D&b Basses

Tips & Tricks
61

Creativity is an artist’s responsibility.
In the meantime, I believe an artist deserves access to as much
knowledge as possible. I can’t stand people sitting on their techs
and acting like a gawddamn guru. It’s okay to have your ‘secrets’,
but as Captain Byte already pointed out, knowledge on soundtechnology
shouldn’t hinder anyone’s ideas.

It took me too many years to learn HOW to create the music I wanted to create.
Maybe I’m just being frustrated, but it’s not up to anyone to decide what
information should be shared and what not.
It’s not like we’re talking about splicing atoms or anything.
More knowledge simply means more freedom, right? And again, it’s up to
the artist to decide how to put the knowledge into practice, not the sharer of the info…

62

So you’re all for closed source because you think it somehow advances a culture? Why are you even using the internet? Come on man… if someone decides to just “learn the basics then get lazy” that’s their prerogative… they’ll die off as an artist faster than you can shake a fist. The rest of us, however, who are interested in advancing the state of music, should not have to spend years upon years trying to get water from a stone when in reality, the concepts we need to learn are really shit simple, but highly obfuscated by their practitioners for fear they will lose their guru/fame/god pedestal to those that are willing to push forward and create something new and innovative. The only reason that certain people in the electronic music industry are hailed as deities is because they hold on to their production secrets VERY tightly. The reality is, the very concept behind open source, which has pushed the software industry forward into a new, better paradigm, is starting to apply to information in general… wikipedia… blogs… forums… irc… they’re all about freedom of information. This freedom of information has so far done nothing but make the world a better place, and I highly doubt that it would be any different for the music industry. As independent artists, If we ever want to get an edge on the egomaniacal gluttonous corporate music cartel, we need to band together and share our resources. Our #1 resource is information, and if you don’t believe in freedom thereof, you shouldn’t even be looking at these forums.

63

I wish it was the case but sorry Byte Smasher what I can see everywhere around me is the big ocean of avaragness , tunes that are sent to me are ripping old concepts over again, musical wise and soundwise as well, I truely wish that things were different but I think you are highly overestimating people in general, it’s not a question if something is easy or difficult to make, the people considered “deities” are not there because it was hard to make but because they were first to make it and become known with it. If then thousands of people jump on bandwagon exploiting the concept to death, even the old good tunes will sound crap in that avarage sea, because people just won’t understand what it actually was that made those tunes so interesting and popular. I don’t give a f**** about corporate music or whatever, I am talking about music that is being sent to me regularly, questions that are asked, over and over again, and I’m tired of people doing carbon copies of older tunes because even if someone dies creatively there are xxx new people doing the same thing. I have a clean conscience when I talk about sound design because I learned it my way and I am not saying that to brag about it just as a fact. I believe that very important thing when you learn is to spend your time doing so, only accepting knowledge of others may work but it’s not the same thing. Obviously I am not talking about “use two oscillators, detune one” thing, but I find it utterly stupid when people on certain forums keep asking “how to make Teebee bassline” … “how to make Noisia” bassline, when the sound is often defining those artists, and stealing that sound can be considered stealing the soul of the tunes in a way… then obviously in the sea of copies those tunes are no longer considered to have soul… it’s like a huge musical devalvation, in which the good material gets lost and that is also what dear internet brought to us, everything got pros and cons… But that’s really a question for another topic i think.

64

But how are you supposed to make a better hoover if you don’t know how a hoover’s made in the first place? How are you supposed to slice beats in a more innovative way if you don’t know how they were chopped in the first place? How are you going to create a new sound without knowledge of the old?

The reality is…
… people spend so much time trying to figure out these techniques that by the time they do, they are so defeated by their endeavor that they don’t bother taking it to the next level. Considering that everything in music takes liberally from everything before it, how can one possibly create something new and innovative without first learning how music is currently produced? Holding back this kind of information does nothing but delay the process… in turn CAUSING the VERY problem you’re complaining about.

