Time for action—fitting the bass in
The bass in dance music provides a lot of information to the listener. Although closely related to the kick, it gives us the musical foundation for the song. Where it fits in time also declares what kind of style we are going for. We're going to start with a four on the floor bass:
- Go to your sidebar and open the My samples pane.
- In this pane, you'll see other folders besides the drums we used earlier. This time, select basses:
- We're going to use synth_acid02.ogg. Drag it over to the Beats+Bassline Editor.
- Once there, match the timing of the bass with the kick drum:
- Make sure to adjust the volume of the bass so that you can still hear the kick.
- Now let's move the last bass note to the fourteenth beat. That little change at the end of the pattern should do a lot to keep the pattern from sounding too repetitive.
- Let's vary the pitch on the bass note. Right-click on the last bass note. This opens a Piano Roll editor. Alternatively...