Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[steubig]

OK …. Old man here. I’ve been playing forever, mostly rock, metal, and country through the years, and a bit of shoegaze and other stuff. Lucky enough to make a living at it for four decades.

Now that’s out of the way…. And this will sound stupid, I’m sure… but I was looking at another thread in the effects section and saw this one, and it piqued my interest. Here’s what I’m wondering : According to the title of this thread, it seems to someone like me that it’s wide open to interpretation. But perhaps it’s not. What would be some examples of bands and songs that encompass “ambient/post-rock/textural bass playing” generally. Would it be stuff like Morphine ? Or At The Drive In ? Or stuff like Sparklehorse ? Or ?

So my stupid question, because I’m always wanting to learn more and be inspired into new directions, is “can you suggest three songs that inspire you as far as textural, ambient, post-rock, etc bass playing ?”

I’d love to get turned on to some new music !

Thanks
AC

hey

to chime in here.

some of us (well, me) have suggested that this thread should add “post-jazz” to the title. there are also folks here who deal with noise/drone stuff. it’s a big tent…

i came here many years cause i was looking for alternate reverb pedals. been here a while cause it’s cool thread/mini-community.

in my mind, it’s more about different gear and approaches to making music using technology—often *without* a bass. you’ll see a lot of discussion about modular synth stuff (ye who enter, abandon all hope), not just pedals, etc.

a lot of folks here share bandcamp/soundcloud/youtube content (both gear and actual music) of their own or others. i find this cool because it opens up new stuff for my ears that i wouldn’t ordinarily hear. might be worth hearing what folks here are up to.

in terms of autechre, i’d start with the earlier stuff, the later stuff is quite abstract and thorny. tri repetae might be a good place.

boards of canada is quasi-ambient, but might be easier than some other stuff (depending on your taste for more extreme stuff).

if you need bass only, there some good folks doing solo bass with effects stuff that probably fit in this general category that might float your boat: michael manring (you probably have heard of him), steve lawson, bjorn meyer. there are some folks in the euro zone that might have some interest (though not necessarily pushing bass boundaries): maybe try the norwegian hubro and rune gramaphon labels. there’s also a band called carravagio with the amazing bruno chevillon on both upright and ebass. it’s a big world, so i know i missed a ton of stuff.

in terms of pedal board that’ll fit into *band* situations, it will come down to exploration and personal taste. imo (and one that’s not always popular), go easy on long billowy reverbs—they’re better served for solo stuff or dreamy non-groove patterns

btw, i might have you beat in the old man category—in the last month i’ve done gigs with people that i first played with 51 years ago.

 

[smatanovic]

Definitely worth trying. The issue is gettin your head straight with what you want to happen.
There are three inputs = Inst/L, R, Mic
Each input an be routed to various combos of the two L/R outputs.

There are two sets of loop tracks = 1 & 2
The loop tracks can be routed independently to various combos of outputs. 1, or 2, or both.

I was trying to route my bass to two mixer channels, where one was dry and one was an FX send. I wanted one of the loops to route to the dry channel for background track. The other loop would route to the wet track of delay and reverb to capture some ambient space accents. Then the instrument thru also needed to route to the FX send so I could jam over the loops. I got hung up thinking the instrument audio followed the loop track audio. It does not. I incorrectly expected that while recording the dry loop 1 that the instrument would route to output L, then when I switched to loop track 2 the instrument audio would route to output R. Nope. You can do a lot of configurations, but you can't make the instrument pass through signal follow the track selection with the stock pedal controls. It might be possible with MIDI.

Wow, that’s an intense setup/routing.

 

[monsterthompson]

Wow, that’s an intense setup/routing.

Yeah, I have the audio going to a mixer with mute/send buttons, so I can press a button on any channel and route that audio to a delay and reverb group. So I record the first loop with both tracks dry. Then I switch to the second loop and push a button to turn the effects send on. I'm still figuring it out, so things are changing and I'm finding what feels most natural. My heads thinks it knows what it wants, but my limbs need to coordinate the plan.

