Making 808s longer in FL Studio..?

[Stevethaboss]

Im trying to make more "boom bap" type sounds.. I didnt realize how much deep bass they have.. My problem is my 808s play for like a few seconds then fade out.. I want to be able to make them last like 5 seconds or longer.. How can I do this with FL? Please don't tell me like parallel compress the lows and 60 hz 70 dbs and shizz.. I'm a novice.. lol thanks though !

 

[MetronomeAUDiLE]

We'll, whatever the skill level, you're always welcomed here at FutureProducers. Personally, I don't really touch 808's too much but with some generic knowledge in how they work and are created I can only suggest that you make you own to your specific needs. Considering how 808's aren't something you could 'stretch' or duplicate without some muddy low end and an overall crappy 808 pattern, you're going to have to resort to making your own OR digging for new samples that fit your needs. It isn't hard at all and could be done in third party freeware such as Audacity. Literally all an 808 is, is an initial deep sine wave that usually has some sort of compression / distortion or EQ'ing done to increase volume and low end and more then usually faded out.

If you grab Audacity or already have it, you can start by finding "Generate" in the top column and select "Chirp" or "Chirp Generator" in the listing. Once you've got that open, usually anyone with common knowledge in producing could figure it all out but you being a novice, I'll throw you a few custom variables for you to mess around with and find what you like:



Now, like I said these parameters come quite simple to anyone who's been here long enough and understands the concept of basic synthesis in music. So it's a bit to explain but mess around w/ a few of those settings and find out what does what if your interested. NOTE: If you're looking for big bass, 808's, stick somewhere between 30-80hz. The lower the number, the deeper the bass. If you want a consistent sounding 808 that doesn't change pitch, then keep the same number in both boxes, but if you want your 808 to go deep in pitch before dying out then you can try making the first box higher then the other like I had it. But don't go any lower then 20hz unless you've got some serious subs because anywhere under that is almost inaudible to the human ear and could cause damage if your subs could actually ring those out.

 

[WastedBeats]

Yo I'll give you a simpler way to get started on it.

There are a few ways to do it, the easiest being to download some different 808 samples with long kicks.
You could also layer a short 808 kick with a sine wav or Sub Bass in Sytrus and EQ them until it sounds right,
The most useful thing to do would be to learn how to use the Channel settings in Fl to manipulate samples and stretch them out yourself, it will probably take a bit of learning, but there are a lot of cool things to be done with it once you learn the basics.

 

[ProducerJC]

And there you have it, there's more than one way to get the job done!

 

[hollandturbine]

You don't have to use a sample from an actual TR-808, like even back in the 90's I was using a Roland SH-2 synthesizer instead of the TR-808 Bass Drum because it gave me both pitch control and longer decays and a lot of cats were gravitating towards digital synths to produce sub bass instead of using the more common 808 samples that were used at that time.