Write a bass line
Pick a key, a progression and a style. The lab writes a line that fits the chords, shows each note's job, and plays it with drums.
Bass style
Ten bass patterns
From one note per chord to walking jazz and trap 808s: what each pattern does and where you'll hear it.
Three rules for any bass line
1. Root on the one. When a chord changes, hit its root. That's what makes the progression sound clear. 2. Lock to the kick. Play with the kick, or deliberately in the gaps between kicks, but don't half-overlap it. 3. Less is more. The bass holds up everything else, so leave space. More on this in the Writing Songs chapter.
808s — tuned, slid and heard
The 808 is the most important bass sound in modern hip-hop and trap. How to make it hit.
An 808 is a bass
Its pitch is the bass note. Tune it to the song's key (in Simpler, use Transpose until the root note matches) and write it the same way you'd write any bass line: roots first.
Kick or 808, not both at once
They fight for the same low end. Either start the 808 exactly with the kick and pick a kick that matches its pitch, or sidechain the 808 to the kick so it ducks out of the way.
Slides (glide)
Set your instrument to mono with glide (portamento) on, then let two notes overlap slightly in the MIDI. The second note slides up or down from the first. Octave slides are the classic trap move.
Note length is the groove
A long 808 rings into the next hit and blurs the rhythm. Shorten the notes until the gaps breathe with the hi-hats. That space is the bounce.
Make it heard on phones
Small speakers can't play the deep fundamental. Add Saturator to create harmonics higher up; the ear fills in the rest. Then check the result on earbuds.
Keep the sub in mono
Put Utility on the bass and turn on Bass Mono (around 120 Hz) so the low end stays solid on club systems and mono speakers.
In Ableton
From exported MIDI to a bass that sits with the kick.
Export and drop it in
Hit Export MIDI, then drag the file into Live. Bass, chords and drums each land on their own MIDI track at the right tempo.
Pick a bass sound
In the Browser go to Sounds → Bass. For a clean sub, load Operator with a single sine wave. For an 808, put an 808 sample in Simpler. Drift is great for warm analogue basses.
Lock it to the kick
Put a Compressor on the bass, turn on Sidechain and choose the kick track as the input. Every kick ducks the bass for a moment, so they stop fighting.
Clean up the low end
Use Utility → Bass Mono on the bass, and high-pass everything else that doesn't need sub. See where every instrument sits in Instrument Frequencies.