Writing Bass Parts - Part 1
Lesson 4 from: Songwriting in Logic Pro X for Electronic Music ProductionTomas George
Writing Bass Parts - Part 1
Lesson 4 from: Songwriting in Logic Pro X for Electronic Music ProductionTomas George
Lesson Info
4. Writing Bass Parts - Part 1
Lessons
Writing Drums and Bass Part Introduction
01:11 2Making Drums Beats with Ultrabeat
14:27 3Beats with Ultrabeat and Drummer
08:48 4Writing Bass Parts - Part 1
15:03 5Writing Bass Parts - Part 2
04:53 6Writing Drums and Bass Parts Assignment
00:44 7Writing Chords Introduction
00:56 8Writing Chords
19:38Experimental Chords
09:44 10Writing Chords Assignment
00:56 11Writing Melodies Introduction
00:58 12Writing Melodies - Part 1
19:28 13Writing Melodies - Part 2
05:12 14Writing Melodies - Part 3
10:38 15Arpeggiator
08:02 16Writing Melodies Assignment
00:59 17Arrangement Introduction
00:45 18Arrangement
18:14 19Arrangement Continued
16:16 20Adding Effects and Instruments
18:28 21Arranging into a New Song - Part 1
14:57 22Arranging into a New Song - Part 2
17:31 23Arranging into a New Song - Part 3
08:24 24Arrangement Assignment
00:38 25Mixing Introduction
01:02 26Cleaning up and Basic Mixing
15:52 27EQ
11:46 28Tuning Drums
05:58 29Compression
10:56 30Sidechain Compression
10:30 31Reverb and Delay Sends
07:58 32Automation
06:59 33Mixing Assignment
00:58 34Recording Audio Equipment
10:55 35Recording Audio
04:01 36Vocal Melodies Introduction
01:04 37Vocals Intro
00:26 38Verse A Section
06:56 39Chorus and Harmonies
05:12 40Verse B and Pre-Chorus
05:20 41Verse 2, Chorus and Middle 8
17:37 42Song Title
00:50 43Vocal Melodies Assignment
01:00 44Lyrics Introduction
01:02 45Creating a Story with Lyrics - Part 1
15:25 46Creating a Story with Lyrics - Part 2
14:37 47Lyrics Assignment
00:54 48Adaptive Songwriting with Peter Darling
12:13 49Thanks and Bye
00:09Lesson Info
Writing Bass Parts - Part 1
OK. Now we're going to have a look at creating a bass part when writing a bass part. It's all about creating space and allowing the bass to breathe, but also locking in with the drums. So we don't want the bass playing all the times. If the drums are playing all the times, we need to be aware of the kick drum where the kick drum is playing and not really having the bass play at the same time or it will create a muddy low sound that's kind of a bit mushy and doesn't really work. We can do something called side chain where we basically duck down one of the sounds when another sound plays. But we're going to be having a look at that later on. So for now, let's actually create a new instrument, hit this plus button here, let's choose software instruments. And now let's choose bass part. Of course, the different parts are gonna be very different for whatever genre music you're choosing electronic music is extremely broad genre. There's all different subgenres and even subgenres of those sub...
genres in electronic music. But these principles would really allow you to write any kind of music in any genre. So let's choose the ES two. This is one of my favorite synthesizers. Let's choose stereo. Okay. Let's set up a loop. And now we need to actually be aware of what we're actually playing. So let's just quickly choose a preset. We can always change this later on funky base. We're gonna change the sound later on. So, if this doesn't quite sound right, don't worry. OK. Now, what we're going to do is actually drag over by holding down alt the drum part. You're probably thinking, why are you dragging the drums over to the bass? This is so we can actually see what is going on. We don't actually have to have these playing. We just need to see what the drums are doing. So let's have a look and we can see where the spaces are now. So obviously, there's a kick playing on every beat. So ideally, we don't really want the place playing on every beat or it might get a bit muddy. Then we have these drums up here, which I believe are high hats and a snare on two and four. So now what we're gonna do is actually mute these. So let's select all these command a then we're going to go up to the mute tool. So let's go to this right click button and go mute and then just mute this. So you can see it all, but it's not actually going to play also, when we write in bass parts, we need to be aware of the chords we're playing and what key we're in. So for this, we're gonna be playing in C minor. So C minor is similar to C major, which is all the white notes, but we drop the third. So we drop this e to a new flat. Drop the six. So we drop this A to an A flat and we drop the seventh. So we drop this B into A B flat. I'm just choosing C minor, choose whatever key or scale we use. But if you are stuck and you're brand new to music theory, I recommend just starting with C which is basically just all the white notes. I do have a complete course all about music theory. If you like a really in depth course, all about music theory. OK? So let's actually change this to a pencil tool and I'm gonna click in some notes. Of course, you can use this with musical typing with command K or if you're having a midi keyboards, you can play this in life. I prefer doing this on musical typing for these kind of tutorials. So you can actually see what's going on. You can actually see what I'm playing in. So first of all, there's a kick on beat one. So I'm actually gonna not play anything there. There's a nice bit of space here. We play the base part here and then here we have the kick and the snap, definitely going to avoid this. And let's play something on here. I'm gonna go up and play the third which is uh not that note, this one here, which is the E flat. You can right click and hit delete or you can just backspace to delete any of these midi notes. OK. Let's carry on here. Go back to the sea. Then I'm gonna go up to the G, just have this Jeep playing a few times. Get a bit of a riff going and then go up to the A flat which is the seventh and then put the A flat below which is an octave and then we'll get this octave going the seventh note and go back down to the G and we've actually ran