How to Make Reese Bass in Serum – Step by Step Tutorial

What Is a Reese Bass?

The reese bass is one of the most iconic and widely used bass sounds in electronic music. Named after Kevin Saunderson, who released music under the alias Reese, this bass sound is characterised by its thick, swirling, detuned tone. It forms the backbone of drum and bass, dubstep, and many other bass-heavy genres.

At its core, a reese bass is simply two or more detuned oscillators playing together. The slight pitch difference between the oscillators creates a phasing effect that gives the reese its distinctive movement. Despite its apparent simplicity, getting a reese to sound professional requires attention to detail in the design and processing.

Building a Basic Reese Bass in Serum

Step 1 – Set Up the Oscillators

Load a saw wave into Oscillator A. Set the unison to 2 voices. This is the minimum for a reese. Two voices detuned against each other create the fundamental phasing effect.

Set the detune amount to around 0.15 to 0.25. This is the sweet spot where you get rich movement without losing pitch definition. Too little detune and the reese sounds static. Too much and it becomes a blurry, unfocused mess.

Step 2 – Add the Filter

Enable the low-pass filter and set the cutoff to around 800 Hz to 1.5 kHz. This controls how bright the reese is. A lower cutoff gives a darker, moodier tone. A higher cutoff gives a brighter, more aggressive sound.

Add moderate resonance to emphasize the harmonics around the cutoff point. This adds a nasal, focused quality that helps the reese cut through a mix. Be careful not to overdo the resonance, it can make the sound harsh and painful at high volumes.

Step 3 – Shape the Amplitude

Set a moderate attack on the amplitude envelope, around 5-20ms. This softens the initial transient slightly, which is characteristic of the classic reese sound. Set full sustain and a moderate release of 100-200ms so the sound fades naturally when you release a key.

Adding Movement and Character

Filter Modulation

Assign an LFO to the filter cutoff for subtle movement. Use a slow triangle LFO with a small modulation depth. This creates a gentle opening and closing of the filter that adds life and prevents the reese from sounding static.

Alternatively, use an envelope on the filter cutoff for a brighter attack that settles into a darker sustain. This gives each note a burst of brightness that fades, adding rhythmic interest.

Stereo Width

Reese basses naturally have stereo content due to the detuned voices. You can enhance this with Serum Hyper/Dimension effect, which adds chorus-like width. But be cautious with stereo width below 150 Hz. Use the Stereo knob in Serum to narrow the low frequencies while keeping the mids and highs wide.

Saturation and Warmth

Add subtle Tube saturation in the FX chain to warm up the reese and add harmonic richness. Do not drive it too hard. The reese should sound warm and thick, not distorted and aggressive (unless that is specifically what you want).

Processing the Reese for Different Genres

For Drum and Bass

DnB reese basses need to be tight and controlled. Keep the sub mono and focused. Add sidechain compression from the kick to prevent the reese from overwhelming the drums. Automate the filter cutoff to create variation throughout your arrangement.

For Dubstep

Dubstep reese basses can be heavier and more processed. Add more distortion, more unison voices (try 4 instead of 2), and heavier filter modulation. The dubstep reese is often more of a mid-range element with a separate sub bass layer underneath.

For Bass House

Bass house reese basses are driven hard through distortion for a gritty, aggressive character. Use heavy saturation or waveshaping and keep the pattern rhythmic and groovy to match the four-on-the-floor kick pattern.

Advanced Reese Techniques

Once you have mastered the basic reese, experiment with more complex variations. Add a third oscillator tuned to a fifth above the root for a richer harmonic blend. Use FM synthesis to add metallic character. Resample your reese through external effects and import the result back into Serum for further manipulation.

Layer your reese with other bass elements. A clean sub layer underneath and a noise texture on top can transform a simple reese into a full, professional bass sound.

For reese bass presets with professional processing already applied, check out the Preset Drive shop. Every preset is designed to be mix-ready while remaining fully tweakable. Grab the free Serum taster pack and start exploring production-quality reese basses and more today.

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For a complete overview of Reese bass sounds and preset recommendations, see our Reese Bass Serum Presets guide.