Making Uplifting Trance Basslines

This is a tutorial to make a similar bassline as Nitrous Oxide or Sean Tyas

1. The kick - I've included a kick in the pack but feel free to use your own or mine in as many productions as you like.

Firstly rename a pattern by pressing F2 (I use somewhere between pattern 16 and 20) call it kick. drag and drop the kick into the step sequencer over the already aptly named "kick." (once dropped you may need to rename it)

Right click and "fill each 4 steps." then right click again and "send to Piano roll" you should now have a screen like this;

select all four kick drums and shorten them to this.

now we need to make that kick nice and sharp as a lot of kick drums have a tail that can interfere with the bassline.
so... this is where we bring up the kicks instrument panel by selecting or clicking on the kick in the step sequencer.
you should see this...

We need to select the one that say's "INS" (instrument settings.) and you should see this....

you should see a graph with knobs labelled DEL ATT HOLD DEC SUS REL. unfortunately I cannot go through what each of these does, (it would take too long.)I will jus show you how I set my kick for trance there is no right or wrong way this is jus one way. A sharp attack dec sustain and release with the hold set to about a quarter.

on this channel settings screen you can see in the top right hand corner that the FX is already set in mixer channel 1 so if we bring the mixer screen up your kick should already be routed to the first insert all you need to do is rename it... that's right "kick."

now I'm jus going to show you VERY basic EQ and compression of the kick with mainly FL presets and I know some people may not agree which I understand but if I went over every detail it would take too long... way too long.

so load a Parametric EQ 2 in the kicks channel and mess with the settings (very slightly until you find something your happy with, I like to give my kick mid and hi end because this I think gives that really sharp click kick that dominates trance it just pulls through the mix. Like this.


Next load a Fruity compressor and to keep it simple load the preset drums. Not perfect but a lot more punch. Now load a Fruity Limiter and as I said to keep it simple load the preset Drum compression. now the kick is clicky but lost a lot of power so...

Move the Threshold knob up until it reads -16.5 or there about like this...


Punch and power. However it is quite loud so I would take the volume down so that the peak of the kick touches roughly -8 on the dB meter.

Done.

2. The side chain - now I like to side chain all my basses and a number of loops jus to give it that pumping feel and helps the kick and clap pull through the mix. The easiest way I find to this is to select the pattern below kick then rename (F2) with the minus (-) sign to create a gap. now rename the next pattern down SC, side chain or whatever you like. open the step sequencer and clone the kick (Right click "clone") and then fill each 4 steps. Rename it Sc etc. You will now have to assign this to a new mixer track which is on the channel settings...

if your on basic setup it should go to insert 5. Now load a fruity Peak controller and change the peak settings so that the BASE is set at 20 % the VOL at roughly 67 and the DEC jus left of half.something like this...

Now across the other side of the mixer should be channels labelled SEND 1 2 3 etc, take the first one and rename it side chain. On the volume control right click and "link to controller" you'll get a screen like this.

On the internal controller click and select..."Peak ctrl (SC) - peak+Lfo. On the Mapping formula click and select "Inverted" and then click accept.

Your side chain should now be ready to rock and roll! Whew...

___12288;3. The clap - the only thing I have to say about the clap really is that it (Usually) sits on the second and fourth kick of every bar and if you listen to most uplifting trance music

has quite a big tail on it sometime washed with reverb. The best thing to do would be to have a look at the one in the FLp an experiment with you own. I like to keep the volume level jus below the kick quite powerful sitting in mid section.

4.Off-beat hats - Now these can be anything from really harsh an in you face to subtle double hats that drive the track.

Don't be scared to play around with the notation or key of the hats clap or anything percussive. what I've done with the hats is fairly basic but take a look and decide for yourself.



