Layering bass sounds with Tomy DeClerque

Intro

Tomy Declerque is a Pro Tools expert and one of the elite mixers in the techno scene. He's also become Umek's go-to producer for mixing work. In this three-stage walkthrough, he reveals how you can get that massive, rolling bass sound with a few simple tricks.

"We all know that the bass frequencies play an essential part in all forms of club music, because this is the element of a track that will really make the dancefloor move," says DeClerque. "In this tutorial, I'll show you my method for getting all the power and dynamics you need in a good bassline by separating it on to different channels."

NEXT: Tuning kicks

Tuning kicks

“For a good low end, it’s very important to tune the kick and make it the right length or decay. Another crucial thing to make a low end work well is to use the same kick drum for sidechaining the bass.

"This way the envelope of the kick drum will influence the envelope of the sidechain and blend them nicely.”

Splitting up your bassline

“Instead of using one sound for the bassline, take it apart and use different presets for each note of a bassline loop. You will get even better results if you use a different synth for each note.

"Add some low percussion sounds and you will get an interesting, groovy low frequency pattern.”

Bass treatment

“At this point, it’s very important to mix everything right. As each note of the bassline has its own channel you can treat them as separate sounds and apply different EQ, dynamics or even lo-fi or ring modulation effects.

"Also, stereo delay set at 33ms with wide spread and no feedback or a small reverb can work wonders.”

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