65

See, this is where you guys are completely misunderstanding what I’m saying. By no means am I endorsing relying on other people to think for you or experiment for you… in fact, what I’m proposing is that taking existing methods and twisting them will produce new sounds that would not have been possible without previous knowledge of how the original sounds were made. As an artist, I will use every resource at my disposal to create MY OWN vision. Every artist takes inspiration from every area of their life, and every artist/musician/designer has used others’ methods as a base of knowledge/technique for their own. There is NO exception to this, other than perhaps cave men drawing animals on walls, and even then they were imitating nature. The fact is, give the artist more tools, and they will be able to produce better works. Give the musician more gear, and they will crank out music that suits their personal vision more. Give a creative mind more knowledge, and they will better know how to translate their thoughts and dreams into reality.

So basically, just because someone gives me some knowledge about how to cook chicken, doesn’t mean I’ll never make fajitas. In fact, it might make me more apt to try cooking other things like beef or seafood.

I can guarantee you that those “heros” communicated with other musicians to learn the tricks of music production before taking the knowledge base they had gained and transporting those methods to a whole new level. Yes they’ll tell you to learn how to make your own sounds… because 90% of the people that ask those kinds of questions are hopeless anyway. That doesn’t mean that it’s not useless information that may help someone bring their own unique vision to life though.

And here’s the other thing… for all you programmers out there… do you think working with prewritten libraries of code helps or hinders your creativity? If you had to figure out how to implement things like an encryption algorythm, a regex parser, the VST SDK, or a 3d engine THROUGH TRIAL AND ERROR every time you needed one of them, do you really think you’d ever end up with a completed work? The reality is that sometimes, to get the things we’ve got in our brains out into the world, we need to learn/borrow from others. If I had to invent things like the 12 semitone octave, 4/4 time, and the concepts of rhythm and melody, I’d never have gotten into music. Someone else did that. I’m just being spoonfed.

66

@ Byte-Smasher

no hard feelings bro, what I’m trying to say is that it’s not really so difficult to figure these things out on your own and by figuring them out create and learn many new things on your way, it’s like giving someone bread instead of teaching him how to cook, that is all what I was trying to say… sometimes the time that you spend figuring something out is more precious than actual result, because for example with reese sound, it can be simple detuning of two oscillators but there are also different ways how to make similar sound, like using mono chorus on simple saw wave, setting a second oscillator and using lfo on fine pitch etc, when you start understanding how the synthesis works you have much higher freedom than you have when you learn on forums :) but to keep my promise,

here’s the link to my z3ta patches most of them “d&b basses” i’ll post some tips later probably but i’m too tired to do so now http://members.chello.sk/lenin/b-complex-vstipatches.zip

67

http://www.dnbwiki.com/index.php/Main_Page

some shared knowledge there

68

But why hinder others that might find it genuinely useful because of the idiocy of the noobish ones? :rolleyes:

Anyway… this conversation is getting old fast… and it’s very offtopic for this thread… so I’m done here.

69

by sharing your technique and tips you are forced to enter the next level yourself. I was never hesitant to give answers or help people out because I know I will always progress to a higher level.

70

Agreed Looza. This is why I like sharing production tips. Sorry to be OT.

71

Ok here are some tips ::

Use more “basslines” usually i have at least two layers, one that is “SUB” and one that gives it harmonic content, midrange…

SUB::

don’t bother using any synth here, best option imo is to have a good sine/808 sample I often use one specific 808 kick that i tuned perfectly to rendered C note from synth, use pingpong loop in the kick to give it some kind of movement, advantage of using sample instead of synth is that your amplitude will be the same if you play different notes, you probably won’t need any compressor to keep the level of it as it should be
lowpass at 200-300hz optional

  • this is trivial, but always keep your sub mono, don’t use reverb, delay or any kind of phasing effects. In subbass area you will always have only sinewave circles. If you look at the difference between notes in this area, one note can be 60hz and next one 70hz , in sub and bass you never want to have “chords” because the phase will screw the whole spectrum up

Midrange::

use the same notes that you do on subbass, i prefer to use some kind of synth here for modulations and movement, check out my patch that i already posted, some of those make good layers… this is the sound that will define harmonics of your “bass” so feel free to go crazy with effects here, chorus phaser and similar are welcome, some delay and reverberation at frequencies over 1khz can sound well… distortion is welcome as well, in this area you are much more free to experiment, but always remember less is more.