 

[droningearth]

tried to keep 6th track simple, no gimmicks, no playing skills needed, only bass big muff and grand canyon

 

[sunbeast]

Ambient is a really, really poorly defined genre that can cover a lot of different territory. I would say...

generally more electronic than not (but there are exceptions)
most of it is instrumental
usually abstract in some way
generally slow, but not always
not necessarily having a "traditional" song structure, but does sometimes
not necessarily melodic, but it can be
not necessarily with a beat, but it can be
a lot of it is calm or soothing, but some is tense or spooky... or kind of all of those things at once

Eno's original idea for ambient music was for it to sort of fade in the background, not necessarily demanding attention but letting you . That also doesn't necessarily apply Another big influence was "chill out room" music at clubs that were otherwise about high energy dance stuff

One way I think of ambient music is, it feels like it's describing a place rather than telling a story. Although... of course that also isn't always the case!


And it's not really an ambient thread, more like... the not Dad Band, not jazz, not metal and not church music thread of TalkBass?

I really like Brian Eno’s original writing/definition on the subject, which I think incorporates most of you say (in this case a sort of response to the enforced conformity of Muzak, “environmental” music that is original and compelling but without overwhelming the environment it is designed to complement). Of course since the 70s when he wrote this there have been a lot of things made under or in close contact with the “ambient” umbrella that push those boundaries. @Dark Horse

 

[meisi]

my explorations are getting deeper, now with an h90 added to the kit.

We’re going fractal am4 -> eventide h90 -> boss RC-500

I can easily get lost for a few hours with a smile on my face. No idea what I came up with but went in without a clue either. It’s been therapeutic.

Borderline too many options but I enjoy a challenge. Expecting I’ll find a sweet spot over the next week and hone it in over the next couple months.

Get bored. Rinse and repeat.

Fun.

 

[monsterthompson]

 

[Spectrum]

That part with the synth into it, nice.

 

[monsterthompson]

Been considering this MIDI foot controller and the wireless connection makes this MC8 pretty tempting.

 

[Bob_Ross]

View attachment 7464525


(Not shown is the Soma COSMOS, which will get wired into the third loop of the Klein Bottle; RMA's percussion & synth player has one identical to mine, so I won't have to bring my own.)

Just for the record, ^^^that pedalboard worked *great* for last week’s recording sessions and live performance. I’d forgotten how much fun it can be to have a Blooper and a Cosmos in the same rig, with the ability to toss loops back & forth between the two. If I wanted a texture to dissolve slowly I’d move it to the Cosmos; if I wanted it to get chunky and serrated quickly, I’d move it to the Blooper and then hit it with some temporal modifiers. If I wanted total chaos, I’d let both run simultaneously!

btw, i might have you beat in the old man category—in the last month i’ve done gigs with people that i first played with 51 years ago.

51, that’s impressive!
Pic from Friday’s gig below. The first time I played with that guitarist was 1981, when I subbed in his Boston post-punk band The Smart Bombs for a gig at The Rat. 45 years!
…which is more time than the drummer’s even been on this planet.

 

[monsterthompson]

These educational vids and related DIY projects you can buy through Erica Synths are grabbing my attention.

 

[GrayGoesBlack]

These educational vids and related DIY projects you can buy through Erica Synths are grabbing my attention.

They are fun, I've build some of their previous DIY modules and it was all very well documented and explained, high quality parts as well. I can definitely recommend Erica synths, if you have the time to DIY some Eurorack. Soldering is usually one of my favorite winter passtimes. As the nights get colder and darker, I warm myself by the iron and a bright fluorescent light.


Unrelated, but probably the right thread, could a OBNE Dark Star work in a low-tuned (BEAD) doom/stoner project with lots of psychedelic jams? Want to see if I can get a grumbling haunting pad like thing going from my bass to fill up the space if the guitarist starts wailing away.

