This tutorial will show you how to achieve the iconic ‘Donk’ FM Bass in Serum. The bass is used in a lot of UK Garage tracks - and now you will be able to create it as well.
Enjoy!
Watch the video tutorial
Set up the Oscillators
Serum has 4 oscillators:
- Osc A
- Osc B
- Sub Osc
- Noise Osc
We start by setting up Osc A. Here we choose the wavetable “Analog_BD_Sin”. It is a standard sine wave. We need that for the Frequency Modulation (FM) later, which gives the bass its ‘Donk’ character. Set the volume level to 100%.
Then we set up Osc B with the same “Analog_BD_Sin” wavetable. Set the octave to -1. We need that to make the bass more “subby”. Also, set the volume level to 100%.
Next, we add the “RoundRect” wavetable in the Sub Oscillator section. Set the octave to -1. This ensures that the UK Garage ‘Donk’ Bass has enough low-end. Set the volume to around 80%.
Lastly, we need some transient attack for the ‘Donk’ Bass to better cut through the mix. We get that by adding the “XF_KiKAtk_02” wavetable under the Noise Oscillator. Set it to One-shot mode and active Keytracking. Now adjust the level of the noise oscillator volume to around 60%.
This is the Oscillators used to create the 'Donk' Bass
This is it for the Oscillators.
Remember to set the Voicing to Mono. This will only allow one note to be played at a time.
Adding a filter
We want to sculpt the UK Garage ‘Donk’ Bass sound a bit more before we add the FM.
We do that with one of Serum’s Lowpass filters - with the MG Low 12 to be more precise. Set both Oscillators A, B, and the Sub Oscillator to be routed through the Lowpass filter. Then set the Cutoff to 145Hz. Turn the resonance all the way down.
Select the MG Low 12 filter
Awesome! Now we are ready to add the Frequency Modulation to the bass.
Getting the ‘Donk’ with FM
To get the UK Garage ‘Donk’ sound we need Frequency Modulation synthesis.
It is used to modulate the frequency of a waveform. This is achieved by using a modulator to modulate the frequency. This form of synthesis can be altered by the amplitude of the modulating signal or carrier.
In our case we want Oscillator A to modulate the frequency of Oscillator B. To do this, we need to select the “FM (from A)” under the Warp Menu.
However, we need some Envelope action to get the desired ‘Donk’ sound.
To do so, we go to Envelope 3. Set the Attack to 0.5 ms. The Decay to around 700ms. Sustain to 0. And the Release to 87 ms.
The settings used for Envelope 3
Now the fun part starts!
Assign Envelope 3 to the “FM (from A)” knob. Set the amount to 49. Now you should start to hear the iconic FM ‘Donk’ Bass sound.
Getting the right sound is all about how much of Envelope 3 you assign.
Also, assign Envelope 3 to the filter Cutoff to get a more plucky sound. Set the amount to 36.
Assign Envelope 3 to "FM (from A)" to create the FM-styled sound
The last thing to do before adding FXs is to adjust the Amplitude envelope.
Go to Envelope 1 and set the Attack to 1.1 ms. The Decay to around 650 ms. Sustain to -17.3 dB. And the Release to 150 ms.
Envelope 1 controls the Amplitute of the 'Donk' Bass.
Now you should have a pretty awesome UK Garage ‘Donk’ Bass.
It should sound a bit like this:
Sculpting the UK Garage ‘Donk’ Bass with FXs
To be honest the ‘Donk’ Bass is sounding pretty awesome.
But we can get a little bit more character to it with the built-in Serum FXs.
Let’s get to it!
Hyper / Dimension
Hyper adds some micro-delay chorus to the sound. Set the Rate to 40%. The Detune to 25%. Unison to 4. Enable Retrig to make the effect retrigger on every MIDI note. Set the mix to 25%.
Dimension adds some pseudo-stereo effect from 4 out-of-phase delays. This provides a subtle amount of motion to the ‘Donk’ Bass. Set the Size to 50% and the mix to 29%.
Distortion
Add some subtle SoftClip to the sound at 38% Drive and set the mix to 100%. This gives the ‘Donk’ Bass a little bit of grit to it.
Chorus
We want a little bit more stereo information in the sound. Set the rate to 0.08Hz. Delay 1 to 5.0 ms. Delay 2 to 0 ms. Set the Depth to 26 ms. The Feedback to 10% and set the mix to 31%.
Add the built-in FXs in Serum
Delay / Reverb
Set the delay mode to Normal. Set the Feedback to 22%. Set both the left and right to 1/8.
And set the mix to 14%.
Add a small amount of Hall Reverb at 21% mix. Set the Reverb Size to 35% and the Decay to 2.3 ms. Set the Low Cut to 35% to remove some of the low-end frequencies in the reverb.
Compressor
Add the compressor with a Threshold of -18.1 dB. Ratio at 4:1. Attack and Release at 90 ms. Gain at 3.5 dB.
EQ
The last effect in the chain is an EQ.
Choose the low-end shelf and set the frequency to around 80 Hz. Here we want to boost the lows with 2.9 dB of gain to add a subtle amount of sub to the ‘Donk’ Bass.
Finish the EQ section with a Lowpass filter at 3600Hz to remove some of the top end we do not need in the bass.
Add the built-in FXs in Serum
Success! Now we have treated the UK Garage ‘Donk’ Bass with some cool FXs.
Here is the result:
Optional: Make the low-end mono using a Stereo Imager
As we have added a lot of stereo effects to the ‘Donk’ Bass, we could get issues with the Low end being too stereo.
But we can fix that with a Stereo Imager plugin. I use iZotope’s Imager. Then I split up the frequency band at around 150Hz and make anything below that mono.
Make everything below 150Hz mono. You can also add a touch of stereo to the frequencies above 150Hz.
This helps have the Low end stay mono and still keep the stereo width in the mid/top end.
Magic!
Wrapping up
That is it for this Serum tutorial.
I hope you managed to create your own UK Garage ‘Donk’ Bass.
If you need some FREE Serum presets, you can download my “LÄMMERFYRs Free Serum Presets Vol. 1” mini-preset pack for Serum.
