Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[darthbatman]

Good stuff in this thread, i'm liking very much the relaxed attitudes toward charting strange territory in the low end. As for me, well I don't know that my stuff really falls in with post-rock or ambient noise, but I do use an Echoplex looper to layer on some different sounds and the way the loops flow within one another does tend to set me a-gazing at my shoesies. I also just bought an EHX POG2 from a friendly forumite here and I'm finding it's helping to expand my sound a lot into synthy drone space and other more circusy type sounds.. I should be adding some of the newer stuff I've recorded since getting that. Anywho if ye want to hear:

[SOUNDCLOUD]https://soundcloud.com/husky1012/sets/recentness[/SOUNDCLOUD]

 

[handofseven]

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Dug it, for sure. Thanks!

 

[JehuJava]

there are lots of synths in "ambient" music. with a synth pedal you can make a bass sound synthy.

while this is not a good example of that, it is one of my favorite examples of bass playing on an "ambient" record & kinda what i've been aiming for over the past couple years.

Brian Eno and Jah Wobble - Spinner

I stand corrected. I guess I was thinking indie cinematic style.

 

[gully_jones]

Loving this thread. My current pedal board isn't very ambient friendly at the moment. So the other day I recorded some ambient bass using Guitar Rig 5 and then used that recording in FL Studios added a couple of swells and a droning kick and percussion. The computer route instead of a individual effects has some potential.

 

[DanGouge]

Loving this thread. My current pedal board isn't very ambient friendly at the moment. So the other day I recorded some ambient bass using Guitar Rig 5 and then used that recording in FL Studios added a couple of swells and a droning kick and percussion. The computer route instead of a individual effects has some potential.

It might be helpful here to point out that a super-stacked pedal board isn't always a prerequisite to do a spacey, ethereal ambient/post-rock sound. I was just looking into the rig used by the bassist from Sigur Ros and he's using a bunch of drives, a compressor, and an octave. Sometimes he plays with an E-Bow, which is sort of an effect I guess. But that's it. He's not stacking on five delays and three reverbs and every modulation known to mankind.

 

[adamsmatthewj]

It might be helpful here to point out that a super-stacked pedal board isn't always a prerequisite to do a spacey, ethereal ambient/post-rock sound. I was just looking into the rig used by the bassist from Sigur Ros and he's using a bunch of drives, a compressor, and an octave. Sometimes he plays with an E-Bow, which is sort of an effect I guess. But that's it. He's not stacking on five delays and three reverbs and every modulation known to mankind.

+1
Mucho effects are ALWAYS fun, but Sigur Ros definitely shows its more about feel than it is about effects.
I am a pedal-head. For sure! But the actual music does come first.
A new sound or combination of sounds can certainly inspire the music though!

Music + feel + new sounds + taste = AWESOME

 

[sillyfabe]

Been keeping up with this thread and you all have given me some good ideas! I love reverb on bass and even have 3 pedals with multiple types of verb. Here is what I use and how it fits in this context:

Plus-EBOW: this one took a while to get use to it and develop a proper technique but it is totally worth it.

Way Huge Swollen Pickle: this massive fuzz can really fill a lot of sonic space and sounds REALLY massive with an EBOW.

Infanem Second Voice: use this with the expression mod for those slow sweeps on fuzzed out octaves.

EHX H.O.G.: this really plays a big factor with not only the intervals. The freeze mode lets you drone a note then play over it and the freeze-gliss allows for glissando to really space-out your playing.

Boss PH-2 and BF-2: use both to add some movement to it all.

Roland RE-20 Space Echo: play one and you will know what I'm talking about. Tape-saturated washes FTW!

MSLP custom delay/reverb/looper: this entire pedal has been labeled "post-rock in a box" before and for good reason. The delay is a dirty analog-voiced delay with feedback take-off switch and modulation that goes from subtle to really sea-sick. The verb has controls for reverb and damp which really make it a versatile effect. The looper uses a 1980's answering machine chip to play back your loop (nice and lo-fi).

custom EHX Cathedral with infinite-mod and soft-switch: not only does this crazy pedal have 7 different kinds of verb but it has infinite verbas well. The mod allows an external latching footswitch to control the infinite sustain (result? a EHX Freeze with blend). The reverse can really make things crazy.

I use more than that but that's all I can think of for now.

SUB'd and will (hopefully) post some soundclips in a few days when I get back in town.

 

[DanGouge]

+1
Mucho effects are ALWAYS fun, but Sigur Ros definitely shows its more about feel than it is about effects.
I am a pedal-head. For sure! But the actual music does come first.
A new sound or combination of sounds can certainly inspire the music though!

Music + feel + new sounds + taste = AWESOME

100% agree. I love my stompboxes as well, I'm actually looking to build (or rebuild, since I've been selling off some stuff I don't use) a board that works for more ethereal sounds when I need them. Right now I have WP Attack Goat Fuzz->White Crybaby->EBS Unichorus, but I might want a bit more modulation and possibly some reverb.

 

[necropain]

So what are the most popular delay and reverb in this community i wonder i mean seriously i use a boss RE-20 and a RV-3 and i know sillyfabe does aswell. what is everyone else using im curious to know cos im in the market for another reverb or delay or both

 

[DinnerWithAGypsy]

Subscribed! What an amazing thread.
Great idea, and thank you to everyone who's shared sounds!

