is ultimately your creation. I learned roughly 85% of the stuff I know from this method.

As was already mentioned you can mess around with sidechaining but the real issue in getting that 'fat' or 'rounded' sound is usually a matter of EQ and compression - a complex area that, if your going to delve into, might as well go hand in hand with learning to make the sounds thoroughly in the first place!

Good luck!

[Measax]

why don't you you make the bassline first and then fit something around that as an experiment... could help... otherwise, search.