• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

#20,821
Starthief said:
It has been 2 months, 2 weeks and 3 days (I have an app for that) since I put a deposit on a Miezo, and I was thinking about asking for an update at the end of the week, when today I got a build photo!

W5N8QuI.jpg


I like how well the neck and body woods match (raintree and ovangkol) and almost wish for aesthetic reasons that it was unlined fretless. I doubt when it arrives I'm going to be sorry that it has frets though :)
Click to expand...
Congrats. I have something somewhat similar, six string with 16.5 spacing.
f68bd8_49ad77eead3743ccb2f74e0b6e54c380~mv2.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • f1028109248.jpg
    f1028109248.jpg
    84.6 KB · Views: 16
  • Like
Reactions: Felix Lopez, JES, hieronymous and 2 others
#20,822
ugly_bassplayer said:
is Make Noise that awesome of a company/products?
Click to expand...

Not every product is great but there is a baseline of creativity and good sense. I was disappointed by the whine on the Morphagene as well as the difficulty of getting it back in tune. Sometimes stuff you might expect is outside what they consider “normal” functioning of their modules. But, they design modules with other modules in mind: there is attenuation where you need it instead of artificially tiny modules with no attenuation; their interfaces assume there might be a module right next to it, etc. They also do very educational videos about patching. In a modular cliche, their Maths module is one of the very first I bought and I am still learning tricks with it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ugly_bassplayer, Starthief, dukeorock and 1 other person
#20,831
Went to NC for my brother's wedding, caught the COVID, had to drive back to CO while still kinda' sick...so I've been out of the loop for at least a couple weeks. Had to skip over the past 3-4 pages so I hope I didn't miss anything important!

lordradish said:
On to that other thing.
Album drops 7/30. What a road this has been. Not even gonna get into all the promo stuff I am still figuring out, but mixing this was really a challenge, simply because I've never done it at this level before. I went through a series of three mixes. Things started sounding better once I got better with the panning, paid more attention to the frequencies and realized how low in the mix some things needed to be. For example, I had one piece where about halfway through, a Moog bass drone comes in. I took it out after the first mix, I thought it was too much. Come mix three, I put it back in, but barely there, and it worked.

You'd think, having listened to so much of this stuff that I'd be more in tune with what I needed to do, but the 'make it barely there' is what really saved so many of these mixes for me. Then there was the high-freq prob in the left ear, which I've mentioned, ad nauseum. I found some good ways to work around that, too, although I did have a few nights where things were just too irritated and I had to bag it.

Anyways, it's called Mostly Gray. Six tracks of gray ambient, inspired by ruminations on nature, this (*#*&$# pandemic, and just contemplating the gradients that make up life. There is a guest appearance by @ugly_bassplayer on one of the tracks from our early pandemic compilations, too. Onto the duo album next, then my next album of decay-style pieces.

I've dropped a video for one of the tracks. This one was done mostly with the 6 string through the board, as well as a bit of Iridium. I spent a lot of time dialing in that main texture but it's one of the favorite sounds I've ever gotten out of the board.


Also a few excerpts here:


If ya follow on Bandcamp, it'll let ya know when it's out.
Click to expand...


I'm also getting an error message when I try to follow. Spam the album release here!
 
  • Like
Reactions: JES
#20,832
ugly_bassplayer said:
26606908[/URL], member: 136709"]still liking the miezo?
regret not pulling the trigger a year ago. Prices have gone up and the cad is in the dump.
:(
Click to expand...

Im not playing mine as much as I expected. Part of that was getting a Nordy Acinonyx which has been a great fit for my specific hand/arm mobility issues. My long term Miezo stand out observations of note:
1. I had some fret sprout happen. It sucks to have to deal with it but it was built in a different environment and wood is gonna wood.
2. My thumb does seem to prefer a double cut. This is particular to my nerve damage, but my finger dexterity opens up when I can get my hand in certain positions, and the Miezo single cut limits my positions. The back of the fretboard/neck is kinda flat and my hand works better if there’s a curve to “hook” my thumb on.
3. The first position can get a little jammed up with the way the string retainer is designed. My thumb bumps against the metal. I think a fully shaped headstock would be easier for me.
4. I’ve been plagued by some electronics issues. I had a pot fail on me. The repair tech who worked on it ended up swapping both pots, but he changed the value and it made the sound too bright/brittle at high tone pot settings. The easy fix is to dial the tone knob back but that doesn’t quite get me where it was at the other value, but it’s close enough for jazz. I’ve also had some new issues since the repair that seem like there’s some phase cancellation when using both pickups, and I don’t remember this before. I’m about ready to take the Miezo to another shop to have them give it a once over and swap the pots back to 250.

