Synth-Bass
Creating your ideal Synth-Bass for Recording. A full controllable sound without the production problems. Design example using Propellerhead Reason 9.5
Designing It
In a modern digital audio workstation (DAW) environment, musicians are expected to be proficient at both music and audio. We have to make decisions to balance our creative music and our technical audio. The DAW process would be something like:-
Sound Creation -> Music Composition -> Music Performance -> Recording -> Audio Engineering -> Audio Production -> Audio Mastering.
The first 3 are creative and the last 3 are technical. That's just the way it is.
Have you ever been in a situation where you've proudly created a really good powerful Synth-Bass; recorded it in a song; then at mixing, you find you have to cut here and there because the bass is spoiling the mix? Sounds familiar? Creatively, we want power but, technically, we want control.
So all we need is a bass set-up which can balance between the power and control. Basically we want a bass template which let's us change the bass synth patch to whatever we want while still maintaining this Power -vs- Control balance.
Taa Daa! I present to you the 3-part Bass Set-Up. We will use 3 synths to create the 3 main Synth-Bass components: Sub-Bass, Main Body and High Attack.
"Main Body" is the sound you hear and understand as "Bass". Typically, this is the low frequency sound of an electric bass guitar played normally (nothing fancy).
"High Attack" is the timbral high frequencies which gives a sound its character. These upper frequencies define our recognition of different instruments.
"Sub-Bass" is very low frequency bass rumble. Sub-Bass is odd because you can't hear this sub-bass energy very well but you perceive it clearly. Sometimes you can't hear the wind but you feel it blowing in your ear. Sometimes you walk past a truck or lorry and you know the engine is on because you can feel it shaking.
Resources:-
There are some variations on this method of designing a bass sound.His explanation is very good.
Building It
If you use multiple synths for your bass sound, then you probably already have a synth creating the high-attack & main-body and another synth doing the sub-bass & main-body. You may already be doing this method. These 3 components are integral in how we perceive and experience the sound of bass. All I am doing here is to split them up into 3 discrete synths to process individually.
Although my example will be using Reason 9.5, this same technique can be easily used in any other DAW or studio set-up.
Device List :-
● Combinator (Rack Device Holder)● MicroMix 6:2 Line Mixer● ID8 Instruments (Standard MIDI)● Your favourite Synth-Bass. I'm using Subtractor Subtractive Synth● Comp-01 Compressor/ LimiterShopping/ Download List :-
● Little LFO - by Matt Tytel● Omega Trimmer - by Forgotten Clank StudiosAlternatives:-○ Little LFO = Nautilus by Skrock, Subtractor○ Omega Trimmer = MagmaSonic Classic Filter, Reason MClass Equalizer, Reason Classic Channel EQ.
The grand plan is to create a generic bass template where you can utilise all your favourite bass patches into the "High Attack" device position. We will preset the Main Body and Sub-Bass. You then tailor-make your bass sound by adjusting the volume-levels of Sub Bass, Main Body and High Attack.
Feel free to adjust the settings to your taste.
Procedure to create Synth-Bass template
○ Open a Combinator.○ Drop in the 6:2 Mixer.○ Below that, drop in the Little LFO.○ Below that, drop in Omega Trimmer #1.○ Below that, drop in the ID8.○ Below that, drop in Omega Trimmer #2.○ Below that, drop in your Favourite Synth-Bass device.○ Below that, drop in Omega Trimmer #3.○ At the top slot, drop in the COMP-01 compressor.Everything should wire-up correctly.Little LFO set-up
○ Switch on 1st oscillator (use the toggle switch).○ Sine-Wave is the default wave. Good.○ click the "Keyboard" light.○ set Attack = 0.024s (24ms)○ set Decay = 2.968s (appx 3 seconds)○ set Sustain = 0.500○ set Release = 0.024s (24ms)ID8 set-up
○ select Bass; it defaults to Finger. Good.COMP-01 set-up
○ Ratio = 100○ Threshold = 65○ Attack = 15○ Release = 70
Crossover Setup:
Trimmer #1 Mono HPF 36.59 Hz 48 dB/oct
Sub-Bass LPF 145.2 Hz 24 dB/oct
Trimmer #2 Mono HPF 145.4 Hz 36 dB/oct
Main Body LPF 585.5 Hz 18 dB/oct
Trimmer #3 Stereo HPF 586.2 Hz 24 dB/oct
High Attack LPF 7.04 kHz 18 dB/oct
If you do not have a favourite Synth-Bass device, then just use Subtractor. From the bass presets, maybe choose "Vel Attack Bass", "SynthBass2" , "Picked Bass", "Thunk", "ClassicSynthBass", "Ring Amp Bass", "SynterBass", "Fat VeloBass" or "Fat Analog Bass".
For High Attack, I personally like to use sampled sounds on Reason NN-19 Sampler. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything in the preset packs to recommend.
Octave Check:
The Synth-Bass template is essentially ready but check that the synths are in the correct octaves. On the Combinator, click "Show Programmer"; click each synth device (ie Little LFO, ID8 & Subtractor) and check the "Transp:" value. The first 2 will probably be correct at Transp:=0 but the High Attack synth would probably need to be Transp:= 12 -or- 24.
Using It
We use this Synth-Bass template in 2 ways:-
(1) For creative control, we insert our choice of synth sound into the High Attack device slot.
(2) For mix-down control, we adjust the volume levels of the 3 components
Below are a few examples by music genre.
Volume Level Sub-Bass Main Body High Attack
Generic Use 70 70 50
Electronic 75 50 65
Rock 60 90 40
Your Synth-Bass set-up is now complete. Enjoy!
If you want to know a bit more, read on!
