Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[lordradish]

Congrats! Preordered. I'm curious what synths you're using on top of all the bass and effects, if any, on those tracks (I am assuming you haven't found a way to synthesize water sounds with a bass and pedals but if so, please do dish).

Thanks!

So, the synths... Hydrasynth, Wavestate, Iridium and Moog Subsequent 37, plus Kontakt. I also used u-he Hive on one of the tracks.

I didn't actually try to go for realistic water sounds, as I think that would come across as cheesy. That undulating texture you hear in various parts is basically two different approaches, depending on the tune, a somewhat complex arpeggio on the Iridium, smeared to the point of being unrecognizable on the Blackhole, then I tweak the Blackhole and various synth parameters to give it the dynamic/ebb-and-flow vibe. Or, me doing the same thing on the big pedalboard. I basically play a chord or two on the 6-string bass, get the drone going, then tweak all of the stuff downstream (pun) of it.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Page 1278 of this thread rules!



I loved it--lots of motion moving up and into the audio range. And it is like a tiger on a leash, if the tiger is on PCP.



Congrats! Preordered. I'm curious what synths you're using on top of all the bass and effects, if any, on those tracks (I am assuming you haven't found a way to synthesize water sounds with a bass and pedals but if so, please do dish).



One of my favourite reverb sounds. I think it just works.



Hahahahaha. I got a "Brandi reposted your track : ApologiesToMyTake5" and I was like "I'll bet her listeners are veeery excited."

Loved your drone too. Filter harmonics are the best.

I listened to all the drones at like 4am while waiting for my body to return to a normal temperature (happens to me in the middle of some nights).



Well, regional meetups are possible. Montreal is not that far from Vermont and Quebec City, and Virginia is on our side. Parts of the west coast have already met up. Australia, as usual, is screwed.

Dépends on the day, sometimes PCP sometimes LSD mind trips.

 

[monsterthompson]

I was traveling for work and now I see I have some catching up to do here.

First I need complain about the Motu interface I bought last weekend. It does weird digital distortion with certain sound sources even with meters showing well below clipping. The “Loop back” function isn’t working even though I downloaded the drivers. If it wasn’t distorting I’d troubleshoot the loop back thing. Instead I’m returning it and back in the market for a 4 in 4 out interface. I might just get a newer Komplete KA6 v2 since my v1 is pretty decent aside from a few aging quirks.

 

[lordradish]

Dépends on the day, sometimes PCP sometimes LSD mind trips.

Nothing feels better than knowing your body is completely numb and you can go around and punch concrete walls and not feel a thing. Now I understand why you mention wall-punching so much.

 

[monsterthompson]

Nothing feels better than knowing your body is completely numb

Having woken up in a hospital bed with and ASIA B level spinal cord injury, I can say that being completely numb is in fact a wild experience.

 

[lordradish]

Any of you use an EQ or HPF pedal on your boards? How do you handle mud/harsh resonance?

Mixing this last album was quite challenging, because often, when I'm recording things from the board, I have been negligent about eq'ing and resonances, making mixing this a real bitch, every time. I have way too many low frequencies in the mix, making a lot of the tunes a bit hard to filter out the mud. Because there's a lot more pedalboard on this album, it became crystal clear to me. It's not like I'm using a guitar.

I have an EQ pedal on the board, but I've (until recently), only cut the lows and low-mids a little bit (I do cut the subfrequencies out completely). I'm currently working on getting material together for that potential collab project with Matt Borghi, and so, as an experiment, I ran a freq. analyzer on it on the DAW input to monitor the signal. Even with my normal cuts, WAAAAYY too bass heavy, esp around 200hz, and again with those nasty low-mid resonances that make my ears bleed around, 500. So I cut most things below 500 almost completely and they were STILL showing up pretty heavy on the frequency analyzer. Jeez.

So I ended up putting a multiband compressor on the input, as well as another eq targeting more specific frequencies. Huge difference. I feel like an idiot for not doing this a long time ago.

When I got into the big board thing, I started off with going back and forth on guitar and bass. Given my skills on guitar never evolved past half-assed blues guitarist, that's when I made the shift to 6 string basses. Problem is, I never really made the tonal shift from a technical side, and now it is all too clear. Another thing that's helped is I am using the Meris Enzo to pitch shift a lot of stuff up an octave or two. It tracks really well, and it gets my sounds up in to a range that's lot less prone to mud.

Yet another thing I feel like an idiot for not doing a long time ago. I anticipate the next album being much easier to mix.

 

[lordradish]

Also think I'm growing a bit tired of the Mercury 7 verb. I love it because it has hi and low pass filters, but I still wish I had more verstatility. Any of you using ambient verbs that have filters? I think that with bass, it's crucial.

Gotta be stereo.

 

[lordradish]

Having woken up in a hospital bed with and ASIA B level spinal cord injury, I can say that being completely numb is in fact a wild experience.

That's not the fun kind of numb.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Nothing feels better than knowing your body is completely numb and you can go around and punch concrete walls and not feel a thing. Now I understand why you mention wall-punching so much.

Definitely not in the same ballpark but I’ve had 2 spinal epidurals for two knee surgeries and indeed, feeling completely numb below the belly is quite the experience.
Especially when the nurse says you need to pee 750ml or they go in with the catheter.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Any of you use an EQ or HPF pedal on your boards? How do you handle mud/harsh resonance?

Mixing this last album was quite challenging, because often, when I'm recording things from the board, I have been negligent about eq'ing and resonances, making mixing this a real bitch, every time. I have way too many low frequencies in the mix, making a lot of the tunes a bit hard to filter out the mud. Because there's a lot more pedalboard on this album, it became crystal clear to me. It's not like I'm using a guitar.

