Ableton Forum

for stuff where the groove has to have funk, i play the bass by hand (keys or bass guitar) and ive even gotten away wth vitual bassist once.

for electronic grooves i would program the basslines. sometimes i would funk out a bass groove using the mouse too but im more into being spontaneous at the moment.

lots of mangling. what goes in is almost never the same as what goes out.

i guess it becomes a bit of like predicting the future, knowing what kind of input you need with your knowhow of manipulation to achieve a certain output.

A good rule of thumb is the old Motown bass player rule: every kick drum hit must have a corresponding bass note, but not every bass note must have a corresponding kick drum hit. The best bass players I've recorded in my studio tend to follow this rule. It makes the bassline really lock in with the drums, while still allowing plenty of freedom of expression using different melodic notes and playing some extra bass "fill" notes here and there.

The rule can certainly be broken effectively, but that can lead to a weak groove in the wrong hands.

The other rules of thumb I try to follow are: keep it simple, and keep some note durations short.

Jim S. wrote:A good rule of thumb is the old Motown bass player rule: every kick drum hit must have a corresponding bass note, but not every bass note must have a corresponding kick drum hit. The best bass players I've recorded in my studio tend to follow this rule. It makes the bassline really lock in with the drums, while still allowing plenty of freedom of expression using different melodic notes and playing some extra bass "fill" notes here and there.

The rule can certainly be broken effectively, but that can lead to a weak groove in the wrong hands.

The other rules of thumb I try to follow are: keep it simple, and keep some note durations short.

That will work on an atonal kick, like most natural kick samples - but if your kick is of the synthetic type which has a strong 'sine wave' component you may start to have low end mixing issues due to harmonic clashing.
In these instances consider the kick as part of the bassline !
you may have to modify your kick drum accordingly so it can articulate the different notelengths as required.

It depends on what I am doing and what I am writing for. If it is meant to be worked into my live project then I usually play my P-bass. Sometimes I'll play the Moog Rogue for a real beefy low end brown note. If I am out with the laptop or have something already in mind I just draw it in with the mouse. If I am jamming just to see what happens then I usually play my nord and record the midi as well as the audio. That way I can take the midi clip and put it on other vsts for different bass sounds. Lot's of taffy pulling afterword to get the right feel.

Angstrom wrote:

Jim S. wrote:A good rule of thumb is the old Motown bass player rule: every kick drum hit must have a corresponding bass note, but not every bass note must have a corresponding kick drum hit. The best bass players I've recorded in my studio tend to follow this rule. It makes the bassline really lock in with the drums, while still allowing plenty of freedom of expression using different melodic notes and playing some extra bass "fill" notes here and there.

The rule can certainly be broken effectively, but that can lead to a weak groove in the wrong hands.

The other rules of thumb I try to follow are: keep it simple, and keep some note durations short.

That will work on an atonal kick, like most natural kick samples - but if your kick is of the synthetic type which has a strong 'sine wave' component you may start to have low end mixing issues due to harmonic clashing.
In these instances consider the kick as part of the bassline !
you may have to modify your kick drum accordingly so it can articulate the different notelengths as required.

That's an interesting point; I don't use kick drums with strong sine wave tones (I guess I did use 808 type stuff a long time ago).

If you're into music that has a strong connection with 'real' acoustic music (like, d'n'b basses from dub, house basses from disco), go to your library and pick up some books... or do it anyways, just plow through 'em and programme in a few patterns. That's how I learned (well, I learned by playing them on bass, but it's the same thing). One thing with bass even more so than guitar and piano-ish sounds, I think, is that when you stop the note as just as important as when you start it.

I've used sequenced, sampled bass sounds for quite a while, before that I used to make loops of my own playing... I only got a MIDI keyboard today (cheap as chips M-Audio thing), but I think I'll be playing first and quantising later from now on. It's easier to mechanise a human performance than it is the other way around!

noisetonepause wrote:It's easier to mechanise a human performance than it is the other way around!

Words of wisom there, my friend.

DeadlyKungFu wrote: Generally bass lines are less about what notes you play but more about when you play (or don't).

Word. 1/2 the magic is all about when you play, and when you don't.

Positive and negative space will dictate how asthetically pleasing the sound is, similar to art. The bass #1 goal is to glue the melody to the rhythm, and the rhythm to the melody, this dynamic is essential.

oh, and usually I play the bass tracks live, either with my triton (tweaked sounds or samples) or with my moog. Sometimes I quantize, sometimes I don't. That's about musical style though. Or, if you have a guitar, you can tune down the lowest string and then further pitch on the computer. I have made some convincing bass sounds/riffs this way. Good enough for some stuff.

ethios4 wrote:

noisetonepause wrote:It's easier to mechanise a human performance than it is the other way around!

Words of wisom there, my friend.

Ta.

And poorly phrased ones at that.

Being old fashion I use a bass

Given it is a MIDI bass with drum triggers all over it

-Ben

i plug in my bass and go

at least i would if my soundcard weren't fucked