Tips for better bass

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Tutorials 13th December 2010 | 9,701 views

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Basslines are the heart and soul of any drum & bass tune, whether it's a liquid roller or techstep horror. Getting that fat, snarling or warm subby sound is a challenge to most producers when they start out, so here are a few tips to help you get to grips with some of the basic principles of bass programming.

This article was originally published in 2002. Although it relates specifically to the free Jeskola Buzz software sequencer, these tips can be applied in principle to any production environment.

For the most pro sounding bass action, you need constant filter tweaking. this means samples are not the best choice for building your fat bass (sure, you could use a filter machine, but remember- a filter in an effects chain AFTER a generator is NOT the same as having a filter actually in the synth stage). This means you're best advised to use a buzz synth machine (or VSTi). Of course, for optimum results, vary the filter inside the synth machine AND chain it through multiple filter machines...
My personal choices have long been the M4/M4wII and the FSM Infector. I've also heard really good things about some Zephod synths, and recently the Jacinth has appeared to blow them all away. It probably doesn't matter too much which you choose - all of these synths have plenty of features, with so many modulation routings (and so on) that you could almost never run out of sounds within a single one. My advice is to choose one or two synths and REALLY get to know them. The deeper you know your synth, the better results you will get.
The M4wII has maybe a few more features than the Infector, I believe, but I do usually need more need FX to stop the M4wII sounding - well, so much like a buzz machine. Top m4wII tip - load up the SUBbass preset (if you have it), and you have a very useful sine-wave-ish sub plonk. But, look at how it was made - by setting the cutoff to 1 and resonance to max. Nudge the cutoff up to even 6 or 7, and that maxed resonance makes it squeal like a pig.
But neat features of the FSM infector are the ability to create your own waveforms, and the real ace up its sleeve - the filters! You have to hear these to believe them. Unlike most other buzz machines, these filters aren't bland, standard sounding. They squeal. They howl. They rasp. They rumble. They rock! And with names like "LaserOne", "Skull D", "Notchez" and "Killah", you'd expect them to.
Meanwhile, the Jacinth has got an ace up its sleeve too - soft limiting. If you push a digital signal too hard, you usually just get ugly clipping. The Jacinth allows you to choose a more musical form of distortion, so that you can "crank" your sound just by driving the output gain beyond 0dB. It's CPU heavy, but it is well worth it - the results can be fantastic.
Not using a Jacinth but want sweet distortion? Nse an analogue-style distortion machine rather than one of the simple (and entirely mediocre) "digital overdrive" type machines which account for so many buzz distortions. Recommended: Zu Tube Head, Smartelectronix Tubescreamer, Edsca Migraine, Devon Analog Cruncher...
Try using a highpass or bandpass filter before the distortion, to distort a certain frequency band (a combination of several could crudely simulate multi-band distortion fx such as the quadrafuzz). The results will usually be far more satisfying. If you send the distortion the whole signal, it chews up all the huge low end stuff and spits out - well, rubbish. Mostly, it's only a given spot (I find it's usually between 500Hz and 1.2KHz) which wants the "teeth".
Three steps to bass that is fatter than yo momma:
- Sub oscillator! turn the subosc volume UP. Max that fucker.
- Detune the oscillators.
- A little chorus on bass often sounds excellent, if the bass is not a really low-end subby, sine-y kind of affair.
I also find that any bassline sounds fuller and phatter if it sits in a subtle but constant "bed" of subs. Trigger a root-note on a SUBbass preset in semiquavers, pitch down a pad, or something like that, and get a "bass pad" which will psychoacoustically make all sounds seem more anchored down at the bottom end. Be careful with it though - mix it low, keep it mono, low-shelf the extreme bass.
If you want that whole techstep "that sound is alive!" squealing bass thing, it needs major patience. Be prepared to sit there entering numbers in that grid to change the amp envelope, filter envelope and filter cutoff/res for pretty much every note individually. Boring, but there's really no shortcut.
Filters? Obviously some flavour of lopass is probably commonest (although hipassing and bandpassing is common enough, especially for 'filtering in' breakdowns (a la Renegade Hardware), or mid-range 'additional layer' of basses (a la Where's Jack the Ripper?). As Yoda would say, "resonance turn up and fun with filter you will have". For the most liquid basslines, run the synth through several different filters in parallel, with each filter sweeping differently, and with further different processing on each chain.
Contrary to received wisdom, some reverb can sound good on bass. For example, the metallic edge of the (usually crappy) Jeskola Reverb can help. But keep the reverb times short, or better yet, gate it! Be careful with reverb, keep it subtle or it turns to a big mess - it's probably best to hipass filter your reverb send. Also, if you use any stereo reverbs, then convert them back to mono afterwards. Bass doesn't belong splodged over the stereo field, and if it is, then you will have major issues pressing your tracks to vinyl - the cutting process can't cope with it.
Expert's basslines-in-the-stereo-field tip: break the rules! Spread the bass all over the stereo field, then just use a multiband stereo-imaging plugin to make everything at the bottom firmly mono again, whilst leaving upper harmonics widened. Result: the phatness that width provides, but remaining 'safe'.
You're going to spend a lot of time trying to make that bass sound as beefy in the low end as you can. But be careful, the high harmonics play a large part in ensuring people hear the bass cuts through the mix. For example, engineers of 'normal' music often boost a few dB at 2K on the bass guitar. Obviously this is drum'n'bass, so 'normal' rules don't apply, but still...
Also, having got that bass really low and bassy, you also need to stop it being too low. Frequencies below a certain point won't be reproduced on most normal sound systems. Frequencies even lower than that (say below 20Hz) are out of human hearing and are therefore just a total waste of headroom. Also, extreme low-frequency energy can fuck up things like compression. Therefore, it is often a good idea to use a low-shelf EQ to kill the sub-subs. Remember that if you're trying to get that track as hot as possible, high-amplitude stuff that you can't even hear is going to get in your way!
You may also need to use an EQ cut to help your bass and kick drums work together. Sometimes it's not a problem, and sometimes it's a royal fucker. Kicks are often in the 70-90hz range so if your bass is obscuring your kicks, try cutting there. A good general rule is to choose whether your bass is above your kicks, or vice versa - and having decided, EQ to make sure it's that way.
As mentioned above, most consumer hi-fis and 'project studio' nearfield monitors don't reproduce very low bass (south of 70Hz you're not getting a very accurate picture). Be ready to spend a lot of money if you want monitors that go down low enough to accurately hear your subs. If you don't have £500+ to spend on speakers, then do what I did, and spend £70 on headphones instead (mine go down to something ridiculous like 7hz).