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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

Hey all,



My band The Sound of Rescue just released a new album Tuesday. It would mean a lot if you checked it out and shared it if you like it!



On this one I really went to town with tons of delay and reverb on top of the Tall Font Russian...big bassy walls of sound throughout.



http://thesoundofrescue.bandcamp.com



TSOR%20FORMS%20cover%20FINAL%20copy.jpg


This sounds fantastic, gonna get some good playing time in my speakers.

You going delay-> reverb-> TFR ? Makes for some great sustained texture.

Honestly, I had to go back and watch some of your videos from the first page or two of this thread to get your sounds back in my head, cause on parts of these songs it's really hard to tell what instrument is creating these textures (and that is a HUGE compliment!)

What bass are you recording with? In your vid it looks like a stock musicmaster, which is just nuts cause it's prob the last bass that I'd think of when I think of chord textures. Pretty cool man.
 
This sounds fantastic, gonna get some good playing time in my speakers.

You going delay-> reverb-> TFR ? Makes for some great sustained texture.

Honestly, I had to go back and watch some of your videos from the first page or two of this thread to get your sounds back in my head, cause on parts of these songs it's really hard to tell what instrument is creating these textures (and that is a HUGE compliment!)

What bass are you recording with? In your vid it looks like a stock musicmaster, which is just nuts cause it's prob the last bass that I'd think of when I think of chord textures. Pretty cool man.

Thanks so much man! To not be able to tell what instrument is creating the textures is honestly the perfect encapsulation of my goal with our music, haha...so that really does mean a lot and I certainly take it as a compliment.

You're partially right...it's almost exclusively a TFR into the DMM model on the Line 6 M9, with a little bit of Valhalla DSP reverb on top to thicken things up further and spread the stereo field. At one point, I had a Strymon El Capistan that absolutely slayed for this style of stuff (super washy/droney fuzzed out chords), but unfortunately had to sell it. The M9 has some pretty awesome sounds though and it's become a staple of my setup. I've grown so used to it that I doubt it will leave my board. Occasionally, I'll kick on a Barber Gain Changer just to drive the TFR even harder.

The bass I'm using is a MIJ Fender Mustang from 2008, strung up with 2-year-old D'addario half rounds. On its own, it doesn't sound like much, but in the context of our band...it's perfect to my ears. Just the right amount of low end to hold the group together, yet still cut through when necessary. I did have a Musicmaster just about a year and a half ago that I miss very, very much, but for similar reasons to the El Cap, had to sell to fund other objectives (i.e. mastering the album! ugh).

I really appreciate your kind words. Cheers! :bassist:
 
Recently kicked off a post-metal project with a friend. I thought I'd be doing a lot more textural work but I found that holding down a really big low end with a lot of grit works better - at least in my context.

Don't have a photo handy but basically my board consists of (in order of signal chain):

Boss TU-3
Earthbound Supercollider (muff fuzz)
Greedtone OD (overdrive/distortion)
Boss GEB-7 (EQ)
Dunlop 105Q Bass Wah
Boss BF-3 (flanger)
MXR M80 (preamp)

I play on a EBMM Stingray and with a pick. I usually have the Greedtone OD on constantly for low-gain grit and occasionally stack it with the Supercollider for heavier/dronier parts to really fatten up the low end and enhance the heaviness of the guitars.

I'm glad I'm using the flanger more frequently in this project than previous ones but I really want to couple it with a delay pedal for bigger sounding swells. I think those two together will work amazingly in this project. Also wouldn't mind playing with the Digitech Bass Whammy once its re-released.
 
Okay so my ambient stuff until this point has been done completely with Audacity plugins, but I recently grabbed a TC Electronics Flashback X4, and have a Hall of Fame on the way, since I'd like to move away from the "Record something, then layer up on the reverb and delay plugins" process I've been using. I'd go for more "boutique" stuff, but my budget isn't the best and I know they're good pedals to hold me over until I may or may not upgrade, but does anyone have any suggestions for a chorus pedal in the $100-$200 range (including used)? Here's an example of what I'd been doing. I've got a coffee shop thing coming up next Wednesday, so I'm looking forward to what I'm hoping to be able to do even with just the Flashback and HoF, ambience-wise. It's been since August that I've been able to get any shows doing this.
 
