Drums and bass in sync

I'm trying to tighten up a rhythm section programming drums and bass (sometimes bass guitar). Is the statement "Always keep the kick and the bass in sync" the best way to go about this? Does this mean that the bass plays a note only when the kick drum sounds?

This is definitely something I focus on when recording drum and bass parts.
I wouldn't go so far as to say the "bass only plays a note when the kick sounds"...
Obviously if the bass is playing 8th notes, the kick won't be doing that all the time.
More that they "should" work together and support each other.
I like to solo just the drums and bass. That really make it more obvious where they are "not' working together.
Hopefully, even with just the drums and bass, you still get a feel for the song and its sounds complete.
That's when you now your rhythm section is tight.

The kick and the bass players should be dancing as one. but make sure to keep them sperate so yuo can hear both at the same time.
Cj

"in sync" should be "in the groove". it does not mean (although in laziness this is often my approach) that the MIDI notes start at the same time. as spaceduck said, the bass takes a bit to develop, so it could make sense to nudge it left a bit. but there isn't a real answer because a real bass player and drummer will create a groove that fits the song with articulation, timing, note durations and dynamics.

most of the time though, you want the bass tightly in sync with the drums, and you should allow it to play off-beat if it sounds good, and you should watch your durations because that usually makes a huge difference compared to (perceived) volume. and of course you can't do much with articulation unless you've got a really good bass synth.

the gold standard for me is this: if the bass, kick, snare and ride get my body moving in a way that gets me into the song, i'm good to go. if on the other hand, i simply hear drums and bass, i keep messing with the groove until it pops. or give up.

... I thought for SURE this would instantly turn into Yet Another AudioSnap (yaas) thread. but hey!

It depends a lot on what genre / style of music you are creating.

In rock the bass often locks in to the kick but in EDM the bass often sounds on the offbeat......

what style of music are you making?

When the bass and kick coincide, they should coincide thghtly. That will help keep the low frequency content focused.

As Spaceduck mentioned, it can be useful to consider the difference between the initial onset of the bass sound and the point where it reaches its full bloom, which can be some milliseconds and isn't necessarily the loudest point of the note. This will be more or less a factor depending on the frequency content of both the bass and the kick sounds -- the kick can lend attack to the bass, just as the bass can lend tonality to the kick. If both are clicky, then their precise time positions becomes all the more important. The key is to keep the low end in time-focus as well as frequency-focus.

JTEC mentioned note durations. Yes! That's super important. For the most part, kick durations will be consistently short. But bass duration is a huge part of how punchiness is perceived. Bass notes with shorter durations create momentary tonal holes in the low frequency and will have an impact on how the next bass note or kick will be perceived. It's really a kind of "compression" effect that's built into the playing and the part itself. Short duration notes can be followed by slightly time-advanced notes because of how the space sets up the ear to want the hole filled. It's all pretty subliminal. Slight time nudges and clip envelopes work really well for finessing this kind of thing. I've wasted tons of time with such finessements. But they're fun.