Techno bass - Sandwell,Liebling,Ruskin,Detroit etc.

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eggnchips
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Techno bass - Sandwell,Liebling,Ruskin,Detroit etc.

Post by eggnchips »

How does one recreate these detroit style bass lines heard on tracks made by the afore mentioned?

It's always a bass that sits under the kick almost sounding like the lower end of the kick itself.
They always manage to make it flow and groove with and against the kick also.

I can get decent results using a sine and equing out higher frequencies, bit of side chain and compression but can never get it to groove well.

It always sounds quite muddy too even if I eq alot away from the bottom of the kick.

Tip really appreciated.

Thanks.
steevio
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Re: Techno bass - Sandwell,Liebling,Ruskin,Detroit etc.

Post by steevio »

eggnchips wrote:How does one recreate these detroit style bass lines heard on tracks made by the afore mentioned?

It's always a bass that sits under the kick almost sounding like the lower end of the kick itself.
They always manage to make it flow and groove with and against the kick also.

I can get decent results using a sine and equing out higher frequencies, bit of side chain and compression but can never get it to groove well.

It always sounds quite muddy too even if I eq alot away from the bottom of the kick.

Tip really appreciated.

Thanks.
theres no such thing as a detroit bass line, and you've listed some very varied artists there, so i reckon you need to post some examples of what you mean, if you want specific tips.

also theres loads of these threads, try searching you'll find lots of interesting discussions on this topic.

( EQing a sinewave is a waste of time, its just a single frequency )
eggnchips
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Re: Techno bass - Sandwell,Liebling,Ruskin,Detroit etc.

Post by eggnchips »

steevio wrote:
eggnchips wrote:How does one recreate these detroit style bass lines heard on tracks made by the afore mentioned?

It's always a bass that sits under the kick almost sounding like the lower end of the kick itself.
They always manage to make it flow and groove with and against the kick also.

I can get decent results using a sine and equing out higher frequencies, bit of side chain and compression but can never get it to groove well.

It always sounds quite muddy too even if I eq alot away from the bottom of the kick.

Tip really appreciated.

Thanks.
theres no such thing as a detroit bass line, and you've listed some very varied artists there, so i reckon you need to post some examples of what you mean, if you want specific tips.

also theres loads of these threads, try searching you'll find lots of interesting discussions on this topic.

( EQing a sinewave is a waste of time, its just a single frequency )
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I used the dreaded Detroit word. Very very sorry. Detroit doesn't even exist.

Anyway maybe this as an example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BWq807flbw

Sounds to me like an eq'd sinewave but why so smoooooooth?
steevio
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Post by steevio »

come on theres no need to react like that, saying a detroit bassline is no more helpful than saying a berlin bassline.

on my speakers there is no bassline in that james ruskin track, it sounds like a 909 kick with no attack and a long smooth reverb to me. there also sounds like theres another sound with a reverse reverb on it making the groove.

lots of techno has no bassline, using a sine sub to beef up the 909 kick was quite common, but this track doesnt sound like its got one to me.

you cannot EQ a sinewave.
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Dusk
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Post by Dusk »

What steevio said...

Lots of techno out there, from early tresor and counterbalance right up to modern ostgut and sandwell just uses a dense, mono, low passed reverb on the kick drum instead of an actual 'bassline'.

I like to apply heavy compression to the reverb send (or return it to your overall bass buss, if you use one) followed by another compressor sidechained to the kick itself, to ensure the kick always cuts through this cavernous low end "soup".

If it doesn't sound right yet, don't worry. I find the real key is to get that all set up, then spend time playing with the reverb size, density and pre-delay parameters to get it locked in a pleasing, energetic way with the kick drum.

With these settings, combined with the ducking from the kick triggering the sidechained compressor, you can achieve various kinds of sucking/pulling effect, as if a cleverly-programmed sub-bassline is at work, when really it isn't.

Oh, and I'd try this with a nice, rounded 909 kick drum first. You can't beat it!
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coldfuture
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Post by coldfuture »

Hey wow, this is a great thread.

I love all that industrial techno and this is one area I only recently discovered myself: the lack of a bassline in a lot of techno.

This is great information here on the reverbs and stuff to fill in the bass tones and make those phantom low end features those tracks have.

I have loved the more industrial side of music since the 80's and specifically this kind of techno since 1994. I am very glad to see the tones making such a big come back the last couple of years.

Let's keep this thread going!
"Why does this process have to be SO complex" -- Ritardo Montalban
steevio
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Post by steevio »

reverse reverbs were really common in the mid 1990s, no need for sidechaning etc. just bang a reverse reverb on a 909, lowpass it like Dusk was saying, and you can get a half-bar wobble in seconds, which is tuned to the kick.
good advice though from Dusk if you want to really get into it technically.

alot of people dont realise the 'no bassline' thing about techno. the kick is your fundamental tone, everything stems from it.

a great way to get power in that department, is to put a short decay 909 kick through an analogue filter that is self-oscillating (full resonance) then tune it till it resonates with the kick frequency. put the two signals into seperate channels so that you can mix them in exactly the right proportions for punch and tone. effectively your'e mixing in a sinewave at the right frequency, but its perfectly in sync and sounds like just one signal.
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patrick bateman
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Post by patrick bateman »

good advices here, def going to try this.
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