Your bassline is one of the most important elements of your deep house track. But how can you make it stand out more? Here are some essential tips & tricks:
Soft Saturator
One of the easiest way to add warmth to your sound is by using a soft saturator. Saturating will add a slight drive to your sound which will lead to enriched harmonics. These harmonics add presence, temper and warmth to your sound.
Some saturators that you can use are FabFilter Saturn 1/2, Saturation Knob or the Ableton stock saturator. We would recommend the FabFilter Saturn plugin because this gives you advanced control of your saturation.
Tape Emulation
Tape emulations are vintage inspired effects that willd add extra low end and pleasent harmonics to your sound. The effect is kind of comparable to a saturator. When you add a lot of tape emulation it will add a raw edge to the sound, but when you use it gently it will add body and character to your sound. Tape emulation plugins also tend to add a tiny bit of noise to your sound which makes your sound more realistic and vintage. Plugins you can use for this effect are U-He Satin, UAD ATR-102 or SofTube Tape.
Tape Emulation VST
Pluck Layer
A pluck layer can add punch to your bassline. Simply take a pluck or percussion and let it play the notes of your bass. There are multiple benefits of using a pluck layer. The pluck layer will make your bass sound more organic which is pleasant for the listener. A pluck layer will also add punch and depth to your bass layer. Lastly it will also help to add some higher frequencies to your mix which will make your mix sound fuller. Make sure to get rid of the low frequencies so you can get a clean mix on your bass.
Stereo Layer (Pluck Deep House Only)
In the past few years plucky deep house has gained immense popularity. When you want to achieve the full deep punchy sound you should consider using a stereo bass layer. It might sound weird to use a stereo bass but it will add a lot of depth to your synths. Do not forget to roll off all the low end around the sub area because you want to keep that low area in mono to prevent mixing issues. The stereo layer can either be a wide donk or square bass but you can also use a lower organic sound like a percusion or organic pluck.
Pitch Automation
Nowadays, Deep House is all about the punch. An effective way to achieve this punch is by using short pitch automations at the beginning of your notes. There are multiple approaches to this. You can for example create a pitch automation inside the VST that you are using, but you can also do it manually with the pitch wheel or with a pitch shifting plugin. Make sure that the punch sound subtle enough and in balance with the rest of your sounds.
Use good bass sounds
The most essential part is your sound selection. Make sure that the basses you use are properly sound designed and engineered. You can check out our complete Deep House bundle 'Vision' which contains many presets, samples and more.
