Reverb-drenched techno bass
There’s an old rule that you shouldn’t apply reverb to bass – but this is nonsense! Case in point: the pounding, percussive lows of European-style techno. Techno bass tends to be created from sub-heavy kick and tom samples drenched in reverb, to create a moody wash that floods the lower frequencies. Getting this right can be tricky – it’s easy to lose the punchiness of your beat. The trick is to get the timing of your reverb right – send your bass parts to a reverb on a return, experiment with the time and pre-delay so that the reverb fills the gaps between each hit without overwhelming the next. A compressor sidechained from the same kick/tom part will help too, ducking the reverb and allowing the dry signal to punch through. Use an EQ to filter out the high frequencies of the reverb for that authentic moody effect.