Bass lines short or long?

H

Henshaw

Guest
This may seem trivial...but i cant get that "perfect bassline" (or anywhere close to it)any suggestions?

my main problem is do i use short choppy notes or long drawn out note?

im currently tryin to do a "club banga" but im jus wandering is there a certain rule of thumb....

Thanks much

~1
 
i my experience, i always end up making the basslines too choppy and too complex. so id say ya prolly wanna try to keep em kinda long-ish notes, and kinda simple-ish structure..... not that theres any kind of rules though.....




peace.
 
A careful blend of short and long notes. This helps provide groove and give the bass track a certain melodic element because of the articulations.
 
I have a huge problem with this, and many of my tracks tend to stay bassline-free because of this problem. It's kind of sad since I play the actual bass, but I just can't understand hip-hop basslines. I usually just come up with basslines by playing notes in harmony with the melody I came up with. It's a huge pain in the a**! Can anyone recommend a good synth for basslines? something that doesn't sound too electronic. I like a warmer acoustic type sound, and i can write acoustic basslines for hip-hop, but that's for when i'm making common, mos def type beats.I need something harder since my artists have a dirtier ny club type style. I think I've used up the 808 bass enough. I need something NEW!!!
 
djavid15 said:
I have a huge problem with this, and many of my tracks tend to stay bassline-free because of this problem. It's kind of sad since I play the actual bass, but I just can't understand hip-hop basslines.
...
I think I've used up the 808 bass enough. I need something NEW!!!
Click to expand...

Listen to some old Parliament/Funkadelic, etc. Play along. Then take a walk, and just listen to the bassline in your head. Start improvising your own bassline in your head. When you get home, figure out what you improvised, and use it.

I've always been a fan of slap/pop work in basslines, myself. Tricky to sequence, but sounds sweet.
 
trilogy by spectrasonics is a GREAT bass vst, got synth bass, awesome actoustic basses, and electric basses, slapped, fretless, picked all that good stuff. look into this program.
 
Thanks guys. I use sampletank and my triton and emx1 for bass sounds now. I've seen that plugin advertised before. gotta check it out
 
djavid15 said:
Thanks guys. I use sampletank and my triton and emx1 for bass sounds now. I've seen that plugin advertised before. gotta check it out
Click to expand...

you wont be dissapointed with trilogy trust man. You can really program realistic bass with it I've managed to fool a couple of bass players with it pretty easily. The average consumer never knows the difference.

As for basslines it really depends on the song and the groove but a alternate between choppy phrases and long notes that slide together. Also I like to hit the bass notes at the same time as the kick then maybe throw a couple of notes on the off beats to give it flavor.

Peace
 
I used to have this same problem.. and at times i still do.. but if youre not into vst's and really wanna know how to gets some nice sounding bass.. just spend more time practicing on it.. bass is just like any other instrument not every bass sound is going to fit with what you got going.. so u have to find the right bass to fit, and then you have to filter and eq it to give it that thick sound you want.. Basically its just gonna take some time training your ear.. theres no right or wrong bass sound, just have to find which one that fits w/the rest of your instruments....
 
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