Okay so my ambient stuff until this point has been done completely with Audacity plugins, but I recently grabbed a TC Electronics Flashback X4, and have a Hall of Fame on the way, since I'd like to move away from the "Record something, then layer up on the reverb and delay plugins" process I've been using. I'd go for more "boutique" stuff, but my budget isn't the best and I know they're good pedals to hold me over until I may or may not upgrade, but does anyone have any suggestions for a chorus pedal in the $100-$200 range (including used)? Here's an example of what I'd been doing. I've got a coffee shop thing coming up next Wednesday, so I'm looking forward to what I'm hoping to be able to do even with just the Flashback and HoF, ambience-wise. It's been since August that I've been able to get any shows doing this.


I know it's redundant, but I LOVE my tc corona chorus. I use it with the Roscoe Beck toneprint, which he uses to make it sound like an organ when he taps chords, but I use it differently. I turn the speed all the way off, put the depth at about 1 o'clock and the tone at about 11 o'clock and the sound is just huge and beautiful. Somewhat subtle but super useful.

I just kind of always end up defaulting to the tc stuff, it's all sounding so good to me and working so well for me. I know it's not the sexiest stuff, but man I just love it. Got an X4, HOF, flashback, and corona, and it's soooo good!
 
I hesitate to post this; it was done over a year ago and I didn't know what I was doing really. It is the result of a couple of hours of time to kill one afternoon and the urge to play with my effects pedals in my living room. The drum track is actually from my smartphone, an app called Cadelli Drum Machine. The sounds are from a Digitech Bass Synth Wah, a Berhinger BSY600 synth pedal, a phaser and a chorus. The bass is a Westone Spectrum GT.

There are a few overdubs here. I think the idea is cool and if I had the time I'd redo it to make it smoother, and maybe give it a different drum track. Because it's multi-track, doing this live would be a challenge. Would have to find a way to use a looper.

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This thread needs to come back...I love it. I guess I'll post a track I made that is multiple loops made with my EHX Stereo Memory Man w/Hazarai put together in my DAW. The sound source is my Warwick Corvette fretless in CGCG piccolo tuning. I don't remember how I made all the loops sadly, I do some funky stuff like have the SMMH feeding back into itself and what not.
 
I can't believe I have never seen this thread before! Absolutely fantastic stuff! I just started getting into the ambient side of my bass playing recently and have been nailing down delay and reverb pedals. I got a Moog Mini Delay on order and when the EQD Afterneath comes out I will be picking that up as well. I am really looking forward to messing around with more textures. Within the next few months I will hope to have something to contribute to this thread. Cheers!
 
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I've just recently started doing this too, my current rig is a P Bass in Drop F, a borrowed Squier VI, and a VM Jazz in standard or half step down running through a Boss FZ2 into a Noisemaker Nebula then a Boss HM2, Earthbound Mini Supercollider, and BF2, then into a custom Dirge Cave Dweller in a wah shell with the treadle controlling feedback, then a Hardwire TR7 with a Boss RV3 following it. All of that goes into a Ditto X2 which finally runs into both channels of a V4 with two Ampeg 810e's
 
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This is my kind of thread. Currently, I'm running a Micro Pog > Fulltone OCD > Protone Flying Eye Auto Wah > Ibanez FL9 > TC FlashbackX4 > EHX Freeze > Eden WT DI > Peavey VX 1.5k power amp > 2 115 Peavey BW's. Oh yeah, and an American P Bass.

I love my flanger so much - I probably use it too much. And the freeze is my secret weapon. DRONE.
 
I've just recently started doing this too, my current rig is a P Bass in Drop F, a borrowed Squier VI, and a VM Jazz in standard or half step down running through a Boss FZ2 into a Noisemaker Nebula then a Boss HM2, Earthbound Mini Supercollider, and BF2, then into a custom Dirge Cave Dweller in a wah shell with the treadle controlling feedback, then a Hardwire TR7 with a Boss RV3 following it. All of that goes into a Ditto X2 which finally runs into both channels of a V4 with two Ampeg 810e's

Wow.. We need pics of that :bassist: And audio proof too!