Make Bass Sounds Out of Any Sample w/ Simpler in Ableton Live (+ Dubstep Extra)

I dont know about you, but sometimes, I get really bored of using soft synths. For some reason, I feel like I seem to like things TOO quickly and dont end up playing around with the synthesis of a part, especially when I am making music at a relatively efficient speed. Sometimes, its nice to really destroy a sound and totally convert it from one sound to another. In this tutorial, we will be taking ANY sound really, and turning it into a bass-line. And quickly. This is not your "lets break down sound to its basics kind of tutorial"...it can be super useful!

**Something to NEVER FORGET about ableton, is that simpler is an amazing tool...because if you have ANY sample...you can place that sample within simpler, and then play it on your midi controller. This is almost like having a PRESET within a softsynth. So if you are sitting on many of gigs of samples, like I am...it can be really fun to reach into that sample bag, and make sounds from them. Also, the chances of hearing that particular sound (like a similar softsynth sound) in another track is much more rare, because you chose a sample...and then played it like an instrument.**

Today however, we will be making bass sound out of basically any sample. For todays lesson, I am just going to use a PIANO note. You could use a tom, woodblock, snare, kick, ANYTHING! We are really only using a few cycles of the actual waveform to produce a sound. This is a really FAST process too, so if you learn it, and master it...it can be your best friend for cool basslines.

So lets begin -

First, you want to open up a new midi track and place a simpler within a rack.


Now, you need to pick a sample. Anything will do really. I usually like to pick an instrument made sample because the waveforms are usually a little more stable. In this example - I chose a sample called "Phat Rhodes C2". Just drag and drop into the simpler.


Also, check your ins and outs and make sure that ONLY the midi controller you want to use is connected. (I must do this because I am running a trigger finger, launchpad, nano kontrol, and microkorg at the same time...and can get confusing especially when making a track)


Now, what you are going to want to do, is get within simpler. Drag the end marker of the sample over to the beginning (close to the start marker). And then zoom into the tiny little spot that you are highlighting -


Turn on Loop -


Now as you press a note on your keyboard, and you will hear an annoying, looping quickly sound. Move your end marker closer and closer to the start marker. Eventually you will be getting a toned sound. Now, the cool thing about this is, you can control the high frequencies of your bass from here. As a wave makes a full cycle, (one whole curve up and one whole curve down is one cycle) you have 2 great parameters to control here.

1. As you move the end marker closer to the start...the pitch will get higher and higher. Its ok to have a high pitched sound for now, we will transpose in a minute.

2. Depending on where you put the start and end markers....and the displacment from each other at start and end, you can create a nice high pitch clip sound which is great for bass.

In the following pictures, the first picture is creating a full cycle, with the start point and end point both starting and ending near the center line.

In the second picture, when the sound loops, it has to jump positions, so you get a nice click at the beginning.



Very nice for bass. Now you can take one whole cycle, 2 cycles...whatever sounds good. There are tons of cool sounds you can make just by moving these markers.

Ok, now we need to transpose that note down into the bass notes using the transpose. At the same time, I am going to put on a spectrum to analyze this wave while its being made so we can decide a nice bass note to make out of it.

Here I am at middle C of my wave now -

I love the pine tree wave there in the middle from the picture effect on macbooks. HAHA!

My bottom note is sitting at 291Hz. Def not bass range. Lets now use the transpose button within simpler to drop that down into the bass range -

Now I dropped it down to 65Hz (cause we are gonna make it play a little dubstep here in a bit too)


Remember, you can go lower, and use only the harmonics of the sound. You can throw on an EQ 8 later and roll off the lower bass sounds anyway if that makes it better sound. Its amazing how different parts of a wave will accent others differently...so be creative here too. You dont always have to follow your spectrum. Everything can be cleaned with EQs too.

Ok, now, once you got a sound you like, time to put on some filter envelopes to make it more unique.

So lets turn on the 2 filter buttons within simpler -


Now, once you are in here...key parameters are as follows -

Env Icon - Turn that puppy up if you are wondering why your envelopes arent working, dont forget.

Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release - Play to your likings.

Filter - Choose to your liking. I usually use a Low Pass on a bass, but all can service you well depending on what you are looking for.

Res - The resonance of the filter....excellent to a warped toned sound because the filter is really sucking in a FEW frequencies.

Play around with all of these to your liking. When I finished, mine was a really neat sound looking like this -


Also, you can use the "spread" icon to get a nice chorus sound...and also play with other parameters within it...its music, its infinite. But, you have a lot of options at this point. Dont forget to use your EQ8 to really make that bass sound nice. You can even use spectrum at this point to pick out certain harmonics to lift out with the EQ....because they are clearly viewable on spectrum. (each little hump).

