Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[monsterthompson]

No recordings yet...
Tonight was experimenting with the Pessimiser dist/fuzz pedal. I mostly worked on more traditional "doom" or industrial sound settings, and I cycled through all my basses in the collection. I finally got around to the fretless. I'll say that sending that combo though the Delay and Reverb boxes certainly generated some somber tones. I think I'll need to revisit what was going on on use those textures for something. It wasn't a "great" tone with just the bass and dirt, but it had a very useful texture for making non-bass sounds.

 

[Flabzilla]

What’s this?

I’m interested, as it has all the knobs on the front and I’m hopeless when it comes to reverb.

 

[lordradish]

Sounds cool, but we're reaching a point where a lot of pedals can do this kinda stuff, now.

 

[JES]

Is it just me, or are these new guitar "pedals" starting to look more and more like rack unit computers in a box?

I think that's basically what they are. A lot of the more interesting digital Eurorack units are also purpose built computers (though the quest for smallness is a huge problem there in terms of interface).

i was thinking they’re providing automation or treatments in live performance that were once the province of computer programming.

This.

Pedals like both the H9 and the RV-500 are examples of what perfecting that interface can do. I'm not excited about the NightSky--too specific for my needs--but I'm glad digital pedals are going in that direction. And I like what Strymon did with the interface.

 

[lordradish]

Pedals like both the H9 and the RV-500 are examples of what perfecting that interface can do. I'm not excited about the NightSky--too specific for my needs--but I'm glad digital pedals are going in that direction. And I like what Strymon did with the interface.

I think what I'm seeing is, pedals like this can be great for people who just need one thing or have a smaller pedalboard. It's a tougher sell to people like me who have huge ones, as we're already likely able to get tones like this through a combination of what we have, and we're not about to get rid of 3 or 4 pedals that also combine for OTHER great sounds, just to get this one. But if I wanted a compact board, I'd probably be all over this.

 

[Spectrum]

For my part I'm just too lazy to spend lots of time learning how to use a pedal. I have synths and other gear that I'm still learning things about after owning them for a couple of years. I want to spend more time making music and less time reading technical manuals...when they even bother to provide a manual.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Option paralysis ftw.

 

[cosmicevan]

For my part I'm just too lazy to spend lots of time learning how to use a pedal. I have synths and other gear that I'm still learning things about after owning them for a couple of years. I want to spend more time making music and less time reading technical manuals...when they even bother to provide a manual.

My challenge is similar to this in that I'm always learning new gear and as such, almost always stuck in the mode of being a n00b...the difference in my situation vs yours I want to spend more time learning and less time trying to learn something and getting lost in a single feature or function for an hour and jamming it until I am not interested in learning more. I guess it's part of my process...REALLY dig in on something...losing the forest for a single tree.

Ultimately, I think it really depends on your goals. My goals are to just have fun and get that creative outlet and get those sounds out of me. I'd love to have my catalog of original music and ideas recorded and available to share, but that's not my goal...though this year I set out a goal to have 2 "albums" done by September of 2021 - 1 being an album of existing tunes that I've written over the years and wanted to capture; the second being an album of all new music that I'm writing now. Already have the skeleton of 3 new ideas since lockdown.

If your goals are specific, don't let the learning slow them down. You can always move forward w minimal knowledge. I took a lesson with drummer Billy Martin from MMW and he made a comment that John Medeski didn't always know how to work everything on his keyboards...he would just experiment, listen and respond.

 

[Spectrum]

If your goals are specific, don't let the learning slow them down. You can always move forward w minimal knowledge. I took a lesson with drummer Billy Martin from MMW and he made a comment that John Medeski didn't always know how to work everything on his keyboards...he would just experiment, listen and respond.

Definitely. I have to force myself to just use what I know and make something with it. I feel like I'm missing out if I don't learn all the tricks of a particular piece of gear, but often you can do cool things with the little you do know. I suck at guitar, for example, but I have figured out that you don't have to be a shredder to make cool sounds with one.

 

[lordradish]

My challenge is similar to this in that I'm always learning new gear and as such, almost always stuck in the mode of being a n00b...the difference in my situation vs yours I want to spend more time learning and less time trying to learn something and getting lost in a single feature or function for an hour and jamming it until I am not interested in learning more. I guess it's part of my process...REALLY dig in on something...losing the forest for a single tree.

Ultimately, I think it really depends on your goals. My goals are to just have fun and get that creative outlet and get those sounds out of me. I'd love to have my catalog of original music and ideas recorded and available to share, but that's not my goal...though this year I set out a goal to have 2 "albums" done by September of 2021 - 1 being an album of existing tunes that I've written over the years and wanted to capture; the second being an album of all new music that I'm writing now. Already have the skeleton of 3 new ideas since lockdown.

