Food for Bass 'eds

Cooked Food

Just wanted to get a little discussion going on how we like to make our bass sounds. For more deep moody-soulful tune I tend to like deep sine-wavey subs, whereas the heavier dub style of 2-step I do I like a phatter sound with layers of basses...

I use both Akai and Emu sampler libraries for vintage synths sounds. More often than not I use some low cut on these and layer a HEAVY sub underneath from a Prophecy SH101 or SuperBassstation (still getting good mileage outta this old $$$$$$$!). This works well when you want to play the mod wheel on the sampler's synth pad - make it growl a bit. To beef it up even more I use some EQ->bass enhancement with a Vitalizer-> group compression with a dbx 266 or a Compounder. I like to give it some "valve" too with a worn out 1960's pre-amp or with a plugin when I track it into my Mac. Of course I don't follow any rules - that's no way to explore your creativity is it?

What do you people use? Can you reccomend any nice synths - always on the look out for a new toy (like the look of the Micromodular and the now ultra cheap Waldorf Pulse) I know lots of you will be software only - doesn't matter to me if I can get a good sound out of a virtual synth and plugins I'll use it.


Food

DJ Fat Zed

For bass it has to be either minimoog, arp2600 or oscar. Good bass sounds have little to do with the oscillators, it's all about the filters. Route anything through a moog filter and it will sound phat. I'm always wary of layering bass sounds because of phase cancellations/peaks. A little bit of crunch is always nice to bring in a few 2nd 3rd order harmonics, I sometimes push synths through a mrashall amp and record them with a nice mic.

Sen

Filters are the way to get things cooking.

I use a Frostwave Filterbox when I can. Resampling basses and duttying them up with mild distortion or overdrive is good.

I like layering my basses as well, but Zed's right about phase cancellation...I'm not an expert in that area, so I'll bow in deference to his knowledge.

Absynth is a nice plug in.

And Zed's also right about the OSCar, Mini, and 2600...not much comes close.

KRYSIZ MC

i DUNNO $$$$ ALL BOUT ANY OF THIS!!

DJ Fat Zed

Well read and learn......

Cooked Food

Zed: that's a good idea with the Marshall amp - I don't have that kind of gear but I've often considered a bass Pod. I'd kill for any one of the synths you mention.

And yeah Sen I know what you're saying about filters. The filters on the Prophecy, being digital, are a little too crisp for my liking and you can forget the distortion effects. The Emu has much nicer filter sounds and the Basstation although analogue has a very average 2 or 4 pole LPF. I'll check out the filter you mentioned, do you have any feeling for the Electrix or Sherman filters?

I can't say that I've had any phase probs layering basses - all my bass sounds are in mono and I always split the sub bass and top layer using shelving filters then the two get compressed together. I think it's got more to do with the sounds you pick - many combinations won't convince your ear that they're the same instrument.

Food

DJ Fat Zed

Anything inventive is worth a try, to me, good bass is all about making it sound louder than it really is, you've only got so many dBs before you redline so you can't just crank up the volume or eq it up.

Oh btw, the sherman filters seem nice, not really tried the electrix

Sen

I liked the Sherman's about 6 years ago when I first heard them...don't know if they've changed anything yet...

The electrix series of effects are pretty nice for the price as well...DJ Tools, really tho...

One of my favourite filters is the Boss FT-2 dynamic filter...only live...it's kinda crusty otherwise...but it's instant ducking filter funk

DJ Fat Zed

Is that a guitat pedal.?

Oh, by the way, we mustn't forget the moogerfooger.

Sen

Yeah, lol, it's a ****** pedal

but it works...and nice for live work as opposed to me taking big ol synths around...though i used to drag a micro moog around with me for cruchy goodness.

DJ Fat Zed

Are guitars such a bad thing??? I use a guitar, only as a MID controller, but it does bring back fond memories of those days when I liked indie music and wanted to be a rock star!!!!

Sen

Nah, guitars aren't bad...it's guitar players that give them a bad name, really.

Sen

sort of like guns...

FrankieP

“	Originally posted by Sen Nah, guitars aren't bad...it's guitar players that give them a bad name, really.	”

LOL!

deejayloveit

*classically trained guitarist glaring over towards Sen*

watch it buddy.

“	Well read and learn......	”

i know that's what i'm certainly doing. big up the sharers of wisdom.

Sen

there's a big difference between classical guitar and say...death metal/powerchord frenzies.

Manny, record some of your crazy assed guitar stuff and I'll make a song out of it for you!

Bozak

ive always layered my bass (and by layer I don't mean in the same frequency range but rather by chopping the sound so that the sub rides at about 80hz and down and the bass is above that) and then thoroughly twisted the top whilst leaving the bottom fairly clean, save for some tastful tube compression.

on my last track however, I left the sound intact and while the filter (emu6polelowpass) was playing around in the upper (bass) ranges of the sound, the bottom (sub) end of thing was still the "same" sound (routed through the same filters, eq, compression, etc - not chopped in two). it def had a looser feel (sub gets really punchy and tight when its held down with that 6 pole) and the results were generally pleasing and i thought it worked well for the toon. i should also mention that i always eq a "hole" for the kick to come through and on this occasion it was a subtractive spike at around 100hz rather than a full separation between the sub and the bass.

what is yous guys doing on that then. is you generally separating the sub and the bass or covering both bases with one sound?

DJ Fat Zed

It depends what you mean by sub. I tend to use a sub-oscillator within any synth patch that I use, as a sine wave.

I don't like to go too low with my frequencies. I use a sharp hi-pass filter at 35hz on any dance music and boost between 50 and 100 hz slightly. Most nightclub PAs tail off sharply at 40Hz so if you're using frequencies in the 20-40hz regions heavily, you end up wasting precious dynamic range that could be used more effectively elsewhere. 60 to 70 hz is generally where club PAs resonate so I always keep some big notes there.

bionicbooty

I play things backwards.