Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[steubig]

I get what you say about the amateurs, as I distinctly remember being on the other side of that. But, I'm also at a stage in my musical life that I don't really want to play with amateurs, anymore. I want to be the worst musician in the room, cuz it forces me to grow and work harder at perfecting the craft.

good god. i don’t want to play with them. i can barely handle people who aren’t amateurs who don’t listen.


i just said i had compassion for them.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Being a Berlin School,too, guy I can relate. I haven't broken out the Berlin yet, but that's the plan at one of the upcoming shows.

There is a bit of a strangeness... at these things, I'm the only one who actually has some sort of training/working knowledge of music, and it shows in our compositions. The other players are not all noisemakers, but I often do wonder if they go heavily in that route because it's easy, and if they see our stuff with actual chord progressions and melodic themes as pretentious. I don't really care, but it would be fun to show up to this thing and actually have someone else that understands melody and harmony to jam with. The underground cred thing is heavy here, I see it as similar to the punk ethos, which, as y'all know from my previous rantings here, does not fly with me as a philosophy I am interested in or can even relate to.

I don't mind making a bit of noise, as long as it goes somewhere, but I do find I don't enjoy the listening to it, nearly as much.

I hate dividing people in music.
Why can’t someone like harsh noise AND lush ambient textures.
Or the Ramones and Ornette Coleman.
Or black metal and the Beatles.....

I hated this since the first day I played a bass. I like so much music and people want to classify it at any cost for personal identification or a sense of belonging to a ‘crowd’.

 

[lordradish]

I hate dividing people in music.
Why can’t someone like harsh noise AND lush ambient textures.
Or the Ramones and Ornette Coleman.
Or black metal and the Beatles.....

I hated this since the first day I played a bass. I like so much music and people want to classify it at any cost for personal identification or a sense of belonging to a ‘crowd’.

I think that's the way a lot of brains work, we classify things so they make better sense to us. Someone can like those things... you do, right? Just not what works for me. I tend not to gravitate to aggressive/loud music, in general, but that's just my personality.

I certainly don't like/want division, there's just certain styles of music that don't click with me, at all, they don't speak to me, and they sometimes give me an unpleasant feeling. I like a wide range of stuff, there's just certain aesthetics that I just don't like. Not dissing it, just don't want to listen to or play it.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I think that's the way a lot of brains work, we classify things so they make better sense to us. Someone can like those things... you do, right? Just not what works for me. I tend not to gravitate to aggressive/loud music, in general, but that's just my personality.

I certainly don't like/want division, there's just certain styles of music that don't click with me, at all, they don't speak to me, and they sometimes give me an unpleasant feeling. I like a wide range of stuff, there's just certain aesthetics that I just don't like. Not dissing it, just don't want to listen to or play it.

I was more along the lines of bashing people who liked different “opposing” styles.
FOr instance if you like black metal, you can’t like so and so.....( yes I'm a huge black metal enthusiast also....im weird like that....free jazz to noise to ambient to the ramones to classical....... but I also cant stand some stuff....alot in fact...haha)

Or the dreaded “jazz police”, they can choke on it. Guess why jazz is dying, they turned it into an elitist genre. Yet there is so much to learn in the long rich history of jazz anyone can find something cool.

Also, if something doesn’t turn your crank, all the better. At least your an honest person for that alone.

 

[lordradish]

I was more along the lines of bashing people who liked different “opposing” styles.
FOr instance if you like black metal, you can’t like so and so.....( yes I'm a huge black metal enthusiast also....im weird like that....free jazz to noise to ambient to the ramones to classical....... but I also cant stand some stuff....alot in fact...haha)

Or the dreaded “jazz police”, they can choke on it. Guess why jazz is dying, they turned it into an elitist genre. Yet there is so much to learn in the long rich history of jazz anyone can find something cool.

Also, if something doesn’t turn your crank, all the better. At least your an honest person for that alone.

Yeah, I get what you're saying. I think the 'underground cred' mentioned previously is like that, as though there's something deficient about composed music that relies on melody/harmony etc. And of course, there's that on the jazz side, too, in terms of the elitist. Although I do think some of the jazz elitism simply exists because it's generally NOT easy to play, it takes a lot of skill and comprehension of advanced concepts to pull off, successfully, as opposed to mashing out two power chords. But, it's all music.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Yeah, I get what you're saying. I think the 'underground cred' mentioned previously is like that, as though there's something deficient about composed music that relies on melody/harmony etc. And of course, there's that on the jazz side, too, in terms of the elitist. Although I do think some of the jazz elitism simply exists because it's generally NOT easy to play, it takes a lot of skill and comprehension of advanced concepts to pull off, successfully, as opposed to mashing out two power chords. But, it's all music.

Agreed, but some circles are more open than others.
Jazz dudes would smash me sideways cuz I had a Public Enemy tattoo on my arm.
But the hip hop dudes loved the fact I had a jazz background.

One of my rock bands laughed at me cuz I knew chords and could write out odd time signature riffs. Like 4/4 to 7/8 to 5/4 backs to main 4/4 riff. “ common dude just feel it, its easy”. Worst one was a 10/8 (not 5\4....10\8.....) for 3 bars then one bar of 11\8 ( more like 5\4 plus a 6\4 ......)////////then 4\4......

Ya.....cuz you wrote it and have no clue what you did bro.

But hey, like you said it’s all music.

Nice discussion BTW.
Cheers buddy.

 

[lordradish]

Agreed, but some circles are more open than others.
Jazz dudes would smash me sideways cuz I had a Public Enemy tattoo on my arm.
But the hip hop dudes loved the fact I had a jazz background.