 

[Nephilymbass]

My pedal board is basically a boss ls2 with a pod HD in a loop of the ls2 so i can isolate it from my signal when not in use. I use the pod hd for reverb, delay and chorus mostly. It's nice to be able to make multi effect patches and just click them on and off with one stomp. When I use effects its almost always a couple at once. Ill use chorus and reverb together, delay and reverb together. Sometimes all 3 at the same time. For some really whacky sounds ill do things like run the particleverb and Octiverb into each other. Because its a reverb into a reverb the response is pretty slow but for long sustained notes or chords its a pretty interesting tone. The line 6 stuff for effects only has been my thing lately. I wouldn't know where to begin trying to get some of the sound i can get with the pod HD out of pedals.

For those who like single stomp boxes i highly recommend checking out the hardwire reverb. The modulated setting sounds great with bass. It adds a bit of chorus

 

[autodidact]

Awesome thread. My setup for ambient stuff isn't interesting enough to warrant a picture, I mostly just use a Boss DD-7, EHX Holy Grail, MXR M-80 DI/distortion, and an Ernie Ball Jr. volume pedal. You can hear some of my playing for my NC based post-rock band (young) American Landscape here:

http://youngamericanlandscape.bandcamp.com/

Dude...This was SO good.

Love the dynamics and it all just flows together so well.

Nicely done

 

[eyeballkid]

i feel dumb.. but how do you get the lush sound of the second one with delay involved? I dont hear any of the repeats or anything. Do you just set the delay soooo long that it gets to be part of the reverb, or....?

in full disclosure, ive never figured out how to use delays effectively other than really short ones, or very well timed tap tempo.

Here's some of my ambient tracks. The first one is a just several tracks of E-bowed fretless bass and reverb. Obviously the od sound is from the E-bow. The second one is my Ergo EUB looped with delay, reverb, some chorus I think, and pitch shifting on some parts.

META: kinda same question for you. Both of you are doing things Ive tried to get towards sonically and havent figure out the best way with my pedals yet... got some nice OD's, Fuzzes and a RE-20. .. any pointers?

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there was a Sansamp BDDI Prog instead of a Bassbone & B3K at the time of that recording. i'm more of a "keyboard guy" than a bassist. but i like to noodle & record with various instruments.
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[JehuJava]

Has anyone seen the ambient guitar tips on YouTube? Meant for guitar but he shows how he uses two delays to create drones and swells, etc. Eyeball, maybe this will explain the delays without hearing the repeats. Plus he has a bunch if other demo songs and looks like he's trying to sell a seminar course like that dude from bass guitar secrets, or whatever it is.

http://m.youtube.com/user/tubescreamer

 

[DanGouge]

Has anyone seen the ambient guitar tips on YouTube? Meant for guitar but he shows how he uses two delays to create drones and swells, etc. Eyeball, maybe this will explain the delays without hearing the repeats. Plus he has a bunch if other demo songs and looks like he's trying to sell a seminar course like that dude from bass guitar secrets, or whatever it is.

http://m.youtube.com/user/tubescreamer

This guy's advice seems pretty sound. He's also the second source where I've heard the Carbon Copy recommended as a good low-cost delay for getting dark, smeared sort of repeats.

 

[almost human]

Great thread- the first one i've subscribed to on the forum

Just got back into bass playing so i haven't sone any experimenting with using the bass for ambient/textural sounds yet, but i have used it in a more "normal" capacity for some of my shoegaze recordings:

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Great sounds posted by everyone so far- looking forward to hearing more, and learning some cool ideas!

 

[Coreymcd22]

Dude...This was SO good.

Love the dynamics and it all just flows together so well.

Nicely done

Thanks man!

 

[metaball]

Has anyone seen the ambient guitar tips on YouTube? Meant for guitar but he shows how he uses two delays to create drones and swells, etc. Eyeball, maybe this will explain the delays without hearing the repeats. Plus he has a bunch if other demo songs and looks like he's trying to sell a seminar course like that dude from bass guitar secrets, or whatever it is.

http://m.youtube.com/user/tubescreamer

i love Andy's "Lowercase Noises" Ambient Guitar stuff. I think he's picking up where Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook left off. which was an extension of what Brian Eno was doing. he may have other influences but those sounds all kind of cascade for me.

thegearpage forum has a huge Ambient Guitar/Pedalboard thread & Andy Othling hangs out there as well as a few other guys making similar sounds. after staring at a few boards & watching a couple vids you'll start to pick up on what kinds of pedals get you in the ball park & the patterns they use them for.

 

[metaball]

META: kinda same question for you. Both of you are doing things Ive tried to get towards sonically and havent figure out the best way with my pedals yet... got some nice OD's, Fuzzes and a RE-20. .. any pointers?

imo, it's all about playing slowly & with as much sustain as possible. a couple "tricks" used to achieve this are:

a judicious use of reverb with very long hang times. not all reverb pedals do this. Neunaber Wet, Strymon Blue Sky Reverb, Eventide Space, EHX Cathedral can be set to "near infinite" hangtimes, or at least long enought to pluck a note, go fix yourself a drink & come back to it still going. also some reverbs get muddy when you try to do this & others can be dialed in to remain more clear or "tonal".

EHX Freeze is another trick pedal. it basically loops the note you're playing & lets it sustain. i think some of it's functionality is built into a couple other EHX pedals.

I know Andy uses a Volume Pedal in conjunction with Loopers & Delays removing the attacks on his strumming/picking to get a sound thats more like a "synth pad" than a guitar. some people use an ebow to get this kind of effect. playing gently with v e r y s l o w delays.

one of the first things you learn about when programming a synth is Attack - Decay - Sustain - Release envelope filters.

typical wave shape for ambient is slow A & then long DSR. any tools you can come up with to build this kind of sound should get you in the ballpark. from there it's just textures & frequencies.

 

[metaball]

fyi, here's the guitar pedalboard i used on those recordings. the bass tracks are more straight forward.
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