bass line technices.

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Iszazial

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
basline eqing is probably my worst aspect of production and it always seems that when i finally master a song that my bass line always sounds slightly off or just crummy.

does any one have a good technic? maybe like a good all in one package vst i should get or sumthin?
 

Iszazial

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
yeah I feel that,
Mostly ill just throw some samplestank bass guitars, but im trying to get that hiphop feeling pound bass. I hear somethink like The X-bass station?
all i have right now for bass is the standard flstudio bass and a bundle of sampled bass guitars in sampletank and kompact.
 

5th Sequence

Hip Hop Head, Certified
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 198
You have to EQ your bassline so it has its own space relative to the kick drum and whatever else is going on in the mix. Use a spectral analyzer to find out the dominant frequencies of your kick drum AND to find out the dominant frequencies of your bassline. From there, you know what frequences should be emphasized on the kick drum or bassline (to make it fuller) and more importantly, what frequencies need to be cut so the kick drum and bassline dont fight each other.

For example... if your kick drum is most dominant at 80Hz... you could add some EQ at 160z (doubling the harmonics) to fill it out more.. If you had a bassline going on then you would cut at 80hz and anywhere else you've added EQ on your kick drum. On your kick drum, you would make sure to cut wherever your basslines dominant frequency is.

You cut and add EQ to taste of course. My way of testing bass is turning up the monitors decently loud and see if the mix holds together. If it sounds all muddy or when the bassline and kcik drum play together, you get a huge rush of low end chaos then you know you have some cleaning up to do.

Also try using compression on your bassline. it should even out those low notes that seem to disappear when played with the beat and bring down the high ones that seem to stand out. If you can even out that dynamic range then every note should be intelligible while being played instead of seeming to drop out on the lower ones or something.

eh. hope that made sense.
 

Iszazial

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
yeah that sure did,
as i've never tried using a spektral analyser i would just go by ear. I like the idea of compression for the low and eqing the high's. normally ill throw a bassline in there and try to make it sound grimmy and then work with the kicks after using the cut filter.

im gunna try this tonight and practice on that.
thanks man
 

ron herman

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
Iszazial said:
yeah I feel that,
Mostly ill just throw some samplestank bass guitars, but im trying to get that hiphop feeling pound bass. I hear somethink like The X-bass station?
all i have right now for bass is the standard flstudio bass and a bundle of sampled bass guitars in sampletank and kompact.


You can tweak the Bass by messing with the cut off, decay to give you that deep sound.
 

Phi'Zik

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
I use the vst - minimonsta (Ohmforce) for my basslines, with the filter and the resonance, i find quickly the good setting for the track. I try a lot of vst but the minimonsta is really cool, what sound do you use for your basslines ?
 
O

open mind

Guest
Iszazial said:
basline eqing is probably my worst aspect of production and it always seems that when i finally master a song that my bass line always sounds slightly off or just crummy.

does any one have a good technic? maybe like a good all in one package vst i should get or sumthin?
it dont really depend alot on the vst u use if u your basslines are OFF its the quantize and you that play the keys u know.no VST can help you u got to fuck with your timing and play skillz.good luck practice practice practice makes a master.
 

AMG

God:Mind~Asiatic
ill o.g.
KEV31 said:
does anybody know where i can find a spectrum analyzer? are they made for vsts?
i know FL Studio has one. i also think CEP 2.x has one also.
 

Ash Holmz

The Bed-Stuy Fly Guy
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 207
the best technique to drums, kicks, bass anything is to have plenty of samples/sounds available from jump ... sound selection is the number one way to get a tight bassline .. if the bass dont fit to begin with ... eq aint goona help .. it like tryin to force the wrong piece into a puzzle ...but once u get the basic tone down.. then u can filter/eq/compress and get it in the mix right... .. that spectrum analyzer is a good tip though word up ... but the best way to get a tight sound is to start with the right sound (HA!)
 

5th Sequence

Hip Hop Head, Certified
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 198
word up.

a new technique I just read from some other post here at ill was sending your kick drum and your bassline to a send and then heavily compressing both (actually, limiting them heavily so they are so mashed that they seem to gel as one). Then you bring that channel back up underneath your mix enough to give a phat, unified presence.

I have been messing with this technique less than a day now, but i have some beats i'm gonna try this out on. Cant turn down an oppurtinity for a tighter low end!! i'll let you guys know if it works as well as i'm thinkin it will.

As far as a spectral analyzer, I use waves also. I cant figure out the shit in FL. I mean i see it working but its all colorfull and weird lines goin everywhere its useless to pinpoint frequencies.... for me anyways.
 

thedreampolice

A backwards poet writes inverse.
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 21
you can also use a technique called ducking, where you send the bass to a compressor. here is a some copied text on that

"Ducking is often used when doing voiceovers. It allows background music to automatically be turned down whenever a external source, such as an announcer's voice, begins to speak. You can also use ducking to have one instrument push the other out of the way, such as the bass guitar ducking every time the kick drum hits.


To make the compressor into a ducker, plug the source into the inputs and plug the trigger into the sidechain. The Sidechain return (the ring connection) isn't used in this example. In the example below, the sound of a radio announcer's voice will automatically turn the music down when he speaks and it will slowly fade back in after he stops:


Set the compressor controls like this:

* Threshold set for +3dB (around 3 o'clock)
* Ratio set for 6:1
* Knee set for Soft
* Peak/RMS set for Peak
* Attack set around 9 o'clock
* Release set around 2 o'clock

Plug the announcer's mic into the mixer, and feed that mic to the compressor's Sidechain in. When the announcer speaks, the music will duck down (turn the ratio up to duck it even lower). When he finishes speaking, the music will fade back up at a rate set by the Release knob. "

I am also a bass player so i play most of my own bass lines. Here is a great article on recording great "real" bass lines
http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.nsf/files/C05204C8DC2968B78625665000797D4D

anyway hope that helps someone.
 
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