One of my rock bands laughed at me cuz I knew chords and could write out odd time signature riffs. Like 4/4 to 7/8 to 5/4 backs to main 4/4 riff. “ common dude just feel it, its easy”. Worst one was a 10/8 (not 5\4....10\8.....) for 3 bars then one bar of 11\8 ( more like 5\4 plus a 6\4 ......)////////then 4\4......

Ya.....cuz you wrote it and have no clue what you did bro.

But hey, like you said it’s all music.

Nice discussion BTW.
Cheers buddy.

I often say, there's no 'bad music' or stuff by musicians that's 'not music'. There's music you like, and music you don't. It's all just controlled sound with a degree of intention, and when you look at it with a broad definition like that, makes it harder to be a hater.

 

[lordradish]

I often say, there's no 'bad music' or stuff by musicians that's 'not music'. There's music you like, and music you don't. It's all just controlled sound with a degree of intention, and when you look at it with a broad definition like that, makes it harder to be a hater.

Although I will make an exception, as I just forgot that bands like Coldplay and Nickelback exist.

 

[monsterthompson]

Any of the resident synth-heads been following the Dreadbox FX Chromatic euro modules? At $99 each, they look fairly affordable and don't sound too bad.

 

[cosmicevan]

Pladask teased a eurorack based on the fabrikat the other day. I refuse to get into modular (...for now) but those into it might want to keep an eye on that. The fabrikat is unreal.

Edit: here’s the post

 

[theunknowndude]

Although I will make an exception, as I just forgot that bands like Coldplay and Nickelback exist.

Agreed... I mainly listen to rock / metal with ambient and synth twists, but also appreciate almost every other genre... when in the mood I’ll go straight edm or noise or ambient... except those two bands! Hah!

 

[dukeorock]

Any of the resident synth-heads been following the Dreadbox FX Chromatic euro modules? At $99 each, they look fairly affordable and don't sound too bad.

Im thinking of checking out a couple modules of theirs for sure! Saving up for a bigger rack :/

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Im thinking of checking out a couple modules of theirs for sure! Saving up for a bigger rack :/

Bigger = better

Always

 

[monsterthompson]

Trying to Sync hardware to Ableton. Gonna murder the hardware or the software. Not sure which yet.

Ableton sequence sent external has latency when trying to record the audio coming back in from Nyx or 0 Coast. Buffer size is the only fix or just record delayed signal and then move the audio on the grid.

Trying to connect the Medusa is resulting in the clock sync/transport being funky. I’m sure there’s one button I need to click but I haven’t found it yet. Arghhhhhh

Found it. Sync pattern, not sync song.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Trying to Sync hardware to Ableton. Gonna murder the hardware or the software. Not sure which yet.

Ableton sequence sent external has latency when trying to record the audio coming back in from Nyx or 0 Coast. Buffer size is the only fix or just record delayed signal and then move the audio on the grid.

Trying to connect the Medusa is resulting in the clock sync/transport being funky. I’m sure there’s one button I need to click but I haven’t found it yet. Arghhhhhh

Found it. Sync pattern, not sync song.

Wall punching time!!

 

[dukeorock]

Bigger = better

Always

Well, not really
I sold some of my hardware because I’m enjoying the eurorack format. I could certainly get by with what I have, but...

 

[remcult]

hey folks, I wanted to say I love this thread, though I mostly just lurk. y'all have wide-ranging and interesting discussions that are civil and celebratory, and that's pretty great.

and for a hard left turn: would any of you be able to recommend a midi controller or an affordable synth (say, $450-500ish at the top end)? there are endless options and I'm not sure where to start, but I'd love to cop some synth sounds, as well as improve my production and DAW skills. From what I can tell I'd like it to be polyphonic, and if it can have pads so I can layer drums, all the better. I definitely don't need or want it to be a full-size keyboard. And I'm willing to spend a little more for a quality build with essential features, but also would prefer to not spend a huge amount of money. Thanks!

 

[monsterthompson]

hey folks, I wanted to say I love this thread, though I mostly just lurk. y'all have wide-ranging and interesting discussions that are civil and celebratory, and that's pretty great.

and for a hard left turn: would any of you be able to recommend a midi controller or an affordable synth (say, $450-500ish at the top end)? there are endless options and I'm not sure where to start, but I'd love to cop some synth sounds, as well as improve my production and DAW skills. From what I can tell I'd like it to be polyphonic, and if it can have pads so I can layer drums, all the better. I definitely don't need or want it to be a full-size keyboard. And I'm willing to spend a little more for a quality build with essential features, but also would prefer to not spend a huge amount of money. Thanks!

Are you currently running software synths? If so, a midi controller would be plenty, and cheaper.

I’ve had my eyes on this Native Instruments unit, which would pair well with their software.
KOMPLETE KONTROL M32

$139 for the keys, and then the balance for something like Massive or Absynth.
Synths

Korg makes some good solid products.
The Mini is a 4 voice synth, which might do what you’re after.
Korg minilogue 4-voice Analog Synthesizer

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

hey folks, I wanted to say I love this thread, though I mostly just lurk. y'all have wide-ranging and interesting discussions that are civil and celebratory, and that's pretty great.

and for a hard left turn: would any of you be able to recommend a midi controller or an affordable synth (say, $450-500ish at the top end)? there are endless options and I'm not sure where to start, but I'd love to cop some synth sounds, as well as improve my production and DAW skills. From what I can tell I'd like it to be polyphonic, and if it can have pads so I can layer drums, all the better. I definitely don't need or want it to be a full-size keyboard. And I'm willing to spend a little more for a quality build with essential features, but also would prefer to not spend a huge amount of money. Thanks!

What DAW or software are you going to use the controller with?

 

[remcult]

What DAW or software are you going to use the controller with?

Probably Logic Pro, though I'm considering making the switch to Ableton