BASSLINES. Right the bit you read all the way to here for

1. Sub bass - Now the vastly overlooked synth Sytrus comes into play. The preset sub bass or synth preset. a very nice low end that I believe shouldn't be too in your face subtle but there none the less the driving force.I've chosen the synth 2 preset in the bass section, taken the modulation to the top right hand corner and on the EQ settings on the synth have taken out the mid and high end. Like this....

the notation of the bass is a fairly simple one jus a rolling offbeat kind of affair set loooowwww in C3 scale on A#.

On the next sytrus screen the OP1 screen change the shape of the sound (the little fader with SH above it) to about 75% like this....

assign it to a new mixer track, so now your sub bass should be found sitting next to the side chain.
Time for EQ as the name Sub bass suggests this is fairly straight forward remove all hi end and mid and remove the low end below 30 Hz (our ears cannot pick up frequencies below so there's no point in them being there). Hopefully it should look something like this... I should stress again that this is only A ROUGH GUIDE, it is not the gospel on how to EQ etc...

Now once the EQ'ing is done the volume of the bass should be sitting somewhere around -5 -6 DB which I feel is too much for the sub bass, i would take the volume down slightly until it sits at about -13 or -14.
The reason i lower the volumes as i go is because i find the more your sort your timbres, percs etc out as your going along the less you'll have to do when it comes to the mixing stage, the track should be pretty much mix itself with only a few minor adjustments, however this is only my opinion people may disagree .

All that's left to do now is route it to the side chain which is easily done by highlighting sub bass on the mixer and then right clicking on the little knob above the side chain send and selecting "route to this track only" like this...


2. Mid bass - One of the most important basses as it gives the bass line its body. For this you will need the mighty Vanguard. The notation of this is set over 2 octaves A# 3 and A# 4, there are endless patterns available to you and the best thing to do is experiment with your own here is mine....

as you can see it very fast paced with notes even on beat as well as off. The last offbeat note is in G# 4 just to give a little extra flavour to the bass line and makes it a lot less tiring to listen to.
So once Vanguard is loaded you will have the welcome screen....

now I'll go through each part of the bass separately showing both the welcome screen FIRST and what it should look like changed after along with the settings and hopefully not confuse anybody.



OSC - All 3 waves need to be replaced with 2 digital and 1 square.
The semitones or SEMI all need to be set to 0.
The VOL for osc 1 should be set to 60, for osc 2 it should be 30 and for osc 3 66.
The voices or VCS on the opposite side should be set at 2.
The fatness between 6 and 12 and 0 for the age.
your welcome settings will look like this....

your bass settings should look like this...

LFO - An easy one to set, basically the retrig button should be highlighted on the first set only. Now the only thing to do is to make the speed, detune, pwm, and cut-off settings all zero. Done.
Welcome settings...

Bass settings...


Env - for the top set or number 1, settings are...

a. 0 ms

d.274 ms

s.18

r.0ms

level. 124

pwm. 27

cutoff.0

detune. 0 percent

welcome settings...

bass settings...



For number 2.

a.0 ms

d.83 ms

s.27

r.654ms

reso.0

pwm.0

cut-off. 66

pitch. 0

Welcome settings...

Bass settings...


Trancegate - This basically just needs turning on and the mix putting at 87 and the contour at 91.

Delay, Pitch, glide, voices and Reverb - Firstly turn the reverb off we don't need it. Next the delay should be a cross type delay with the time sig of 1/4D. The mix should be placed at 27 with the feedback at about 58%
The Glide should also be on and should be set to instant (the one in the first column).The pitch Vlbspeed should be set to 4.87hz and the vib depth set to 0%.
Last but not least the voices will need raising from 16 to 32.
Welcome settings...

Bass settings...


Amp - The amp's drive should be set at 38, the Veltrk at 66% and vol at 87, the spread should be 3 and the pan centred.
Welcome settings...

Bass settings...


Filter - change the filter type from notch+low to Low 24dB. set the keytrk at 56% the veltrk at 72%, cut-off at about 10.6Hz and the res at 0.
Welcome settings...

