It’s funny I choose the bass clef as the post image here. This is probably because I do not want choose between a synth bass, an organ or an acoustic bass. I think there’s a bigger reason for my indecisiveness. Apart from the range of frequencies and the oomph of the bass sound. What do we start to hear there ? Not saying that kick and that sub are easy to synthesize (to me a convincing kick is harder to achieve maybe because of the processing). We start to hear “riff of notes”, the bass introduce the notion of “groove”.
Funk, Disco, Soul, Rock every genre have bass instruments involved in the song. Bass can be more in front of the track and regarded as very important. It can also sneak into the melody by underlying notes. You can see this at a live show if you focus on the bassist in a Band. Oh man what a job ! People are usually focused on the singer, the guitarist, and the drummer. One thing people don’t see is the bassist is a master at setting the mood of the performance. We feel it, he gives us the envy of moving and he can amplify emotions in something melancholic like no one can do.
That’s the first sound you learn in synthesis too. Bass patches can be played in so many ways. That’s the first sound you synthesis where “expressivity” have a crucial role. Imagine a TB303 without glide, without accent, without filter – it is nothing. Still, because of the glide and accent it became something.
So the Bass is the first sound you should consider for the timbre as well as the playability. If you take pleasure when playing a bass sound with the filter, the pitch wheel, the modulation wheel, AMP Env and FEnv – you probably have designed a good bass. Enough hours of tweaking and playing you will know what bass you should be writing music with depending on the project you are working on of course.
In this “Approaching a sound” series, I gave you insights, thinking to the sound before anything. What the sound means to you. How is the sound if we have a replica patch in the acoustic territory? In the synthetic bass territory there’s so much to say for the bass sound, I could write for hours about it, as I like so many genre of music.
In music harmony, the bass is fall often on the root note we call home. It is good to go on a journey and come back to home !
The bass notes played tend to accompany the melody. It can be two things that mixes with talent and sometimes the bass is simpler and wonderfully supports the whole song.
Bass is also what makes the subwoofer vibrate along with the beats. On the a PA system it’s usually a “whoa” sensation as we feel something extraordinary happening in our bodies. This is what gets you emotionally charge to dance for hours and the bass never let you down.
But don’t dance in front of the Sub Woofer! Even with in-ear protection you should still protect your hearing. Remember you’re a musician and your hearing is priceless !
I will not discuss about waveforms, filters here we have quite a few important concepts of synthesis to cover and that’s pairing waveforms, altering the timbre/tone, Synthesis : Layering method and Pitch intervals.
When we are done we will analyze a few bass sounds and cover how it’s done.
Get Ready! This is next!
