Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[ugly_bassplayer]

“how has everyone been?” thing

Trying to find reasons not to through in the towel and quit……

and usual practice routine on bass

new album for my band is about 6 songs in. Working on more tomorrow with guitarist.

and months of creative rut on the “weird” end of things except chops and mangled samples for the band.

 

[monsterthompson]

Trying to find reasons not to through in the towel and quit……

My current scoring project is moving slowly but it’s my big motivation. The Soma Terra was a big help in keeping me motivated and engaged.

 

[theunknowndude]

How ive been:
I’ve been running out of time to do pretty much anything except general band…

but have a small feeling of yoko ono effect in that we decided as a running joke to turn into a covers band but only of the hard rock / metal (mostly 90’s) songs we like… all good. But now guitarists wife wants to be the singer and it feels like she’s taking over… so there’s that.

since moving house my laptop and synth have been stacked in a corner and hardly get used, so there’s also that….

btw have to agree with the rat and mbd3 comments.
Rat always needed a clean blend for me as it just sounded awesome and ratty but could never get it to fit into any mix I was doing (on bass) bought the mxr version with clean blend but it was the worst clean blend I’ve ever heard and just had a “2 signals” effect for the record love the led / turbo rat best, loud and brassy…

mbd1 is my go to pedal on bass if I need distortion, nothing else just does the deep articulate clear yet grindy sound…

 

[Starthief]

what is the desired sound?

I don't really know until I hear it, I guess. For synth stuff anyway. Often what I go for is some kind of heavy overdrive/saturation followed by a filter, so not too bright a sound but kind of... wooly?

I really like the Ruina plugin for the uke bass. Haven't found a great distortion scheme yet for the Miezo but then I haven't really been looking -- my usual ******** for it is Velvet Machine or other heavy reverb, and maybe a synth voice in unison.

How I've been doing... stressed. At work we've been close to being ready to release our software for weeks now but still fighting a last round of bugs. Yearly reviews are coming up and I always do well and am probably getting a raise again, but the formality/bureaucracy of it always sets off my anxiety. They're asking me to be the "observer" in the review meetings for the other two developers this time.

The weather has been stupid hot but we need to do some work in the back yard so we can get an estimate on ripping out our old rotting deck and replacing it with plain stairs and a bit of fence. Gonna be expensive but one of the deck joists completely gave up and another one doesn't look so good, it's a safety hazard for sure.

I've got three decent tracks recorded toward a next album, and a fourth where I hated the timbres and the lack of coherent flow as soon as I finished recording it, which made me wonder how I got so far into the process first. But there's always one like that :shrug: Once in a while it gets reprocessed or I'll sample a bit of it for recycling but this one's going in the digital landfill.

 

[JES]

How it going:

Concussion symptoms are mostly done, though sometimes they come back.
I had 5 days of radiation treatment for an errant met that kicked my hindquarters (I love that you can't curse here...so wholesome!) but I am mostly over those side effects except my voice goes by about noon each day.
Family and I moved my 90-year-old mom for two weeks, which was rewarding but exhausting.

But I'm able to work again, have two gigs this week, a much needed vacation in July and a record coming in August. Tonight is my first solo synth gig in Montreal, even though I've done it elsewhere. Later this week the dad rock band is playing and I'm playing actual bass.

Downside is piano practice is on the back burner for now.

You all have convinced me to purchase the latest version of the MBD next time I'm in the US.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

@monsterthompson
How good is the mbd3 for going high gain to low gain and keep the same nominal volumes??
(Using the second boost switch)
If it works I could simplify my rig that uses a boss ls2 to switch from my high gain to low gain settings on two pedals

 

[monsterthompson]

@monsterthompson
How good is the mbd3 for going high gain to low gain and keep the same nominal volumes??
(Using the second boost switch)
If it works I could simplify my rig that uses a boss ls2 to switch from my high gain to low gain settings on two pedals

Not great. There’s a shared master volume so more gain from the boost equals more output. There was some chatter about this in the Damnation thread and nobody has a real hack for making it behave like a two channel device. The pedal just wasn’t built for that application.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Not great. There’s a shared master volume so more gain from the boost equals more output. There was some chatter about this in the Damnation thread and nobody has a real hack for making it behave like a two channel device. The pedal just wasn’t built for that application.

Thank you for your reply
Much appreciated
Boss LS2 it is then

 

[steubig]

Incidentally, regarding the “how has everyone been?” thing

I almost feel disingenuous hanging out in this group these days because for the last three or four months, I’ve been playing meat and potatoes bass in a neo-soul/funk band, with no effects, no ambience, no weirdness whatsoever. It’s kind of fun to see how the other half lives

bob, bob, bob . . . wow, the betrayal burns.

 

[steubig]

My current scoring project is moving slowly but it’s my big motivation. The Soma Terra was a big help in keeping me motivated and engaged.

so you ended up liking it.

 

[steubig]

I don't really know until I hear it, I guess. For synth stuff anyway. Often what I go for is some kind of heavy overdrive/saturation followed by a filter, so not too bright a sound but kind of... wooly?

