5 Ways to Make Your Bass Hit Different

Bass That Bumps

This first tip can make the difference between a bass that just sits there, and one that punches you in the chest in unique ways.

The kick from the TR-808 drum machine has a thunderous knock and boom that’s nothing short of iconic. 808 basslines hit so hard because of the pitch drop at the start of the 808 kick drum that gives every note this percussive thump.

As it happens, you can add this same punch to any bass that needs it. Apply a tiny pitch bend to the start of each note – just a quick downward sweep over a few milliseconds will help it punch through.

Keep it subtle, though: you want to feel the bump more than hear it. Go too far and your bass will sound like a cartoon laser gun.

Synths and samplers make this technique easy to do with their pitch envelope controls. But you can also add this pitch bump to any audio signal with PitchShaper. Load it up in ShaperBox, set it to Audio mode, then draw in a punchy envelope shape for precise control over the pitch of each note.

And to make your bass really hit different, experiment with different pitch shapes. Bends, wobbles and twists can really help to set your low end apart.

The Blowtorch

If you like filthy, gritty bass, this next technique is guaranteed to make your sub or 808 slice through the mix.

You know how a chef uses a mini blowtorch to crisp up a crème brûlée for that final layer of crunch on top? Well, you can do the same thing with bass.

A plain sub has power, but the notes can be hard to distinguish. So to help the bass cut through, you can layer some noise on top. The obvious method for this is to blend in some grit using a synth's noise oscillator.

But here's a rather more clever way to do it. ShaperBox's NoiseShaper layers looping noise onto any signal, with the volume controlled by that signal’s amplitude via NoiseShaper’s Envelope Follower.

That’s a good start, but it can feel one-dimensional – like two separate layers sitting on top of each other. What you really want is for the bass and noise to grind together, interacting so they feel like one snarling unit.

So, here's the sauce: turn the Envelope Follower Attack, Hold and Release settings down to minimum. Now the noise closely follows the bass's actual wave cycles, imbuing the sound with reactive crunch and glue.

Push it further by adding DriveShaper and using the Envelope Follower to drive the distortion in response to the incoming amplitude. Rather than feeling like static distortion, it now breathes with the bass.

And for more flair, try different noise samples in NoiseShaper to make unique textures.

So a crispy layer of noise adds grit, presence and texture that helps the bass cut through, and helps your ear latch onto the sub.

And if the noise gets too much, just back everything off for a subtle dash of analogue flavour.

Low-End Layering

Layering two different bass patches together is a classic production technique: a sub for low-end weight, and a mid-range layer for character.

But combining two different patches like this can end up sounding disjointed. For better synergy, try the classic jungle and drum ’n’ bass method of generating your mid-range layer from your sub bass.

Here’s an 808 bass. It's phat and deep, with a bit of cymbal in the sample. But it isn't interesting enough in the mids to carry the tune.

First, I’ll make a copy of the bass. On the copy, I’ll add an EQ high-passing at just under 200Hz to cut out all the bass frequencies, making the track all mids and treble.

Now I can add any effects I want to incorporate before the EQ. The classic mid-bass recipe is: distortion first, to add meaty harmonics, then a filter second, to chew on that meat and add tasty movement.

In ShaperBox, load DriveShaper first, then FilterShaper. Draw a filter pattern that moves with the groove, "talking" in sync with the rhythm. Getting these animalistic rhythms to groove is key to making basslines that feel unique.

Then add other effects to accentuate that fundamental character: a bit of NoiseShaper before DriveShaper, compression and volume shaping after. Then, after ShaperBox, some OTT and stereo widening pumps up the mids.

And experimenting with weirder effects will make your mid-bass feel really special. Try PitchShaper at the very start of the chain, and automate its Mix to blend in an octave-up version of itself by different amounts through the track.

The end result: all the power of the original sub, plus a moving, textured mid-range layer that continually talks and changes.

The Sweet Spot

Play your bass on the wrong notes and no amount of processing will save it.

The sweet spot for sub bass is roughly the range between D0 and G0 (about 36-50Hz). These notes carry the most weight and impact on the majority of subwoofers and sound systems.

Notes below this range can sound flappy and too low, and many sound systems won't reproduce their fundamental pitch at all. Notes higher than this range, on the other hand, start to sound more boomy and honky.

Having said that, of course, many tracks hit lower or higher than this and sound great. So you don't have to stick to these notes religiously.

If you work in a genre where sub weight matters, though, hitting notes in that zone at least some of the time will satisfy the majority of low-end lovers. Here are some tips:

1. If, in the early stages of making a track, you're not getting the impact and weight you want, consider transposing the entire track to a higher or lower key.

2. If your bass follows chord changes, try to land on those optimal notes at least some of the time. That might mean landing on a note other than the root of the chord, like the third or fifth.

3. Don't forget pitch bends and envelopes. Bending a note down into a deeper range can be just enough to tickle those optimal areas, even when your root key is higher. A single bass note bending through many pitches feels extra satisfying on a big system.

Hitting optimal bass notes isn't mandatory, but it's one of those things that separates those tracks that rattle speakers from those that don't.

Make Your Bass Breathe

Static processing — where distortion, filtering, or effects hit the signal the same way every time — sounds flat and mechanical. Your ear gets used to it fast.

But if you make the processing react to the signal, or other signals in the mix, everything comes to life. Producers talk about gluing a mix with reverb, compression and other master effects, but making sounds react to and interact with each other is another powerful technique for mix cohesion that rarely gets talked about.

Let's look at an example. Here, I have a bass playing a sparse pattern…

…and a group comprising all my percussion and synths.

First, I'll load ShaperBox on the group and route the bass into its sidechain input. In DriveShaper, I'll activate the Envelope Follower's External Sidechain Input.

As I turn up the Amount, the bass triggers distortion on the group. The Envelope Follower distorts the group harder when the bass plays, then backs off when the bass stops.

So the distortion breathes with the performance. It creates this "togetherness" that makes the groove feel unified.

Using the bass as a trigger again, you can use FilterShaper to take out a bit of high end only when the bass plays.

Or get creative: mix in some reverb responding to the bass signal, or add bass-reactive sample rate reduction.

Making your bass change the sound of other parts in this way will make your low end feel omnipresent, exerting its influence over the whole mix.