How I Designed UK Garage & Bass Sounds in Serum 2

UK Garage and UK Bass have a very distinctive sound palette. Deep subs, moving basses, Reese textures, aggressive low-end sounds and the use of breakbeats can create a huge amount of character without needing an enormous number of elements in a track.

I became familiar with this sound through my work creating custom presets, and over time I became increasingly interested in the genre and its sound design.

When Serum 2 was released, it also opened up some new possibilities that made me want to explore these sounds even further.

In this article, I'll explain how I approached the sound design for my UK Garage & Bass Vibes preset pack, including the ideas behind the basses, modulation, macros, the Sub Designer, and the Amen Break experiment that became part of the pack.

How the Sounds Started

Many of the sounds that eventually became part of this collection originally came from my custom preset work.

For that type of work, I often create sounds based on specific reference tracks. The goal is to get very close to the character and behavior of the reference.

Some time later, I went back to many of those projects and started experimenting with them again.

Instead of simply keeping the original sounds, I changed the synthesis, waveforms, modulation and textures, looking for ways to make them more interesting while still keeping the characteristics that made them work.

That became the foundation for this pack.

So although the sounds originally came from reference-based sound design, the versions included in UK Garage & Bass Vibes were developed further into a separate collection with their own variations and character.

A Different Approach to the Pack

When I started developing the commercial pack, I didn't want to simply reproduce the original references again.

I already had working sounds, so I used them as starting points and began experimenting.

I would change the waveform, try different modulation sources, alter the harmonic content, experiment with distortion and look for textures that made the sound more interesting.

Sometimes a relatively small change could completely transform the character of a preset.

That process resulted in a selection of sounds that I personally find more interesting than simply reproducing the original references.

The goal was to stay within the UK Garage and UK Bass sound palette while giving the presets enough personality to work in new productions.

Heavy Use of LFOs and the Serum 2 Matrix

One of the things I explored heavily during the development of these presets was modulation.

I used a lot of LFO modulation, but the LFOs aren't necessarily doing something obvious like simply opening and closing a filter.

The Serum 2 Matrix allows a modulation source to control multiple parameters, and this became an important part of the sound design.

A single LFO can influence several elements of a patch simultaneously.

For example, modulation can affect different aspects of the sound's harmonic content, movement, filtering or other parameters at the same time.

This creates much more complex movement than simply assigning an LFO to one knob.

The result is that some of the basses can feel almost alive, constantly changing their texture while still remaining usable as musical sounds.

Wobble Basses

The pack contains 37 Wobble Basses, and these were an important part of the sound design process.

The idea wasn't simply to create a collection of filters opening and closing at different speeds.

I used modulation in much more complex ways, combining LFOs, Matrix routing and different synthesis techniques to create movement inside the sound itself.

Some presets have relatively obvious movement, while others have more subtle modulation that becomes noticeable when the sound is held for longer.

This makes the presets useful for different types of basslines and arrangements.

Different Types of UK Garage & Bass Sounds in Serum 2

The 29 Basses in the pack are intentionally varied.

There are cleaner 808-style sounds, punchier basses, metallic FM-based sounds and more aggressive sounds built around distortion.

I didn't want every preset to occupy exactly the same sonic territory.

The idea was to give producers different starting points while keeping everything connected to the overall UK Garage / UK Bass aesthetic.

Some sounds are relatively clean and focused.

Others are much more aggressive and textured.

This makes it possible to choose a bass based on what the track actually needs instead of forcing every production into the same sonic character.

Reese Basses

There are also 9 Reese Basses in the collection.

Reese-style sounds are particularly interesting because relatively simple synthesis techniques can create a constantly changing harmonic texture.

Small differences in oscillator relationships and harmonic content can make a huge difference.

For these sounds, I focused on creating movement and character while keeping the low end useful in an actual production.

The result is a selection of Reese sounds that can work as the main bass element or as another layer within a more complex bass sound.

Three Different Approaches to Sub Bass

The pack contains 4 Sub Basses, and I didn't want all of them to simply be variations of the same sine wave.

Some are very simple and clean.

Others use different waveform shapes to provide more harmonic information.

I also created a more unusual type of sub sound that I think of as a Sub Designer.

The idea is to use a macro to control how many harmonics are added above the fundamental frequency.

This makes it possible to start with a very simple sub and gradually introduce additional harmonic content, allowing the sound to fill a little more of the frequency spectrum when necessary.

It's a simple concept, but it can be very useful when a completely pure sub isn't enough for a particular bass sound.

Making the Presets Mix-Ready

One of my biggest priorities when creating presets is that they should be useful inside an actual mix.

