Whats your approach to your bass line or bass riff ??

[triga]

Hey guys i want to start a thread to see what techniques people are using to get crazy twisting morphing bass lines happening.

I guess the key topic surrounding this will be resampling but how do you go about it ? Is it completely trial & error or is it a sequence of steps you follow every tune to get your results ?

As i learn new things every day it's forever changing for me but if we could get some of the top players unleashing some good tips that would be great

What I've been doing in my last tunes is once i've got a 8 bar drum loop i'll choose one of my favourite soft-synths & start working on a patch. When I'm happy ill create multiple instances of that patch with different modulation values weather it be the filter sweeps, LFO dominant sound, pitch etc you get the idea, not always the same but can consist of as many you need to get the job done. Once I'm happy with my 8 bar section the bass line will be bounced to audio, then the audio file will be chucked into a sampler 3 times with their own output. Each output gets it's own chain of effects splitting the frequencies to really fill out the spectrum. With 3 different channels coming out of the one sampler it controls all the filled out sections surrounding the bass line, I then repeat this for different parts of the tune or where ever the bass line changes & thats pretty much it.

I've seen other people who record a certain amount of patches that might have a LFO rate in common, then once its in audio cutting it up to the shit house then go through heaps of processing, the thing with me is that you can't automate the synth at a later stage if you need, once in audio you can't change the values.

So if you've bothered to read through this it would be much appreciated to hear your ideas.

Cheers

Soundcloud
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Logic - Komplete, Predator, Sylenth, Zebra

[Lectric]

it sounds like you already answered your question mate.

[triga]

Hahaha did ramble on a bit,

Well thats whats working for me at the moment but its always changing & my tunes are nothing to really write home about either.

I guess this thread is for people who haven't thought about certain ways of thinking to help their production along which is the boat I'm sitting in !!!

[triga]

How do you go out about it Lectric ?

[ehbes]

theres literally been five threads in the last week asking this same question

[triga]

It's not so much a question but i chance to think outside the box.

I must have missed a few threads, if someone could post me one of the better ones that be great

[ehbes]

literally just search koan sound bass...

[Lectric]

Well my tunes usually have sub-only basslines.

keep it minimal, bitchez.

[bigdaveo11]

I cant exactly answer your question OP but I would like to expand on the thread topic if that is alright. In regards to frequency splitting your bass (or lead or w/e sound). how do you guys decide when you should frequency split vs affect the sound as a whole. I know the point of frequency splitting but I feel like I am always just shooting in the dark even though I know trial and error is a major part of the whole sound design process. If you do split the frequencies, what factors contribute to the decision as to the range of frequencies you are going to affect (ex: do you seperate into low, mid and highs, what ranges and why)...What FX do you like to use on each frequency range? Also what do you normally put back on the channel where all the split frequencies are re-combined to help glue the sound together (obviously compression is a big one I always hear about but I dont actually understand how compression helps to glue the sound together even though I am familiar with the basics on compression).

Apologies for all the questions/rambling, appreciate any answers on any part of the above post. Don't mean to hijack the thread OP just wanted to expand/spur new discussions since supposedly this type of thread has been appearing alot lately, thanks everyone

[Toolman4]

This is how: I start from scratch every time, with one rule in mind; Always do something different next time. I know it's inefficient for most people, but for me, taking the time like setting up drum racks in ableton and doing sound design from scratch has been a great way to learn my synth/DAW. Just keep the rule in mind. I do this also because inspiration (as long as workflow continues to happen) may take hold in different directions depending on how the sound has been constructed. And I'll be honest...I want to construct my OWN sounds as much as possible, regardless. When it comes to making a riff...I do pretty much what you do with different instances of the patch doing different modulations. I keep in mind the patterns of call and response determining when/how to change the sound whether it be timbre or modulation or pitch or rhythm (those are the 4 main "contexts" in which I mostly look to create novelty in arrangement).

After I have a section that I'm happy with, I bounce it out to audio. I then utilize ableton's launch capabilities in session view to create new random chopped riffs. This has been something relatively new to me, and am continuing to explore it atm. I have found that the "complextro" arrangement choppyness is easily achieved through this method and can be inserted in certain parts of your section that you previously created to create a new element of novelty. It's been a blast!

Freq splitting....When/how do I do it?.....well, here is my how: Create a preset/template for freq splitting. Whether it be using filters, eq, multiband compressors, whatever....create a 3 band template. Why 3? Low, mid, and high. You could do a low and high band, you could also do a low, low-mid, high-mid, and high bands...Which is right? You'll know if you experiment. 3 is good for understanding freq splitting when learning. Eventually two bands are all that's usually necessary b/c you learn to control the mids with fx/eqs on the upper band.

Here is the when: If you create a template, why not just slap that bitch on everything you synthesize and see what happens? lol...It's what I do.

Most of the time, for me, freq splitting is thought of to "beef" up a sound. Most of my recent reese work has utilized freq splitting to create movement on the different bands.

At the end of the day, I consider freq splitting an after though when composing/arranging my riffs. I consider it an effect. I mostly just utilize it in sound design.

[triga]

Nice one definitely about the frequency splitting i like how you chop your riff up aswell could come in handy when making a bridge or build up into a new section will definitely be giving this a try ! Would work well in a sampler too giving each chop different values with pitch, pan, volume etc

Answering the question before about what types of plug-ins used i think it works well when you leave the riff as fat as possible boosting/cutting desired frequencies & keeping it as the main body of your sound, then with the 3 extra versions i'll go for a distortion with an LFO modulated to give it movement, a reverb one or a plug-in that has a arp/stepper on it(usually works well with extra attack), then the last a crazy filter. All of these making up the mid range to hi end of you riff, for the low end I've usually got a sine wave underneath.

But there are no rules, above is what i did on a tune last night the effects always change but the freq splitting idea doesn't.

Like Toolman said on the post above

I start from scratch every time, with one rule in mind; Always do something different next time.

[ehbes]

Answering your question about when to split verse not:

I was making a Reese last night, and I wanted to get a reallly nice twisting sound, but when ever I tried just using notch filters and other things that worked to a certain degree, but the filter didn't seem sharp enough, so what I did was load up a freq splinter and put the notch filters on the specific bands. So basically the only time if split, is if there's a specific effect in trying to get if not I'll just throw it into the fx chain