West Coast hip hop is experiencing a major resurgence, and we have the perfect tools to help you capture that vibe. “West Coast Anthems” is a Hit Kit sound pack that provides the foundation for creating authentic West Coast hip hop beats.

Here are three tips to help you nail the West Coast sound.

Sound Pack Spotlight: Production Tips and Tricks

For Beginners:

West Coast wobble lead.

Use a simple saw wave oscillator with chorus and filter envelope modulation to create a classic hip hop lead sound, perfect for modern West Coast hip hop vibes. Use a tighter filter db/octave slope to cut off more high frequencies and give the lead a more brooding sound. Chorus is also essential and gives this lead sound some depth.

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Next level: Intermediate

West Coast synth bass pluck.

West Coast hip hop often features bouncy and funky analog synth basses with smooth sustain and filter envelope modulation. Here’s a recreation of a West Coast hip hop synth bass pluck sound on Serum.

Apply an envelope with fast attack, slow decay, and some sustain to the main filter of the sound. This filter envelope modulation is what gives the sound a pluck characteristic. Be sure to keep the saw oscillator one octave higher than the square oscillator. This little detail makes a big difference, and gives the synth bass more harmonics and tonality.

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For Advanced

808 and synth bass patterns.

To create a more dynamic and engaging bassline in your West Coast hip hop tracks, employ the use of overlapping 808s and synth basses throughout your beats. One way to do this is by using a synth bass pluck that fills in the gap within the tail end of your 808 before transitioning to a new note, as seen by the green MIDI.

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