Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[Pelagic]

Wow! I never knew this thread was in here, but I shouldn't be surprised. I play with some friends and have been doing "ambient albums" for fun and very little profit. Anyway, here's a link to what we do. I look forward to seeing all the things you're up to!
Joe Olnick

 

[steubig]

did someone say no input mixer?
this ios dev has done some really interesting work.

NoInputMixer Lets You Explore Feedback Synthesis On iOS & Mac

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

did someone say no input mixer?
this ios dev has done some really interesting work.

NoInputMixer Lets You Explore Feedback Synthesis On iOS & Mac

yep, Mr Vasiliev, I have a few of his apps, he’s very forward thinking.

 

[steubig]

someone asked me for a sample of my playing and i chanced on a gig i did with sarah belle reid on trumpet/electronics and vinny gola on reeds.

so thought i’d share since her name came
up.

pedals and loops.

 

[DanieleCamarda]

Hi everyone,

here's a little ambientish impro for 6 string bass (EADGCF tuning) and electronics:

 

[Bleeder]

btw, speaking of Fairlights reminded me of this old story from my sordid past:

Back in the mid-1980s I was selling pro audio retail at a music store in Watertown MA and we had a Invalid Link Removed II in the recording room. One of the guys who worked in the sound reinforcement department used to do a demo of Audio-Technica ATM25a mics that involved throwing them against the wall as hard as he could (to show how their windscreens did not dent, unlike a Shure SM58). For some reason he was in my room with a potential client when he decided to perform this ATM25a trick. Mic bounces off the wall, hits the Fairlight keyboard, and breaks 2 keys.

My new band name. Thanks for that!

 

[hieronymous]

So I injured myself. First time in a while. Somehow my right hand ring finger nail got caught on the edge of kitchen counter. I didn’t realize what happened at first, but when I got into better light, I realized that I had really torn my nail pretty deep – yowch! It was alright, a little bit of blood, I’ve been taking care of it, but NO BASS PLAYING! I still need to type for work (and TalkBass of course!) and also play keyboards at my simple level. So this is one of my post nail-incident recordings:



The Maneco Labs Grone is really interesting – I’m appreciating it more and more, and frustrated at the same time. I feel like I’ve found a repeatable drone that is in this round of “hydragrone” recordings. It has tuning issues – not sure you can tune it – but it’s off in a “Dark Drone Machine” kind of way (that’s how it’s described on the faceplate) – plus, it’s just turning knobs with my left hand, no worries for my right hand nail… Playing the Hydrasynth on top is fun, I feel like I'm finally starting to scratch the surface of the instrument. If I do this thing live, I don't need to be dragging around Moogerfoogers, etc. - nice to be able to do it within the synth.

Regarding this recent round of "hydragrone" recordings: at first, I felt that what I was making wasn’t “good enough” - but I also think I’m reaching towards something and this is a record of that – aspiring for the simplicity of Vangelis or Kitaro – the idea of playing melodies with my feet keeps me grounded perhaps (see what I did there) – but also having fun using more than an octave lol – I actually have a potential gig coming up the last weekend of October – I’ve been mostly playing “bass covers” for those, but that isn’t musically satisfying – for the time being my YouTube bass cover career is on hiatus – maybe come up with a set that incorporates the synth stuff I’ve been working on…

Hope everyone is well! I really appreciate this community, and it's also been nice to see some new folks! I try to listen to everything, but it doesn't always work out. But this is a great place to share stuff!

 

[JES]

Sorry about the injury. That sucks. But it just goes to show how nice it is to play different instruments.

 

[hieronymous]

Tangerine Dream are on tour - apparently Steve Roach sat in at their last show and sitting in again tonight in San Diego. I'm seeing them in San Francisco on Wednesday night!

 

[Spectrum]

Tangerine Dream are on tour - apparently Steve Roach sat in at their last show and sitting in again tonight in San Diego. I'm seeing them in San Francisco on Wednesday night!

I'm hoping to catch them soon as well. I saw them in 2012 when Froese was still alive, and that was the first time they were in the US in something like 20 or 25 years IIRC.

