FM8 Wobble Bass Tutorial

This is a very well produced video, of course, from one of our favorit producers – Leisure B! After finishing the dubstep tutorial video course for us, he returned to his normal production queue but still found time to make this lesson in how to create a superior FM8 wobble bass. Walking you step-by-step through the process, he tales the time to explain exactly what is happening at each stage and provides consistent audio samples throughout so you can actually what he’s doing as well as see it.

He does an excellent job of explaining how pitch variations create a wider sound, and produces the hard edge needed for this bass. Using the key sync feature helps to ensure that a sound like this one is kept stable and is delivered the same way each time a note is played. Frequency modulation is the key to this heavy sound, and he makes sure you can see the correlations between the modulation effects and the structure and shape of the waveform leaving FM8. Once everything is set in the FM Matrix, it’s time to move on to the Expert Mod window.

Here you will route the LFO that will be responsible for the wobble of the bass. Assigning the LFO to the operators at a level of 100% means that no part of what these operators produce will be left untouched by the LFO controller. Removing the Key Scale and Velocity Scale features from the equation means that no matter what notes you play, or what velocity the notes have, the rate and influence of the LFO will remain consistent. The Key Sync feature on the LFO is turned on the make sure that it starts in the same place each time a new note is played, keeping it in perfect sync with the operators producing the sounds that are being modulated.

The next stop is the Expert Pitch window. Here the synth’s main pitch envelope can be shaped to meet the needs of what ever you’re making. Whatever changes you make to the envelope will not be applied until you have turned up the Amplitude Envelope knob to an appropriate level for the sound you are designing.

A quick visit to the Master window to make some big changes to the overall synth. First, the volume is reduced to avoid an ear-shattering experience. Then the total number of Unison Voices is increased to four. The Pan parameter is turned up to make the sound wider. The last major step of the process is to add effects. In the Effects window a Shelving EQ and a Peak EQ are added to help shape the sound.

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Cheers,
OhmLab