37 BASS TIPS

More than three dozen priceless nuggets of bass production wisdom. Work through them methodically or just dip in when you need instant b-line inspiration

Top advice for recording, programming and more

These days, producers and artists have access to music-making tools of such high quality and versatility, that creating a decentsounding bassline might seem like the easiest thing in the world; but the problem, of course, is that everyone has access to these tools. As you marvel at how simple it is to fire up a bass preset on a synth, program a one-note pattern and loop it across your track, bear in mind that all of your contemporaries will have the option to take this path of least resistance, too – which means the ones who’ll stand out are those who work a bit harder.

To put it another way, we’d argue that you should give your bass parts the attention they deserve, as otherwise they run the risk of sounding at best generic, and at worst pretty lousy. Hence we present the following four pages of tips: these bite-sized chunks of advice are designed to make you think again about the way you approach composing, recording, programming, arranging and mixing your basslines. With any luck, they’ll help you to do at least some of these things better.

There’s no magic formula here – hitting the low-end sweet spot can be as much about trial and error as it is about flashes of inspiration – but what we can say is that a great bassline is the sum of many parts. You might have come up with a floor-shaking sound, but what good is that if you haven’t programmed a decent groove? Alternatively, your ear for a catchy bassline might be well trained, but if you can’t make yours sit properly in the mix, its earworm properties will be lost.

Winning the bass race, then, isn’t going to be easy – but with as your personal trainer, you’re off to a flying start.