Hot Chelle Rae "Tonight Tonight" synth sound help

Wes Whitmore · #1 07-24-2011, 04:18 PM

This is a sound I am trying to recreate for some of the pop songs my band is covering. I was just planning on getting a Markbass Supersynth and messing around with it until I get something usable, but I decided to ask the efx people if this is a sound that can be reproduced live with this pedal? It's a sound that I hear in lots of pop songs, so it would be a good pedal to have...

Here is the video...

‪Hot Chelle Rae-Tonight Tonight‬&rlm; - YouTube

You can hear it during the chorus at around 20 seconds in...

Thanks!
Wes

Gearhead17 · #2 07-24-2011, 09:42 PM

I looked up some live videos of these guys and you can see right away the synth line is taken out of the equation. It's basically the Orange AD200B cranked up with a Gibson Grabber (I think?).

I just recently played this song with my band and it went over really well. I played a standard clean bass tone with my fingers and it sounded just fine. The girls and the guys actually liked this song. Then again, they were really drunk....

The Markbass Supersynth is a cool product and would probably get exactly what you want.

If you are planning to use this synth effect a lot in your band, the pedal is a good idea. If the pedal is just for this song, probably a waste of money.

Wes Whitmore · #3 07-25-2011, 05:56 AM

Its catchy and the flavor of the week for sure!

What I am hearing is only in the Chorus (its overlying the original verse bass), and they don't seem to do it live, unless they backtrack. The studio recording has this sound, plus a bunch of other synthy pitch-sweeping filler stuff in it. It's not vital, but I would like to be able to do it. I would use it on 4 or 5 songs...
Wes

gastric · #4 07-25-2011, 01:44 PM

You're talking about the extremely low volume, pitch-bend type synth lead that's buried way, way in the background? If so I wouldn't even bother live. If the band is trying to make you do it, I'd go for a manually swept pitch shifter and some drive effect. A BOSS GT would be great as you could make the expression pedal a switch-less pitch shifter since you'd have to switch between the regular bass sound and "synth" quickly for that song.

Wes Whitmore · #5 07-26-2011, 04:27 PM

The sound I am talking about is in all the top40 stuff nowadays (Kesha, Brittany, 3oh3, even maroon 5 is doing it). Hot Chelle Rae just mixed some clean bass in it, and knocked down the "techno" level. Im starting to think that this isn't something that a bass can do, but maybe someone can tell me what this magic box is that every top 40 studio is using to make this sound. Sure, it's the same sound as the pitch bending sweeps, but it sure sounds like they are using the same piece of equipment to just lay the bass line down under all those layers (especially during the chorus of these in this genre). All I plan on doing is using the foundation part, and not the sweeps and bends.
Wes

gastric · #6 07-26-2011, 04:34 PM

The "magic box" is a synthesizer. There's tons of bass synth threads in this forum. Depending on what you want to do there's a variety of pedals you can use to get synth sounds. However, they're all very limited in sounds and performance when compared to an actual synthesizer. Check my signature for a bunch of demos of various synth effect products.

Personally, I'd make the synth player cover the synth lines for as much of the Top 40 stuff as possible if there's regular electric bass in the song, too. He/she should be able to cop two tones and two different lines simultaneously. Then one of the synth pedals should be able to fill in the handful of songs where there's no electric bass and just pure bass synth.

Shish · #7 07-26-2011, 06:51 PM

there is no synth on bass line. or i'm deaf.

RickenBoogie · #8 07-26-2011, 07:05 PM

I heard clean bass as well, with a synth following it. +1- what you want is a synthesizer- not a synth effect for bass. Even a MicroKorg would do better than a pedal.

Wes Whitmore · #9 07-26-2011, 08:39 PM

Well, we don't have a keyboard player, so I guess that ends it! Thanks for clearing it up.

I should have picked a song that only had the synth sound so it wasn't so buried and hard for people to hear. But just so you can hear it, from 1:30 to 1:49, its just the clean bass, then they go around again (to 1:59) with the synth layered on top of the clean bass riff.

This sound is in so many pop songs today that I wanted to at least see if I could cop it with the bass. I have been listening to as many sound clips as I could and no one seems to gets close to it, so I'll just leave it at that.

Thanks!
Wes

waveman · #10 07-26-2011, 09:38 PM

It doesn't really make that sound, but I have been using an EHX HOG for live parts or just doing them clean. I have tried fuzz pedal into chorus with noise gate, that comes in second. I have tried the Digitech Bass Synth Wah straight, and with a blended signal with a Boss LS-2, which was third. The problem is with the #2 and #3 is that you get lost in the mix, and it really doesn't come across right live. They both sound pretty good alone.

I am going to try a new something tomorrow if we get to rehearse, which is a Line6 M13 using the Tube Overdrive -> String Synth -> Bass Octaver. The tracking has some getting used to, but it is sounding pretty good in the bedroom. If it works out, I will post results. Otherwise it's the HOG again for our gig this weekend. Another pedal I am interested in trying if the M13 doesn't work out is the Source Audio Distortion Pro...Looks like you should be able to coax some nice synthy tones from it.

gastric · #11 07-26-2011, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wes Whitmore

I should have picked a song that only had the synth sound so it wasn't so buried and hard for people to hear. But just so you can hear it, from 1:30 to 1:49, its just the clean bass, then they go around again (to 1:59) with the synth layered on top of the clean bass riff.

Yes, the song barely has any clearly audible bass synth. Share a couple other songs with obvious bass synth you want to try to cop.

Don't be discouraged. You can definitely get usable bass synth sounds out of the pedals available. But they'll follow your bass line exactly. And probably won't sound EXACTLY like the song you have in mind. But will add a layer of synth or totally replace your electric bass if that's what you want.

I'd recommend a used 1990's Korg G5 if you want something fairly quality sounding that's easy to use. Or a Markbass Super Synth if you want something currently in production, though the Super synth doesn't track super fast playing well so no repetitive 16th notes. But it'd do totally fine with the bass line in the song you linked to.

Wes Whitmore · #12 07-27-2011, 11:11 AM

Its easiest to separate the instruments if you put some headphones on. Its hard to distinguish just using an Iphone or a set of computer speakers. It's blended with the bass guitar, so it isn't as obvious as a Kesha, Katy Perry, or Brittany Spears video. Those videos tend to add another level of synth during the chorus as well. Whole notes mainly. That's the sound I'm looking for.

I spent some time on youtube today. I found some "live covers" of songs and I see a moog being played in the background (some of them are only about 2 ft long)...I guess that finalizes it! If we want that sound, better get the real thing. They aren't keying anything complicated at all, so I could probably do it if I could get the patches figured out.

EDIT:
I guess the sound I am looking for is just a couple of oscilators in saw tooth format (instead of triangle)...just turn it on and it's there...

Thanks for the help!
Wes