Advanced Bass Techniques

[Stompa81]

Hey All,
I'm a noob in the realm of dubstep production(please be nice ). I have produced other styles before but now Im getting stuck into dubstep. Ive read all the Production bible articles and other bass related threads and am starting to get some nice basic reese bass hapening, now im Trying to elevate it to the next level.

I am trying to get my bass sounding similiar to the style of Excision , Datsik and alike. I want to reinforce that i'm not trying to exactly copy / rip off that style , I want to be as original as possible.
Take the song "Excision & Datsik - Invaders" for example, that bass is the bomb, reminds me of optimus prime cutting sick on the dance floor .

Would I be correct in saying thats using much more than the 3 - 4 osc's you would use to get the basic reese sound ? Or is it a completely different technique all together ? Im messing around with 6 oscs at the moment
applying the various reese technique's however its starting to get a bit messy so i feel as if i am heading in the wrong Direction.

I have a Virus TI, Nord Lead 3, Korg M3, Sherman Filterbank 2 ,RAT Ducetone distortion pedal, and Sonicore Scope professional at my disposal. So basically all im asking is if im heading in the right direction messing around with more oscs and using the reese techniques, and if it is worth utilizing hardware synths / filters?

(as I said im a noob so plz be nice )

[cartoon_head]

I don't think it's necesserily the number of Oscillators used that's important to achieve the sound. From the sounds of it, they probably made use of a Vocoder - that's probably why you say it sounds like Optimus Prime. Could also have used a bitcrusher and or a Formant Filter on top, but i definitely think Vocoding was used.

[corpu5]

datsik uses massive (supposedly...i dont believe him) and excision uses z3ta/albino/massive/reaktor probably layering different synths to get a stupidly fat sound. It doesnt matter what you create in the synths, it's all about the pitch bends, crazy lfo automations and post processing afterwards. Split your bassline into 3 parts with eq'ing/filtering a sub bass/ mid bass / high bass combo. Limit/compress your sub bass, add chrous/bass exciters/bit crush/ distort/ overdrive/ phase/ formant or vocoder your mids/ highs....compress them, and resample them and do the whole thing all over again. Add effects a little bit at a time (preferably through return sends etc) so that you dont muddy up your bass. It's all easy to say and stuff, getting it done properly is the hard bit......the likes of datsik/excision have perfected this method through hours and hours of hard work. You just gotta practise and be patient.

[Stompa81]

Thanks for the replys. Yeah the formant filter on the Mid - High bass is starting to push it along nicely. I havnt tried recording and resampling the mid- high bass yet , but it makes sense once you send it through chorus on a super fast delay multiple times it would sound more " Transformerish" coupled with the formant filter.

I am going to push on with using my hardware synths, i couldn't bare to see them switched off while im using soft synths otherwise they would become really expensive paper weights

On another note , I found that using a little bit of Stereo expander "widened" the bass a bit more. Is this common practice or is dubstep bass usually mono ?

[datsik]

datsik uses massive (supposedly...i dont believe him) and excision uses z3ta/albino/massive/reaktor probably layering different synths to get a stupidly fat sound. It doesnt matter what you create in the synths, it's all about the pitch bends, crazy lfo automations and post processing afterwards. Split your bassline into 3 parts with eq'ing/filtering a sub bass/ mid bass / high bass combo. Limit/compress your sub bass, add chrous/bass exciters/bit crush/ distort/ overdrive/ phase/ formant or vocoder your mids/ highs....compress them, and resample them and do the whole thing all over again. Add effects a little bit at a time (preferably through return sends etc) so that you dont muddy up your bass. It's all easy to say and stuff, getting it done properly is the hard bit......the likes of datsik/excision have perfected this method through hours and hours of hard work. You just gotta practise and be patient.

yeah bro u nailed it!

[corpu5]

Thanks for the replys. Yeah the formant filter on the Mid - High bass is starting to push it along nicely. I havnt tried recording and resampling the mid- high bass yet , but it makes sense once you send it through chorus on a super fast delay multiple times it would sound more " Transformerish" coupled with the formant filter.

I am going to push on with using my hardware synths, i couldn't bare to see them switched off while im using soft synths otherwise they would become really expensive paper weights

On another note , I found that using a little bit of Stereo expander "widened" the bass a bit more. Is this common practice or is dubstep bass usually mono ?

nice one mate, post up your progress i'd like to know how you're getting along, im trying somthing myself but i suck at robostep basslines because i just need to put more time and effort into it.

[tripaddict]

i have a really good transformer sound tut will dig the link out when i get 5

[Stompa81]

yeah bro u nailed it!

Good to hear from the man himself!!Let me just say your and excisions tunes have converted me from dutch hardcore / hardstyle to a dubstep freak

By the sounds of it I will have to reserve my hardware synths for atmosphere and fx, and stick to massive for the bass. I was suprised digging deeper into massive how finely you can control the LFO's compared to the Virus TI. It is achievable on the Virus, however its much easier in Massive.

Thanks again for all the replys! Now its time to go pump a few years of my life into Massive

[futures_untold]

With that kind of kit, you are hardly a n00b

Some threads for you to read:

http://www.dubstepforum.com/excision-st ... 13360.html

http://www.dubstepforum.com/any-tips-on ... it=dubcore

http://www.dubstepforum.com/topic91539.html

http://www.dubstepforum.com/how-to-make ... 14266.html

Read them from beginning to end, then it's up to you to experiment like the rest of us!

Any bass technique that applies to to D&B also applies to dubstep. You may find more info on the 'Grid' forum on the DOA website

Pat

[christthetiger]

bro

[Stompa81]

With that kind of kit, you are hardly a n00b

Haha , well a Noob at producing dubstep Thanks for the links!

[corpu5]

yeah thats bro-step u nailed it!

**fixed**
haha sorry couldnt resist :p

-edit- not that there's anything wrong with it, crazy mid range wobbles are the shit in my opinion!

[Stompa81]

Whatever its called i still dig it lol

[christthetiger]

^^ hahahah corpus! and amen stompa. like whatever you like.

[Grimace]

damn i wish i had that equipment

[silentk]

My attempt at the techniques listed here:

Soundcloud

opinions?

I took a few albino patches, conpressed and EQ'd together, bounced into low mid high, compressed/limited bass, various distortion, chorus, bitcrush, formant filter on mids, compressed and slightly EQ highs, compressed everything together with a little limiting and a touch of reverb.

[corpu5]

My attempt at the techniques listed here:

Soundcloud

opinions?

I took a few albino patches, conpressed and EQ'd together, bounced into low mid high, compressed/limited bass, various distortion, chorus, bitcrush, formant filter on mids, compressed and slightly EQ highs, compressed everything together with a little limiting and a touch of reverb.

Sounds like a really really good start squire, nice one! Only thing is it's quite thin dont you think? needs a bit more beef blud a bit more body

[corpu5]

double post

[silentk]

Yeah i agree, the best note in there hits at about 3 seconds, that i think sounds pretty beefy. not to sure on how to add more meat, other than layering with another version that isn't quite as distorted with some more harmonics?

[narcissus]

why is everyone so obsessed with layering tons of parts and using tons of fx plugs?? why not just get a sound that you're happy with from the beginning? this attitude of more more more just complicates things