How to Write a Heavy Bass Line
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2024
- Music Theory from Front Line Assembly "Mechanical Soul".
►FREE BOOK. Learn Theory in 30 Minutes: HackMusicTheory.com/Books
0:00 Step 1. Syncopated Octaves
0:39 Step 2. High Line
1:55 Step 3. Low Line
2:37 Final Example
Step 1. Syncopated Octaves
Set up one bar of 4|4 with your grid on 1/16 notes, and your tempo at 110 BPM. You’re gonna start by using only one note, and the octave of that note. We’re using A in our example. So, draw in every 1/16 note on the low A. Now, play around with moving a handful of them one octave up. These high notes will make accents in your bass line, so you want them to create a cool rhythm all on their own. And one of the best ways to do that is to syncopate most of them. In other words, most of them will not be on the main beats. All that syncopation adds tons of energy!
Step 2. High Line
Your bass line actually consists of two lines now: a high line, and a low line. So in this step you’re gonna add a melodic element to your high line. A great note to start on is the ♭3 (which is C in our example), as it’s super strong and moody! And by the way, if these flats and numbers confuse you, no problem, just read hack 8 in our free book. Right, so what other notes should you use in your high line? Well, as we’re writing a heavy bass line, you wanna crank up the dissonance, so throw in a ♭2 somewhere (which is B♭ in our example). And if you use the ♭3 and the ♭2, then you could also use the 2, which is the note in between. And feel free to repeat notes. In our example, we played the ♭3 twice, the 2 twice, and the ♭2 once. And a shoutout to local legends, Front Line Assembly, as this lesson is based on the song “Purge” from their 2021 album “Mechanical Soul”.
Step 3. Low Line
So as you could hear, the bass line is already sounding good. And to be honest, most producers would think it’s now complete, but not Front Line Assembly! No, they’ve got one more trick up their sleeves, and that’s the dissonance they add to their low line. Most of their low line remains on the root note, however, they’ve moved a few notes down one semitone to the 7 (which is G♯ in our example). Also, at the very end, you could throw in a ♭3 for a little variation. This makes the bass line loop more smoothly as well. Adding this dissonance to your low line is a game-changer, as it’s super subtle (seriously, most people won’t even notice it), but it adds a feeling of heaviness that you simply can’t achieve without it!
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This is so cool! Utilizing the 7th in the low bass line is ingenious. You mentioned the subtlety. Lately I’ve noticed that the small things, the subtle things, that people don’t notice seem to make a big difference. Thank you for the excellent insights in this lesson. Have a great week! 🙂🙏🙏🙏
Thanks Charles! Absolutely, it's the small things that count :) Thank you for the well wishes, and we also wish you many blessings on your upcoming week 🙏 Kate
As a bassist found this very interesting
Happy to hear it, mrlucius57! Thanks for watching and we're really grateful that you've been in the Hack Music Theory community for so many years, thank you for your support :) Wishing many blessings on your music making and the week ahead! Kate
@@HackMusicTheory thank you!
I'm pleased to say I'm now part of the team , I bought the apprentice #1 last night, looking forward to finally getting my writing and production skills up , as just a guitar player those skills are kinda lacking and I'm ready to put the time in and get better , can't wait as I've been kinda depressed about getting nowhere with writing ect ,cheers !
Wooohooo!!!!!! A very warm welcome to the family, my friend, we're super stoked and grateful to have you here. Hope you love the course, and we'll see you over in the apprentice network. Happy music making! Ray :)
You have literally opened my eyes to many things that I have been studying for months. The best teachers I've watched. Good luck, health and love!
This is basically what I am looking for, how to make a heavy bass, and including the video concept that goes straight to the point. I find it good to watch 3 times in a row.
Great idea to make a Hack based on Front Line Assembly, i'm pleasantly surprised !
Happy to hear we've given you a pleasant surprise, Mega! How's the smoke there? Hope you've had a lovely weekend so far and we wish you a fantastic upcoming week :) Kate
Absolutely awesome! I love Front Line Assembly.
great work
Cool tips!
Hey there I love your content been following for I while
If love to see you guys heck the Crystal method
Thnx
This is so cool. This single hack just sparked so many ideas right away!!! Thank you so much!! You are always The Best!!!
Haha, absolutely love your enthusiasm, Jose!! You're the best! And have fun playing with this one in the DAW :) Kate
your channel is absolutely inspiring. Thanks
Hey thanks, Willi, really appreciate you stopping by and connecting, it means the world to us! Wishing you many blessings on your music making and the week ahead :) Kate
Cool tips! Thanks!
Hey Gus, great to see you again! How's your music making going these days? Wishing you many blessings on your music making and the week ahead :) Kate
Funny, I recognised the bassline from the 2013 track Pursuit by Gesaffelstein!
Great video and good tips!
This is killer! Thank you.
Hi Preston, great to see you again :) How's your music making going these days? As always, we really appreciate you being here in the Hack Music Theory community and wish you many blessings on your week ahead! Kate
Hi Kate & Ray! All I can say about this lesson is woooow! It was already good after step 1, but steps 2 and 3 are even more awesome! You said a great note to start is flat 3, and thus the music will have to be in a minor scale? However, with all those "dissonant" notes it is hard to say...
awesome! TY (my first time hearing it referred to high line/low line.)
