Adding bass amp effects in parallel

Dedicated bass amp simulators are of equal use to electronic musicians as their guitar amp equivalents are – even in more subtle contexts Along with kick drums, most electronic dance music is underpinned by a bassline, so it’s no surprise we spend so much time designing our synth parts when it comes to perfecting the bottom end. Just as with all other sounds in the mix, though, additional processing often provides not just more power but also an opportunity to add something new and personal to our bass tones. As we’ll see below, that doesn’t necessarily mean having to completely reinvent a bass part’s sound. Parallel auxiliary channels can provide an opportunity to add to an existing sound, while dedicated bass amp effects can add anything from a deliberately bottom-filling sub treatment, to something brighter and raspier.

We’re deliberately keeping our track sparse so we’ll be able to hear the subtlety in this bass amp treatment. We’re starting with a sequenced bassline from Spectrasonics’ Trilian, adding only two more parts: a Kick and an off-beat closed hi-hat. The bass is currently untreated.

We’re adding a parallel amp from Logic Pro’s Bass Amp Designer. This provides extra weight by exaggerating upper-mid and treble frequencies. We don’t need much to feel its presence, so we’re dropping the Aux return level by 10dB.

Let’s put that back into the context of the track. The treatment provides more warmth and presence while the synth’s cutoff frequency is low, giving a more driven sound as the cutoff point rises. Each audio example features eight bars without the effect, and eight with.