Ableton Forum

any tips on getting that tech house subby bass I'm hearing in some tracks? some examples of what I like are:

Mark Mendes: Straight Away
Dubfire: Dios and Diablo
Steve Mac: Gotta Have Some Fun

some of it almost sounds like a pitched kick drum

I've tried using a sine wave and triangle wave but it's not quite the same.

dude, if it sounds like a pitched kick, then,... why don't you start there?

you need to just spend some time with Operator. its perfect for making these sub kicks. and you have way more control over the kick than with using a sampled kick.

try messing with every possible parameter. experiment with release times.

there are thousands of tutorials on the internettes on how make kicks.

also, just listening to the kick by itself(soloed). is a horrible way to make any kind of music. add lots of layers. like the snare the hats the melody/lead ,fx etc. kicks will always sound way different after you mix all these elements in.

well it sometimes sounds like a pitched kick. Also, I am not talking about the kicks on the quarter note, I'm asking about the sub bass notes in between the kicks.

thanks for the idea about operator, I'll try that.

Put a Donk on it.


sorry, couldn't resist

Theres a really great trick involving a Filter delay on the kick. I couldn't find the link to the post, but essentially its the following:

Stick a filter delay on the kick track
Use only L+R
50Hz
0.50

click "sync" so it says "time" and change it to 20ms

i forget where the feedback should be, but turn the Volume all the way up


this gives some nice sub right after the kick


Here's the link: http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... y+50hz+sub

there`s a fantastic video on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YNFOfQSOUY

this is on operator and kick-drums. you can easily use this for bass.

then - there`s a special one on BASS, if you follow these 2, you`ll be set.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuBtNCd_ ... re=related

thanks! watched it... that's sort of the sound I'm looking for.

theres a free plug called mysterion. kind of a wierd synth. its basicly a big x-y pad for the gui. but this baby will shake the floor when you hit those low notes. turn your velocity off on your controller or draw the notes in at full velocity for that low bass.
also to i use the load up preset for wusikstation cause its just a pure sine and if i feel like crashing my system then i use sinesub 2500 in sonik synth.
if you want a slightly harsher or dirtier sound check out iblit and theres a good free juno plug but i cant think of the name

milesahead wrote:there`s a fantastic video on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YNFOfQSOUY

this is on operator and kick-drums. you can easily use this for bass.

then - there`s a special one on BASS, if you follow these 2, you`ll be set.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuBtNCd_ ... re=related

I really got into nednednerb's style of tutorial. Not for the tech level as such, but found it really funny.

Great the way he sings along with his example to get his point across.

Go for it nednednerb. Love your work.

Simpler + Sine + Transpose + Volume/Pitch env tweaking.

then maybe I'll ask too...

pretty much the same question: how to create such bass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlCJWRq16Ng

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuTFBrj6R8Y

couldn't listen to examples above cause I'm not at home, but from the explanation I can tell it's pretty much the same.


Here's what I have found out:

operator => sinewave => some tweaking => lpf => staturator => heavy sidechain compression => (and what my friend suggested) reversing polarity of whole signal so it will never mess up the kick

Have I missed something?

Zygi wrote:operator => sinewave => some tweaking => lpf => staturator => heavy sidechain compression => (and what my friend suggested) reversing polarity of whole signal so it will never mess up the kick

Have I missed something?

I would say the opposite: saturation, sidechaining and such isn't generally needed. A bit of a lovely pitch envelope to make the sub bass "kick-like", and lpf to process the attack portion of the sound.

ok, saturator is just for some taste and warmth...

but what about the reverse polarity... is there any point doing it?

reversing polarity (i believe he's talking about using Utility to do this) puts the track in the back of your head.

The idea is that it wont interfere sonically with the kick. I'm not sure if thats true or not though.

here are some examples of the sub bass I'm wanting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBxNishjsIw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR2b5pfcUEQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxz3r1iASoA