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This
is the first installment of a series
of articles detailing how to program
tight, effective analog bass lines
and some of the best synths for
achieving good bass sounds. |
The
art of programming good bass sounds
is a tricky one that seems to elude
even skilled analog programmers. Maybe
worse, many of us are only familiar
with one or two "methods"
of programming analog synthesizers for
bass sounds and restrict ourselves to
only a handful of the potential sounds
out there. The purpose of this series
is to cover all aspects of programming
analog synth bass sounds, as well as
highlight some of the better synthesizers
for achieving a solid bass sound. Additional
articles will also detail recording
and studio techniques that can further
enhance the low end to your tracks.
One
area often overlooked for programming
bass sounds are the oscillators and
setting them up properly to achieve
a good tone. A common mistake among
many users—including seasoned professionals—is
the tendency to mix all of the oscillators
at 100% volume. This may not always
be effective for achieving the best
bass sounds. For example: to fatten
up a sound sometimes mixing in a triangle
wave one octave below the main oscillator
at 50-75% volume will add more apparent
low end punch to a sound than if you
ran it at 100% volume. Remember—the
trick to achieving good bass sounds
is NOT the amount of low frequencies
in your sound, but the impact that the
sound has overall; many sounds may,
on an oscillascope, contain far more
low frequencies than another but not
sound as strong. Let your ears and common
sense be the guide.
Another
fallacy of analog synth programming
is that the more oscillators the fatter
and deeper the tone. This is simply
false. While having additional oscillators
offers more versatility in sound and
tone setup, many times these additional
oscillators will introduce phase cancellation
which will weaken the overall sound.
Case in point, one of the most famous
synthesizers for producing good, solid
bass sounds is the Juno 60 or Juno 106—both
of which are single oscillator DCO analog
synthesizers (with a square wave sub-oscillator);
although the Junos clearly lack oscillator
power compared to an Oberheim Four Voice
or a Korg Mono/Poly, the Juno's are
considered to be superior to both for
producing bass tones in many types of
music. Another thing to consider is
this: the vast majority of analog synthesizers
are of the dual oscillator variety—but,
just becuase you can use two oscillators
DOESN'T MEAN YOU ALWAYS SHOULD!
There are a lot of "single oscillator"
type bass sounds that are superior to
multiple oscillator configurations;
don't restrict yourself to using everything
that is available to you. Generally
speaking, a properly created single
oscillator bass sound tends to be punchier
and truer in pitch than a dual or great
oscillator bass patch.
Roland
Juno 60
Well respected in many different
circles for its wide range of
deep, punchy bass. Part of the
Juno 60's appeal may be its simplicity,
which makes committing many bass
programming errors impossible.
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Another
misconception about bass sounds is that
you should automatically set the oscillators
frequency very low—to 16' or even
32' ranges. However, this makes many
of the important frequencies inaudible
to the human ear and weakens the fundemental
harmonic of the sound. Generally speaking,
you want at least one of your oscillators
pitched to the 8' range or higher; you
may choose to mix this oscillator's
volume down somewhat to reduce the brightness
of the sound. For single oscillator
synthesizers this may seem somewhat
depressing, but generally it is a good
rule to stick to, especially if the
synth has a sub-oscillator onboard such
as on a Juno or Korg Polysix. For simpler
synths, such as a Micromoog, it is permissible
to set the oscillator lower if you choose;
however, you will lose some brightness
and punch to the sound.
Finally,
there's the subject of monophonic synths
versus polyphonic synths for bass sounds.
Many believe that monophonic synths
produce a "purer" tone than
polyphonic synths, especially when the
polysynth has been set to unison mode.
There is a strong possibility that this
is true, due to the effects of phase
cancellation in the signal due to multiple
voices playing in unison in a polysynth;
the monosynth would be unhampered by
this and thus produce a clearer fundemental
pitch. My suggestion for dealing with
this is to make sure to detune your
oscillators slightly to compensate for
this fact. Also, monosynths tend to
be more affordable than polyphonic synthesizers,
and since most bass lines are single
notes, the additional polyphony is somewhat
"lost" in the process. However,
both polysynths and monosynths are capable
of producing good bass sounds if they
are set correctly—which is the
purpose of this article.
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Moog
Minimoog
Widely considered one of the best
synthesizers of all time, the
Minimoog produces a fat, chunky
and wooden tone unlike any other
synthesizer before or since.
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Once
you have set your oscillators to the
proper frequency and mixed them at a
pleasing volume level, it is time to
move on to the next stage of analog
synthesis—the filter. Without fail,
the filter type of choice for bass sounds
should be a low pass filter of either
the 2 pole/12db or 4 pole/24db variety.
