How to Create Reese Bass in Serum 3

I kept hearing that swirling, powerful Reese bass in tracks and wondered, how do producers make that sound? After researching and digging through Splice, watching tutorials, and experimenting in Serum. After digging through Splice, watching tutorials, and experimenting in Serum 3. I managed to recreate a Reese bass sample.

Jordan Wu

3 min read·Posted Sep 21, 2025

How to Make a Reese Bass

The Reese bass is one of the most iconic sounds in electronic music, especially in drum and bass, jungle, dubstep, and modern bass-heavy genres. At its core, a Reese bass is a thick, evolving low-end sound created by layering detuned oscillators. The slight differences in pitch and phase between these layers cause a natural “phasing” effect, a swirling, moving texture that feels alive. Producers love it because it adds both weight and motion to a track, filling out the mix with rich harmonics while still providing that sub-heavy punch.

Low ranges usually sound the best:

• E, F, F♯, G, A → These sit comfortably in the sub-bass range without being too muddy or too high.
• G and A are common in drum & bass because they balance sub weight with clarity.
• F and F♯ are very popular in techno and house since they hit hard on club systems.
• Avoid going too low (like D or below) unless your track has lots of headroom and you’re sure the system can reproduce deep subs — otherwise it may get muddy or inaudible.
• Avoid going too high (like B or C in the mid-octave), because the Reese will lose its weight and feel more like a mid-range pad.

Genre Considerations:

• Drum & Bass / Jungle → F, F♯, G, A
• Techno / House → E, F, G (sometimes A for darker moods)
• Trap / Hip Hop → F and G (but often tuned to match the 808s)

Frequency Ranges of a Reese Bass:

• Sub bass (fundamental) → Typically 40–60 Hz (depending on the key you’re in).
• Low mids (body of the Reese) → 100–300 Hz
• This is where the phasing and movement are most noticeable.
• High mids / presence → 500 Hz – 2 kHz
• Adds grit and aggression, makes it cut through on smaller speakers.
• Air / harmonics → 2–8 kHz+ (optional with distortion/saturation).

Most producers split the Reese into layers:

• Sub layer: mono, clean sine or lowpassed Reese (40–100 Hz).
• Mid layer: stereo, the detuned saws with movement (100–400 Hz).
• High layer (optional): distorted harmonics for bite (1–5 kHz).

I was digging through Splice for Reese bass samples I liked, and decided to recreate the sound myself.

https://splice.com/sounds/search/samples?filepath=reese+bass

Next, I looked up how to recreate the sound and ended up watching Virtual Riot’s YouTube video on three different ways to make a Reese bass.

I played around in Serum 3 until I created a similar sound. Made a lot of mistakes on the way.