While the above points don’t sound great, I’d say they aren't a reflection of the Miezo being problematic. I anticipated the hand positions being a potential issue, and it’s my quirky body mechanics that make this an issue. The electronics were great on arrival and volume pot failure is a rare occurrence, so that was just bad luck. My issues after the repair aren’t faults of the bass and build. The bass sounds good and the workmanship is nice.

Overall, if I had it to do again, I would consider the X3M with a 25-27 scale. I think the double cut and slightly longer scale would get my hand in a better sweet spot. I’ve also contacted them about the possibility of a J style build with 5 strings, 17mm spacing, a faux headstock and bridge tuners, and the same Nordy pickups. I’d be happy to work with Mau again on a custom build.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dukeorock, Starthief, JES and 1 other person
#20,833
monsterthompson said:
Im not playing mine as much as I expected. Part of that was getting a Nordy Acinonyx which has been a great fit for my specific hand/arm mobility issues. My long term Miezo stand out observations of note:
1. I had some fret sprout happen. It sucks to have to deal with it but it was built in a different environment and wood is gonna wood.
2. My thumb does seem to prefer a double cut. This is particular to my nerve damage, but my finger dexterity opens up when I can get my hand in certain positions, and the Miezo single cut limits my positions. The back of the fretboard/neck is kinda flat and my hand works better if there’s a curve to “hook” my thumb on.
3. The first position can get a little jammed up with the way the string retainer is designed. My thumb bumps against the metal. I think a fully shaped headstock would be easier for me.
4. I’ve been plagued by some electronics issues. I had a pot fail on me. The repair tech who worked on it ended up swapping both pots, but he changed the value and it made the sound too bright/brittle at high tone pot settings. The easy fix is to dial the tone knob back but that doesn’t quite get me where it was at the other value, but it’s close enough for jazz. I’ve also had some new issues since the repair that seem like there’s some phase cancellation when using both pickups, and I don’t remember this before. I’m about ready to take the Miezo to another shop to have them give it a once over and swap the pots back to 250.

While the above points don’t sound great, I’d say they aren't a reflection of the Miezo being problematic. I anticipated the hand positions being a potential issue, and it’s my quirky body mechanics that make this an issue. The electronics were great on arrival and volume pot failure is a rare occurrence, so that was just bad luck. My issues after the repair aren’t faults of the bass and build. The bass sounds good and the workmanship is nice.

Overall, if I had it to do again, I would consider the X3M with a 25-27 scale. I think the double cut and slightly longer scale would get my hand in a better sweet spot. I’ve also contacted them about the possibility of a J style build with 5 strings, 17mm spacing, a faux headstock and bridge tuners, and the same Nordy pickups. I’d be happy to work with Mau again on a custom build.
Click to expand...
I would have gotten some sort of variation of a headless 30” Pbass with a removable neck.
The small ones aren’t really my cup o tea
 
  • Like
Reactions: JES and monsterthompson
#20,834
lucas303 said:
Went to NC for my brother's wedding, caught the COVID, had to drive back to CO while still kinda' sick...so I've been out of the loop for at least a couple weeks. Had to skip over the past 3-4 pages so I hope I didn't miss anything important!



I'm also getting an error message when I try to follow. Spam the album release here!
Click to expand...

ugh. sorry you’re sick. driving long (!) distances while sick is no fun.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kranahan, monsterthompson, dukeorock and 2 others
#20,840
emjazz said:
26609076[/URL], member: 30373"]Not at all...Willy, and his wife (who is a jazz publicist), posted when that video came out that Willy was the drummer on the track. Super excited for him!
Click to expand...
Ahhhhh ok I get it!!!
I was wondering who was gonna be on drums for the new tour.
I know that Eva Gardner is back to replace Juan.
Such a sad story, awesome player and seems to be a very good guy as well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kranahan, dukeorock, hieronymous and 1 other person

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back