Bass House Project - Update 3: The Breakdown and Drop Modifications

Hey guys! Back again with another project update on my bass house track for you guys! This week I decided to entirely focus on the breakdown sections of the track. For those of you who are unaware of what these sections are, essentially, they're the parts that lead in to and out of the drop. This section was actually a lot more difficult than I had anticipated so I'll get right into it!

The initial stages...

When first approaching this I figured that I'd want to immediately establish what the main bass line of the song was but use a different synth patch to hint at it. Little did I know that this would actually come to be my new bass lead! After reviewing my reference track (Last Chance - Dustycloud) again I realised that placing the main bass-line right in the first breakdown section would spoil the surprise and impact of the drop. I also wanted to get a bit weird and creative and actually add light chords into this section (which I will get to soon).

The chords

This is where it gets a little weird, although they are still in progress, it seems that the chords I have added into my track are working quite fine as of yet. Below you'll find the current synth patch for them in N.I Massive:

Current Synth Chord Patch: Screenshot taken 23/6/18

As you can see from the image above, this synth is essentially a super saw wave combination with a really light unisono voicing of just 2. For this synth, I have all 3 oscillators running, all with different saw wave variations in pitch in terms of semitones and octaves. The plan for this patch was to not add too many voices but instead keep it rather light. However, the envelope I have attached to the cutoff frequency is causing the chords to give off not so much of a stab feel but just enough for them to hit the smallest bit harder, which is right where I want them. The overall goal for these chords is to set the mood by being slightly menacing. Layers for these will most likely not be added as I can't risk turning this track into a future bass beat!

The new main bass!

As I mentioned earlier, I created a bass synth that was originally meant to be part of the breakdown sections. However, I quickly realised my mistake as this would make the track overly repetitive. Although it seemed like a waste to just let a decent sounding synth go. Out of curiosity, I used an EQ to cut out the low frequencies around 100 - 150Hz and placed it over the main bass in the drop. I quickly noticed that it immediately took charge and gave the track a lot more power and 'thickness'. Below you'll find the current patch for it and even some of its current processing!

N.I Massive Synth Patch for the new Bass Lead - Currently refferred to as 'Bass Layer 1' in the session. Screenshot taken 23/6/18

Before I go into the current processing, I thought I'd explain how this synth works. As you can see, I have 2 oscillators running saw waves with one of them tuned down by 1 octave and the other tuned down by 2 octaves. Both of these are then routed out to a lowpass filter with the cutoff frequency around halfway up. An envelope is then added to the cutoff frequency and set heavily towards closing the filter. This helps give off the 'plucking' effect that a lot of bass house tracks seem to have these days. The envelope itself has a rather large attack and slight decay so it is rather percussive. Finally, to really give it a harsh and piercing sound, I added a C Tube distortion effect with a decent sized drive and close to 1/3 of dry/wet!

Current processing

Current Daisy chain for processing for the new main bass - Screenshot Taken 23/6/18

As you can see, it is still rather light, I mentioned earlier that I had EQ'd out the 100 - 150Hz region by simply using a low pass on the low end. What I hadn't mentioned yet was that I also took out a significant amount of high end as the synth gave off some unwanted frequencies towards that end. That and of course, you cant forget the side chain compression right? Funny thing about these bass synths is that because they are already rather percussive, they aren't in need of a massive amount side chain to create a groove or 'bounce' feel.

The all famous Ghost Chain

Now we all knew this was going to be added eventually. The ghost chain has always been a huge help when it comes to composing electronic music as it allows you side chain certain music elements to percussion without the percussion actually having to be present. In my case and most commonly, it is used to chain elements to a kick drum. Below you'll find my Ghost Chain for this project.

Ghost Chain - Screenshot taken 23/6/18

As you can see, it is rather basic and it doesn't need to be anything else. Just a simple drum rack with your main kick drum is all you will need for it to work. In my personal opinion, I prefer to use the main kick that I use in the track as well a the ghost chain, this way I know for sure that whether the synth is taking side chain from either the G.C or the actual kick, it will be the same instrument either way. Every kick drum gives off a different sound, so if your Ghost Chain is housing a different kick to the one you are using in your session, the side-chain could potentially sound different depending the tail and overall shape of the kick it is holding. In my case, I'm using the same kick as the one I'm using in my session just to be safe.

The final addition to the project - the bass stab

This was a bit of a last minute addition and has a long way to go as of yet in terms of processing as it has none. However, this synth wasn't created from nothing like the others. This is actually a mutation of the original main synth to be more percussive. Below you'll find its patch!

Bass Stab Synth Patch - Screenshot Taken 23/6/18

As you can see, its basically identical to what the original main bass is except for the fact that the envelope has been expanded on to really make the filter work to open. The only really noticeable difference is the tuning in the waves on the oscillator with the square wave being tuned down 2 octaves and the saw wave being tuned down 3 octaves. This synth only appears in the breakdown sections of the track underneath the chords to give a hint of the darkness of the main synths.

to finish

Overall, the track is progressing rather well and should hopefully be done in the next week and a half! So keen for you guys to hear it! The next update to come will be the next update for my Horror Sound Replacement project! Until next time!

Levels :)