Help me nail this sound! Please?

[Twocan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35YivWEs3zw

Billy Ocean's bassist has the greatest bass tone (IMHO) and I've been trying to reproduce it without much success. It sounds heavily produced but can anyone help identify the effects / EQ he's using?

Thanks for your help!

[king_biscuit]

Originally Posted by Twocan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35YivWEs3zw

Billy Ocean's bassist has the greatest bass tone (IMHO) and I've been trying to reproduce it without much success. It sounds heavily produced but can anyone help identify the effects / EQ he's using?

Thanks for your help!

I didn't listen to the whole thing, but if you mean the bass in the beginning, you are going to need a Moog. That is a synth bass, not a bass guitar. In the 80s, synth bass almost put us real bassplayers out of business, so I still cringe when I hear it -- drum machines too...

[Crystalman85]

I would believe that's a bass synth with a light chorus. nice music video by the way.

[Twocan]

Originally Posted by king_biscuit

I didn't listen to the whole thing, but if you mean the bass in the beginning, you are going to need a Moog. That is a synth bass, not a bass guitar. In the 80s, synth bass almost put us real bassplayers out of business, so I still cringe when I hear it -- drum machines too...

That's what I was afraid of. With the Moog, can you still come close to this sound with an actual bass guitar?

[funk_in4]

I agree that the bass function is performed by a synth, but I am not so sure that a Moog was used. Personally, I have felt challenged rather then threatened at having/choosing to emulate or cop synth parts. I have watched and listened to numerous fantastic bassists play keyboard bass (most recently the marvelous Ricky Minor)...but I have neither the cash nor keyboard technique to follow suit. I do, however, have a Roland VBass which allows me to mimic those varied sounds very closely. I had wished that the VBass would be a singularly functional instrument, but the "bass guitar" sounds just can't come close to my Lakland and Sadowsky instruments. However, the VBass is invaluable for just the purpose that you are seeking a solution for. Just an opinion...
Oh- and note that in the video that was linked, there is not only a bass guitarist but also a horn section, while the original recording (inserted for the audio on that clip) featured synthesized bass and horns (and likely a drum machine).

[Ruoska]

On a real bass you might wanna try some flanger and delay. Slightly on both, just to get that warble in there, not to indulge in delay feedback echo noise

An easy way to find new sounds is to get into home recording and get some VST plugins. For an excellent recording software, try REAPER (www.reaper.fm). It's mostly identical to Cubase except trying it costs nothing for as long as you want and buying it costs you $60 and you get updates for a few years. And it's very light, versatile and nice looking. I ditched Cubase for REAPER.

Then you need the effects...all I can say is get Guitar Rig from Native Instruments. If you think it costs too much, get an older version (version 2 is just fine) from ebay or something. Or google P2P and torrent and see what you come up with, heh heh

[Sahm]

A quick Google search came up with the Oberheim OB-8 as a likely culprit. I have no idea for sure, but that showed up in a coupla different posts online.

[king_biscuit]

I didn't literally mean a "Moog" -- that to me is just generic term for 80s bass synth. I think you could get close to that sound with a bass synth pedal like the EHX bass Microsynth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRLpifLuLQg

[lunarpollen]

Yeah, sounds like pretty common synth bass sound, with a bit of the vibrato wheel being applied.

[Sahm]

Originally Posted by king_biscuit

I didn't literally mean a "Moog" -- that to me is just generic term for 80s bass synth.

For me, when I hear "Moog", I think- tripped out 70's synth. Either for funk or prog.
I think DX7 when it comes to the 80's!