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i'm looking for information on how to make mental ridiculous basses that make people want to cut their face off and eat it

along the lines of datsik and sukh knight, was wondering if you guys had any info, to help i'll write what i know



1. be creative with your oscillator waveform. albino, z3ta, alchemy, massive and circle come to mind
2. be creative with your filter type. massive's scream and albino's silk (anyone have any more good filters?)
3. modulate a ton of stuff inside of the synth, such as wavetable/pulsewidth and stuff in the internal FX chains
4. use a lot of oscillators, tuned down, filter 2 in parallel, and panning for a huge and wide sound
5. use other modulators just as velocity, sequencer, sidechain, random lfo
6. save your patch a lot! i know i hate turning 1 knob and screwing it up and forgetting what i did
7. resample, process with FX and layer other sounds on top of it. this is the part i need help with. what kinds of stuff do you like to do to the sample after resampling?
8. i also noticed that some artists seem to be using 2+ synths for their basses, to give it a crazier sound

bass is the focal point of dubstep. please share your tips on creating MENTAL basses with me. also, i'm not looking for wobbles so don't point me to the stale ass wobble thread or tell me to assign lfo to filter cutoff.

go to a steel fabrication factory and record the sounds of metal cutting metal and filter it

My advice is go and practice all the techniques you just mentioned.

Dimension wrote:My advice is go and practice all the techniques you just mentioned.

good advice, practice practice practice. im just wondering if anyone has any bass advice beyond the usual, detuned squares bandpassed at 100hz with 0.2amt sine LFO synced at 1/8

jsilver wrote:

Dimension wrote:My advice is go and practice all the techniques you just mentioned.

good advice, practice practice practice. im just wondering if anyone has any bass advice beyond the usual, detuned squares bandpassed at 100hz with 0.2amt sine LFO synced at 1/8

My advice beyond all of the hyper technical modulated detuned bandpassed trickery is just learning how to construct effective basslines that lock with the riddim. A lot can be done with very little when you can approach these things musically.

Where's the little zen emoticon?

But that's probably not what you're really asking. But still...

Wank in to a cup and record it?

DZA wrote:Wank in to a cup and record it?

tnuc

mks wrote:

jsilver wrote:

Dimension wrote:My advice is go and practice all the techniques you just mentioned.

good advice, practice practice practice. im just wondering if anyone has any bass advice beyond the usual, detuned squares bandpassed at 100hz with 0.2amt sine LFO synced at 1/8

My advice beyond all of the hyper technical modulated detuned bandpassed trickery is just learning how to construct effective basslines that lock with the riddim. A lot can be done with very little when you can approach these things musically.

Where's the little zen emoticon?

But that's probably not what you're really asking. But still...

still good, id call this "approaching it musically." i'd say that sukh knight bass is definitely played on kb with some knobs

thats not fair, i press play and this big wet bass bitch slaps me, not on no even said get ready im sad now

k_k wrote:thats not fair, i press play and this big wet bass bitch slaps me, not on no even said get ready im sad now

bass is mental innit. i dunno where to start except that hes modulating a shit ton of things including portamento and filter

jsilver wrote:

k_k wrote:thats not fair, i press play and this big wet bass bitch slaps me, not on no even said get ready im sad now

bass is mental innit. i dunno where to start except that hes modulating a shit ton of things including portamento and filter

nah fam, its not mental thats classed as fucking rape, i wasnt expecting i wasnt asking for it, there was no warning, this has destroyed me emotionally

k_k wrote:

jsilver wrote:

k_k wrote:thats not fair, i press play and this big wet bass bitch slaps me, not on no even said get ready im sad now

bass is mental innit. i dunno where to start except that hes modulating a shit ton of things including portamento and filter

nah fam, its not mental thats classed as fucking rape, i wasnt expecting i wasnt asking for it, there was no warning, this has destroyed me emotionally

a mate says, trial and error is a good approach. tweak them knobs, find out what sound good and then automate

in that bass i think its the higher harmonics above 200hz that are doing the raping to your ears, probably filter bleed or summat

I hear maybe a little portamento and that upper bassline has a little ring mod on it possibly. Nice bassline.

Midrange cack rapes ones ears, man bass is felt in your chest.

Suhk Knight = Midrange cack wobbles..

If you want bass, use a sine wave!