Reasons for my choice of Synths
In this synth-bass set-up, the "star of the show" is your High Attack synth sound. However, the choice of Main Body synth sound will make some difference (although not as much).
Main Body Synth = ID8 : Bass\ Finger
In our modern music environment, we use a lot of synthesizer and sampled bass sounds. For the Main Body synth, there are a lot of choices (which you are free to pick and choose from). But however much electronic or synthetic we become, we cannot escape our "real world" roots. As such, I chose the electric-bass.
You may have a sound you like for Main Body. Also try Bass\ Synth or Electric Piano\ Digital or Electric Piano\ Clav.
If you want the Main Body to be a little fatter, insert in a UN-16 Unison (between the ID8 & Trimmer); set voice-count=8, detune=40, dry/wet=50.
You could also use Reason Electric Bass for the Main Body synth. It's currently not free of charge; it uses a lot of memory: In Combinator's device Programmer, it needs to be Transp:=12. Because of our limited filter band, some of the nuances (which have higher frequency content) may sound "squishy".
Sub-Bass Synth = Little LFO : Single Sine Oscillator
In the mix, the sub-bass frequencies [20 to 60 Hz] are tricky. Not only is it shared between the Kick Drum and the Bass Music, you sometimes don't even hear it but your VU meters are going wild. As such, a single Sine Wave should be the most predictable and easiest to control (filter).
In Subtractor's bass presets, the patches "Sub Bass 1" and "Hyperbottom" both sound good. But the content which "sounds good" is in the higher frequencies beyond the Sub-Bass range. They'll be filtered out by the Omega Trimmers anyway. Moreover, if they're using 2 detuned oscillators, in the Sub-Bass range, that will cause some unpredictable interference.
And so we end up with the tiny Little LFO synth running 1 sine-wave oscillator. Another frugal alternative is Nautilus synth (by Skrock) but just use the 1 sine-wave only.
Methodology for the trimmer Frequency choices
Frequency Bands
The design is such that 3 discrete synths will operate within 3 frequency bands which are almost mutually exclusive: Keep them separated.
36.6 Hz ~Sub-Bass~ 145 Hz
145 Hz ~Main Body~ 586 Hz
586 Hz ~Hi Atk~ 7.04 kHz
There are several ways to select these bands. I used the electric-bass again as my reference point.
For a standard 4-string bass, the lowest note is tuned to E2 = 164.8 Hz. Some people tune to D2 = 146.8 Hz. Standard 5-string bass is tuned to B2 = 123.5 Hz. Reason Electric Bass goes down to D2.
Where should the Sub-Bass -to- Main Body crossover frequency be?
I decided it was sensible to use D2 (146.8Hz) as my Sub-Bass to Main Body crossover frequency (actually just a tiny bit below that frequency).
Where should the Main Body -to- High Attack crossover be? Or how wide should the Main Body band be? I decided that 2 octaves made sense... D2 to D4. On a 4-string bass, that covers from the 1st open string all the way to the 4th string up to the 7th fret.
So D4 = 587.3 Hz would be the Main Body to High Attack crossover frequency (or a tiny bit below that).
Since the Main Body band is 2 octaves, then the Sub-Bass band would also be the 2 octaves. This sets the lower-limit in Sub-Bass at D0 = 36.7 Hz.
The upper-limit in High Attack is less critical so I chose a frequency of 3 x D6 = 3 x 2.349 kHz = 7.05 kHz which looked and sounded about right.
(Hertz) Oct=0 Oct=1 Oct=2 Oct=3 Oct=4 G#/Ab 51.913 103.83 207.65 415.30 830.61 G 48.999 97.999 196.00 392.00 783.99F#/Gb 46.249 92.499 185.00 369.99 739.99 F 43.654 87.307 174.61 349.23 698.46 E 41.203 82.407 164.81 329.63 659.26D#/Eb 38.891 77.782 155.56 311.13 622.25 D 36.708 73.416 146.83 293.66 587.33C#/Db 34.648 69.296 138.59 277.18 554.37 C 32.703 65.406 130.81 261.63 523.25 B 30.868 61.735 123.47 246.94 493.88A#/Bb 29.135 58.270 116.54 233.08 466.16 A 27.500 55.000 110.00 220.00 440.00(Hertz) Oct=0 Oct=1 Oct=2 Oct=3 Oct=4
Filter Slopes
For setting-up of the filter shelf slopes, I originally did this by ear and consequently set all HPF = 24 dB/oct and set all LPF = 18 dB/oct. When I used the Spectrum Analyser, I saw a lot of frequencies bleeding through.
"Solo" the low end and the spectrum analyser will show stuff which you can't hear. Not surprisingly, the worst was the Sub-Bass HPF which needed to be 48 dB/oct while the LPF was adjusted to 24 dB/oct.
"Solo" the Main Body and I was surprised to see some low end frequencies bleeding through (also I couldn't really hear this so it wasn't a lot) and so HPF was set to 36 dB/oct. (to be safe) while the LPF = 18 dB/oct was good.
The High Attack was left unchanged with HPF = 24 dB/ oct and LPF = 18 dB/ oct.
At this stage, I was really thankful to be using Omega Trimmer because of the many choices of filter shelf slopes. It saved me so much time.
That is it! I hope that using this Synth-Bass set-up will save you time and still sound good, especially at mix-down. Have fun!
The End
Post Script :-
This whole process of development of a generic Synth-Bass is a recording approach... taking steps to avoid a clash with the kick (bass) drum. Now we have set the lowest bass frequency to 36.6 Hz, we can plan to design a kick-drum with a sub-bass boom at say 33.3 Hz to avoid any mix problems. Typically, we would cut-off all rumble frequencies below 20 Hz (or even 30 Hz) so around 32-34 Hz is perhaps ideal.