Bass settings...


now it needs to be assign to its own mixer track an routed to the side chain the same as the sub bass was. load a Fruity Parametric EQ and roll off the bottom end like with the sub bass

then to your own preference raise no.2 on the graph about 1.9 dB. The main EQ'ing should be done on numbers 4 and 6 the mid and upper mid and only slightly maybe 2 or 3 dB also adjusting the bandwidth or "Q" at the bottom right of the eq (BW) can hone in the signal and make it tighter giving it a more natural feel, lastly i roll the high end off slightly. It's all down to your choice.

Next adding some delay... i use a preset all the time here jus because it does the job i want, don't be scared to use presets or tweak them to your own end. load up Fruity delay bank and select the preset "Alternate 2"i like this preset because it gives noticeable delays without interfering with the original notes.

Now i would add a compressor here to push the bass and make it sound nice and plucky but i haven't put one on the FLP because i don't want everyone's CPU to go crazy, so ill save compression for another time.

once you are happy with that you can add any other effects you like. finally change the volume so that it sits with or just behind the kick at -8 dB. That's basically it.

3.High end bass - This is done with sylenth 1 and is fairly straightforward using a preset tweaked once again i could create my own from scratch but this is such a brilliant synth that it only needs tweaking slightly.

This bass sits again on 2 octaves only higher A# 4 and A# 5. the bass line notation is very similar to the mid bass only the notes are smaller giving this bass a lot more pluck. Load sylenth 1 and load the preset "trance bass" bet you sylenth owners saw that one coming

once you have the preset loaded move the "filter control" cut-off to about 6.6 - 6.7

Now on the oscillator A1 take the phase up to about

On the Amp Env take the decay down to about 3 - 3.1 to make it more plucky.

The panel in centre of sylenth take arpeg off and turn the phaser on. you may wish to have a play with the phaser settings to make it deeper etc.

that's the programming finished. Assign to a free mixer track and load a FL Parametric EQ and route it to the side chain (see a pattern forming ).

When it comes to Eq'ing this bass i take all the bass elements out of it and raise the upper mid quite drastically to really give it sparkle as well as the treble slightly and the mid, again adjusting the bandwidth.

next add delay... the same preset as the mid bass adding more depth to the bass.

Next insert the Fruity love Philter and select the preset twinkle, this will pan the bass from left to right and add more high end with a slight filter... you don't have to use this. Listen with and without and make your own mind up.

finally i like to add a Fruity fast dist and just move the threshold to suit... i just think it gives the bass that electric harsh feel.

Move the volume accordingly however you feel it should fit with mid bass. i normally keep it between -12 and -10 dB.

4.The Digital/Acid bass line - Again another quality Fruity's own plug-in OGUN and another preset tweaked slightly. The notation this time is set over 3 octaves A# 4 A# 5 and A#6 and is very short and sharp.

This doesn't need much programming but suggest you do a little messing about with it till you get that nice electric sound. this is how my panel looks compared to the preset.
Preset...

My layout...

so insert into a mixer track and route to the side chain, then load Fruity Parametric EQ 2. I've basically taken the bottom end out and gradually raised the EQ up with a little sparkle in the treble area like so...

Next is a fruity delay.. with the alternate 2 preset.
Then a Fruity chorus with lightHF preset i normally do this myself but it'd take too long to explain and this does the trick.
Lastly a Fruity fast dist and once again jus move the threshold until your happy with the results.

I have also included acid stabs that daniel kandi or sean tyas uses in the zip pack to add a bit more drive to your track

(ZIP File)
http://www.mediafire.com/?q1nyn0tdz2c

[Joel_]

Nice, but it would also be nice to give the original author of this tutorial some credit :) "dj_philos" on serioussounds forum

[Vzlet]

Mid bass very cool !!!

[nog71]

thnx

[egesin]

thnx

[farissaliba]

WoWww