How do I make my bass sound like Needy Girl by Chromeo?

Tehfatzor · #1 12-27-2012, 02:37 PM

I'm in a band that's going for an electronically oriented sound but using "regular" instruments (acoustic drums, electric bass, guitars, and keys), with some more modern instruments as well (samplers and sidechained compressors, drum triggers, and stuff that I don't know about cause I'm not an engineer, lol). I've always wanted to give my bass that 'synth' sound, (think Chromeo, Justice) but the devices have always eluded me.

I'm not sure if this has been done before with a "real" bass, or if it's even possible. If it is possible, then it's for me. I will work my ass off to make it real cause I just think that would be so sick!!

Any and all help is most appreciated

thebass905 · #2 12-27-2012, 03:41 PM

I'm not familiar with the sound you are looking to specifically to find, but I've been on a synth quest of my own. What I've found is that running a gated fuzz into an octaves. Into a filter of some sort can do some pretty sweet synthy stuff. I've had a lot of luck with the Source Audio BEF.... The voicings of the filters are pretty good for synth sounds. There are also a few decent synth pedals to consider ... The Boss SYB-5 is an Interesting choice, but the tracking is not good at faster playing speeds. Behringer also makes the BSY600 quick in my personal opinion is a better option (it tracks and sounds better). Digitech Also makes their Bass Synth Wah... It is more of a filter with some octave and synth flavorings. Markbass makes a quite raw synth/ octave pedal too. And if you have the cash and the luck, check out the Akai Deep Impact.... It is widely considered the holy grail of bass synth effects. Sorry for the long answer, but maybe this will help.

RickenBoogie · #3 12-27-2012, 04:53 PM

Synth bass is well covered in the fx forum, you should read every thread you can find. There are bass synth fx pedals, but every one is a compromise of one sort or another, mostly with tracking. Going the route mentioned above, fuzz/octave/filter, can get pretty good results, but just be aware, no amount of effects pedals will turn a bass guitar into a synthesizer. You just need to figure out how close you need to get.

Ubersheist · #4 12-27-2012, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickenBoogie

no amount of effects pedals will turn a bass guitar into a synthesizer.

That's the meat of it. There's no way to really make the bass guitar sound like that keys patch. There's a few wave forms going on, one of them is detuned a bit, both of them have different filters on them. There's no real way to get a sound close to that sound for most of the song, specifically the one during the verses. The sound during the chorus is easier with a fuzz or OD pedal and a high end envelope filter where you can change the attack and decay times of the filter sweep. The BEF Pro is a good example or the EHX Enigma.

For the sound during the verses, your best bet is to put an OD or fuzz ahead of an envelope filter with a fairly high and fairly fast sweep behind it. I can think of a few ways to sort of get a sound that vaguely sounds like it, but it would take some tweaking and fooling around with. For example, I have a EHX Bass Microsynth. If you had a bit of -1 octave, some line through, some _+1 and a bit of the square wave going into a fast and high filter, it would make a sound close enough that it would sound OK live, but it wouldn't really sound like the original. It would probably work well and OK for the song, but people who really know the song would think that it doesn't sound right.

Good luck!

Tehfatzor · #5 12-27-2012, 06:10 PM

Not a problem, I appreciate you taking the time to say all that. I have a lot of research to do lol

Tehfatzor · #6 12-27-2012, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickenBoogie

no amount of effects pedals will turn a bass guitar into a synthesizer. You just need to figure out how close you need to get.

This is what I feared, but I'm not surprised. Looks like I have a lot of pedals to research. It may never sound true, but I'm gonna get as close as I can. Thanks for the tips

JimmyM · #7 12-27-2012, 06:39 PM

Poor man's synth for bass and guitar:

Analog octaver with oct down only + distortion pedal. Optionally you can add an envelope filter. Won't ever sound like a synth, but honestly, those synth pedals don't do such an awesome job at it, either.

Ubersheist · #8 12-27-2012, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

ls don't do such an awesome job at it, either.

Well, just remember how Bootsy treated his effects... I came across some of his stuff recently, and it reminded me of how he really approached effects different then most bassists. He treated it like it was neither a synth, a bass guitar trying to be a synth or anything. It was it's own sound. I get the same sense from only a few other bassists, and none others come to mind. Mr. Collins was very specific about their effects, and the tone of the effects, and often change their styles and sound to adapt to the pedals.

That's what I go after, and sometimes think I achieve, at times. I don't get to try it out as often as I'd like, though!