Beat-Bassline Track Welcome back to MyTunes! We’ve been adding a lot of melody so far But we haven’t added anything with a little oomph In this lesson we’re going to look at how to add exactly that That’s by adding a Beat-Bassline to a song To create a rhythmical percussion backing Lesson 3: Basslines

Beat-Bassline Track First though – what is a bassline? There are two types of bassline, though they both ultimately do the same thing Using an instrument (like a piano or guitar) to make low- pitched, repetitive notes Use percussion instruments (like drums) to create a rhythm we can tap our feet to In LMMS, we can easily make either one But we’re going to focus on the percussion bit for this lesson Percussion basslines are easier to make sound good and easier to add little flourishes to Lesson 3: Basslines

The Beat-Bassline track When we create a new project, we start with a Beat- Bassline track in the Song Editor Rather than opening the Piano Roll window, LMMS opens the Beat-Bassline Editor Clicking on the track’s name or double-clicking on a bar along the track The Beat-Bassline track Lesson 3: Basslines

Bars have been colour-coded to make them stand out a bit more Beat-Bassline Track All starting Beat-Basslines come with a Kicker A plugin used to make bass-like percussion sounds The Kicker row in this bassline has 16 small blocks in it Each square is a beat, with 4 beats making a bar Bars have been colour-coded to make them stand out a bit more Lesson 3: Basslines

Can stop a sound happening by clicking on the highlighted blocks Beat-Bassline Track Clicking on any of these blocks highlights it A highlighted block plays a sound at that point in the bassline We can play this bassline by clicking on the Play button Can stop a sound happening by clicking on the highlighted blocks Lesson 3: Basslines

Beat-Bassline Track This only edits what the track plays To actually make the track play something in the song, we need to go to the Song Editor We can click on a block along the Beat-Bassline track to play the bassline on that bar We can also extend the bassline across multiple bars to play the same bassline on each bar Lesson 3: Basslines

Create a new project in LMMS called Lesson03 Open the Beat-Bassline Editor for the bassline that is in the Song Editor Play the Kicker in the middle of each beat Add a block to the bassline track in the Song Editor And extend it to last 4 bars Admire the rhythmical beat! Lesson 3: Basslines

Adding Instruments to the Bassline A bassline with only one instrument could get a bit dull However, just like with the Song Editor, we can add instruments to the Beat-Bassline By dragging the instrument onto the Beat-Bassline Editor window Works with samples and plugins/pre-sets Adding snare and bass drum to bassline Lesson 3: Basslines

Adding Instruments to the Bassline We can also change the volume and pan for each instrument Volume: how quiet or loud the instrument is Pan: whether the audio comes from the left speaker, right speaker, or both We can use these controls to make some instruments more pronounced than others Make them more ‘important’ in the bassline 100% 0% 0% 200% -100% 100% Lesson 3: Basslines

Add a Snare sample and a Bass Drum sample to the bassline There are a few options for both Choose the ones you like the sound of! Play these two instruments at different points in the bassline For example, the snare could play on the second and fourth beat The bass drum could play on the first or third Though it’s entirely up to you to decide where to play them! Lesson 3: Basslines

This button adds another bassline Multiple Basslines When a bassline has been made, we cannot edit it for one bar without changing any other bars A bassline track stays the same on every bar If we want to gradually add the instruments to the bassline over a few bars, we need to use multiple basslines This button adds another bassline Lesson 3: Basslines

Multiple Basslines This adds another bassline to the track Using all the same instruments as we’ve used so far Instruments are shared between basslines Adding an instrument to one adds it to the others Removing an instrument from one removes it from the others We can switch between basslines using the drop-down box at the top of the bassline editor Lesson 3: Basslines

Multiple Basslines The default names aren’t very descriptive It just says Beat/Bassline, with a number at the end of it We can rename any bassline by right-clicking on its name in the Song Editor This makes a window appear Where we can enter a new name Lesson 3: Basslines