If your goals are specific, don't let the learning slow them down. You can always move forward w minimal knowledge. I took a lesson with drummer Billy Martin from MMW and he made a comment that John Medeski didn't always know how to work everything on his keyboards...he would just experiment, listen and respond.

I think that getting the Wavestate, Iridium, and TR8s over a relatively short period of time (6 months) has forced me to change my attitude about this. Yeah, I love going and jamming endlessly and playing. But I realize now that that's a luxury. If I want to really tap my greatest potential, I need to invest the time in learning more about my tools, as just doing it in the context of playing isn't going deep enough for me. Whereas I used to devote 100 percent of my play time to playing, I'd say it's probably 50/50 with sound design, now, but it's really paying off for me. Of course, different strokes and all that.

 

[monsterthompson]

My goals are to just have fun and get that creative outlet and get those sounds out of me. I'd love to have my catalog of original music and ideas recorded and available to share, but that's not my goal...

Like looking in a mirror

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I dunno.
I just do what feels right.

 

[Spectrum]

Trying to finish up a new synth piece today, ran out the memory on my Tascam recorder. In the process of cleaning it up I found some stuff I had recorded and forgotten about a couple of months back. Like finding money in your old jeans.

 

[steubig]

for me the musicianship thing is a bit like tetris, always trying to shore up the lower levels.

and i like working on technique(s), sounds and all that, but eventually i want a payoff—something to "show for it" . . .

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

for me the musicianship thing is a bit like tetris, always trying to shore up the lower levels.

and i like working on technique(s), sounds and all that, but eventually i want a payoff—something to "show for it" . . .

Ditto.
I have a solo album ready. Always recording and trying things out.

But have to wait to release it because we just dropped one with my band.

I like to document, then on to the next one.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Back from band practice.

Can someone please take a DeLorean and go back in time to when I was an idiot 18 year old and kick my @$$ for not wanting to learn to play with a pick.


Would be very much appreciated.
Free coffee on me.

 

[lordradish]

Okay, something new from the duo. I'm actually kinda psyched to share this one... took me a while to mix it.
The gear rundown... starts with the Wavestate arpy thing, then the Iridium comes in with the glitchy pad-like thing. Bass Station II and Sledge in there (my duo counterpart), then evolves into a classic Berlin School vibe, with the Iridium playing the arp, and also the Mellotron sounds (I made some good Tron banks as soon as I got it). Virus is doing all of the white noise wind sounds.

Interesting mixing note... been listening to a lot of early-mid 70's TD and Klaus Schulze, and what I find interesting is how it's mixed. Often, the solos sound like they are far away, it's part of that classic Berlin School thing, I guess. They're not out front like they were with prog and such. I also think the soloing in those older ones are a bit less chops-oriented than the prog counterparts, but I also think that's part of the awesome vibe. So I did that when mixing... there's a sense of space to it, and Rick Wakeman does not appear on this recording, in any way, shape, or form.

It's an 8 minute piece, I'm interested in what y'all think.

 

[steubig]

Back from band practice.

Can someone please take a DeLorean and go back in time to when I was an idiot 18 year old and kick my @$$ for not wanting to learn to play with a pick.


Would be very much appreciated.
Free coffee on me.

hint: practice it now.

 

[Spectrum]

Okay, something new from the duo. I'm actually kinda psyched to share this one... took me a while to mix it.
The gear rundown... starts with the Wavestate arpy thing, then the Iridium comes in with the glitchy pad-like thing. Bass Station II and Sledge in there (my duo counterpart), then evolves into a classic Berlin School vibe, with the Iridium playing the arp, and also the Mellotron sounds (I made some good Tron banks as soon as I got it). Virus is doing all of the white noise wind sounds.

Interesting mixing note... been listening to a lot of early-mid 70's TD and Klaus Schulze, and what I find interesting is how it's mixed. Often, the solos sound like they are far away, it's part of that classic Berlin School thing, I guess. They're not out front like they were with prog and such. I also think the soloing in those older ones are a bit less chops-oriented than the prog counterparts, but I also think that's part of the awesome vibe. So I did that when mixing... there's a sense of space to it, and Rick Wakeman does not appear on this recording, in any way, shape, or form.

It's an 8 minute piece, I'm interested in what y'all think.

Nice. Mellotron sound from the Iridium, huh? Sounds good.

As far as "solos" go, I just consider them to be melodies rather than solos. Suits me since I am also the farthest thing from a Rick Wakeman or an Eddie Van Halen on any instrument.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

hint: practice it now.

Started to practice pick seriously about 2-3 years ago. Was too dumb and only played finger style for over 25 years. The pick opened up so many possibilities on the instrument for me. An entirely different approach and playing style.

I'm maybe at the "not suck @$$" level now.
Thank you heavy dirt for hiding my sloppy string skipping.