Thanks for watching and connecting, ArcRunner! Wishing you many blessings on your week ahead :) Kate
Top good ! You know, to wish, to get and to assess according to compare where, when and how much.
Hey thanks so much for stopping by, we're really grateful to have you in the Hack Music Theory community! Wishing you many blessings on your music making and the week ahead :) Kate
Great explanation!
Hey hey Ben, great to see you again! How's your music making going these days? Hope this finds you well and we wish you all good blessings :) Kate
Quite interesting
love the videos yall do. would love to see some more tool and polyphia stuff. Mastodon, gojira, or sleep tokens hacks would also be awesome to see!
Could you please do a video about a three-part vocal harmony??🎶
So simple, so good! 🎵
👍 - _also_ for the YT algo! 😊
Right as I was saying this feels very industrial you said thanks to frontline assembly!
Awesome, can't wait to get into the DAW to play with this idea! Thanks 🥰
Happy to hear you'll be playing around with this one, James! Hope you and the family are thriving, we wish you many blessings, and as always, we're beyond grateful for your years of support :) Take care, Kate
@@HackMusicTheory little one has his 3rd birthday just a couple of weeks ago and he's living his best life! Thank you for the kind words, I'm humbled! Thanks to you both for the amazing content and helping me on my (very slow) journey to writing better music
A video about James Blake (chord progressions, harmony,etc) would be dope!
This is sick!
Jason my friend, thanks for stopping by and watching, it's always a pleasure to connect with you. Happy to hear you enjoyed this lesson, and I hope this finds you splendidly well. See you over in the apprentice network. Got some exciting news for apprentices coming soon, so stay tuned! Ray :)
Thank you! Great lesson, love how simple it is when it's actually explained. I must admit, actually Purge is not my favourite song from MS album, but it's a great one nonetheless! And again as with the Suffer in Silence song breakdown - I love how much inspiration can be drawn from this and just used even in other genres.
If you need more songs for ideas, that will probably not be the most popular ones, and probably again not the most complex one: Prophet by VNV Nation from newest album Electric Sun
Hi Krzysztof, thanks for stopping by! We really appreciate your reminder from a couple weeks ago to check in on FLA, this lesson is thanks to you :) Also, thanks for the recommendation of VNV Nation, we'll check it out. Wishing you a lovely rest of your weekend and many blessings on the week ahead! Kate
@@HackMusicTheory Thank you Kate and Ray and I hope you are having superb finishing of the weekend aswell! Well, I am following you for quite a while, and I love these bit-sized tutorials, so it's great to give ideas to keep it running ;)
As for VNV - they are changing style every new album (a price to pay if like Ronan says "he is doing the music as he feels, thus he cannot make a hit record"), so even if Electric Sun doesn't catch you, I'm sure you can find quite some great ones on earlier releases like Judgement (the album I heard first of them 15 years ago around) or Of Faith, Power and Glory.
I need to try it with virtual metal bass!
Should probably use funds to finance relations of production and exchange to your liking. A way to live out ethical committments. A way to break certain dependance if it sets in.
Have you hacked Voyager from Australia? If you can do a video on their last single “Promise” that’d be awesome, loved how they write their lyrics melodies and their general approach on synths… Cheers.
Yay new vdeo(other)
Not only you get a new hack, you get a new artist as well to explore❤ Let's open up the daw and start creating people..
Happy to be of service, Arjun! Hope you have fun in the DAW :) Wishing you many blessings on your upcoming week! Kate
Nice one!!
FLA rule!!
Thanks for watching and connecting, Bohdan! We really appreciate you being here in the Hack Music Theory community :) Wishing you a fantastic week ahead! Kate
"We'll steal your dreams, control your minds
Persecute the fools left behind
The realm of the freaks is to solve the demise
We'll ravage the poor blinded by lies"
😎
I love the sound and techniques. However I should have poured a cup of tea first
Would love to get a hack on DJ Dahi
It seems y’all are inactive (sucks, just found this channel and as someone who wants to begin producing it is a godsend) but if you see this for some reason you guys should breakdown Bomb Thrown by Czarface. I’m no expert but I love how the drums feel. Definitely not something I’ve heard often.
Thanks for stopping by, we're so happy to hear you found our video helpful. We're actually more active than ever, but we're doing everything over on our website now: hackmusictheory.com/tutorials If you download our free book, you'll be added to the email list, then you'll be notified about new tutorials :)
@@HackMusicTheory 👍, thanks for the reply. I’ll check it out.
Hack BAK XIII! Please.
Hi Nachtgrabb, thanks so much for watching and for the suggestion, we'll check 'em out! Wishing you many blessings on your week ahead :) Kate
@@HackMusicTheory I know that this small band from geneva, probably the most underated band of the switzerland is not the topic for one of your videos. But I really wonder how they get these catchy malodies mixing guitar sounds with synths. I like your work and admire your dedication to music. cheers😍.
Disrupt possible negations of ethical committments.