How to get OLDSCHOOL sounding BASS?

[Bubito_91]

Hi there!

I'm looking for quite a while for some good sounding bass for my productions. I was using stock plugins from different DAW's also separated bass samples that I was spreading through my keyboard but everything that I've tried is far from what I'm looking for. I doubt that is because of bad mix. Everything in my productions sounds good except bass. Maybe I'm doing something wrong... Does some of you is able to help? Do you know about some solutions? Do you know maybe some plugins that might be good for what I'm looking for? I watched hundreds of videos on youtube about creating a bass sound but none of them are even close to what I want.
Lately I've heard about Bass Engine plug in from DopeVST and I'm wondering if this is a good solution. They have 90's library that (as I saw on youtube) sounds close to what I'm looking for. Does some of you is familiar with this plug in?
I've heard about plugins like: Massive, Trilian and so on but I'm not so sure this is what I'm looking for. I need something more lo-fi and oldschool I guess.

To be more specific: I'm looking for the bass that Dj Premier, J Dilla, Pete Rock, 9th Wonder, Havoc, Jonwayne, Marco Polo, Q Tip, Apollo Brown, Mad Lib and lots of others are using.

Would be honered if some of you is able to help.

Cheers!

 

[OGBama]

If you have any musician friends that play bass, record 'em. Do you play any instrument(s)? If not, start w/bass if interested.

 

[Bubito_91]

I’m a bass player but I’m looking for a bass that you play using your keyboard with that oldschool groove

 

[Fade]

Most likely you need some sort of bass plug-in. By "old school" do you mean 90's? 80's? Or some other genre like Funk?

 

[Bubito_91]

Do you have any sugestions? plugins that you can recommend? I mean 90’ hiphop, boombap.
Artists like:
Big L, Notorius, Nas, Rakim, Dj Premier, Pete Rock, J Dilla

 

[Fade]

Do you have any sugestions? plugins that you can recommend? I mean 90’ hiphop, boombap.
Artists like:
Big L, Notorius, Nas, Rakim, Dj Premier, Pete Rock, J Dilla

I've used one from Cakewalk for a long time now, it's https://www.cakewalk.com/Products/Studio-Instruments/Bass

But for 90's you could also just copy your main melody track and filter it, making it your bassline. There's also this thread you can check https://www.illmuzik.com/threads/which-vst-plugin-for-hiphop-bass-you-use.38689/

 

[Bubito_91]

Awesome! Thank you for your help!

 

[2GooD Productions]

For old style 90's bass, you should also look into "Low end theory", which is simply filtering a sample with a bassline so that the higher frequencies are taken away, leaving just the bassline. A potential problem will be the kick drum as it shares frequency range with the bassline, so try to use a sample without drums if possible, or without a heavy kick for best results. If you want to create your own basslines, you might want to look into subtractive synths and designing your own bass sounds. Its quite fun engineering your own sounds and can be very educational. Once you have started to get to grips with the frequencies bass occupies and ADSR(attack, decay, sustain, release), the process of creating your own sounds becomes a lot easier.

EDIT: You are a bass player? Why are you even asking about bass?
Learn how to eq a bassline and you can make the sound of a bass change quite dramatically.
You can add fx to a bassline, like distortion for example to shape the sound, or give it some presence in the higher frequencies.

 

[Baasta Beats]

Hey man a really good bass plug in is trillian by Spectrasonics. It's kind of expensive, but check it out it has extremely realistic bass sounds.

 

[ATR360]

Hi there!

I'm looking for quite a while for some good sounding bass for my productions. I was using stock plugins from different DAW's also separated bass samples that I was spreading through my keyboard but everything that I've tried is far from what I'm looking for. I doubt that is because of bad mix. Everything in my productions sounds good except bass. Maybe I'm doing something wrong... Does some of you is able to help? Do you know about some solutions? Do you know maybe some plugins that might be good for what I'm looking for? I watched hundreds of videos on youtube about creating a bass sound but none of them are even close to what I want.
Lately I've heard about Bass Engine plug in from DopeVST and I'm wondering if this is a good solution. They have 90's library that (as I saw on youtube) sounds close to what I'm looking for. Does some of you is familiar with this plug in?
I've heard about plugins like: Massive, Trilian and so on but I'm not so sure this is what I'm looking for. I need something more lo-fi and oldschool I guess.

To be more specific: I'm looking for the bass that Dj Premier, J Dilla, Pete Rock, 9th Wonder, Havoc, Jonwayne, Marco Polo, Q Tip, Apollo Brown, Mad Lib and lots of others are using.

Would be honered if some of you is able to help.

Cheers!

Old school bass to me is very percussive. Usually every daw or beat software has a bass gtr. I would duplicate the bass, and one of the tracks I would use a lofi plug to do 2 things (whatever your preference) and crank the distortion for more upperfreq and use the saturation for more vintage feel also play with the sample rate for some bass farts lol. I would also have an aux track with a bass distortion peddle crank up and a transient shaper with hi atk for more percussive and sustain (optional) then blend it to taste, assuming your are familiar with bussing and parallel. Stay away from distortion plugins, they will just give presence but not the same as a lofi plug (gives presence too). Why 2 tracks? If you did all this with one track you'll loose the fundamental frequencies at the low end (by by creamy bass). Also keep in mind plugins with "mix button" is not the same parallel with a aux or separate track, this way you have more control. Any questions don't hesitate to ask, I have tricks of the trade all day and sometimes come up with new ones depending on the question. I teach to learn.

 

[BezO]

Low pass filter & a touch of distortion on a sine wave, electric bass sample or real electric bass/VI works for me every time.

 

[GhostChamberz]

Low Pass filter, slight convolution reverb , Distortion and an EQ can get you pretty far. Eventually also layering so you have that ummf in the low end and that attack on the top. I would consider looking for Kontakt Libraries. If you dont have the cash for getting the Komplete Bundle u could always search for 3rd Party Kontakt Libraries as i believe there is a Kontakt player that is free?

 

[BezO]

...I would consider looking for Kontakt Libraries. If you dont have the cash for getting the Komplete Bundle u could always search for 3rd Party Kontakt Libraries as i believe there is a Kontakt player that is free?

Monark has been a good stand in for my Moog Minitaur. It's in their Select bundle ($200, free with most of their hardware). But any decent mono synth with a few oscillators should get you there.