How to Make a Jump Up Bass in Serum

What is Jump Up Bass?

Jump up is a high-energy subgenre of drum and bass built around short, punchy bass stabs that drive the track forward with raw energy. Unlike the rolling Reese basses of liquid DnB or the complex textures of neurofunk, jump up bass is direct, aggressive, and percussive. The bass hits hard, stops quickly, and leaves space for the next hit.

The style was popularised by artists like DJ Hazard, Macky Gee, and more recently Hedex, Bou, and Kanine. Jump up has become one of the most popular DnB subgenres in club culture, largely because of the immediate energy the bass creates on a dancefloor.

What Makes Jump Up Bass Different

The defining characteristics of jump up bass compared to other DnB bass sounds:

Short envelopes – Fast attack, short decay and release. The sound punches in and cuts off quickly
Percussive character – Jump up bass acts more like a percussion element than a sustained note. It drives rhythm rather than carrying melody
Mid-range focus – The main energy sits in the mid-range (200Hz-1.5kHz) with sub bass handled by a separate layer
Aggressive processing – Heavy distortion, saturation, and filtering give jump up bass its raw, in-your-face quality
Simple patterns – The bass rhythms in jump up are often simpler than neurofunk, relying on repetition and energy rather than complexity

Step 1: Oscillator Setup

Jump up bass typically starts from simpler waveforms than neuro bass. A saw wave or square wave in Oscillator A provides a solid foundation. Set the octave to C2 or C3 depending on how high you want the bass to sit.

You can add Oscillator B with a slightly different waveform (try a square or pulse wave) for harmonic variety. Detune Oscillator B by a few cents for subtle thickness, or keep it in tune for a tighter, more focused sound.

For more aggressive jump up sounds, try loading a noisier wavetable into Oscillator A instead of a basic saw. The built-in “Digital” or “Spectral” categories have waveforms that produce interesting results with heavy distortion.

Step 2: Amp Envelope

The amp envelope is critical for jump up bass. This is what gives it the punchy, percussive character:

Attack – Near zero. The sound needs to hit immediately
Decay – Short to medium (100-300ms). This controls how long the stab lasts
Sustain – Low or zero. Jump up bass should not sustain like a pad
Release – Short (50-150ms). A clean, quick cutoff after the note ends

The exact decay and release times depend on the tempo and rhythmic pattern of your track. At 174 BPM, a 16th note is roughly 86ms, so adjust your envelope to fit the groove.

Step 3: Filtering and Resonance

A low-pass filter helps focus the jump up bass in the right frequency range. Set the cutoff between 800Hz and 2kHz depending on how bright you want the sound.

Add moderate filter resonance to create a peak at the cutoff frequency. This peak adds aggression and helps the bass cut through the mix. For more extreme sounds, push the resonance further and modulate the cutoff with an envelope for a filter sweep on each note.

A short filter envelope (similar to the amp envelope) creates a percussive filter sweep that adds attack and presence to each bass hit.

Step 4: Distortion

Jump up bass relies heavily on distortion for its aggressive quality. In Serum’s effects chain:

Start with a tube or warm distortion for harmonic richness
Follow with a hard clip for aggressive edge
Adjust the drive amount until the sound has the right level of aggression without becoming muddy

The distortion interacts with the filter. Driving the signal harder into the filter creates different results depending on whether the distortion comes before or after the filter in the signal chain. Try both and listen to the difference.

Step 5: Pitch Tricks

Many jump up bass sounds use pitch modulation for extra impact:

Pitch drop – A short pitch envelope that drops the pitch by a few semitones on note-on creates a punchy attack
Pitch bend patterns – Automating pitch between notes adds movement and attitude to jump up bass patterns
Octave switching – Alternating between octaves within a bass pattern creates the energetic, bouncing quality that defines jump up

Why Presets Help With Jump Up Production

The simplicity of jump up bass is deceptive. Getting the envelope, distortion, and filtering balanced so the bass sounds punchy without being thin takes practice. Starting from a preset that already has this balance dialled in lets you focus on writing patterns and arranging tracks rather than tweaking synthesis parameters.

Preset packs with jump up bass sounds:

Dirty Drum & Bass Vol.1 – Punchy stabs and aggressive mid-range patches
Dirty Drum & Bass Vol.2 – Updated jump up sounds with tighter processing
100x Dirty Bass One Shots Pack – Pre-processed bass one shots perfect for jump up patterns
Dirty Rave Hitters Vol.1 – Aggressive stabs that cross over into jump up territory

Learn more about jump up production on our Jump Up Bass Serum Presets page. Browse the full collection or try the free taster pack.