out there. OK? So let's actually make this base part twice as long. So the loop's gonna be twice as long. So what we can do is we can either drag this and copy it over. We can just really remember what's going on. All we need to remember with this. It's quite simple is don't play anything really on the one and definitely not on the two or the four because the snares playing. OK, continue this over and I'm gonna add kind of a descending part. Let's go down to the f, let's go to the E flat and then add the C which is this one here and then it loops again. OK. Let's close this editing tool by hitting this scissor tool here. And now we have the base part. Let's just zoom in and let's play this back way too much going on. So we can always go in and delete a few things, delete this one and I'm gonna repeat this again. You notice there that's not actually played at the same point as previously that's on this last bit here. The fourth one, this is on the third that's just to mix it up a little bit. So it sounds something that's repetitive, but there is a slight difference and neither of them are landing and where the snare or kick is playing evil, which is good. It's a good idea to actually go through and type it in, but also to go back and listen is more important. One thing getting your theory right? And the other thing is actually using your ear quite like this bit. So I'm actually going to delete this. OK, let's drag this zoom in again. So this time it's playing on the three. So the first one's on the four seconds on the third and let's have this on the second actually just to make this. So this is on the second and sos this second note here just to stir it up a little bit. Let's hear what this sounds like. Now this I'm gonna have only once every four times just so it doesn't get too repetitive. So we have the similar kind of groove, just the root and the minor third, but it's slightly different every time where it comes in and this one's a slight delay. So just to stir it up and make stuff sound a little bit different. OK? We need to zoom in. Actually, I'm gonna chop this around. So this one here, go to the SCOT to a pair. OK. Let's drag this somewhere else. So delete that. Remember only once every four times, I want this to come in. So one, two, 34, gonna drag this back. One, add this here. The color is slightly different by hitting Alton C just so I know it's the different parts and there, let's play this. OK? And what we can do now is add some more cores at the moment. It's just the C minor which can be a bit boring. So let's actually change these two different notes. I'm gonna change this pen pencil tool to point at all. Next one gonna change to be flat and the third of this which is ad OK? Let's hear this bat. Now color this, of course, we can change this one as well. Lets change this to an F minor. So it's the and they flap. Now we have a really simple baseline color this as well. Cos it is slightly different. I'm actually gonna go back to just the sea because I'm gonna actually make the parts sound more interesting by the notes by adding some octaves rather than actually changing the chords. So I'm gonna change this E flat and add it up on an octave. Let's see what this sounds like. A lot of this is all about experimentation. Just change the sleep. OK. So I'm gonna actually delete these and I've changed the base part. So a lot of this is about arrangement. There isn't really any golden rule in songwriting. A lot of it is know your theory, know what, how to use your different instruments and then experiment. It's really what it's all about. I can't just give you one ingredient that would completely change your songwriting and completely make it amazing. But what I will say is know how to use your digital audio workstation, know about music theory, know some of these different techniques and then just explore just experiment, write as much as you can and don't be afraid to delete anything because a lot of the time. So, I mean, the music won't be the best and I wouldn't be afraid of deleting parts. Now, let's actually go into the synthesizer because in electronic music, it's not just about writing the parts all about synthesis as well. We have three different oscillators in the est I just really just experimenting with the different waves. So this first one is up, two octaves now could increase the scent to make it slightly up, slightly up t then we have the macros over here which control basically this all in one knob that's the attack. So it takes longer to actually come in and to sustain. So the note's held a bit longer cut off for the filter and the wave type here. So if you're new to synthesis, I recommend just starting off with the macros and then working out what they actually do. Do you tune it here slightly? This is basically how we can add a baseline in Logic Pro 10 for electronic music. I recommend starting off with using the drum parts and having a look at, look at the drums, studying the drums and creating a part that doesn't clash too much with the drums. Of course, there is something we can use called side chaining. But we'll be looking at that later on when we're mixing our track, this is just a quick way of creating a bass part. And if you want to make a dance music, you have to think about the audience, think about what people are going to be listening to your music for if they want to dance to it, if they want to dance to it, you want to have some rhythms that will allow people to move around. So a pulsating kick drum and a compliment and bassline. Of course, there is other stuff we can add midi effects as well. We could even add an arpege as a base part to add this. We will actually have to drag notes over because at the moment they are too short. So if you do want to add, say an Al Prator, for example, drag the notes over like, so I personally wouldn't really do this with a bass part just makes it a little bit too messy. So that's basically how you can write a bass part in Logic Pro 10 for electronic music.
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