How do you write your basslines?

[Reznik]

well, i usually go outside in the yard, sit down on a bench and have a smoke, whilst i do this i´d tap my feet randomly on the ground til i suddenly think, hey that would make a great bassline! so i go upstairs, open my sequencer and write it down. how do you do it?

[NEMO.BOFH]

well, i usually go outside in the yard, sit down on a bench and have a smoke, whilst i do this i´d tap my feet randomly on the ground til i suddenly think, hey that would make a great bassline! so i go upstairs, open my sequencer and write it down. how do you do it?

open up cubase, turn on click, select a softsynth that is good for basses, press record and then I play around on my keyboard. when I feel like there was one that made good sense, I cut it and use it

[Mike A]

i listen to some tracks and copy it

 

nah, seriously - i take a vst (usually either surge or z3ta) find a bass preset which fits my mood and start finding a note sequence with my keyboard. i can't play properly so i end up just writing it.

so i write a few basic notes, with a velocity groove i have in mind. then it's tweaking time. i put 1 bar on loop and play with the vst until i get something that sounds nice. i can tweak the notes more while doing so.

once i get a properly sounding bassline i apply sidechain compression on it, and eq the kick to make it fit the bass soundwise.

then i tweak the preset some more, maybe change the notes again and then start apply processing on the bassline - be it stereo expansion, eq, whatever.

[Otto Matta]

open up cubase, turn on click, select a softsynth that is good for basses, press record and then I play around on my keyboard. when I feel like there was one that made good sense, I cut it and use it

Me too. And then, if necessary, I'll go into the piano roll and do some interesting things to it like add accent notes or syncopations.

[NEMO.BOFH]

Me too. And then, if necessary, I'll go into the piano roll and do some interesting things to it like add accent notes or syncopations.

yeahp. or groove quantize

[devious]

I play a djembe and I figure if it sounds good on the djembe, I should reproduce it in electronic form.

[Veracohr]

With a purple crayon on a white stray cat.

[Anakoluth]

i open m last project and copy+paste.

 

...no idea, really. ideas come or they don't.

[Aeros]

I smoke a bowl.

[devious]

I smoke a bowl.

Man, I tell you what happened last time I was in my friends studio practicing with him....wow, well, I had my infamous space rock (my one-e) and it was full of some killer greens. I toked most of it, my buddy Matt took the rest (he takes hits like a lil man ). Well, afterwards, we were high as hell and I was practically trippin. Ever since I overdosed on AMT, I have minor to sometimes intense visuals off any amount of marijuana consumptions now, eep. Matt got into music theory on my ass, Mr. Fucking Professor Matt. I just wanted to continue doing our improv shit. I couldn't follow him, I was FLYING!@# So he finally figured that out after about 20 minutes of him soaring above me acting as mr. professor! It was funny hahaha!!!

 

So, alas, we went, he came up with a funky bassline [with a real bass, he does bass, i hit the keyboard], and next thing you know, I had us going to egypt on the keyboard. Some crazy weird arabic shit, total improv, cause I hate music theory haha! :] anyways, too high to record, but it was totally a blast once he shut his piehole on music theory. I told him to wait until I wasn't so damn high. He's studied it for 20 years, I've studied it for a total of 5. Difference in knowledge, so he was basically high ass professor matthew.

 

This was what? Two weeks ago.

 

I really can't do musical things when I'm trippin or high. I can do the Djembe but it requires me to do next to absolutely no thinking. Let go of the tension in the hands, hear that beat I want in my head, and lay it out! wOOt!

 

-d

[Gaffel]

I ask Pzyko and he makes them for me

[cronodevir]

i simplify my main lead melody, thats how i get my bassline...