Create separate Beat-Basslines for the different instruments your current bassline is using Give each bassline a good name Move the notes played by each instrument from the current bassline to the bassline you just made Arrange the basslines so that each instrument is gradually added to the song An example Lesson 3: Basslines

This green square shows the current pitch Default Notes When we play an instrument on a bassline, we don’t choose what note it plays That’s because the sample chooses which note to play It’s to keep the note consistent across the whole bassline We can change this in the instrument window By moving this green square This green square shows the current pitch Lesson 3: Basslines

Default Notes All instruments on the bassline play the A5 note Whether it’s a drum or a guitar The green square, to start with, is above the A5 If we move the green square up (to the right), we’re changing where A5 is on the keyboard Making the current key the instrument uses lower in pitch Moving the green square down (to the left) makes the current key higher in pitch The green square is left of A5, meaning the default note will be higher pitched Lesson 3: Basslines

Make your Kicker play a lower pitched note Make your Snare play a higher pitched note Listen to the effect this has on your bassline Lesson 3: Basslines

Bassline Length All basslines start with a set one-bar length when they’re made If we want to add a bit more flair to a bassline, we can make them last longer Giving us more bars to work with in a bassline We can add another bar to the current bassline using the Add Steps button The Add Steps button Lesson 3: Basslines

Bassline Length There are two things to consider with this If you add an instrument to a bassline, it always starts with one bar The bassline on the Song Editor will use the incorrect length We can add bars to specific instruments by right-clicking on any beat along its track and selecting Add Steps We can easily use the correct length bassline by removing the blocks currently in the Song Editor and re-adding them Lesson 3: Basslines

Add another bar to each of your basslines Add some variety to each instrument in these basslines Maybe make it play on off-beats to add a bit of style Why not add some other percussion instruments Like a Hi-Hat! Lesson 3: Basslines

Bassline Piano Roll Each instrument in a bassline only plays one note Whenever we highlight a beat However, we can make it play multiple notes Of different pitches We do this using the Piano Roll When we double-click on a beat Lesson 3: Basslines

The Kicker uses two bars, but the bassline is only set up with one bar Bassline Piano Roll We can add/remove notes like we’ve done before However, in the Piano Roll, we should try and stick to the same number of bars the bassline uses Otherwise the bassline waits for the Kicker to finish before restarting Leaving ‘dead air’ The Kicker uses two bars, but the bassline is only set up with one bar Lesson 3: Basslines

Create a new Beat-Bassline and open it for editing Add the Clav instrument to the bassline It’s in the Drums sample section Open the Piano Roll for the Clav on the first beat Using only four pitches, create an interesting melody It should have the same number of bars as your other basslines Add this bassline block to the Song Editor and give it a listen Lesson 3: Basslines

Not that one! Correct! Not that one! Recap Quiz What is a bassline? Thread used to go fishing Not that one! Correct! Not that one! A short, repetitive series of notes A telephone line to a company Lesson 3: Basslines

Not that one! Correct! Recap Quiz Can we open the Piano Roll for a bassline? Not that one! Correct! Yes No Lesson 3: Basslines

Not that one! Correct! Recap Quiz Removing an instrument from one bassline does not affect it in other basslines Not that one! Correct! True False Lesson 3: Basslines

Correct! Not that one! Not that one! Recap Quiz 1 2 3 What button do we click on to add bars to a bassline? 1 2 3 1 Correct! Not that one! Not that one! 2 3 Lesson 3: Basslines

Correct! Not that one! Not that one! Recap Quiz 1 2 3 What button do we click on to remove bars from a bassline? 1 2 3 1 Correct! Not that one! Not that one! 2 3 Lesson 3: Basslines

Not that one! Correct! Not that one! Recap Quiz How do we rename a track in the Song Editor? Ctrl + Left-Click on the track Not that one! Correct! Not that one! Right-Click on the track Ctrl + Right-Click on the track Lesson 3: Basslines