Gritty layered bass

To create a speaker-crushing bass that hits the target in every area, our new resident pro tackles the tricky topic of frequency-splitting

In any form of electronic music – and especially in drum ’n’ bass – the bassline is the primary driving force of a track’s low end, providing bottom-end punch, movement and character alongside the kick. So for my first Studio Strategies tutorial, I’ll show you how a carefully-designed distorted bass can be the gritty, groovy backbone of a DnB tune. There are unlimited ways to get started when creating a bassline from scratch. I’m going to go down the obvious route and use a softsynth to create a bass patch, before manipulating the resulting tone with processing.

As I want to shape the bass into something unique to this track, I’m going to focus on breaking up the core tone into three frequency layers: sub, mid and tops. This technique can be a tricky one to get right, but gives greater control over the individual layers within a mix: filters and EQ on each channel separates the individual parts, allowing each range to breathe. After that, I’ll use various plugins on each chain – alongside grouping and parallel processing – to give each layer its own motion and space.

As with all production techniques, the possibilities are endless, and this is only one method – I advise you try out your own source sounds and processing. Your aim is, of course, to come up with something that makes your listeners pull the ultimate ‘bass face’!