You should know better than to ask a man about his samples
There's a "sparkle" reverb engine on the Empress Reverb doing that.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread
- Thread starter ttasselm
- Start date
You should know better than to ask a man about his samples
There's a "sparkle" reverb engine on the Empress Reverb doing that.
Ok....how the heck can a reverb pedal do that.....wow....????You should know better than to ask a man about his samples
There's a "sparkle" reverb engine on the Empress Reverb doing that.
I’ll go scratch sandpaper on a sheet of metal with a contact mic in meantime.....
So, the super high stuff is harmonics into distortion into the sparkle Reverb engine which pitches up an octave. I’m using the expression pedal in the Zoia to fade between the distortion and clean signal paths I built. I originally built a push-button to turn the distortion on/off, then tried an LFO to automate the switching. I found that I wanted the distortion to fade via expression pedal for this.
I’m using a Dunwich DA120 set fairly clean before Zoia. Then inside the Zoia I’m running a distortion engine into a cab sim.
is the bass strung high G or high C? sounds like the actual notes are higher than the middle range of the instrument.
Standard BEADG tuning. 24 fret range, though I think 20 on the G was as high as I went, and a harmonic at the 5th fret. If I’m clean about it, the harmonics between the 2nd and 3rd frets get interesting.
All one take, no loops.
That dark sound around 1:28 sounds like a blaster beam, which is that cool sound in the V'ger theme in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I've always loved that sound.
That's wild!
Super secret sauce technique, already figured out and used elsewhere. Well. Back to the drawing board
That's wild!
Super secret sauce technique, already figured out and used elsewhere. Well. Back to the drawing board
In case you're wondering, the blaster beam was invented and used by Craig Huxley and is an 18 foot long piece of aluminum with what looks like piano strings on it. Huxley used it on the Star Trek soundtrack and has used in film scores here and there ever since. This guy built one for himself and demonstrates it here. I LOVE this thing:
And here I am, using my thumb knuckle to thump near the bridge on the B string. I knew i needed a dozen more feet of aluminum to do this right.
That is awesome.
If you want to hear one live go see Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. He plays a similar instrument at every show.
Edit: https://www.mickeyhart.net/news/all-about-the-beam-baby-5211
Last edited:
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Very nice! I'd also say it's my favorite thing you posted here.
Thanks!
I really enjoyed working on it. It’s the kind of thing I wanted to achieve back when I was in my live “dark ambient” project. I used all synths for that, but had been searching for the right sound on bass, so I could incorporate bass in the performances.
It took me a long time to get my pedalboard sounds to the point where i wasn't continually wishing I was doing it with a synth. Once you get there, the magic really starts, though.
I had been thinking a lot about EQ, compression, and envelopes last week. It got me to make some adjustments to my usual settings. I also was chatting with a guitarist friend about how often the sounds that record and work well are "garbage" tones. I thought, well the distortion in my Zoia sounds like garbage, let's do something with that...
I’m sure I’m not the only one here who has noticed that the bass tones that cut through a mix often sound awful when soloed.