 

[hieronymous]

I'm hoping to catch them soon as well. I saw them in 2012 when Froese was still alive, and that was the first time they were in the US in something like 20 or 25 years IIRC.

I'm pretty psyched - never got to see them with Edgar, but I'm more of a fan of what they've been doing more recently - looking forward to the improvised segment that ends the night!

EDIT: I have seen a couple of comments that it's really LOUD - might just be one grumbler, but I'm gonna take earplugs (which I try to do anytime I go to a concert)

 

[Spectrum]

I'm pretty psyched - never got to see them with Edgar, but I'm more of a fan of what they've been doing more recently - looking forward to the improvised segment that ends the night!

EDIT: I have seen a couple of comments that it's really LOUD - might just be one grumbler, but I'm gonna take earplugs (which I try to do anytime I go to a concert)

I know it's heresy to say this, but I believe Edgar was the reason the group went to downtown Cheeseville in the 80s. He was the only steady member from the band's formation until his passing, so he was making all the musical decisions, and the current leader Thorston Quaeschning said that Edgar hated sticking to the past. Apparently when the newer digital synths came out Edgar got rid of almost all his old 70s gear and went full throttle into whatever was the newest thing. The result was a few good 80s soundtrack pieces and a lot of cheesy stuff.

So while it was an honor to see Edgar, and I even got to shake his hand, I think that TD's recent stuff is way more in touch with their 70s classic material, while picking and choosing a few key elements from their soundtrack era, plus the added dimension of Hoshiko's electric violin. Thorston and Hoshiko were members when I saw them 2012. I'm really hoping I get to see them this time around.

Also yes on the earplug thing. I never go to a live show without them in my pocket anymore.

 

[monsterthompson]

Been a little out of the music game lately. I am working on a few things but I’m not driven to complete or share them. They’re more exercises and experiments.

I have been messing around with some creative writing and video editing ideas. Again, nothing to share here. But I am finding it easier to flip between author and editor with those projects. The “products” don’t feel as “sacred” as musical creations do for me, so it’s easier to draft something I know will be rough, then go back and fine tune. I’m finding that fine tuning process quite interesting, and I hope it translates back to music projects.

 

[hieronymous]

Anyway familiar with Robert Rich? Apparently he is sitting in on the SF TD show. I saw that he has played with Steve Roach recently - another electronic ambient person? Anyway, I'm psyched, I've been listening to TD a lot the past few years, everything from the earliest stuff (including some of the crazy power trio improv stuff that didn't make it to record) to the early 80s stuff that I normally wouldn't think I'd be into (like Poland from 1984) and the recent stuff as well, though maybe not as much.

It looks like they're playing different sets each night - hopefully I'll get some songs I know - and maybe even like! It's like going to see the Dead or Phish lol

Oh, and my finger is healing nicely, thank goodness! I have insurance but got dropped from my primary physician and haven't bothered to try and find another one - until now. So maybe it was meant to be...

 

[hieronymous]

Been a little out of the music game lately. I am working on a few things but I’m not driven to complete or share them. They’re more exercises and experiments.

I have been messing around with some creative writing and video editing ideas. Again, nothing to share here. But I am finding it easier to flip between author and editor with those projects. The “products” don’t feel as “sacred” as musical creations do for me, so it’s easier to draft something I know will be rough, then go back and fine tune. I’m finding that fine tuning process quite interesting, and I hope it translates back to music projects.

The "sharing" aspect can be kind of insidious, huh? It's so easy - TOO easy?!! It's nice sometimes to work with no thought of anyone else hearing it. I think I'm still feeling the YouTube-instilled pressure of putting out content!

 

[Spectrum]

Anyway familiar with Robert Rich? Apparently he is sitting in on the SF TD show. I saw that he has played with Steve Roach recently - another electronic ambient person? Anyway, I'm psyched, I've been listening to TD a lot the past few years, everything from the earliest stuff (including some of the crazy power trio improv stuff that didn't make it to record) to the early 80s stuff that I normally wouldn't think I'd be into (like Poland from 1984) and the recent stuff as well, though maybe not as much.

