Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[hieronymous]

sorry this had to be shared, an old classic

I made it to almost 2:00 - listen to the R2-D2 sounds at around 1:25 - the first one is pretty convincing (?) but after that it's definitely someone with a synth trying to copy R2 - would love to hear that story!

I think my friend had this record - I had the original soundtrack - we liked the laser gun sounds - those weren't in the John Williams version!

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I made it to almost 2:00 - listen to the R2-D2 sounds at around 1:25 - the first one is pretty convincing (?) but after that it's definitely someone with a synth trying to copy R2 - would love to hear that story!

I think my friend had this record - I had the original soundtrack - we liked the laser gun sounds - those weren't in the John Williams version!

the cringe is strong in this one!

 

[lucas303]

My first attempt at something vaguely resembling a "real" album is ready:

 

[Starthief]

My first attempt at something vaguely resembling a "real" album is ready

I like it. Getting some Blade Runner vibes there, among other things.

 

[Bob_Ross]

it does bring up the idea if a classic "good/perfect" tone (or technique, for that matter) is also particularly soulful or full of personality.

I don't think there's anything about those qualities that's inherently mutually exclusive...it's just very rare to find them combined in appropriate proportions.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

26539942[/URL], member: 234523"]I don't think there's anything about those qualities that's inherently mutually exclusive...it's just very rare to find them combined in appropriate proportions.

Do you like any dirty dusty crusty stufff??
Old soul?? Old crusty bebop tapes??
Early tape manipulations?
Warped crackling vinyls??
Not being sarcastic, this is a genuine question.

for example I have some really old recordings of Sviatislav Richter that sound “aweful” by audiophile standards but I really enjoy. He’s playing is amazing even on some out of tune pianos during the Soviet era.

 

[monsterthompson]

It recently dawned on me that an interesting characteristic of music is that the producer/writer/creator dictates how long it takes to consume the artwork.

My first attempt at something vaguely resembling a "real" album is ready:

Just getting through the first track and enjoying it. Nice work!

 

[lucas303]

Just getting through the first track and enjoying it. Nice work!

Thanks! Even being away from it for the month or so it took for mastering I listen to it now and am not entirely thrilled with many parts of it, but such is life.

 

[monsterthompson]

Thanks! Even being away from it for the month or so it took for mastering I listen to it now and am not entirely thrilled with many parts of it, but such is life.

What effect was used at the 0:19 mark of "V"? I'm assuming that it is a chorus, and I'm curious if this was a VST or hardware effect.

 

[lucas303]

What effect was used at the 0:19 mark of "V"? I'm assuming that it is a chorus, and I'm curious if this was a VST or hardware effect.

I'd have to look at the Reaper project file to be certain (I'm at the office now), but I believe it's Ibanez PD7, Alexander F.13 flanger, and maybe GCA Light Pedal reverb. Definitely no chorus, and I'm pretty sure I didn't use any VST effects on that bass part. (I might have used a bit of additional reverb but I doubt it and I'd have to check to be sure.)

I didn't use chorus anywhere on this project FWIW.

 

[monsterthompson]

I'd have to look at the Reaper project file to be certain (I'm at the office now), but I believe it's Ibanez PD7, Alexander F.13 flanger, and maybe GCA Light Pedal reverb. Definitely no chorus, and I'm pretty sure I didn't use any VST effects on that bass part. (I might have used a bit of additional reverb but I doubt it and I'd have to check to be sure.)

I didn't use chorus anywhere on this project FWIW.

Awesome. The flanger sound is what I was after. Time to go check some demos.

 

[lucas303]

Awesome. The flanger sound is what I was after. Time to go check some demos.

I love that flanger and would highly recommend it. This is the demo that sold me on it:

 

[Bob_Ross]

Do you like any dirty dusty crusty stufff??
Old soul?? Old crusty bebop tapes??
Early tape manipulations?
Warped crackling vinyls??
Not being sarcastic, this is a genuine question.

I love "crust" ...especially "old soul" (e.g., the Rhino compilation In Yo' Face: The History Of Funk is one of my favorite albums in my CD collection, and R&B stuff that got played on AM radio in the 1960s is the backbone of my musical tastes to this day).

Tape manipulations? You mean like Henri Pousseur or Pierre Schaeffer or Frank Zappa or Martin Swope or...? Fark yeah, that's my jam! Gimme a razor blade over Pro Tools any day.