If you want the excision/datsik sound of robots having sex, then learn to listen and deconstruct what they do with their songs and copy it. They have shit loads of sound fx which they arrange well with a few basic synth/drums/bass combos...

Read this free ebook to help learn how to synthesise cool sounds ---> http://www.noisesculpture.com/htman.html

Then practice your arrangement skills!

damn it futures!

i came to say this:


Sine wave.



Done.

NICE post futures thanks bruvy massive ups to the fourier theory crew

futures_untold wrote:
If you want bass, use a sine wave!

hurlingdervish wrote:
Sine wave.

Yeah, but that's pretty simplistic. There are times when you might want more harmonics in the waveform than just a sine. I personally have never really been into the whole midrange business when it's done too over the top to be grating. I've been a sub-bass guy since the jungle days. With that said, I appreciated the arrangement on that tune and the way it dropped when the sample says 'ganja'.

futures_untold wrote: Then practice your arrangement skills!

Yep, that was I was trying to say in the previous post. It's all about arrangement and learning how to construct effective basslines.

EZ

Okay, assuming we're gunna layer a sine for pure bass-weight, how do we get the rest of the frequency range sounding phat?

We need to fill out at least the 'low mids' with something, and possibly the 'high mids' too (although that becomes cack territory imo).

> Modulating the pulse width of your oscillator is an obvious way of making bass. If your synth has other oscillator level waveshaping controls, modulate them too! (Makes standard hoover basses)

> Detuning two oscillators against each other is another way. (Add a low pass filter for standard Reese basses)

> Likewise, two oscillators tuned an octave apart can achieve a fuller bass sound.

> Gently modulating a comb filter with a low frequency cut off is another way again.

> Saturating your sound with distortion as yet another way.

Suhk, Bar9 and co use the follwing techniques for their midrange biznuzz...

futures_untold wrote: 1> Take a complex waveform, (one that isn't sine/triange/saw/pulse/square)
2> Create a waveshaper on your signal path as an insert effect and get shabby.
3> Pass the the audio through a distortion unit, also set as an insert effect. Experiment to taste.

Another variation on this theme has been beautifully summarised by Deadly Habit.

Deadly Habit wrote: Try reshaping existing waveforms like sawtooths/squares so they have a more digital or fm-esque sound. (Use a waveshaper, ring modulator or bit crusher to do this).

Layer your oscillators, either several semitones or several octaves apart to thicken things up. Fine tune the distance between the top and bottom notes played by your oscillators. This will produce a beating (wobble) effect.

Possibly use subtle amounts of Frequency Modulation (FM) between your oscillators.

Phasers, chorusses and flangers can be used to add some movement to your patch.

As per usual, modulate a low pass & notch filter over the entire sound via lfo or hand drawn automation etc

If we add automated filters to our sound, that will generate interest instead of simply having a static tone. The main ways of automating filters are via modulation sources like ADSRs & LFOs or by drawing in automation by hand in your sequencer. ADSRs and LFOs are found on most synths and samplers and can be set to retrigger with each midi 'note on' event.

Now we need to consider effects on the bass itself.

> Reverb adds space. Small reverbs on bass work well.
> Chorus makes sounds 'phatter' yet with less punch.
> Really short delays make shit sound robotic.
> Extreme flanger settings also make things sound robotic.
> Phasers add mellowness to sounds (or simply sound cheesy if used with extreme settings (imo haha))
> Distortion can easily be over done. Less is more usually!

Layering effects via frequency splitting can achieve gnarlier sounds than simple fx chains. Resampling a bass after processing it with effects, only to process it more as a sample is another technique to consider.

But of course there are no rules to the use of effects. Use whatever you think will sound good in any way you see fit!

Finally, we come back to the arrangement. Things to consider in your arrangement include:

> When to drop sounds in & out of the mix.
> When to 'replace' your bass with 'non bass' sound effects. (Excision and Datsik do this alot, hence their robot shizzle...)
> When to switch on & off audio effects like chorus, reverb, & distortion etc.

I guess it takes practice to really make 'music' sound interesting through sound selection, good use of effects and arrangement. However, if developing these skills ain't your cup of tea, I'd suggest finding a new hobby!

Peas

FM or granular synths!

Its all about the sine wave for me. But if you're using albino 3, Use filter saturation mode 3

I think you should listen to sukh's advice from that song.