It looks like they're playing different sets each night - hopefully I'll get some songs I know - and maybe even like! It's like going to see the Dead or Phish lol

Oh, and my finger is healing nicely, thank goodness! I have insurance but got dropped from my primary physician and haven't bothered to try and find another one - until now. So maybe it was meant to be...

I've seen Robert Rich live in Philadelphia at Chuck Van Zyle's Gatherings shows, and I have at least one of his albums and a few compilations with him on it. As with all these guys, some of his stuff hits with me and some doesn't.

Same goes for Ian Boddy, another Gatherings alum who made one of my personal favorite spacemusic tracks of all time, "Before the End of the Beginning", which is on a compilation disc, but can't find it on youtube or anywhere. I finally saw him live a few years ago and didn't really like his set that night. He was doing some "tribal rhythm" stuff that I really dislike.

 

[hieronymous]

I've seen Robert Rich live in Philadelphia at Chuck Van Zyle's Gatherings shows, and I have at least one of his albums and a few compilations with him on it. As with all these guys, some of his stuff hits with me and some doesn't.

Same goes for Ian Boddy, another Gatherings alum who made one of my personal favorite spacemusic tracks of all time, "Before the End of the Beginning", which is on a compilation disc, but can't find it on youtube or anywhere. I finally saw him live a few years ago and didn't really like his set that night. He was doing some "tribal rhythm" stuff that I really dislike.

Lol - I just listened to my friend complain about Steve Roach at the San Diego show. But I think that's the dangerous element of improvisation. We'll see how SF is. Maybe there will be recordings of some of these released...

 

[steubig]

Anyway familiar with Robert Rich? Apparently he is sitting in on the SF TD show. I saw that he has played with Steve Roach recently - another electronic ambient person? Anyway, I'm psyched, I've been listening to TD a lot the past few years, everything from the earliest stuff (including some of the crazy power trio improv stuff that didn't make it to record) to the early 80s stuff that I normally wouldn't think I'd be into (like Poland from 1984) and the recent stuff as well, though maybe not as much.

It looks like they're playing different sets each night - hopefully I'll get some songs I know - and maybe even like! It's like going to see the Dead or Phish lol

Oh, and my finger is healing nicely, thank goodness! I have insurance but got dropped from my primary physician and haven't bothered to try and find another one - until now. So maybe it was meant to be...

yeah. robert is pretty important in that world, from what i can tell. if you have any synths that have built-in microtonal scale options, he might be the guy who programmed them (pretty sure he had something to do with the hydrasynth microtonal stuff, but i could be wrong). also has done a lot of sound design for sequential/dave smith. so yeah he knows his stuff and does a fair amount of touring.

a friend of friends and seems to be a nice guy on top of it all (always good in my book).

 

[hieronymous]

yeah. robert is pretty important in that world, from what i can tell. if you have any synths that have built-in microtonal scale options, he might be the guy who programmed them (pretty sure he had something to do with the hydrasynth microtonal stuff, but i could be wrong). also has done a lot of sound design for sequential/dave smith. so yeah he knows his stuff and does a fair amount of touring.

a friend of friends and seems to be a nice guy on top of it all (always good in my book).

Thanks for the insights. I am very excited - the fact that they are open to another musician sitting in live with them says a lot. I am totally taking my friend's reactions with a grain of salt - he isn't a musician, he's open to a lot of music but also pretty stubborn in his beliefs about musicians and music. Who knows how the SF will turn out? I really appreciate the danger they are undertaking!

 

[steubig]

Thanks for the insights. I am very excited - the fact that they are open to another musician sitting in live with them says a lot. I am totally taking my friend's reactions with a grain of salt - he isn't a musician, he's open to a lot of music but also pretty stubborn in his beliefs about musicians and music. Who knows how the SF will turn out? I really appreciate the danger they are undertaking!

btw, robert is pretty local to the sf area. grew up around palo alto. lives a bit down the coast now.

there are some interesting interviews with him around.