- So, today I want to share with you five base patterns
that will change your production life forever.
Now, you can draw upon these base patterns
wherever you want,
and they work for any style of modern music,
including electronic dance music, and pop genres as well.
I'm also going to give you a bonus tip at the end
to show you how to create completely original baselines
whenever you want.
Now, these base patterns
are used in some of the biggest EDM tracks of all time.
And I'm going to give you examples
of which tracks they're used in,
so you can relate to them
and help apply them to your own music.
Before we get into it
I'd just like to give a shout out to one of our students
in the EDM Tips community, Kivanc,
who has now got three releases on three different labels
since he went through the EDM Tips training.
Top work, Kivanc, we're really proud of you, man.
If you're new to music production
you can download my free music producers starter pack
below this video,
which has got some samples and cheat sheets,
going to help you get started.
And without further ado, let's hop into the door
and look at these five base patterns
that are going to change your life.
Let's do it.
So, here we go.
First, I want to give it a shout out to Alex Rome
who inspired me to make this video.
I wanted to build upon what he already started
and give you the building blocks,
so you can actually take these five patterns
and craft them into any bass pattern for any song.
Now, before we dig into these patterns,
we need to understand about note lengths,
because it's going to be essential
to understand these patterns
and then create your own.
So in most modern music there are four beats to every bar
and that's a 4/4 time signature.
And that just means it sounds like this,
One, two, three, four.
So, we are going to be using six bass note lengths
in the tutorial today.
The first of which is four beats long, so it's a whole bar
and that sounds like this.
(upbeat music)
The second is one bass note on every beat,
just like the kick drum.
(upbeat music)
And that's a one one quarter note.
The next is a one eighth note.
So, that's just, let's see, eight notes in every bar,
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Then 16ths, which as you would guess,
there are 16 in a bar.
And that sounds like this.
(upbeat music)
And then the last two are kind of halfway in between those.
So, if we go back to the eighth notes,
there're eight in each bar,
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
We are going to be using dotted eighth notes,
and that just means one and a half eighth note.
So, that is like this.
(upbeat music)
And together
(upbeat music)
that's the dotted eighth.
And the last one is a dotted quarter note, which is,
as you would expect, one quarter note and then half again.
Like this.
(upbeat music)
And these dotted notes
are what's going to give us a nice groove to our baselines.
But let's dig into each of those five baselines
that I promised you.
And the first is a dotted eighth baseline,
and that sounds like this.
(upbeat music)
And as I said, it gives it a syncopated rhythm,
which keeps the groove going forwards.
And this is the base pattern
that is used in Major Lazer and DJ Snake's Lean On.
("Lean On")
So, if we turn this down a bit in terms of tempo
and we put on some plucks,
these aren't the same notes from that track, by the way,
but you should be able to hear that groove.
(upbeat music)
Now, if you see, if we go into this baseline,
you can see all I've done is got dotted eighth notes.
So, that's eighth and a half, eighth and a half,
eighth and a half,
and it gives it that swing feel.
(upbeat music)
And if you want to know how to create baselines
and which notes to actually use,
then you can click the video that's on or around there.
So, this is one of the most popular, this dotted eighth,
this is essential.
So, now let's go on to the sustained baseline.
And this is used in tracks
like Ghosts N Stuff by deadmau5,
it's also used by a few tracks by Eric Prydz.
And this is just a long sustained note.
(upbeat music)
So, that's just a long sustained note,
super good for progressive house, things like that.
Now, let's go on to that essential base pattern,
Number three, which is the straight eight.
And this is the simplest really,
I should have perhaps done this first
but instead of using dotted eighth notes,
you can see I've just got an eighth note repeated.
This is the exact base pattern
used in Wake Me Up by Avicii.
("Wake Me Up")
And I've actually copied the base notes for that
for this example.
So, let's have a quick listen to the straight eight.
(upbeat music)
And this is perfect to use with a side chain compressor
to make it duck out the way of the kick,
which gives it a bit more rhythm, a bit more interest,
and if you want to know how to side chain things
then you can click the link
that is around this video now as well.
Okay, on to essential base pattern number four,
and this is the straight 16th.
Now, much like the straight eighth
there are no dotted notes here.
It's just kind of one note on every 16th,
and if we speed this up,
you'll hear this is perfect for trance,
stuff like side trance,
and it's actually used in Greyhound
by The Swedish House Mafia, this base pattern.
("Greyhound")
(upbeat music)
And, again, perfect to use with a pump compressor,
a side chain compressor.
(upbeat music)
You can see it's ducking out the way the kick,
(upbeat music)
That's without it on.
(upbeat music)
So, yeah, fantastic pattern
if you're producing trance of any genre,
and that's my essential base pattern number four.
Now, number five,
this is where things get really interesting.
This is where you can actually combine
several of these different base patterns.
So, if we turn the tempo down again, get our kick on,
then you will hear our kick on.
This is actually the base pattern that is used
in Firestone by Kygo.
("Firestone")
(upbeat music)
But I've used a different note
because it's a different track,
but that's the exact same base pattern.
And what I've done here is used two dotted notes here.
There's an eighth dotted notes, or a dotted eighth,
there's eighth dotted note.
There's an eighth,
then we go back to the 1/8th dotted note there, there,
and then the eighth.
So, you can see how you can combine these building blocks
and just put them into your own baselines.
So, if we were to perhaps add some 16th notes
at the end there.
(Base note)
And we'll turn off the side chain compressor
so we can really hear what's happening here,
in terms of the pattern.
(upbeat music)
And another top tip that you can use
is actually change the base note eighth
before the end of the bar,
and that's what we've done on this sustained base.
And if you hear this flourish
at the end of this sustained base
that we listened to earlier,
these are actually dotted eighth notes.
So, again, I've combine the sustained notes
with the dotted eighth notes to create this effect.
(upbeat music)
Sustained, and then we change the base note
(upbeat music)
just before that bar to add some extra push forward.
(upbeat music)
More eighth note, dotted eighths.
(upbeat music)
And that's how you create groove,
how you keep pushing things forward in your track.
Okay, I promised you a bonus.
So, this is it.
If you've got a track like Calvin Harris and Florence Welch,
Florence, that one, like Sweet Nothing.
The verses actually use this dotted eighth pattern.
(upbeat music)
The different notes because the cords are different.
("Sweet Nothing")
♪ You took my heart and you he-- ♪
- But on the drop, or on the chorus,
he actually switches for using the straight eight.
(upbeat music)
("Sweet Nothing")
And this creates dynamicism in your track,
this creates interest,
so you don't have to use the same base patterns
throughout the whole track.
You can use one base pattern, the verse,
you can use another base pattern,
or the drop, or the chorus.
So, there you go, guys.
I really hope you've enjoyed this.
You can create any baseline you want with these tips here.
So, practice them, let me know which one you like most
in the comment, and thank you so much for watching.
So, there you have it guys.
They are my five essential base patterns
that every producer should know.
And if you want more training,
you can join the EDM Tips community, if you like.
It's way more than actual courses and things like that,
we've got a community,
we've got feedback each and every week
to help you really improve
your electronic dance music production.
So, if that sounds good to you do check it out below.
Thanks again for watching.
And until next time, cheers and happy producing.
(upbeat music)