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Hi,

When I do a bassline It's typically all there, drums, bass and midrange. And yet it still sounds like a lot is missing. It often sounds powerless and feels slow and kind of boring compared to professional tracks.
I often find myself turning my tracks up to 180+ bpm to make it seem more powerfull, however classic 140 bpm dubstep just sounds plain boring when I do it, I can't get a good groove into it.
I feel like I'm stuck with my productions lately, I don't make much progress. Maybe someone can help me out with advice?

Example Bassline:
http://www34.zippyshare.com/v/85186245/file.html

Further examples can be listened to on my Soundcloud (signature).
If someone with more experience than me would like to give me some advice I would appreciate it.

On your example I think the reverb is making the bass weak.
Maybe have a go with unison and/or adding a delay (pingpong?) to around 20ms without feedback, and/or a dimension expander.

About the 140 feeling boring/slow I have this problem too. I can't manage to give enough energy to make it sound interesting, hence me doing for 170 instead (even tho I really like the 140 feel on professional tracks, just not on mine)

A good quote I read the other day from Zedd - treat bass as an instrument. Your basslines probably aren't weak, they're probably just a little boring both creatively and sonically. A faster tempo will make a simple bassline seem more interesting because it's faster.

To me your Zippyshare clip backs this up - it's so generic and the notes are just so bassic. Be more creative and delve deeper into your synths. Layering other sounds and a thick sine sub will also help.

Layer more sounds into it.

Think of it like this. WHICH sound, at any given moment, is the most prominent in your trax? If it's bass, you would want it mix out the the frequency spectrum a little. Like I make drum & bass and my drums sounded really empty until I listened to them critically and tried to imagine the spots in the mix that I felt needed some frequencies and I added percussive bits there. Suddenly they started sounded much fuller.

Listen to exactly which parts of your bassline you like and which you like less (before in time and in the frequency spectrum) and then fill that up with frequencies.

Just through a compressor on the bus, set the ratio to 1:10 and pull the threshold down to -48 dbs.

Works every time.

Maybe this is a dumb/too simple an answer...but a more energetic bassline is probably playing quicker, short sustain notes closer together. You can make the bassline "faster" without upping the tempo of the whole tune. I'm not a theory expert so I don't really have the language to explain this properly.

Theres not to much happening in top end, why don't you try using white noise and side chaining it. Also use pads/mallets quiet low in the mix.

outdropt wrote:Just through a compressor on the bus, set the ratio to 1:10 and pull the threshold down to -48 dbs.

Works every time.

Repeat 5 more times for extra punch

johney wrote:

outdropt wrote:Just through a compressor on the bus, set the ratio to 1:10 and pull the threshold down to -48 dbs.

Works every time.

Repeat 5 more times for extra punch

rockonin wrote:why don't you try using white noise and side chaining it

NO, JUST NO

super secret tip, layer a poodle ontop and (poodle = subsonic secret frequency that blends in with others to make cool sounds) i mean how can you not know the poodle technique its all around the web.. google it man

Almost everybody said it. Layering can key. Adding a simple sub and a higher end for some parts can really change a sound. Layering can be really effective

johney wrote:

outdropt wrote:Just through a compressor on the bus, set the ratio to 1:10 and pull the threshold down to -48 dbs.

Works every time.

Repeat 5 more times for extra punch

Thanks for putting me in your sig I have to admit, I don't have too much music theory knowledge.

And thanks for the all the other answers as well.

Cut the frequencies that mess it up (sometimes very few db is needed, sometimes more), boost the highs a little, saturate/distort, compress slightly, throw on a short and highpassed reverb + some fx too smoothen it out like flanger/chorus
Look on a spectrum analyzer to see where you need to fill in with other sounds!

Do your basslines even lift?

put a sharp 10db boost in the subbass frequencies, around 300hz should do it

Gotta fatten your sausage, bro.

As all have said, layering will help a bunch. I'd also consider adding some more subtle ambiance/upper end in there - half of what makes almost any tune are the sounds you don't explicitly hear, if that makes sense.

fast hi hat patterns, crashes and reverse cymbals do it for me. Drums should be powerful. Also paralleldistortion for your bass and short delays fill up your spectrum - but eqing is important

Personally, I think it sounds pretty good! I think you're more than 60%-70% there

One thing that stands out at my is your bass and subs. I think a good boost in the 50 - 250 range would fill out your sound quite nicely.

This is probably horrible practice but I something get lazy and group all my bass to a single Bass group channel. I then send the group bass to another bus and cut everything over about 70 or 100 for my subs.

For my bass I'll simply use a sin wave, increase the attack a little so that it doesn't have that pluck sound and then cut everything under 50 and 250. Basically keep 150-200 range

Again, people will probably cringe at my shortcut but it seems to work for me when it's late, have no coffee left and want a quick 2 min fix.