

Bass guitar overtones continue all the way up to around 4000Hz (4kHz) to 5000Hz (5kHz).

Six-string basses, with an added high C-string, go up 5 more notes to a C on the 24th fret whose fundamental is 523Hz. 5-string and 6-string basses, which commonly have low B-strings, go down to 31Hz. 5-String and 6-String Fundamental Rangeīasses with more strings have a wider fundamental range. The high G (24th fret of the G-string) = 392Hz. The common high D# (20th fret of the G-string) = 311Hz. The fundamental range of a 4-string bass goes from about 40Hz to 400Hz. The fundamental range refers to the pure note range-not the upper harmonics. As you would expect, the bass covers the low side of of this frequency spectrum. So far, we've discussed how humans can hear from about 20Hz to 16kHz (20kHz at birth). In this article we'll look more specifically at the frequency range of the bass and where it fits in among other popular instruments. You learned that most instruments don't produce simple pure tones, instead they produce a complex tone made up of a fundamental tone and many overtones.
#BASS SPACE DROP SERIES#
It’s very contextual, but less is usually more.In the last article of this series we discussed the harmonic series and musical tone. When reducing the gain – or volume – of an EQ band, you don’t need to be too extreme. Because your melody should stand out, you’d want to cut the pads between 6Hz to carve out some space. Perhaps your melody gets most of its power from the 600-1000Hz range, but your pads also have a lot going on in this range. You’ll also want to see how your melody is interacting with things like pads and chords. You’ll want to make sure none of the other channels in your track have much going on in the sub-150Hz, otherwise they will be crowding space reserved for the kick and bass. (See, we weren’t kidding when we said mixing was just about changing the volume!)ĮQ is important in a genre like drum and bass, where the kick and the bass compete with everything else, including each other, for sonic real estate. As a general rule of thumb, ALWAYS use subtractive EQ (decreasing the volume) before additive EQ (increasing the volume). Cool down and let listeners reflect on having had their minds blown.Īs always, rules are made to be broken, but this is where you should start.Īn EQ gives you the ability to increase or decrease the volume of the different frequencies in a track.Same as the first drop, but the first phrase should have a notable variation.Time to decompress from the first drop and get mellow again.Second Build-Up/Breakdown – 1-2 phrases.Engage the listener by adding or subtracting different elements over the course of the 64 bars.
#BASS SPACE DROP FULL#
Often, this is the first time we hear the kick and the bass to their full extent.

This is where you give the listener everything you’ve got. First Drop – 4 phrases (with progressions and switch-ups).The pace picks up and you begin layering in more sounds. Here, you start working toward the first drop.They might hint at the melody or tease other elements that will be heard later on. Intros are usually slower and more atmospheric. This is where you usher listeners into the sonic world you’re building.The general structure of a drum and bass track is as follows: A phrase is equal to one 16 bar loop, so if a section is two phrases, it’s 32 bars. The structure of drum and bass isn’t too dissimilar from other genres of electronic music, but it’s definitely got some unique traits.įirst, you should think in terms of phrases. You can use a simple pitch shifter to correct this, but it will affect the texture of your sample. Not all time-stretching algorithms are created equal, and it’s likely that the sample will get pitched up or down. (When something is quantized, it matches perfectly to the bpm and time signature of your track.) You might need to stretch or compress the sample to make it fit your track. Since these are recordings of humans playing live drums, they aren’t always going to be perfectly quantized. This can often be a good thing, but if you’re looking to keep your drum and bass ultra-clean and modern sounding, this is something to be aware of. įurther, since most breakbeats are sampled from vinyl records that were recorded using older equipment, there are sometimes sound artifacts or other organic textural qualities present in the sample. Try and source your samples from quality sample packs or trusted sites like Splice.

Depending on where you got it from, the sample could have been compressed and encoded dozens of times, which is no bueno in terms of fidelity. First, the quality of the breakbeat sample is not always guaranteed. Working with breakbeats can be a bit of an art, and there are several things you’ll want to keep in mind.
