Tips for Bassline Variation

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prestondj
Posts: 79
Joined: Sat Jul 02, 2011 5:54 pm

Tips for Bassline Variation

Post by prestondj » Sat May 13, 2017 3:50 pm

Hey, so just looking to bounce ideas off you guys for tricks to variate basslines. The music I make is Minimal Techno, just like the kick, the bassline does not really change all that much and whilst this leaves room for other elements to really shine through like hi-hats, percs, shakers etc I would love some more ideas on what producers do with this.

Some ideas I have already and have been mentioned are:

- Move bassline up or down an octave
- Filters?
- Beat Repeat?
- Silence - then back in

Any other ideas?? Would be much apreciated thanks!

Stromkraft
Posts: 7033
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:34 am

Re: Tips for Bassline Variation

Post by Stromkraft » Sat May 13, 2017 5:11 pm

prestondj wrote:Hey, so just looking to bounce ideas off you guys for tricks to variate basslines. The music I make is Minimal Techno, just like the kick, the bassline does not really change all that much and whilst this leaves room for other elements to really shine through like hi-hats, percs, shakers etc I would love some more ideas on what producers do with this.

Some ideas I have already and have been mentioned are:

- Move bassline up or down an octave
- Filters?
- Beat Repeat?
- Silence - then back in

Any other ideas?? Would be much apreciated thanks!
  • Automation, sometimes using external sources. Subtly directed to anything that sounds good being modulated, with the typical being filter cutoff, resonance, VCF attack and decay. Can be in rhythm or free.
  • Fills
  • Simplification
  • Slurs (portamento/glide)
  • Parallel compression, saturation or distortion going in and out
  • Modulation of non-sub parts of the bass line
  • Side-chaining upper frequencies in different ways
  • Side-chaining subs and varying the source, typically the kick, in different ways
  • Short reverb
For bass it's more effective being very subtle IMHO.
Make some music!

prestondj
Posts: 79
Joined: Sat Jul 02, 2011 5:54 pm

Re: Tips for Bassline Variation

Post by prestondj » Sat May 13, 2017 5:31 pm

:D That is heaps of ideas! I supposed I will youtube some of them!

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