Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[Spectrum]

More fun with the Boss SY-1.

Also used: Banana Matryoshka, Iron Ether Ephemeron, flanger, reverb, delay, and a Ditto Looper.
Girlfriend played the theremin.

Recorded live in the living room.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

More fun with the Boss SY-1.

Also used: Banana Matryoshka, Iron Ether Ephemeron, flanger, reverb, delay, and a Ditto Looper.
Girlfriend played the theremin.

Recorded live in the living room.

Dope, keep em coming. I like the pedal clicks on the back also.

 

[Spectrum]

Dope, keep em coming. I like the pedal clicks on the back also.

Yeah, I wanted to go direct into the recorder, but she wanted to try it just ambient mic'ing the room, and we thought it sounded fine, and more "live" with the pedal clicks and all, so there you have it.

 

[monsterthompson]

More fun with the Boss SY-1.

Also used: Banana Matryoshka, Iron Ether Ephemeron, flanger, reverb, delay, and a Ditto Looper.
Girlfriend played the theremin.

Recorded live in the living room.

Fun jam.

 

[monsterthompson]

Yeah, I wanted to go direct into the recorder, but she wanted to try it just ambient mic'ing the room, and we thought it sounded fine, and more "live" with the pedal clicks and all, so there you have it.

That live space is tough to get DI. I have been lightly toying with various Reverb and EQ settings in a mix to make things feel like they occupy various spaces in the field. I should probably try modulating an LPF and/or wet/dry mix to create movement, in addition to panning.

 

[Spectrum]

That live space is tough to get DI. I have been lightly toying with various Reverb and EQ settings in a mix to make things feel like they occupy various spaces in the field. I should probably try modulating an LPF and/or wet/dry mix to create movement, in addition to panning.

I put the theremin amp and the bass amp right next to the coffee table on which the recorder sat, and the pedal board was back behind the bass cab about as far as was practical to go, but the pedal clicks are still pretty loud. The instrument volumes were limited by the living room setting. You can even hear me hitting the strings on the bass a few places. I found it a bit irritating at first but the overall sound came out pretty good I think. Nobody's phone rang at least.

 

[monsterthompson]

I put the theremin amp and the bass amp right next to the coffee table on which the recorder sat, and the pedal board was back behind the bass cab about as far as was practical to go, but the pedal clicks are still pretty loud. The instrument volumes were limited by the living room setting. You can even hear me hitting the strings on the bass a few places. I found it a bit irritating at first but the overall sound came out pretty good I think. Nobody's phone rang at least.

I've returned pedals because they clicked loudly. My live gigs have been in quiet, intimate settings, so even repeated small clicks can get pretty noticeable pretty fast.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I've returned pedals because they clicked loudly. My live gigs have been in quiet, intimate settings, so even repeated small clicks can get pretty noticeable pretty fast.

I'm certain some of those pedals could have been moded with a "soft switch"

 

[Spectrum]

I'm certain some of those pedals could have been moded with a "soft switch"

Was thinking the same thing. Some (most) of my pedals are worth putting up with the click in any case. Fortunately most of my performances are in much louder settings.

 

[monsterthompson]

I'm certain some of those pedals could have been moded with a "soft switch"

One was a Hungry Robot cv keyboard pedal with one button per note. There were a lot of replacements to be done. Not worth it in that case.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

One was a Hungry Robot cv keyboard pedal with one button per note. There were a lot of replacements to be done. Not worth it in that case.

Definitely agree with that.

 

[monsterthompson]

Rough idea sketch using Reaktor Blocks to sequence a few field recordings housed in a Battery kit.


The overall level is a little low and the mix is rough, but this was more of proof-of-concept that I could wire things up this way.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Rough idea sketch using Reaktor Blocks to sequence a few field recordings housed in a Battery kit.


The overall level is a little low and the mix is rough, but this was more of proof-of-concept that I could wire things up this way.

Drums sound like something Phelios would have....maybe same samples or something.

 

[monsterthompson]

Drums sound like something Phelios would have....maybe same samples or something.