I don't want a preset to sound impressive in isolation but require a lot of EQ and processing before it can actually work in a track.

My experience with mixing and mastering strongly influences the way I approach sound design. I naturally think about what happens when the sound is placed alongside a kick, drums and other instruments.

That's why I consider these presets mix-ready.

In many of the sounds, I use a limiter at the end of the signal chain to control the output and help the preset maintain a strong, consistent level. The idea is not to make every preset as loud as possible. It's to make the sound immediately usable without forcing the producer to spend a lot of time fixing basic level and dynamic issues before getting to the creative part.

I also make use of Serum 2's Bus functionality to process elements such as reverb separately from the main sound. This allows me to EQ the reverb itself and control its frequency content, rather than simply adding a reverb that occupies the same frequency range as the preset.

This is particularly useful with bass sounds and other dense patches, where an untreated reverb can quickly make the sound feel muddy or blurred. By shaping the reverb through the Bus, I can keep the sense of space and character while making sure the effect stays out of the way of the main sound.

For me, that's an important part of what makes a preset genuinely mix-ready: not only does the main sound work, but the effects built into the preset are also designed to behave properly inside a real mix.

Macros That Actually Have a Purpose

I also use macros when they genuinely make the preset more versatile.

Not every preset has macros.

Sometimes I reach a point where a sound has a very specific sweet spot and additional controls don't really improve it.

In those cases, I would rather leave the preset focused than add controls simply because a preset is expected to have macros.

When there is useful room to change the character of the sound, however, I add macros that allow the producer to explore those variations quickly.

This is especially useful for sounds with movement or evolving textures.

The Amen Break Experiment

One of the most interesting parts of the pack came from exploring the Slice Sample functionality in Serum 2.

Amen Breaks and variations of the Amen Break are closely associated with many styles of UK-oriented electronic music, so I immediately thought about using the original Amen Break as a sound source.

I started experimenting with the sample inside Serum 2 and quickly realized how many different variations could be created from the same source.

The pack includes one drum preset based on this idea.

The preset uses the original Amen Break as its source and allows you to manipulate the resulting texture through macros, including changes related to the sample's movement, pitch and speed.

It became a fun way of turning a familiar source into something much more flexible.

Every Preset Has Its Own MIDI Preview

Another detail I paid attention to was the Serum 2 preset browser preview.

For each preset, I created a specific MIDI clip designed to demonstrate what makes that particular sound interesting.

This is important because simply hearing the same MIDI phrase through every preset doesn't always show what a sound is capable of.

A good preview should immediately demonstrate the strongest characteristic of the preset.

After finishing the sounds, I also packaged everything using the Serum 2 Pack creation system, so the collection can be used directly as a dedicated preset pack.

80 Serum 2 Presets

The final collection contains 80 Serum 2 presets:

37 Wobble Basses

29 Basses

9 Reese Basses

4 Sub Basses

1 Drum preset

The collection covers a wide range of bass sounds while staying focused on the UK Garage and UK Bass aesthetic.

The presets range from clean and controlled sounds to aggressive, distorted and heavily modulated textures.

Who Is This Pack For?

I designed the collection to be useful for producers at different levels.

If you're still developing your mixing and sound-design skills, having presets that are already designed to work in a mix can save a lot of time.

But the pack is not intended only for beginners.

Experienced producers can also use a good preset collection as a source of new ideas, especially when they want to find a sound quickly and continue working on the music instead of spending hours building every bass from scratch.

For me, that's one of the main purposes of a good preset.

It should give you a strong starting point without preventing you from making the sound your own.

From Custom Presets to a Complete Sound Pack

My experience creating custom presets for different producers has had a big influence on the way I approach sound design.

Working on custom sounds forces you to pay attention to details that can easily be overlooked when designing presets only for yourself.

The sound needs to fit a specific production, behave correctly, and deliver the right character.

That experience eventually became part of the way I build my own commercial sound-design products.

If you're looking for completely custom sounds created specifically around your own references, production style or project, I also offer Custom Preset Design through RM Vibes.

Final Thoughts

The UK Garage & Bass Vibes pack started with sounds created from reference-based custom preset work, but it evolved into something different.

I went back to those sounds later, changed them, experimented with new synthesis approaches and explored how far I could push the textures while keeping them useful for the genre.

The result is a collection that combines UK Garage and UK Bass characteristics with a more experimental approach to Serum 2 sound design.

For me, the most important thing is still the same:

The preset should sound good, be useful in a real production, and give the producer an idea as soon as they play it.

UK Garage & Bass Vibes contains 80 Serum 2 presets designed for producers looking for modern, mix-ready bass sounds, movement and textures.