I really like the Ruina plugin for the uke bass. Haven't found a great distortion scheme yet for the Miezo but then I haven't really been looking -- my usual ******** for it is Velvet Machine or other heavy reverb, and maybe a synth voice in unison.

How I've been doing... stressed. At work we've been close to being ready to release our software for weeks now but still fighting a last round of bugs. Yearly reviews are coming up and I always do well and am probably getting a raise again, but the formality/bureaucracy of it always sets off my anxiety. They're asking me to be the "observer" in the review meetings for the other two developers this time.

The weather has been stupid hot but we need to do some work in the back yard so we can get an estimate on ripping out our old rotting deck and replacing it with plain stairs and a bit of fence. Gonna be expensive but one of the deck joists completely gave up and another one doesn't look so good, it's a safety hazard for sure.

I've got three decent tracks recorded toward a next album, and a fourth where I hated the timbres and the lack of coherent flow as soon as I finished recording it, which made me wonder how I got so far into the process first. But there's always one like that :shrug: Once in a while it gets reprocessed or I'll sample a bit of it for recycling but this one's going in the digital landfill.

lots on your plate.

so the distortion thing is in discover mode (works for me).

wonder if the new ne pedal will work for you.

there's always stuff that eludes me as to what it is/how it got there.

sometimes i have to listen to stuff a fair amount to see 10 how to fix it; 20 what i'm doing (in the process and then pop out to see results)

 

[steubig]

How it going:

Concussion symptoms are mostly done, though sometimes they come back.
I had 5 days of radiation treatment for an errant met that kicked my hindquarters (I love that you can't curse here...so wholesome!) but I am mostly over those side effects except my voice goes by about noon each day.
Family and I moved my 90-year-old mom for two weeks, which was rewarding but exhausting.

But I'm able to work again, have two gigs this week, a much needed vacation in July and a record coming in August. Tonight is my first solo synth gig in Montreal, even though I've done it elsewhere. Later this week the dad rock band is playing and I'm playing actual bass.

Downside is piano practice is on the back burner for now.

You all have convinced me to purchase the latest version of the MBD next time I'm in the US.

wow. that's a lot.

 

[steubig]

how's it going?

thankfully, i don't seem to have any major life challenges right now like some of y'all have had. (knock on wood)

file under getting older: i have cataract surgery in a month, which seems both exciting and a little bit nervous-making.

finishing up a bandcamp project i started in february). it sort of took on a life of its own and became an 8-piece suite (or something) that's about 71 minutes long. didn't want it to be so long, but it is what it needs to be (imo). a few tweaks and it should be out next week. kinda what i do, but tried to excise alomnost any melodic content . . .

got my baritone guitars (fretted/fretless), so i've been practicing those. unlocking potential seems to be the track. took them along went out and played with a friend and was worried that he thought they/i sucked (he's really good, so need to be on my "a" game) and hew was into it . . . relief on my part. i did pop one of the lower strings on the fretted, so need to get a new string (ordred some last week . . . ).

 

[monsterthompson]

so you ended up liking it.

Terra might be my favorite purchase in recent times. It is so responsive and a ton of fun. I find it a great way to disconnect from thinking about music and just explore and play.

I had hoped the Cosmos would be similar but I found it a struggle to work with and get results I enjoyed.

 

[steubig]

Terra might be my favorite purchase in recent times. It is so responsive and a ton of fun. I find it a great way to disconnect from thinking about music and just explore and play.

I had hoped the Cosmos would be similar but I found it a struggle to work with and get results I enjoyed.

that's cool. i guess i got it wrong on which one of those you liked.

 

[lucas303]

I can't let a bass fuzz/distortion discussion go by without mentioning my other favorite, the Ibanez PD-7.

 

[monsterthompson]

that's cool. i guess i got it wrong on which one of those you liked.

you don’t get paid enough to keep up with my gear flipping

On that note, today I’ll be researching the 4MS DLD vs Tapographic. Which means I’ll probably end up with both

Euro Zoia is going home to the mothership for a repair. The midi receiver was misbehaving so I figured it should get sorted out so I can at least midi clock that box.

 

[Spectrum]

I have a few issues to deal with, facing an expensive vehicle repair but otherwise mostly doing alright.

Music-wise I've been a major slacker since the last Helium Road album dropped. Hard to motivate myself to go in the music room lately, and I've been focusing more on chemical photography, which later winds up in most of my music videos, so it's all of a continuum I guess.

Even so, you've all got me gassing for an MBD now, even though I've been happy with my b3k for about a decade now.

 

[Starthief]

...and a fourth where I hated the timbres and the lack of coherent flow as soon as I finished recording it, which made me wonder how I got so far into the process first.

Pretty much right after that post I fired up the gear, used some of the ideas I'd come up with for that track but with a fresh start, and it totally worked. So there's that.

 

[monsterthompson]

…also considering a new studio desk. I think my living room aka home office aka rehearsal space aka studio aka lady repellent needs more desk space for all the devices that are constantly being shuffled around. The addition of the microfreak and Terra have made it clear that I need more surface area.