Programming basslines

im relatively new at producing music im trying to do house mainly prog,electro but i just can’t produce a decent bassline i use ableton to program my basslines but they always end up sounding naff and very robotic if anyone has got any useful tips it would be greatly appreciated.my foot is so close to going through my laptop screen help!

Hey Jonev are you a subscriber? … if not then you need to be because the s.a guys cover bass in great detail in most of their tutorials  and for £59.00 you get pro help on anything thats doing your nut in !:cool:

I agree with egg2. If you aren’t already, I would sign up too. Not to mention that there are alot of producers already on the site that know a bit about programming too.



My best advice is to try and imitate what one of your favorite producers are doing. Listen to some tracks you like and follow along, but then tweak it to how you want it to sound.

some advise i would give is always have you kick drum loop running when programming the bass sound, don’t move on to the next stage until your happy with the bass and kick, keep things simple to start with one or two oscillators. one thing i’ve found with bass is if it sounds fantastic on its own chances are you be hard pushed to fit it in the mix if you have loads of other elements playing at the same time. other than that sign up and become a subscriber

I can sit for hours working on a bass im doing one right now im just going over and over a loop until i get something that sounds as bouncy and energetic as i want and after that ill move on and throw in some more ideas



I listen to alot of my fav producers and pay attention to how they lay theirs out … not every bass note is on a beat or even on a line in the piano roll sometimes its good to nudge them off a touch

Trying to copy someone u like is a great idea if you are a beginner as having a visual layout of how they did it from a MIDI point of view is a great starting point. Copy, paste and tweak!

Also remember that even if it doesn’t sound like it hits on a beat, that might not always be the case. There is the possibility that they are sidechaining the bassline to the kick and you might not hear it all the way, so be wary.

The way i do a bassline is when i have my kick and drum patters playing, and possibly even any loops, samples or riff that i have in mind also playing, i’ll keep playing with keys on the keyboard untill I get a pattern that sounds great. Then it’s just really a matter of making sure i’m finding the right Bass sound, which really is the longest part of the process for me, going through various patches in various plug ins, then when i’ve found something close or near to what i’m looking for (if i need to) i’ll tweak various envelope settings, etc. Especially so i can work out which i may want to automate during my track.



Creating good basslines and good riffs take ages, so be patient!

i think the most important part of making a bass line is deciding what your bass line is for.



if you have a complex lead then all you want is a very simple bass, if your lead is simple then its probably best to go crazy on the bass line or it could be a case of wanting a synth that acts as both bass and lead.