Free Bass Music Production Cheat Sheet

Essential Settings at a Glance

This cheat sheet covers the most important settings and techniques for bass music production in Serum. Bookmark this page and refer back to it when you are working on bass sounds.

Oscillator Quick Reference

Waveform Selection

• Sine – Sub bass, foghorn bass, clean low-end
• Triangle – Sub bass with slightly more presence on small speakers
• Saw – Reese bass, neuro bass, bass house mid-range, acid bass
• Square – Jump up bass, retro bass, hollow bass sounds
• Custom wavetable – Neuro textures, growl bass, unique timbres

Octave Ranges

• C0 – Extreme sub bass, foghorn bass
• C1 – Standard sub bass, deep Reese bass
• C2 – Mid-range bass, jump up stabs, bass house
• C3 – Upper bass, lead bass, aggressive mid-range

Unison Settings

• Sub bass – 1 voice, no unison
• Reese bass – 2 voices, 5-15 cents detune
• Neuro bass – 2-4 voices, moderate detune
• Bass house – 2-4 voices, moderate detune
• Jump up – 1-2 voices, tight detune

Envelope Quick Reference

Sub Bass Envelope

• Attack: 0-5ms | Decay: Off | Sustain: 100% | Release: 50-150ms

Reese Bass Envelope

• Attack: 0-10ms | Decay: Off | Sustain: 100% | Release: 100-300ms

Neuro Bass Envelope

• Attack: 0-5ms | Decay: Variable | Sustain: 60-100% | Release: 50-200ms

Jump Up Envelope

• Attack: 0ms | Decay: 100-300ms | Sustain: 0% | Release: 50-100ms

Foghorn Envelope

• Attack: 200-800ms | Decay: Off | Sustain: 80-100% | Release: 200-500ms

Bass House Envelope

• Attack: 0-5ms | Decay: Off | Sustain: 80-100% | Release: 50-150ms

Filter Quick Reference

Best Filter Types for Bass

• MG Low 24 – Warm, musical filtering (Moog-style). Best for Reese and sub bass
• SV Low 24 – Clean, precise filtering. Best for neuro and bass house
• MG Low 12 – Gentler slope, more harmonics pass through. Good for warmer bass

Cutoff Ranges

• Sub bass – Bypass or 5kHz+ (no filtering needed)
• Reese bass – 500Hz-1.5kHz
• Neuro bass – 800Hz-3kHz (modulated)
• Jump up – 800Hz-2kHz
• Bass house – 1kHz-3kHz

Distortion Quick Reference

Distortion Types and Uses

• Tube – Warm harmonics, subtle presence. Use on sub bass and Reese
• Warm – Moderate saturation, rounded character. Good all-purpose bass distortion
• Soft Clip – Moderate aggression, controlled peaks. Balance between warm and harsh
• Hard Clip – Aggressive, harsh harmonics. Essential for neuro and heavy bass
• Diode – Asymmetric clipping, odd harmonics. Raw, edgy character

Recommended Chains

• Warm bass – Tube only, light drive
• Aggressive bass – Tube then Hard Clip
• Neuro bass – Tube then Hard Clip then Soft Clip
• Clean sub – No distortion or very light Tube

Effects Chain Order

1. Distortion (process raw signal first)
2. EQ (clean up distortion artifacts)
3. Compressor (control dynamics)
4. Chorus/Dimension (stereo width, mid-range only)
5. Reverb (minimal, parallel send preferred)

Mixing Quick Reference

Frequency Crossover Points

• Sub to mid crossover – High-pass mid layer at 80-150Hz
• Bass to rest of mix – Roll off unnecessary highs above 3-5kHz
• Mono below – Keep everything below 150Hz mono

Common Problem Frequencies

• 200-300Hz – Mud zone. Cut if bass sounds cloudy
• 400-600Hz – Box zone. Cut if bass sounds boxy or honky
• 800Hz-1.2kHz – Harshness zone. Cut if distorted bass is fatiguing

Sidechain Settings

• DnB – Fast attack, fast release, moderate depth
• Bass house – Fast attack, medium release, deep pumping
• Dubstep – Fast attack, variable release, moderate depth

Global Serum Settings

• Polyphony – Set to 1 (mono) for all bass sounds
• Legato – Enable for smooth note transitions
• Portamento – 20-50ms for subtle glide between notes
• Oversampling – 2x minimum when using heavy distortion
• Phase randomisation – Off for sub bass, on or off for mid-range

Tempo Reference

• DnB at 174 BPM – 1 bar = 1.38s, 8th note = 172ms, 16th note = 86ms
• Dubstep at 140 BPM – 1 bar = 1.71s, 8th note = 214ms, 16th note = 107ms
• Bass house at 128 BPM – 1 bar = 1.88s, 8th note = 234ms, 16th note = 117ms
• UK bass at 130 BPM – 1 bar = 1.85s, 8th note = 231ms, 16th note = 115ms

Learn More

For detailed tutorials on each bass type, see our Serum Bass Sound Design Guide and Best Serum Settings for Bass Music. Browse production-ready presets in our preset collection or try the free taster pack.