 

[Starthief]

Unrelated, but probably the right thread, could a OBNE Dark Star work in a low-tuned (BEAD) doom/stoner project with lots of psychedelic jams? Want to see if I can get a grumbling haunting pad like thing going from my bass to fill up the space if the guitarist starts wailing away.

I expect so. I have a Dark Star V3 (the stereo one) and have generally used it for synths, I'm not sure I've even tried it on my bass yet, but I'm running Aalto through it right now with a 31Hz drone and can get some pretty good stuff going on. The pitch shift is in the feedback path, and both the pitch shift and reverb are pretty lo-fi even without using the crushing so you can get some crazy textures going on.

I really should play with mine more. I've considered it the least favorite of my pedals (the others being Sloer and Mesmeriser) but it's pretty capable if I take it off the beaten path a bit.

 

[meisi]

Looking to add a small keys setup. Hoping for some recs from you kind folks.

Nothing special onboard. Just something low cost but decent enough sounds to run into the h90 for some late night fun. Akai mpk Mini pops up in searches.

Needs to be small and portable. I breakout my late night rig on the living room couch when the kiddos are asleep.

 

[monsterthompson]

Looking to add a small keys setup. Hoping for some recs from you kind folks.

Nothing special onboard. Just something low cost but decent enough sounds to run into the h90 for some late night fun. Akai mpk Mini pops up in searches.

Needs to be small and portable. I breakout my late night rig on the living room couch when the kiddos are asleep.

How’s the Arturia MicroFreak look for you in terms of features and price? It’s a popular option. I’ve got one. I don’t love the touch keys instead of traditional ones, but they aren’t bad. The sounds are pretty good. There are modulation and sequencing options. No on board effects, but you’ve got the H90.

 

[meisi]

How’s the Arturia MicroFreak look for you in terms of features and price? It’s a popular option. I’ve got one. I don’t love the touch keys instead of traditional ones, but they aren’t bad. The sounds are pretty good. There are modulation and sequencing options. No on board effects, but you’ve got the H90.

Price is on the high end of my budget and much more feature rich than I’d need, I think (needs evolve in these kinds of explorations)

Using that as a catalyst of searching, I did stumble onto the Korg Vocola line.

 

[monsterthompson]

Price is on the high end of my budget and much more feature rich than I’d need, I think (needs evolve in these kinds of explorations)

Using that as a catalyst of searching, I did stumble onto the Korg Vocola line.

Volcas are wildly popular. I had one and wasn’t a huge fan, but might’ve been a bad fit at the time. If you can find them on sale take a look at the Roland Aira. I’ve done a few short demos in the shop and that product line isn’t bad. Volca is probably a better choice for most users in terms of price and functions.

 

[urkel3000]

Looking to add a small keys setup. Hoping for some recs from you kind folks.

Nothing special onboard. Just something low cost but decent enough sounds to run into the h90 for some late night fun. Akai mpk Mini pops up in searches.

Needs to be small and portable. I breakout my late night rig on the living room couch when the kiddos are asleep.

Mpk mini doesn't have any onboard sounds, it's a midi controller only

 

[Spectrum]

I have four different Volca synths. Beware that the "keyboard" on them is difficult to play with fat fingers, but you can use a MIDI keyboard. The Volca Bass is my favorite, followed by the Volca Keys. They are limited, of course, but they run on batteries, fit in a big coat pocket and can be lots of fun. I made a "travel synth kit" consisting of a handheld recorder which can do multitrack, a single effect pedal (usually the Zoom ms-60b), some earbuds, and the Volca of your choice, usually the Bass. Throw in a handful of AA batteries and the whole thing fits in a small bag, which I can take anywhere. An example from last year, recorded on the same balcony where I shot the sunrise/sunset video:

 

[steubig]

maybe best to save a bit more and get something that will have more long-term flexibility in terms of sound and programmability.