I'm kinda indifferent to "old crusty bebop tapes" ...I have a love/hate relationship with bebop that has nothing to do with audio fidelity of the recordings.

"Warped crackling vinyls" No Thanks Jeff, there is nothing about the sound of vinyl's overt flaws that I find appealing independent of the content on the vinyl.

.
.
.
But what I do like also is the sound of a musician who is simultaneously completely lost in the material they're performing, and yet still in control of their instrument.

 

[Spectrum]

Do you like any dirty dusty crusty stufff??
Old soul?? Old crusty bebop tapes??
Early tape manipulations?
Warped crackling vinyls??
Not being sarcastic, this is a genuine question.

for example I have some really old recordings of Sviatislav Richter that sound “aweful” by audiophile standards but I really enjoy. He’s playing is amazing even on some out of tune pianos during the Soviet era.

Early tape manipulation...does Delia Derbyshire count as early enough? Some of her stuff is awesome.

As for record noise, this past December I finally found an old Victrola 78 rpm shellac record player in good condition and took it home with me. I have about 15 old shellac records, all in decent shape. This is an all mechanical acoustic system, no electric or power amplification of any kind, the record vibrates the stylus and the sound resonates through a speaker horn. It's very lo-fi, but for records that are 70-100 years old or more, it actually sounds pretty good. If I close the lid while playing most of the machine/needle noise goes away and you get a sort of naturally mid-range filtered sound out of the speaker horn.

These same recordings on a CD would sound a lot clearer, and there are good reasons why shellac records were replaced by hi fi vinyl systems with quality electronic amplification and eq and so on, not to mention LP records that run 23 minutes per side vs the 3 minute single I get on a shellac disc.

But I like it this way, it's the way I expect a hundred-year-old recording to sound, it adds a certain atmosphere to it that appeals to me. Glenn Miller's Moonlight Serenade played through this thing is great, and reminds me that this is probably how my grandparents first heard it in the 1930s or 40s. Listening to these old recordings on this machine is almost like a time machine, like listening to a ghost.

 

[lucas303]

This is an all mechanical acoustic system, no electric or power amplification of any kind, the record vibrates the stylus and the sound resonates through a speaker horn. It's very lo-fi, but for records that are 70-100 years old or more, it actually sounds pretty good.

 

[JES]

@Spectrum — I’ve got a 1928 Orthophonic Victrola. Also all-mechanical. It’s shockingly loud with the doors open. I think of the lid as a treble control. Also, the cats like to hang out on it.

 

[Spectrum]

@Spectrum — I’ve got a 1928 Orthophonic Victrola. Also all-mechanical. It’s shockingly loud with the doors open. I think of the lid as a treble control. Also, the cats like to hang out on it.

Mine is a Victrola VIII, which my research tells me was manufactured around 1915 give or take a couple of years. "Tiger oak" is what the seller told me the striped wood is. Like you said, these things are pretty loud for zero electrical amplification, and the doors on the speaker opening do act as volume control. This machine was made in Camden, NJ, right up the road from where I went to high school many decades later.

 

[JES]

Welcome to the Official Talkbass “Show Us Your Victrola” thread!

 

[saltymonkey]

We had one when I was growing up, one with a beautiful wooden horn. It came from my grandparents house in Brooklyn. The horn got crushed during a keg party I had when my parents were away. Man my dad was pissed. I'm 61 now and he's 87. I think he's finally forgotten about it.

 

[Spectrum]

Welcome to the Official Talkbass “Show Us Your Victrola” thread!

View attachment 4722237 View attachment 4722238 View attachment 4722239 View attachment 4722240 View attachment 4722241

That is a real beauty! I almost bought one of those floor console models some years ago when I saw it in a local antique shop. It was a big barn with several dealers in it, and one of them had two or three Victrolas including the big floor-sitting model, and that got me interested in the subject. I would stand there trying to figure out where I would find room for it in my living room.

Then one day the antique barn burned to the ground, and all that cool old equipment was destroyed, Victrolas, console tube stereo systems, tube radios (which I think started the fire), old cameras, tape decks, everything was lost. I decided then and there that the next time I see a Victrola in decent condition I was going to jump on it immediately. Took me a few years but here it is.

We had one when I was growing up, one with a beautiful wooden horn. It came from my grandparents house in Brooklyn. The horn got crushed during a keg party I had when my parents were away. Man my dad was pissed. I'm 61 now and he's 87. I think he's finally forgotten about it.

LOL you might not want to test that theory!