Ditch the presets and take total
control of your tracks with our step-by-step beginner’s guide to synthesizing
your own massive bass music noises.
Having the biggest, baddest sounds at your
disposal is important for making any kind of bass music, but while it’s
possible to cherry-pick samples and presets you like from the endless array of
available libraries, that can get to be an expensive habit. On the other hand,
if you have a basic grasp of synthesis, it’s totally possible to make your own
unique sounds from scratch and tweak them to fit your mix perfectly. Having the
knowledge to create your own palette of sounds not only makes it easier to
sculpt the precise sonic elements you need to flesh out your tracks, but also
makes it much more likely that the music you create will be as close to your
artistic vision as possible.
If
you have a basic grasp of synthesis, it’s totally possible to make your own
unique sounds from scratch and tweak them to fit your mix perfectly
If you’re a synthesis novice, it’s easy to
be put off by complex interfaces and confusing terminology, but in this guide
we’ll smooth the way and show you step by step how to create some of the most
useful sounds in electronic music. If you’re already a competent synthesis,
hopefully the advice proffered on the following pages will help enhance your
repertoire, and you might just learn a few new synth-specific tricks along the
way too.
For the most part we’re going to be using
synths from the cm Plugins, the exclusive collection of instruments and
effects created for Computer Music by some of the world’s top
developers. The entire collection is included with cm each and every
month, so if you don’t have them already, pick up any issue of the physical mag
or the digital edition. Our sound creation guides take advantage of these
instruments’ coolest features, including Dune CM’s powerful modulation matrix,
SynthMaster CM’s unison detonable oscillators, and Curve 2 CM’s frequency
modulation capability.
We’ll also take a look at how to create
extreme Dubstep growls using one of the most powerful but least well understood
virtual instruments around: Native Instruments’ FM8. We’ll show you how to easy
it is to create these once-esoteric sounds, and hopefully give you some ideas
as to how you can use FM8’s massive potential to your advantage.
In the Tutorial Files folder you’ll find
audio examples in MP3 format, so that you can check out the sounds before you
start following each guide, as well as synth patches for each sound, so you can
check your versions against ours – or simply use our instead if you’re feeling
lazy! There’s a lot to get through, so without further ado, let’s fire up our
DAWs and get ready to make some noise…
Step by step: Bass kicks and drops
Dune
CM is a useful synth for creating this kind of sound
- Making your own customized kicks and bass
drop sounds is easy with some simple synthesis. Dune CM is a useful synth
for creating this kind of sound. Start by loading the synth up in your
DAW, then click the Bank B button to get an initialized patch.
- By default the Oscillator 1 waveform is
set to Sawtooth. We want a sine wave instead, so click the sine wave
button in the Osc 1 panel at the top left-hand corner of the interface. By
default this plays a sustained pitch. To create a kick sound, we need to
make the pitch drop quite rapidly.
- Dune CM has a powerful modulation matrix
that we can use to modulate parameters such as the pitch of Oscillator 1.
To bring up the modulation matrix, click the Mod Matrix 1>12
button in the center panel. In the second row of the matrix, click the Source
slot, and select Mod Env from the list that appears.
- Now click the Destination slot and
select Oscillators>>Osc1Semi. This won’t have an effect until
we set the Amount column. Drag this up to +36. Now you’ve
got a sound that’s approaching a simple kick, or a disco tom if you play
it higher up.
- We can control the movement of the pitch
by adjusting the modulation envelope’s parameters. In the Mod Envelope
section, set the Decay time to 28% and the Release
time to 14%. While you’re at it, turn the Release time in
the Amp Envelope to 7%, so that the sound doesn’t click when the
note is released.
- For a bass bomb, turn the Mod Envelope’s Decay
time up. For something that sounds more like a kick, set the third row of
the modulation matrix to Source: Const, Destination:
Envelopes>>Spike Soft, and set the Amount to +100.
You can play this sound chromatically to create bass lines – check out Bass
Kick.mp3 in the Tutorial Files folder.
Step by step: Vocal growl bass
If
you’re after the kind of enormous, growling bass sounds used at the more
tear-out end of dubstep. Native Instruments’ FM8 is the synth for you.
