I'm reading this board for a long time now, stealing all your production tips. Unfortunately I'm having some problems getting a decent synth bass sound so therefore I decided to make an account and ask some pros It's not really minimal related but I think someone can help me here.
cant tell how to get the exact sound, but sine would be the last i do in a bass. not as not to do it, but to actually do it last when your missing some low end.
try different pwm types on a pulse wave and mix it with detuned triangle (detune to have subtle changes).
3rd osc could be sine could be octave lower pulse.
24 lp filter with some resonance, not too extreme.
use kick to sidechain the bass, compressor should have some attack on it (just play around with the setting till its sound good).
but if you listen carefully to that song, those 16note are not part of the actual bass. their low but dont really have low end.
you werent far off trying to use a sinewave to make that bass, thats just about all it is.
its a really simple bassline, and it should be really easy to make.
if you're using a sine to make it, you dont need to worry about slow attack on your volume envelope.
it sounds like it may either be a sine with another sine an octave higher, or a filtered pulsewave with a very closed down 24dB filter, which is effectively the same thing.
i doubt that its a triangle or square, because you can hear what sounds like the octave above the fundamental, which would be missing in both those waveforms.
what many beginners dont understand, is that bass is really just sinewaves anyway, not matter what waveform you use.
(edit - to understand this you need to read up on harmonics, if you're using a synthesizer its the first thing you need to learn about, it's absolutely essential to understanding synthesis)
if say your lowest bass note is E - 82Hz, and an octave above that is 164 Hz. if you filter down any waveform (apart from triangle and square ) so that all you are hearing is bass with no real attack like in the example, then they are just about the only two frequencies you are hearing, two sinewaves in fact. you can do the same thing by using two sinewave oscillators an octave apart and no filter. ( just talking about one note here, obviously the bassline has more than one note)
the lower the lowest note in your bassline is, the more harmonics you will hear in the bass part of the spectrum if you're using a filtered pulse, so for instance if it was E - 41 Hz, your bass sound will probably have more than 2 sinewaves in it, (unless you want a really subby sound). you will probably have 41, 82, 123, 164, maybe 205 Hz respectively and the sound will be fatter and less pure. (not like the example)
you dont need a filter if you're using sinewaves, all a filter would do is reduce the higher sinewave's volume in relation to the fundamental, which you can do by simply reducing the volume of the higher oscillator,
using a filtered pulse you will get a warmer sound because some of the higher harmonics in the low mids will be getting through the filter.
if you're using a filtered pulse, you will need 'key follow' so that each note has the same basic sound (as in the example)
the most important thing for getting a good bass sound by far, and something which seems to never get more than a passing mention, is the envelope. try different envelopes on the filter and volume, experiment with different amounts of decay, sustain and release on each envelope, the attack isnt so important for bass, try leaving the attack as fast as possible to start with, then roll it off a bit if youre getting any clicks.
if you want a clean smooth bass theres absolutely no need to layer anything, or sidechain anything, keep it simple !!
i think many people think that sidechaining is an absolute integral part of making bass, i rarely use sidechaining, its an effect which helps you get your track louder or give a pumping sound if thats what you want. it is not essential to making good bass, it's something i would use in extreme circumstances if i have a problem with the kick/bass relationship.
start by getting a good bass sound before even thinking about sidechaining.
i'm not trying to dismiss Stomper's advice here, everyone has their own methods, you need to try different things to find what works for you. the above methods always work for me.
Last edited by steevio on Fri Jul 01, 2011 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
steevio wrote:i think many people think that sidechaining is an absolute integral part of making bass, i rarely use sidechaining, its an effect which helps you get your track louder or give a pumping sound if thats what you want. it is not essential to making good bass, it's something i would use in extreme circumstances if i have a problem with the kick/bass relationship.
start by getting a good bass sound before even thinking about sidechaining.
Yes.
For some reason in the last few years "sidechain compression" has become this buzzword that gets bandied about instantly when it comes to the subject of basslines when really it's just one small (and usually not necessary) tool in the arsenal.
It's not really minimal related but I think someone can help me here.
