How to make a slap house bass in Serum

In this tutorial, Yannick from The Producer School walks you through creating a Brazilian bass - also known as a slap house bass - entirely from scratch inside Serum. You will learn which oscillators to use, how to set up a filter envelope, and how to apply multiband compression to get that signature punchy, clicking bass sound.

What is a Slap House Bass or Brazilian Bass?

A slap house bass - also called a Brazilian bass - is the defining sound of the slap house and Brazilian bass genres. It is a short, punchy bass sound with a strong transient attack and a fast filter sweep that gives it that characteristic "slap" character. The sound sits in the low-end of a mix and creates rhythmic groove rather than a long sustained tone. It differs from a standard sub bass in that it has audible harmonics and a clicking attack produced by envelope-modulated pitch or filter movement. This type of bass is widely used in slap house and deep power tracks and is heavily associated with the modern Brazilian bass scene.

How to Set Up the Oscillators in Serum for a Brazilian Bass

Start from an init patch in Serum so you have a clean slate. For this sound you will use two oscillators, both from the standard Serum wavetable library with no extra downloads needed.

1. On Oscillator A, select the Spectral Monster 2 wavetable and set the wavetable position to around 180.
2. Pitch Oscillator A down two octaves so it sits in bass range.
3. On Oscillator B, select a saw wavetable and enable a high unison count - use 8 or 16 voices.
4. Lower the detune on Oscillator B slightly to taste.
5. Pitch Oscillator B down two octaves as well, matching Oscillator A.

Having both oscillators pitched two octaves down ensures the sound stays firmly in bass register before any filtering is applied.

How to Set Up the Filter and Filter Envelope

The filter is the core of the slap house bass character. Without a well-configured filter envelope, the sound will not have that signature punch and sweep.

1. Go to the filter section and select the Low 18 filter type. You can find this by stepping one position to the right.
2. Make sure both oscillators are routed through the filter - this is essential for the sound to work correctly.
3. Add a small amount of drive - around 20 - on the filter for some harmonic color.
4. Go to Envelope 2 (Envelope 1 is already routed to volume by default in Serum).
5. Lower the sustain and shorten the decay on Envelope 2.
6. Drag Envelope 2 onto the cutoff knob. Use Alt + Shift and click the modulation icon to make the modulation one-directional.
7. Pull the modulation amount down so the filter sweeps down on each note hit.

How to Add Wavetable Modulation and Pitch Attack

To make the sound more interesting and dynamic, you can use Envelope 2 to also modulate the wavetable position on Oscillator A. Simply drag Envelope 2 onto the wavetable position knob and set a small amount. This creates subtle harmonic movement on each note.

For extra attack and click on the transient, create a third envelope and set a very short decay of around 10 to 12 milliseconds. Drag this envelope onto the coarse pitch of both oscillators and make it one-directional. This causes a very fast pitch drop at the start of each note, which the ear perceives as a sharp click or attack - this is the "slap" in slap house bass. Apply the same trick to Oscillator B for a consistent click across both layers.

What Effects Should You Use on a Slap House Bass?

Once the oscillators and envelopes are set, the effects chain adds the final character and width to the sound.

• Hyper/Dimension: Enable Hyper and Dimension inside Serum. Use a low unison setting for Hyper since this is a bass sound. Add a touch of Dimension for some width without making the low end too wide.
• Multiband Compression (OTT): This is described as the most important effect for Brazilian bass and slap house. Enable the multiband compressor inside Serum, lower the threshold slightly, and reduce the mix a little. OTT compression adds punch, attack, and harmonics to the bass - it is a signature processing step in this genre.
• Release fix: If you hear a clicking artifact at the end of notes, go to Envelope 1 and add a small release to smooth the tail out cleanly.

How to Add Sub and Noise for Extra Depth

Optional but effective additions can give the bass more fullness depending on the mix context.

• Sub oscillator: Enable the sub oscillator in Serum and select a saw wavetable. Route it through the filter using the S (sub) button in the filter section and lower it down one or two octaves. This adds sub weight underneath the main sound. If it does not suit your mix, simply remove it.
• White noise: Add some white noise from the noise oscillator and route it through the filter as well. This adds a slight texture and grittiness to the sound. Keep the level low so it blends in rather than dominates.
• Cutoff depth for deeper bass: Lowering the filter cutoff modulation amount on Envelope 2 and shortening the decay will produce a deeper and shorter bass hit, useful for sub-focused tracks.

Tips for Using the Slap House Bass in a Track

Once the bass sound is designed, a few practical tips help it sit well in a full production context.

• Use the sound on shorter note lengths in your piano roll to emphasize the transient attack.
• The multiband compression inside Serum works best when the mix knob is not set to 100 - pulling it back slightly gives a more natural blend of processed and unprocessed tone.
• If you want a longer, more sustained bass sound, increase the decay and sustain on Envelope 2 and pull the cutoff modulation down less aggressively.
• For inspiration on Brazilian bass and slap house productions, checking out curated preset packs with this type of sound can speed up workflow significantly.

Tutorial by Niek, co-founder of The Producer School. For more production tutorials, subscribe to The Producer School on YouTube (280K+ subscribers).