Unfortunately, I do not have the original files for these songs anymore, the Ableton Live sets that used Serum all became corrupt after I had issues with what I believe to be the preset caching, and I didn’t document on them because I felt that my priorities were actually finishing the songs and getting them ready for release before doing my written work.
For this reason I have compiled a set of voice recordings in which I explain my thought processes about these songs.
My Process:
When I first begin a track, I begin in one of two places. Sound design, and drum beats. Whichever I choose, the other will follow.
Being a UK Bass producer, I have a big focus on making sure my synths sound right. I begin by creating a bass and sub-bass layer, using EQ to ensure that their frequencies don’t cross and make a muddy texture. I usually follow this by adding analogue compression and distortion to thicken up the sound. Another trick I’ve learnt to thicken these synths is duplicating them twice, leaving one louder set of synths in the center and having the other two panning slightly left and right. I usually follow this with parallel distortion and analogue compression, this allows me to maintain the transients and wave-forms of the original sounds, whilst thickening and strengthening the bass in general.
I then continue on to create several more synths, using EQ to pull out any of the bass frequencies already in use by the synths I just made. I’ll use a sine wave, and use an LFO as an envelope to warp the sine wave with the FM or RM from the second oscillator. Depending on the style of synth I’m aiming for, I’ll choose another wave-form for the second oscillator, usually a spectral wave as they allow for much more grittier sounds. Ill then use another LFO as an envelope to automate a low pass filter, as well as other effects, such as phasers, distortion, reverb, etcetera. I usually find myself making around three of these layers, all though I sometimes find myself making a lot more to allow me to reach a specific sound.
After this, Ill focus on my kick drum. I usually synthesize my own drums to begin with, and then strengthen them with external samples. The key having a good, punchy bass drum, is layering a sub kick and bass kick, and using parallel compression and distortion to beef up the sound whilst maintaining the transients. After I’ve created a kick I’m happy with, I’ll move onto side-chaining the bass and sub synth using a compressor, activated by my kick. I tweak the attack, release, threshold and ratio until I’m happy my kick is punching through my bass and is clear, without altering the sound of the bass too much.
After I’m happy with my kick, I move onto the clap. The clap is simple enough, all it really requires is two different claps, or a clap and snare, and distortion paired with parallel compression and distortion, just to make it as sharp and clear as possible.
In terms of hi-hats, the most important thing is finding hi-hats that sound good, as well as creating a good, skippy rhythm for them to follow. The hi-hats are what give a song its ‘groove’, they’re what makes you want to dance to a track. I often find myself separating open and closed hi-hats to different channels, and delaying the closed and open hi-hats by slightly different amounts. This adds a more complex rhythm to the drum beat and can give the track a super catchy feeling that draws you in.
Once this is done, create a final structure. An intro, a build, a drop, a transition, another build, another drop, and an outro. This also means creating new synths and adding new sounds, but this is different with every track, and its this part of the process that, I believe, allows a producer to really show their style and stand out. It’s these llittle things that really show off your creativity, and add to a tracks overall style and sound.
I believe that if you can do these things right, the fundamentals to a good UK Bass track are already there. The only thing left to do is add effects. For example, risers, impacts, automated reverb and filters, etc. This is just tying the pieces you’ve constructed together. Making the track smooth, and clean. Adding tension, suspense. The key to a great track is in these finer details. This is how you get draw in your listeners. It’s how you make them want to listen, how you gain their attention. All the best UK Bass tracks are heavily dependent on how the effects are used to make the listener engage more with the song.