How do you make your bassline move?

[Crow Steppa]

Just trying to get a discussion going on how people organize their basslines. How the different sounds interact with each other to make them groove is one of the hardest things to do in my opinion and I feel like alot of bigname artists nowadays are more focused on sound design than making a track bounce. Different people have different ways of doing things so maybe some peeps could shed some light. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about.

Normally, I'll generate 4-6 instances of a few different synths, make 4 of em speak once in a bar and alternate the LFO rate and wave table position so they are a little off kilter and groove with the track instead of coming straight forward. It works... to a point. what i cant figure out is how to make it better.
if you listen to a couple of songs such as borgore's glory hole, at the drop that bass really talks. ive been trying to figure out how he makes it dance like that. does he bounces out short instances of a sound and play em through a sampler, or does he generate a synth for each indivdual vowel sound.
Soundcloud


and for that matter, how do you guys make your basslines move with the track more? any tips would be appreciated. thanks!

[ehbes]

I usually just automate a ton of different parameters usually the wave table pos and scream 4 body scale, a swell as about 3-5 notch filters, and pitch

[e-motion]

I only use MIDI. I have various instances of the same synth with different settings and/or effects (I don't like, for example, automate the LFO speed in sync, my workflow it better if I just trigger a different instance to change the speed). This allows me to drag/drop a lot in the arrangement window (really, this is a killer workflow). Don't know if I explained good, if not, I can try better (english is not my native language as you can clearly see lol).

To save my CPU I keep the FX and layering to a minimum while composing. Then I start freezing tracks during the layering/resampling/FX phase. This means, I only worry about deep sound design at the end of the track.

[Sonika]

There's a thread about this called "Bassline Movement"

[Crow Steppa]

e-motion, what DAW do you use? trying to make sure i understand, instead of automation, you make clones of your synths and change parameters with each track?

[Sonika]

I use Logic and Massive and I like to make patches that inherently move WITHOUT automation, and then maybe I'll do some automation as well. I like to fool around with real-time automation, it makes for a cool, unquantized sound.

[Crow Steppa]

There's a thread about this called "Bassline Movement"

cheers for that, its a complicated question and i just wanted to see other people's methods to maybe step outside the box a bit.

[Sonika]

I respect that, I'm just saying, if you want to see a lot of stuff said on the matter, check out the thread "Bassline Movement" by Wub.

[Crow Steppa]

yeah i did, going to try that trick where its loaded into a sampler and playing different parts with velocity. stuff like that was what i was hoping to find. thanks bruv

[e-motion]

I'm using Ableton. I still automate stuff like filters or Macro controls, but for stuff like LFO sync speed, turning effects on (if I'm only interested in 0% wet and 100% wet), etc. I duplicate the synth and have two instances with different parameters.

In the end, I have all my synths in the arrangement window. I create clips and move them between tracks (up and down) to see which progression sounds better. This is specially useful if you have all your synths based on the same octave which allows you to freely move the clips between tracks without having to adjust the notes. Although more cpu hungry, it's faster than drawing automations.

There's also another kind of trick I would like to try, although this is crazy as hell and ultra-cpu hungry lol.


1) Put ALL YOUR BASS synths (or audio, to save cpu) in a Instrument Rack.
2) Draw your notes in a single track. Ignore how it sounds like, just make some interesting melody. All your basses will receive these notes.
3) Now the crazy part. Assign each Bass to a different part in the chain selector (here: http://konkreetlabs.com/images/abletonl ... lector.png).
4) Automate the chain selector like hell, tune the parts and the automations.
5) Profit? lol

[Sonika]

yeah i did, going to try that trick where its loaded into a sampler and playing different parts with velocity. stuff like that was what i was hoping to find. thanks bruv

No problem Glad you found what you wanted

[ChadDub]

For the track in my sig I just used a one cycle of this thing I recorded. I recorded a square wave with a heavy phaser on it playing one note, then I sampled the part where it's phasing in and out, making a wobble. Then I just used it in different ways. Adding LFOs, do pitchbends, etc. And since it's already wobbling due to the phasing in the recording it's REALLY moving.

[Immerse]

1) Put ALL YOUR BASS synths (or audio, to save cpu) in a Instrument Rack.
2) Draw your notes in a single track. Ignore how it sounds like, just make some interesting melody. All your basses will receive these notes.
3) Now the crazy part. Assign each Bass to a different part in the chain selector (here: http://konkreetlabs.com/images/abletonl ... lector.png).
4) Automate the chain selector like hell, tune the parts and the automations.
5) Profit? lol

You can also use that little bar above the chain squares can be pulled out to fade between chain selections. would probably sound good for real time automation, or any for that matter.

[Immerse]

1) Put ALL YOUR BASS synths (or audio, to save cpu) in a Instrument Rack.
2) Draw your notes in a single track. Ignore how it sounds like, just make some interesting melody. All your basses will receive these notes.
3) Now the crazy part. Assign each Bass to a different part in the chain selector (here: http://konkreetlabs.com/images/abletonl ... lector.png).
4) Automate the chain selector like hell, tune the parts and the automations.
5) Profit? lol

You can also use that little bar above the chain squares can be pulled out to fade between chain selections. would probably sound good for real time automation, or any for that matter.

[Discern]

put wheels on it

[e-motion]

1) Put ALL YOUR BASS synths (or audio, to save cpu) in a Instrument Rack.
2) Draw your notes in a single track. Ignore how it sounds like, just make some interesting melody. All your basses will receive these notes.
3) Now the crazy part. Assign each Bass to a different part in the chain selector (here: http://konkreetlabs.com/images/abletonl ... lector.png).
4) Automate the chain selector like hell, tune the parts and the automations.
5) Profit? lol

You can also use that little bar above the chain squares can be pulled out to fade between chain selections. would probably sound good for real time automation, or any for that matter.

Exactly, just mess with it. Have to try it someday.

[KaveDizzle]

Do you guys ever re sample your basslines or do you just use everything in your VST and then add FX to it.
And when you do re sample do you sample it as one straight note or do you add the LFO and then re sample?

[Immerse]

how do i delete? o.O

[6ense_muzik]

I start by getting a chunky Reece sound, then maybe assign an LFO to the osc amp controls, about halfway (creating movement on the volume of the sound) then maybe midi learn a controller to a bandpass filter, LFO rate, and main pitch. Then play around with it live until I get a sound I like.

I occasionally re sample bass, but try to leave this until a track is almost complete because once you bounce to audio, you obviously can't edit the synth part any more. I think camelphat and a few other plugins on the vst/au track can beef it up enough.

[Perfecture]

I find automating the envelope can give alot of movement to the sound subtle or harsh, and also subtle flanger or phaser can work really nice too.