While there is a lot of debate about
which manufacturer's filters sound better,
generally speaking all low pass filters
are capable of producing decent bass
sounds if they are set correctly.
Another
misconception about programming analog
bass sounds is that the filter cutoff
should be at a very low frequency in
order to produce a bass tone. This is
not always true. What the filter does
is to color the sound and set the apparent
brightness of the sound more than determine
the "bassiness" of the patch.
In fact, by setting the frequency cutoff
too low you can obscure the fundemental
frequency and greatly weaken the impact
of your sound—and completely undermine
the solidity of your song.
A
tricky part of analog bass programming
is setting the filter envelope to modulate
the cutoff frequency correctly. Remember
that the effect of the "filter
amount" to the envelope is governed
by the cutoff frequency itself—if
you set the cutoff frequency high and
the filter envelope modulation high
you will hit the filter's "ceiling"
and the result will be no apparent movement
of the cutoff frequency. When setting
the envelope amount to the filter you
should carefully listen to how the cutoff
frequency is being affected by this
modulation.
One
final word about filters concerns resonance,
filter emphasis, or "Q" as
Moog called it. High amounts of resonance
can be destructive to the apparent loudness
of bass frequencies located away from
the cutoff point—this is because,
if you recall, resonance governs the
amount of boost that occurs at the cutoff
point. Extremely high levels of resonance
do not lower bass frequencies, instead,
the low frequencies are overshadowed
by the high peak at the cutoff frequency.
Generally speaking, when programming
bass sounds you want to use NO RESONANCE
WHATSOEVER by default; if the sound
you want contains resonance make sure
to use it in small to moderate amounts.
Either way, let your ears be the guide.
Oberheim
OBXa
One of the few polysynths that
can really compete with monosynths
for producing thick, lush and
deep bass sounds—among many
other things.
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The
final aspect of analog bass programming
are setting the amplitude (VCA) envelopes.
The VCA (voltage controlled amplifier)
governs the overall loudness of the
synthesizer's sound and is typically
the final stage before a sound is outputed
from the synth. Setting the envelopes
correctly to produce the sound desired
is often a tricky art that outfoxes
most novice players.
One
of the more hotly debated issues about
envelopes is envelope speed.
It is generally considered that fast,
hardware produced, envelopes create
a better sound than slower—typically
software generated—envelopes. Much
of why this is true has nothing to do
with the bass frequency generating abilities
of a synth; mostly, synths with fast
envelopes produce more "punch"
because they are able to quickly modulate
the filter cutoff up and back down again
(see filter envelope). This brief burst
of high frequencies will fool the human
ear into believing the ensuing tone
is somewhat brighter and punchier. Additionally,
this brief, often measured in less than
10 milliseconds, blast of higher frequencies
will better define each note's start—resulting
in clearer sounds that sit well in a
mix.
When
setting amplitude envelopes, remember
that in the real world sounds often
build up quickly (attack) to a peak
and then level off (decay) to a steady
plateau (sustain) before finally fading
away (release). This activity mimics
the ADSR envelope in your synthesizer.
Remember, the amplitude envelope governs
how the synth sound's loudness is effected
when you play a note. By giving a sound
a quick attack and quick decay that
levels off to a moderate sustain level
you have created a volume "spike"
that will add punch and definition to
your sound. Conversely, some bass sounds
have no attack or decay—which is
excellent for "organ" type
sounds. One tip though: whenever setting
sounds that have an attack period but
no decay ALWAYS make sure to
have the sustain level set at maximum,
otherwise you will create an unnatural
sounding drop in volume that can be
annoying unless used specifically for
effect.
One
final tip about setting overall volume
levels on your synthesizers: try to
"normalize" the output volume
level between your patches and make
them the same apparent volume. Try not
to use the master volume control to
make adjustments—make them to the
sounds themselves. Many times, for polyphonic
synths that have unison mode, unison
will be vastly louder than a corresponding
polyphonic sound. Control the volume
levels by setting the oscillators at
a lower volume for unison sounds, or
by setting the VCA sustain lower. Some
synths, especially modern ones, have
a "master volume" that can
be set for each patch to allow you to
normalize your levels accordingly.
As
you can see, there are a lot of factors
to consider when programming analog
bass sounds. This article has only grazed
the surface of the number of choices
available for making bass sounds. Future
articles will cover utilizing modulations
to create unusual bass sounds, studio
techniques for increasing the quality
of your low end sounds, precise settings
for achieving some of the more common
bass sounds as well as detailed reviews
of analog synths that are considered
to be classic bass machines.
Until
next time.
James Meeker