Can't be the same samples. It's all my field recordings
The "kick" is a layered sound from a noise I captured in a mausoleum. Same sample with slight envelope and EQ differences and an octave apart.
The "snare" is a drip and a down-tuned ping from a wine glass.
The "hats" are a drip captured on a rainy day, and my front gate latching on my way to record the drip.
The bird noise is a pitched-up peacock from the same cemetery as the mausoleum.

The drone is my custom Massive patch, toying around with various modulation options in the software. It was a big ah-ha moment when I figured out how those modulation shapes all worked. I felt so dumb for not having understood it sooner.

Almost forgot, the bouncing echoes are the Waves 6-tap stereo delay. Some fun options in that plug-in.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Can't be the same samples. It's all my field recordings
The "kick" is a layered sound from a sound I captured in a mausoleum. Same sample with slight envelope and EQ differences and an octave apart.
The "snare" is a drip and a down-tuned ping from a wine glass.
The "hats" are a drip captured on a rainy day, and my front gate latching on my way to record the drip.
The bird noise is a pitched-up peacock from the same cemetery as the mausoleum.

The drone is my custom Massive patch, toying around with various modulation options in the software. It was a big ah-ha moment when I figured out how those modulation shapes all worked. I felt so dumb for not having understood it sooner.

Almost forgot, the bouncing echoes are the Waves 6-tap stereo delay. Some fun options in that plug-in.

I said maybe....
Very dope manipulation of samples my friend.

 

[monsterthompson]

I said maybe....
Very dope manipulation of samples my friend.

That is my raindrop! I'm gonna copyright it!


It was wild to work with the samples. I thought some were too noisy at first. Then I realized I could tweak the volume envelopes to "gate" any unwanted background sounds. I could also HPF/LPF too. It was like my ears and brain opened up to the idea of mimicking "drum" envelopes. Oh yeah. This instrument has an immediate attack, a bit of a pitch envelope, and no sustain. This other one has no pitch envelope, takes bit longer on the attack, and it sustains a bit. Now, grab a sample that sounds different and force it to follow the envelope I need...
If those ideas were snakes, I'd have been bitten before I figured them out on my own.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

That is my raindrop! I'm gonna copyright it!


It was wild to work with the samples. I thought some were too noisy at first. Then I realized I could tweak the volume envelopes to "gate" any unwanted background sounds. I could also HPF/LPF too. It was like my ears and brain opened up to the idea of mimicking "drum" envelopes. Oh yeah. This instrument has an immediate attack, a bit of a pitch envelope, and no sustain. This other one has no pitch envelope, takes bit longer on the attack, and it sustains a bit. Now, grab a sample that sounds different and force it to follow the envelope I need...
If those ideas were snakes, I'd have been bitten before I figured them out on my own.

I freaking love tweaking and mangling samples beyond recognition.
Next challenge is doing it without my good old Ableton and doing it only with my sp404. I want to use that sampler the total OPPOSITE of what people are doing now.

I have a feeling that I'm going to get some "gonna punch a wall" moments during this process.

Why....why not????

 

[cosmicevan]

Rough idea sketch using Reaktor Blocks to sequence a few field recordings housed in a Battery kit.


The overall level is a little low and the mix is rough, but this was more of proof-of-concept that I could wire things up this way.

Really nice. There is a real professional and deliberate quality to your work that I love.

 

[monsterthompson]

Really nice. There is a real professional and deliberate quality to your work that I love.

That is a very nice compliment. Thank you.

In some ways it's very Misfits influenced. Their Danzig era tracks had a theme, even if it was super simple, and stayed the course but never felt boring, often because a song was over before it could get there. There's always some little tweak to their song structure that keeps the repetition from being repetitive. There's always a hook. It's never fancy, but usually effective. I have probably listened to them more than any other artist over the years, even though I used to hate them and wouldn't think to call them my "favorite" band. There's an ethos they had that's been subversively influential to my development.

 

[lordradish]

Rough idea sketch using Reaktor Blocks to sequence a few field recordings housed in a Battery kit.


The overall level is a little low and the mix is rough, but this was more of proof-of-concept that I could wire things up this way.

Very cinematic. Reminds me of a scene in a film where there's some sort of operation commencing, with night vision goggles, etc.