Hi,

Has anyone got FM bass tips. I'm finding basic donk fm bass distorts really easy in the high mids.
I'm working on a track with a similar bass so I just made this for an example here with a quick mix and limit for volume comparable to the ref I was using that was around -8lufs. I just put on a Splice vocal on this example to see what it would sound like.
Youtube version is quieter than the download I was using.
My example.
https://vocaroo.com/1iR9AdaGzPcA


Reference I'm using.

Also has anybody got a sample pack with kick drums like that as well? It's a bit more punchy and has more air on it. Or any tips to turn a normal kick drum into that. Is it reverb in the mids? It's a lot more round I think is the word.
I just used a basic 909 kick.

 

you got that very close. are they the exact same bpm?

 

My go to fornthat bass would be Reaktor Razor or any other wavetable synth... I bet you could find that bass sound just from browsing Serum set to INIT & flip through tables...

 

the first thing i thought would just be a square with about anything...but if he is trying to learn fm synthesis, it's very close. I ask about the bpm, because the pitching of the closed high hat could be making the track seem faster than it really is, which could change what to do with the kick

 

Last edited: May 8, 2021

Just looked at their bpm they are 124 but I'm at 126.

I have a few presets but it's just the processing to bring that middle bit up without the whole thing distorting. Mine the high mids I had to roll off.

These guys have a nice one more in theirs, but they used a sample.

I like square bass.
The example I made sounds a little better then what I was working on so I will take that into my other project.
Oh, I'm not trying to learn fm synthesis, I know a bit, but I'm trying to learn more mixing really.
The kick I think it is reverb it has some width and height on it. I'll give it a try.
Do you reverb your kick?

 

Your bass has less attack, more audible reverb (way too much, IMHO) and sounds more hollow than in the first vid. If this is of any help.

And there's defo a reverb on the kick.

 

its a bog standerd donk bass low pass squre wave fmed really really to make could send youthe patch for serum massive sytrus harmour vital sylenth and dune

 

if you need to know a nice way to process eq cutout till around the 150 mark boost a little around 320ish disperser or transient shaper i prefere a disperser and compression you could add some very light reverb aswell but its not needed

 

Awesome No Avenger you the man!! Always a help. Appreciate it.
Thanks.

Thanks for the offer. But I have a a lot of similar presets was more interested in the mixing. But thank you.

Awesome thanks! Will look into disperser.

Thanks everyone. I took what I learned from making this example back into my original project last night and I think it solved most of the problems I was having. My original projects bass was a lot thinner and distorting a lot easier then this one so I'm just replacing it.
Will work on it today with all your suggestions. Thanks.

 

Can't give you advice with mixing.. I'll just say that I find the Diplo and the "Selected" basses quite different. Selected hosts a lot of deep house acts and those use the classic 'donk'. The bass is almost up there with the vocals (chops). Diplo has more of a proper vocal line going on and the bass is a bit less prominent. So it depends on the context.. I'd always use FM synth for the classic donk, for anything else (even similar) - whatever works.

 

Yea the Diplo one just sounded more fuller for what I wanted. Definitely FM for Donks.
I also found if you've heard of WHTKD on Selected I like his stuff but when I listened to it on my monitors his mixes distort badly so went with Diplo for a reference as they use mastering engineers etc.

My mistake on that other Selected track it was this one where they used a sample for the bass I was looking at.

Just looked it up this is the guy that mastered the Diplo track.

https://www.musictech.net/features/interviews/stem-mastering-cass-irvine-wired-masters/

 

Last edited: May 9, 2021

I'm just reading some of the included linked materials/sites and one video I bumped into mentioned using the EFM1 in Logic for this purpose. The Factory Default patch for that plugin is already probably 75% there when it loads. Then the Logic Vintage B3 Organ, then FM8. He layers in a sine wave underneath from a sampler and that's about it.

that one hit is a big part of that sort of track (apparently). it might be worth a try layering a bunch of them and eq into separate bands.
if I was going to use a "well known" sample/sound type I'd pay extra attention to it anyway. that would give you a ton of control. it's only a 1/4 note that repeats with almost no automation the entire track, so you could do a lot of offline processing to it.

 

Useful tutorial, I already wondered why no one was mentioning the sub bass (in OP's second vid, I think) and of course the organ sound characteristic.
Nonetheless he made a small mistake. Filtering and compressing a pure sine wave doesn't make sense because it doesn't work. The reason why it has an effect in this tut is, that his alleged sine wave isn't one, it has some harmonics.

 

Thanks for the vid. I will try add some M1 organ to it.
Pretty funny the logic default is already pretty much it.
But yea pretty much what I'm doing. Sub. Serum, and another donk that's in my default software for the high. But I roll everything off at 100hz except kick and sub. I always use a separate sub layer. And I have a volumeshaper on the sub inverse to another one on the kick so they don't play at the same time.

Do you not filter and compress sub so it doesn't move?
I do it to stop the sub going louder when some notes that move higher and keep sub at same level. Well really I smash it with an L2 and have a dynamic eq on it usually some notes around 80hz-100hz.
What region do you keep your sub in?

 

Which one distorts on yours..?

Yp! That would be (at least historically) more accurate. "Organ 2" preset and you have Show me love, Plastic dreams vibe..

I think he meant: Sub - yes. Pure sine wave:

I have a very strong feeling @No Avenger is right. There is nothing to filter..

 

Nearly everything he makes. Or maybe they all do when not on youtube version?
Organ 2 all the way. M1 is so deep house.

 

A pure sine wave has nothing to filter because it's only one single frequency. You neither can compress it. You can of course level out different velocities with a compressor even for a sine wave, but you can do this with MIDI velocity too. No need to add an extra compressor for this.

Working with sub frequencies is pretty difficult. You need a well treated room and high listening volume to know if you're not overdoing it. And you need of course a well calibrated monitor system.

 

Try this freebie for house donks... https://www.sonicbits.com/exakt-lite.html it has a House bass preset which sounds ok

 

at direct drive
https://www.hintonandfairchild.co.uk/product/donkmachine2/

 

Yeah, yeah, it's sick that. But you know what you wanna do with it?