How Can You Isolate Bass Off A CD?

[Stampy]

I did a search for this but I found nothing usefull. I bought a Tascam BT2 thinking that it would just play the bass notes off of the cd but it doesn't it is just a portable trainer with some effects so I am returning it. So is there any software that can pull just the bass notes off a cd or mp3 file. All I want to hear is thumping bass no vocals guitar etc. Does something like this exist?

[Geezerman]

Not really, you can emphasize certain frequencies and check how the cd was mixed ( left v right channels) but theres not way to really just hear the bass.

[RCCollins]

call the record company and ask them to send you the unmixed track for a remix project you're doing.

[WyrdoBass]

listen very carefully.

[Stampy]

Originally Posted by RCCollins

call the record company and ask them to send you the unmixed track for a remix project you're doing.

Damn I was hoping I wasn't going to get an answer like that lol.

[BruisedOoze]

Well at least you weren't surprised. Seriously the best you're going to be able to do is to run something through an EQ and filter everything out of the range you want to hear. This isn't foolproof but it goes a LONG way.

For example I was transcribing a flute part in a song yesterday so I dropped all the lows and the highest setting and kept in the end only the mid highs. This reduced much of the accompanying parts except I could still would get the piano in there. However this was a lot easier to follow than without filtering.

If you're digging a part out of a midi you could do it easily. But short of being really buddy buddy with someone you're not going to get just the bass track.

[Jim Carr]

Trained/experienced ears.

[rogueman]

Run the sound through a mixer and it will get rid of alot of the other sounds, but not all.

[namraj]

Originally Posted by rogueman

Run the sound through a mixer and it will get rid of alot of the other sounds, but not all.

no it won't, an EQ tuned well might, but a mixer? best way is to learn to listen, don't be lazy and try and find a way round, it is a useful skill to have.

[Nyarlathotep]

Get the guitar pro tab of it and set the bass to "solo"?

I know that prolly seems like cheating or something, but that's what I do. I also +1 the EQ option, tho it only really works if your trying to hear something thats played in the lowest octave. After that, the guitar starts to creep in, and by the time you've hit the mids pretty much every instrument except maybe an obnoxious guitar solo is in there.

[Jim Carr]

Originally Posted by namraj

no it won't, an EQ tuned well might, but a mixer? best way is to learn to listen, don't be lazy and try and find a way round, it is a useful skill to have.

Even being lazy won't help much. If you look at frequencies in a typical bass note from say the first 5 frets, all but the fundament of the lowest octave is not shared with the guitar. This of course omits any other sounds in the signal such as keyboards, synths, de-tuned guitars, kick drums, etc. This means EQ will remove most of the signal you need most of the time, or will boost things you don't want. Not all that helpful in a lot of cases.

There are some fancy DSP tricks that might help if you are a PhD student in Engineering at Stanford or UC San Diego, but why bother?

Furthermore, the fundamental frequency of the bass note is not always the most important frequency in a given bass note.

But rather than get into a lot of debates/speculation about psychoacoustics, let's just agree that if you can't clearly hear what the bassist is doing but your ears are up to understanding what they do hear, does it really matter what you play as long as it holds the groove in a satisfactory way and nails all the right harmonies?

If you are stuck on deciphering a specific part out of curiosity, I sympathize. Yet IMHO, your time is better spent practicing and figuring out bass lines that are clear, but challenging.

You didn't mention what bass line you are pondering. My Girl? LOL

[pedro]

let's just agree that if you can't clearly hear what the bassist is doing but your ears are up to understanding what they do hear, does it really matter what you play as long as it holds the groove in a satisfactory way and nails all the right harmonies?

Sometimes when you can't hear precisely what is taking place some educated guesses have to be made.

[rogueman]

Dr Jim, you are most wise. Train your ears. Another thing you can do. My Korg Tone works PX3B. You can plug your source [ CD ] into the Aux In and play along and the Center Cancel function effectively erases the guitar solo and vocals on many recordings. It will even transpose so you don't have to re-tune. The Hyper bass boost functions process all sounds for live quality low frequency sound even with headphones. The four band EQ allows easy editing of individual bands with the dial. The phrase trainer lets you record up to 16 seconds of the source. The phrase can be slowed down as much as 75% without changing the pitch and played back as a loop for practice use. But Dr Jim's method of developing absolute pitch is better. It exercises your mind and ears. Machine VS Mind

[Stumbo]

31 band e.q. might help.

Check out something like this:
http://www.reedkotlermusic.com/rkm/LBR_100.htm

[Bassamatic]

You should keep the BT2. It has some EQ to help make the bass more clear, it can shift pitch and tempo and also loop the hard parts so you can listen to them over and over.

[dhemstra]

good tip: Load your mp3 into a recording program like audacity or cubase. Now transpose the song an octave. It helps!

[Jim Carr]

Originally Posted by rogueman

Dr Jim, you are most wise. Train your ears. Another thing you can do. My Korg Tone works PX3B. You can plug your source [ CD ] into the Aux In and play along and the Center Cancel function effectively erases the guitar solo and vocals on many recordings. It will even transpose so you don't have to re-tune. The Hyper bass boost functions process all sounds for live quality low frequency sound even with headphones. The four band EQ allows easy editing of individual bands with the dial. The phrase trainer lets you record up to 16 seconds of the source. The phrase can be slowed down as much as 75% without changing the pitch and played back as a loop for practice use. But Dr Jim's method of developing absolute pitch is better. It exercises your mind and ears. Machine VS Mind

Oh, I hope my post in the other thread about AP doesn't get interpreted as me claiming AP is really learnable. I just have experienced temporary AP effects when being totally immersed in ear training and piano study. BTW, the study I was taking and teaching was all fixed DO.

But back on topic, sort of---can I do all those things with my little Pandora PX4B, or does it have to be a PX3B?

[lazytech]

I do the gutar pro method

I usually mute everything except the bass and drums and then once i get it alittle better i mute the bass and I play that part, seems to be working ok and theres alot of songs for gp5

[SubButch]

I agree, it's a real pain having to figure-out bass line when there are 2 loud-distortioned de-tuned guitars on the track. I'm personally not too concerned about playing note-for-note.
- Understand the general groove is the key.
- Then, try to find variations for each riff on the track. This should get your playing more insteresting.
- Then, if you're still not satisfied, go on youtube, find live versions of the songs, acoustic versions, early versions, covers etc. this should give you ideas to fill the blanks.
- And finally, don't be affraid to add your own ideas, you might be even better than the original :P

[Sithian]

Here is a great tip -

There is a program called "AMAZING SLOW DOWNER" . The program allows you to slow down CD's or MP3's and retains pitch-

It is a fantastic tool for helping us hear and process those hard to hear bass parts - give it a try!