  • good tip with midrange is also to resample your patch and automation, find bits of filter action that you like for example, chop it, loop it, re-effect it - this is one of the strongest advantages of renoise, you can do magic with resampling and hitting “FX” in the sample editor, be creative this is what defines your sound.

  • I often hipass this element at 200hz, because at that frequency usually snare hits and if you don’t make space for it, it will lack bottom.

not directly bass tip but what is often “magic” of good mixes is that you have to think of where are you placing what in the mix.

hipass the f**** out of everything that don’t need the bass spectrum, even with more bassy elements like pads or other instruments, hipass them at least on 100hz so your sub is not interfering with anything in sub area only sub should play and nothing else. You can use this area maybe in intros and in parts of the tune where it’s not playing but use automation on hipass filter to get rid of it as soon as sub bass hits.

In low area, usually it works like this 0-100hz sub bass, 100-200hz bassdrum+snaredrum , 200hz+ midrange bass… of course you don’t cut it sharp you need to find sweet spots for all instruments and number are just orientational.

–

how to make simple liquid bass :

use 2 layers of 808 sample, play same notes, lowpass first on 200hz, hipass the second one at 200hz
overdrive the f**** out of the second one, i recommend something like amplitube for this, don’t use cabinets so it has higher spectrum presence, distort it with “lead” , then feel free to use some filtering action on it

how to make “dark reeece”

it’s all about the “minor chords” in the bass, obviously you wouldn’t want to use standard chords in this area
but detuning several oscillators by few cents will create something like “bass chord” , most simple thing is to use 2 oscillators, detune one -50cents …

  • to keep it more in tune add 3rd oscillator at +50 cents so the main note is not offkey , you can add 4th oscillator playing +1 octave for higher spectrum, to give it some movement, you can set lfo to move pitch of the 4th oscillator slightly

  • use filter envelopes on this baby, i usually set lowpass filter low, with envelope controlling the “hit” means you have low decay, no sustain, no release, decent amount for the hit…
    for more movement in the patch i add second envelope with higher attack, that will come in play after the first “hit” plays, if you play longer notes, it will appear later

  • another tip is to use pulse width on your oscillators, experiment with FM modulation…

  • keep the bass mono if possible, use mono chorus if you have any, and use it reasonably

again, remember, less is more don’t overdo shit and when you are making sounds keep in mind how it will sound with other elements, you can have awesome sounding bassline on it’s own but it wouldn’t fit into any tune, and that’s not exactly what you want.

72

Hey, just signed up and responding to the first page of this thread:

  1. OMG IT’S SUNJAMMER!
    I have a couple of your records. Also had a crap MP3 of your remix of Nasenbluten - Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em

  2. Thanks Custard for the example rns.

73

Regarding Custard’s posted example:

This takes me back to a problem I had with using a sampled sine wave on the Amiga… if you lay down different notes, there is audible clicking when the note changes

In his example, the clicking aint too bad, but it is there.
I think if you pick “nice” notes (yeah I suck at the music theory) then the click is lessened/gone… but is there any way to smooth the note transition? Obviously I can pile on lots of FX, but I wanna keep a raw sine as much as possible :D

74

Try adding some attack on the ADSR amp envelope for a smooth transition between notes. The clicking is probably notes overlaying each other at max volume, adding some attack should smooth things out…

75

if you use a sample add a 1-tick attack and release in the envelope, this should be fast enough and get rid of that clicking.

76

Will give it a try, thanks gents!

77

Here’s an update of that tutorial, translated to English, with working links:

Ok admittedly this tutorial won’t make you able to make basses like Calyx, Optical or Noisia, but it’ll show you nicely how they are done approximately. I exaggerated a bit with the number of steps, but to be honest, normally my sounds are processed even more intensively than this.

They are taken from track to track, modulated and given harmonics every time. This way, a whole archive of sounds is created.

This way, I want to show you how (and how randomly) sounds are created. There are no limits for your fantasy/creativity, just dare to try something new and have fun with your equipment.

I have bounced every single step of the tutorial and have uploaded them as mp3s, so you can listen to every step. I hope this will be the answer to some frequently asked questions on the forum on how to make fat basses etc.
The described method is one of many. I myself do it differently every time. But sampling, processing and sampling is one of my main activities. Many things described here were done spontaneously, there’s no formula. Now have fun listening!

drag & drop the following links into winamp.

