Reese bassline
The Reese bassline is a type of bassline which is frequently sampled and used in drum and bass music pieces.
The name is often misspelt "reece", probably because of the confusion with A. Reece, an artist in the scene, which has no connection with the sample, which was actually named after Kevin "Reese" S., the author of the piece Just Want Another Chance, made in 1986. The song is the source of said sample.[1]
While some smaller drum and bass tunes may have featured the sample beforehand, the first huge tune to sample this bassline and firmly establish it as a staple sound was R. Keith's Terrorist from 1994.[2]
The original Reese sound has been progressively distorted, filtered and layered, to the point where it sounds very different when compared to the original sample.
Most so-called Reese basslines these days probably do not sample from the original source, but are merely tagged with the same name owing to their similiar qualities.
It is generally easy to make a basic sample which sounds more or less like the Reese bassline, and it is therefore common to synthesize an "original Reese" rather than using the original sample.
Making a Reese sample[edit]
Technique 1[edit]
The basic method for making a reese requires taking a subtractive synthetic sound, select two saw waves, and detune one of them. Apply effects, like chorus and flange, then resample.
After this, the obtained sample can be made more "solid" by adding some modulation, for example controlling filter or pitch by low frequency oscillation or envelop.
The purpose of detuning the oscillators is not merely to create a dissonant sound, but to create "beating", or a tremolo effect in the resultant waveform. This effect is caused by alternating constructive and destructive interference between the substituent waveforms, and the amplitude of resultant wave modulates from 0 to A_1 + A_2 at a rate, called the beat frequency. For two oscillators, the beat frequency is equal to the difference in frequency of the two waves being superimposed. The greater the extent of detuning, the greater the difference in frequencies, and thus the faster the modulation in the final output.
A spreadsheet for syncronizing a beat frequency to note played and song tempo can be found here.
The beat frequency of a waveform composed from more than two oscillators is equal to the superposition of the beat functions for each combination of the substituent waveforms.
Technique 2[edit]
Set three oscilators to saw wave form, where each oscillator is set an octave lower than the previous one: (example: osc1:0, osc2:-12, osc3:-24). Placing a low frequency oscillation to modulate the pulse width will give the rumbling feeling. On synths with unison, increasing the number of voices will provide the "corposity" usually asociated with the sound. Alternatively, a chorus effect can be used.