How to Create EDM Bass – Sound Design Skills
Sound design is one of the most important aspects of music production because of how much influence it possesses over the final product of the music. The sound design will determine how musical and appealing your song will be. Sound design is important to understand for basically every genre at this point, however, in this piece, we will be focusing on EDM Bass sound design. Think Steve Akoi, Marshmallow, and any similar artists (the list goes on here!). We will be covering 5 key points about EDM bass sound design that will help make your music sound alive, rich, and just plain good.
What is Sound Design, and Why Does it Matter?
Sound design is simply the process of creating a sound or track for a variety of needs, Film, podcasts, music, animations. We are focusing on musical sound design. Within musical sound design, there are many different ways to create an appealing sound – It would be difficult to list them all here but here are some main examples: Additive synthesis, subtractive synthesis, sample-based synthesis, manipulation of pre-recorded instruments, and to add FX, completely changing any sound. For EDM Bass the most common type of Sound design is Subtractive synthesis usually seen from a Virtual instrument such as Xfer Records Serum or Native Instruments Massive.
How to Create EDM Bass 
- Determine the function of your bass – The first step is to understand why you need a bass sound in the first place and how this bass will function in your music. Ask yourself this. What do I need the bass for in this song? Is the bass working as a lead instrument? Is the bass used for harmonic stability? Is the bass for a verse or a big drop section of the song? Depending on your answer, you should be given better direction when selecting your basic sound and building from there.
- Develop your basic sound – developing the basis of the sound is usually pretty straightforward after determining the purpose of your bass.
- First, find a waveform that is clear and sounds full. A couple go to are Sine, Triangle, Juno, and Saw Waveforms as a basic starting point but really anything with rich lower harmonics will work. Using a wavetable synthesizer will lead to bass that evolves over time for added character.
- Second, and depending on what you choose, applying a low pass filter will be useful for warming up the tone and removing higher frequencies above 2.5k that will not be needed in most cases.
- Third, the basic sound will also need some adjustments for voicing. Bass is generally direct center nowadays but still carries useful stereo information to make a mix more appealing. As a tip, more voices will be useful for a subtle and wider bass while using fewer voices for bass is useful for a powerful and ‘in your face’ type bass.
- Lastly, the ADSR envelop of the bass should be specified. Again, this will change depending on the function of your bass. Strong bass will be a bit brighter have more punch using the ADSR tools in a synth to craft dynamics. The ADSR of a more relaxed bass will likely be slower overall. Attack times around 60ms upward and with a release of longer than 90ms.
- Add character to the sound – This is when the bass truly becomes full and rich. Character depends on the function and type of song, but for the most part, there are two main categories. Strong bass and relaxed bass.
- Strong bass will be a bit brighter have more punch using the ADSR tools in a synth to craft those dynamics. Adding some type of more aggressive distortion will also help in this stage to create a strong bass that living more forward.
- A more relaxed bass will likely use a sound with less upper harmonics. The ADSR of a more relaxed bass will likely be slower overall. Use a slower attack around 60 ms and with a release of longer than 150ms. This bass could also benefit from FX such as chorus, phaser, or even reverb. I still recommend using some type of distortion to fill out the sound and create more warmth.
- Additionally, the character can come from varying velocities of the bass. Synthyzisiers are velocity-sensitive and the bass should be no exception here. Velocity is handy for controlling the volume and the filter of the sound, so maybe a higher velocity opens the filter up and makes the bass a bit louder whereas a lower velocity does the opposite.
- Character can also be developed by inserting plugins after the initial sound design within the synthesizer. I tend to use dedicated distortion plugins to make the bass feel full.
- MIDI Programming – EDM bass is usually written via midi giving a lot of room for precise via automation controls. Using the pitch bend control is a fantastic way to make the bass feel more alive. Pitch bend is great for ending phrases, sliding into nearby notes, and to create dramatic drops or cuts within the song. It is worth your time to use automation and pitch bending on the bass to liven up a track. Distortion, chorus mix, and even the reverb mix are all good parameters to change via automation to increase excitement and change over time.
- Separate the Sub from the bass – Separating the sub from the bass will help when mixing and when trying to make a truly powerful song. It’s important to note that sub frequencies are anywhere from 20hz up to 80hz. Bass frequencies are from about 80hz up to 300hz.
3 Tips and Reminders for making an EDM Bass
- EDM bass doesn’t often benefit from complex synthesis techniques. Keep things simple when making your bass.
- Low amounts of distortion and chorus are great for making an EDM bass that sits well in the mix. This creates warmth and width for your music.
- Be very deliberate when working with MIDI and programming bass automation. A lot of the character will ultimately come from how the MIDI and automation is written.
Final thoughts
Creating a good EDM bass does not need to be a complex process and can be achieved with any synthesizer and set of plugins. Remember to determine the function of your bass, use simple and warm sonic elements, add character via a rich plug-in chain, be precise with your midi, and finally, consider separating the sub from the bass for ultimate control. We will be posting a video tutorial outlining these key points and helping to create various rich basses using different synthesizers.
Let us know if you have any questions about the information or need clarification! Additionally, If you are needing expert help creating your new song and need a trusted partner, simply send us a quick message via one of our forms. We are happy to discuss your song needs and get your project sounding as good as possible.