All single steps

1.) Ok, we start with the V-Station.
I load it into one channel, set one oscillator to saw and pitch it all the way down. In the note view, I have just one note: the C.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/1-anfang.mp3

2.) I add a second oscillator and try different pitches (?).
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/2-2modulator.mp3

3.) Now I add a third one. I make sure that the saw/reece has many harmonics that can be modulated away later on.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/3-3modulator.mp3

4.) In the channel strip, I load a distortion plug of choice. I take Logic’s internal one and play around a bit.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/4-adddistortion.mp3

5.) I add Antares Tube to give a bit of power to the whole. You don’t have to but I felt like doing it.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/5-addtube.mp3

6.) Maybe a bit of phaser…
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/6-addphaser.mp3

7.) And again a tube plugin because I somehow like it.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/7-addtube.mp3

8.) Since the frequencies strain my nerves, I add an EQ and set it to notch. I then sweep through the frequencies and stop where it sounds good.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/8-addeq.mp3

9.) Sounds a bit dry, so I add a reverb with a short reverb tail.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/9-addreverb.mp3

10.) I bounce to wav and load it into a sampler. I use Kontakt because I like it. TOTAL INSANITY
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/10-intokontakt.mp3

11.) In the note view, I create a line because it would be too boring after a while. I mainly do it to hear how the sounds sound at different note ranges … you get a feeling for that. It’s quite important.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/11-addmelody.mp3

12.) I open Kontakt and add a low pass modulation to the saw. Make sure that the modulations runs in sync with the beat.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/12-addlpmod.mp3

13.) I add a Chorus-plugin to the Kontakt channel because choir/ensemble sounds nice, and it sounds nice on our reece as well.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/12-addchorus.mp3

14.) I load the saw into the same sampler to tweak it differently from the first one :ill:
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/13-add-second.mp3

15.) I add a low pass modulation to the second saw to create some movement.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/14-add-second-lpmod.mp3

16.) In the channel I add a low cut at 30Hz. This prevents the monitors from “wobbling”.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/15-add-30hz.mp3

17.) In the channel strip, I add an EQ and notch a bit above 500Hz. This creates the desired engineered/artificial sound.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/16-add-eq-notch.mp3

18.) I add an Antares Tube as I still like it
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/17-add-tube.mp3

19.) A reverb for getting wet!!!
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/18-add-reverb.mp3

20.) that got too much stereo so iroute it to a mono bus
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/19-makemono.mp3

21.) I add a compressor in the kontakt channel
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/20-addcomp.mp3

22.) ok! i bounce the “c” note and save it as a wav file
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/21-bounceonc.mp3

23.) I load the bounced wav into a fresh kontakt again and add some volume modulation to get some groove
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/22-addvolumemod.mp3

24.) I add a lowpass filter modulation again
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/23-addlpmod.mp3

25.) I load another copy of the wav into the same sampler
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/24-secondsaw.mp3

26.) I add a bandpass modulation to this sample.
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/25-secondbpmod.mp3

27.) 30hz lowcut into channel
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/26-30hz.mp3

28.) compressor addedto the channel
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/27-addcomp.mp3

29.) an eq into the channel
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/28-addeq.mp3

30.) to keep the first eqs i add another one and boost the highs to add presence
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/29-addeq2.mp3

31.) i don’t like the modulation of the second saw so i change it a bit
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/30-secondbpmoood.mp3

32.) I make a different bassline
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/31-addline.mp3

33.) ok better. no i add delay to add some width
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/32-adddelay.mp3

34.) I add some drums just for fun
http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/34-adddrums.mp3

Another exampe with this bass: http://producer-network.de/sitedata/media/audio/wissen/tutorials/polarity-reece/35-adddrums2.mp3

The tutorial can be performed with any sequencer and any Sampler / Synth. You do not necessarily use Kontact or V-Station.

78

Or just sample this link ;)

79

The answer to “how do I build a car?” is not “buy a car”… sorry :P

80

plus the man! \o/

will check after work. i’m a nub when it comes to the finer points of srs processing so this is a good start.