filtering basslines from sample, properly?

C

Consern

New member
how do i manage to filter the bassline from a sample? i know, i run a low pass filter but sometimes the kicks thump remain on the sample which kinda kills the bassline just a bit..... also the bassline may be a little muddy, how can i make em to sound clean?
 
You don't. You mask the sound using your own drums and hope nobody catches it. The idea of this technique is not to make a clean bass line. Its to make a bass line from what you have. You can try cutting some of the bass frequency out with eq in the 150 range and maybe compress it to get some of that volume back but that technique even has its flaws
 
I generally use some reverb to add a bit more definition to the bassline. And most of time when I'm in Slicex, I make sure the cutoff frequency is set fairly low (10 - 15%).
 
a nice trick that not a lot of people think about is to run a high pass over it.

So you have your bassline filtered down using the low pass right? but the kicks are still coming thru. now run a high pass over everything and only cut out the very very bottom, removing the kick, but leaving the bassline. sometimes i run into samples where its hard to distinguish the frequencies of the kick and the bass so they just mud together. in that case, theres really no way around it.
 
YUP, HP FILTER. But doesn't always give the best result because it takes alot of other elemnts from the song along with the bass alot of times. Messing with stereo dynamics can drain some low end as well.
 
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^^that is actually why I think a HPF is a bad idea here. It takes away too much. I would rather run a LPF layer my drums with it and compress the pig shit out of the sample first
 
Do like Dre and make your own beat with your own drums and then get a bass player to do your bass line. Either on synth bass or bass guitar. If you don't have access to anyone in your area, check out my gig on Fiverr for bass lines (or anyone else's for that matter). The point is: bass is a serious matter, don't half-step on it ;-)
 
I agree, I think adding your own bass line is a great bit. You may have to play around to match the timbre of the sample. You can get some good bass samples sometimes though.
 
Try this! Put two equalizers on the sample. One low pass filter and one regular eq. The low pass filter will cut of any unwanted high frequencies and the regular eq will help to cut down the kick drum. After cutting off the high frequencies, set the regular 200 hz or where ever you see the kick punching through. You might want to set up an frequency analyzer plugin to view it. What you want to do is set up a narrow Q Factor on the kick frequency and pull it down without bring the rest of the bass with it. The Q Factor job is to widen or narrow the frequencies being effected by the eq. Hope this helps
 
lpf. dont be scared to leave sum low mids after filtering this gives your bass more definition. chop around the kicks or like sumone else said earlier try to mask the kicks maybe hpf a kick and throw it on top of the filtered bassline kick to make the kick sound more alive. another trick i occasionally use is if u play guitar make a bassline with ur guitar. try to use the lowest possible notes then filter it and add sum resonation mayb. or do the dre thing which ends up sounding the cleanest.
 
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