Probably the most iconic drum sound of all time, the 808 bass drum has been a staple in modern music for decades. Especially with electronic music, a deep, booming 808 can really make the speakers shake and get everyone hype. But making a great one can be really difficult, so I'm going to share my personal technique.

Working with Samples

Currently, I combine a kick drum sample with a deep bass sound. So the first step in creating your 808 is going to be sample selection. I personally recommend that you choose a sample that is very short. You don't want it to have too much bass because then it won't pop. And I actually prefer to use house kicks because they tend to be the least processed.

And at this stage, all you want to do is a low cut on anything below 20hz. I also do a slight dip around 500hz and a high shelf around 500hz, but those additional edits aren't necessary and really come down to personal taste.

Creating the Bass

This is going to be the main part of your 808. And this needs to be phat. At this point, I would recommend listening to your favorite song on your laptop or phone speakers and listen for the bass. Chances are you won't hear anything, and that's important. A lot of people spend so much extra time getting their basses to be audible on every speaker, and when you do that, you are really taking away from the core sound. The point of this sound is to be deep, and when you're only worrying about making an epic bass, it's going to stand out.

The synthesizer I like to use to create my 808's is ANA by Sonic Academy. The reason I don't use Synthmaster One for this sound is because ANA is a little more digital sounding. But as long as you follow a few basic parameters, any plugin you use will sound good.

The first wave form I use is a Saw wave. And that's because there are a lot of harmonics that really enhance the sound and make it sound fuller than a basic Sine wave. And the second waveform I use is a pulse wave. Pitch both of those oscillators down by 1 octave, then use your built in filter to cut everything above 45hz. Either select 4 poles or 24db depending on the synth you are using because anything less than that won't cut enough of the highs out. I usually put a little resonance on the filter so you still have some higher frequencies present.

Processing the Bass

When I was first creating my own sounds, I went mostly by ear. Because of that, I found I tend to process my 808 basses a little differently than everyone else. But even after I learned how most people make theirs, I still prefer this method because of how it mixes with the rest of my sounds.

Multiband Compression

Load up a Multiband compressor. I use the built in one from Reaper. In the screen shot, you will see 3 bands each affecting a different set of frequencies. The most important band is the lowest (because we're making a bass). If you look at the yellow bar, it's constantly compressing the bass because I set a huge threshold for it. It's averaging about 8db of compression with a ration of 2:1. All that means is that the entire low part of the sound is being slightly compressed all the time.

The second band is set from about 200hz to 4000hz. As you can see, the ratio is the same, but less of the sound is being compressed. If you look at the screen shot, the threshold is higher, but keep in mind that we are cutting out a lot of the highs, so even though it looks like more compression, there's less sound being compressed. But this band is what's going to give your bass its character.

I'll be honest, the last band isn't as important as the first 2. In fact, I can only hear this section in isolation when I'm using my best headphones. But it does seem to smooth out the sound if you listen very closely. Once again, it looks like this section is being over compressed, but since there's barely anything up there, it's actually the section of the sound that's being the least compressed. I do, however, boost this band by 12db to make it more audible.

Final Eq

At this point, we are almost done making our bass! The last thing we need to do is load up an Equlizer. Cut out everything below 30hz. We do this because most club speakers can't play anything below 40hz, and it helps to make the sound more crisp. I also use one of the bands to cut out everything above 200-250hz to remove some of the highs once again. The final tweak I do to this sound is use 2 bands to boost the frequencies where I'm cutting (kind of like resonance). The reason I do this is to help with the tone and keep all the frequencies I want present.

Fusing the Kick and the Bass

We are pretty much done our sound. The final thing that we need to do is make the kick and bass sound like one combined sound. To do this, reopen your synthesizer and slowly move the attack of the sound back by a few milliseconds. This will allow the kick to punch through without an awkward fuzz at the start of the sound. Give it about 200 milliseconds of release, and you are done! Just make sure that the kick sample is slightly louder than the bass so it punches through the mix.

Final Thoughts

Congratulations! You have finished creating one of the most iconic sounds of all time. The final tip I want to mention is that you program your bass drum before adding in the bass. Once you have finished that, copy and paste the pattern to the bass and drag each note to just before the next note to get that epic sound!

Though you can use any synthesizer you'd like, here is the link to Sonic Academy ANA:
https://www.sonicacademy.com/products/ana