I have an EQ pedal on the board, but I've (until recently), only cut the lows and low-mids a little bit (I do cut the subfrequencies out completely). I'm currently working on getting material together for that potential collab project with Matt Borghi, and so, as an experiment, I ran a freq. analyzer on it on the DAW input to monitor the signal. Even with my normal cuts, WAAAAYY too bass heavy, esp around 200hz, and again with those nasty low-mid resonances that make my ears bleed around, 500. So I cut most things below 500 almost completely and they were STILL showing up pretty heavy on the frequency analyzer. Jeez.

So I ended up putting a multiband compressor on the input, as well as another eq targeting more specific frequencies. Huge difference. I feel like an idiot for not doing this a long time ago.

When I got into the big board thing, I started off with going back and forth on guitar and bass. Given my skills on guitar never evolved past half-assed blues guitarist, that's when I made the shift to 6 string basses. Problem is, I never really made the tonal shift from a technical side, and now it is all too clear. Another thing that's helped is I am using the Meris Enzo to pitch shift a lot of stuff up an octave or two. It tracks really well, and it gets my sounds up in to a range that's lot less prone to mud.

Yet another thing I feel like an idiot for not doing a long time ago. I anticipate the next album being much easier to mix.

By what I’m reading you’re in the right path.
Trial and error seems to be the best thing, failure as we all know leads to learning…..but I digress.

For the « huge board thing » I would (completely hypothetically and without ever trying it)
Go EQ comp etc all in the box. IMO it would be a quicker and much cheaper fix.
Fix the really low mud you don’t want with outboard stuff for anything below 60hz (or whatever frequency of choice)
Then fine tune with in the box EQ and multi band comps

my 2 cents

 

[lordradish]

Definitely not in the same ballpark but I’ve had 2 spinal epidurals for two knee surgeries and indeed, feeling completely numb below the belly is quite the experience.
Especially when the nurse says you need to pee 750ml or they go in with the catheter.

Hey, if you're numb, it's one less thing for you to worry about, right?

 

[lordradish]

By what I’m reading you’re in the right path.
Trial and error seems to be the best thing, failure as we all know leads to learning…..but I digress.

For the « huge board thing » I would (completely hypothetically and without ever trying it)
Go EQ comp etc all in the box. IMO it would be a quicker and much cheaper fix.
Fix the really low mud you don’t want with outboard stuff for anything below 60hz (or whatever frequency of choice)
Then fine tune with in the box EQ and multi band comps

my 2 cents

To be clear, when you say 'box' you mean the DAW, right?

I set up a template with the MB comp and an eq so it will be automatic when I record.

Although, I am tempted by this pedal... has EQ, multicomp and stereo widening. But unless I'm doing this live in front of people, I probably don't need this.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

To be clear, when you say 'box' you mean the DAW, right?

I set up a template with the MB comp and an eq so it will be automatic when I record.

Although, I am tempted by this pedal... has EQ, multicomp and stereo widening. But unless I'm doing this live in front of people, I probably don't need this.

Yes
In the box = DAW
Nice pedal, but you stated it yourself, you don’t need it unless doing it live and it’s all available as we speak in your daw for mastering and mixing.

 

[monsterthompson]

That's not the fun kind of numb.

it kinda was. I think a lifetime of it would be a bit much but a “short” visit to that world wasn’t as awful as you’d think. It was the origin of my ambient journey too, so I’ve never really regretted the experience. It probably made me a better musician.

 

[lordradish]

Yes
In the box = DAW
Nice pedal, but you stated it yourself, you don’t need it unless doing it live and it’s all available as we speak in your daw for mastering and mixing.

You're right. Plus, since I got that new Stingray, I have eyes on getting a fretless 5 Stingray HH once that EBMM custom shop opens, and they're not free.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

You're right. Plus, since I got that new Stingray, I have eyes on getting a fretless 5 Stingray HH once that EBMM custom shop opens, and they're not free.

Wasn’t the Bordwell you got a 5 string fretless??

 

[monsterthompson]

Although, I am tempted by this pedal... has EQ, multicomp and stereo widening. But unless I'm doing this live in front of people, I probably don't need this.

"probably"

I still find that I sometimes want to have a bit of hardware to tweak. Maybe it is a fidgety mental thing, but my brain works in a different way when hardware is involved and it can feel more productive than software tools. Don't forget, you can always re-amp through external hardware if you have the I/O for it on ye olde interface.

 

[JimboP]

Also think I'm growing a bit tired of the Mercury 7 verb. I love it because it has hi and low pass filters, but I still wish I had more verstatility. Any of you using ambient verbs that have filters? I think that with bass, it's crucial.

Gotta be stereo.

None more versatile than the MercuryX, but it's not cheap. It has the algos from the Mercury 7 and CXM 1978 plus a few more. I was planning on saving my pennies for one (still might) but just jumped on a Walrus Slöer that popped up locally for half the price of the X. Still waiting for the Slöer to arrive, but it only has a LPF so might end up needing some more EQ/filtering downstream

 

[lordradish]

Wasn’t the Bordwell you got a 5 string fretless??

6 string.
Since the jazz trio's been taking off, I've retreated back to 5's until my soloing gets better. I have a nice Stambaugh fretless 5, but I really love how Stingrays sound, and my 6 is a lot closer to that

 

[lordradish]

"probably"

I still find that I sometimes want to have a bit of hardware to tweak. Maybe it is a fidgety mental thing, but my brain works in a different way when hardware is involved and it can feel more productive than software tools. Don't forget, you can always re-amp through external hardware if you have the I/O for it on ye olde interface.

I like fiddling too, but I don't think this is much of a fiddly pedal.