Here I threw on the EQ8 and lifted a few of the harmonics of it -


From here, its endless. Put anything you want to touch it up. You can even move the start and end markers within simpler to see what happens. It gets really fun in this area, because it is so grey!

Now for the little dubstep action...and a thing I think most ALL dubstep producers know...so maybe its pointless to mention...but, there is always someone out there who could use the info.

At this point, you can now play with the LFOs within simpler. You have your main LFO, and your Filter LFO. Both are nice if automated in compose view, or mapped out to a controller for a hands on approach. Lets try both. First turn on your LFO button in simpler. If you are going to do a hands on approach, it would be good to map out -

Filter Freq, Filter LFO, Filter Velocity, Main LFO, MAIN FREQ -


Now, I am not going into to much detail about how simpler works here....but, playing around with the tempo sync, LFO type, and then moving all those parameters around, you can make tons of unique styles of dubstep bass. Again, grey area of making music, there is no RIGHT way, there is just YOUR way....so find what you like here.

Well anyway, play around, and enjoy. Once you get the hang of this little trick, it can be VERY handy for making a unique sound on the fly and get you out of the normal habits of relying on softsynths.

Peace!

FroBot

EQ Frequency Chart for Instruments & Electronic Sounds

This is a frequency chart for Kick Drum, Snare, Hi Hats, Cymbals, Bass, Vocals, Piano, Electric Guitar, & Strings. Just gives you an idea of where to boost or cut when you are wanting a certain sound. I found this to be REALLY useful...and it is printed and laminated on the wall beside my studio at all times. I made this link to keep all the charts together for my own reference, if it helps others...awesome! Link to the pdf file below -

(click to enlarge HQ picture)

THE ORIGINAL PDF FILE Here - Frequency Chart (from of emusictips.com, this is not my chart)

A few other nice charts are here too - (All charts from other sources...thank you so much!)











Some nice links on EQing too -

http://www.ethanwiner.com/equalizers.html
http://www.bobbrozman.com/soundhints.html
http://www.recordingwebsite.com/articles/eqprimer.php
http://www.recordingwebsite.com/articles/eqfreq.php


Peace!

FroBot

Saturator Ideas in Ableton - Adding a little bit of electro dirt to a bass track

This is not a tutorial, only some notes I am taking about using the saturator in ableton. Its a crazy little tool that is one of my last to really try to understand. After reading the manual over like 10 times times today...and playing around here are some notes.

This applies to electro mostly...to make a nice round bass sound really raunchy. But this technique can be good for tons of other things because using the wave shaper within it very subtly can at a tiny bit of dirt if thats all you are looking for.

First, double your bass track. Make one that is playing the normal round bass. The 2nd is a duplicate with a saturator on it like this. -

Waveshaper is chosen because it is the only option with the 6 other parameters open (lin, depth, curve, etc). Put the drive up a bit to get it going.

(ALSO make sure the smaller drive option in the bottom right corner up all the way to start)

Toss on the color options, which is basically 2 kinds of filters. The base is controlling the bottom frequencies. Drop that puppy down a little bit to toy around with the low/mid frequencies to make raunch to a bass. You can move it up a bit if you are looking to just add high frequency raunch since it will just be accenting the other bass anyway.

Now alter the frequency knob, which acts like an EQ for controlling higher frequencies. You use this to almost find the note/frequency to match your bass. Its also the experimental & artistic element of this technique.

Also toy around with the depth and width. Depth is strong at this point. Listen to the 2 basses together to get a nice rauchy sound.

Anything above 0 on the depth will really start to make it sound nasty.

Use the lin to dictate a little bit of the bass end of it. (this can be different though depending on curve and depth settings) It works with the curve and depth parameters to shape the linear portion or the curve.

VERY IMPORTANT ELEMENT - Fine tune with the CURVE parameter. Too much of that will will over raunch it. There is a very small range you can find depending on your other setting to get that nice little touch of raunch to the sound...instead of it sounding very independently dirty. In my case here, its sitting around 22% and is tossing on a nice little tad of electro raunch.



Just play around with those parameters to get a nice little nasty extra sound to your bass. Sounds very electro.

Again, these are just notes. There are a million other ways to add dirt to your sound, this is just a nice way to do it with a round bass sample when you dont have many options to work with like you do within a synthesizer.

Peace!

FroBot