Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[Bob_Ross]

Every DAW will have a learning curve. None are fun to learn.
Just bite the bullet and do it. There are tons of tutorials on Youtube for Reaper.
No need to learn all the features on a DAW to work, still learning crap on Live and I’ve been using it for over 15 years.

^^^This.

I've had Cubase LE running on a laptop for, I dunno, 10 or 11 years now? It's my go-to DAW for capturing remote recordings, so it's the primary DAW for recording bands in their homes or rehearsal studios. But for those past 10 or 11 years all I've done with it once the tracks are in the can is take it back to my studio and dump the WAV files into a Macintosh running Digital Performer. Then any subsequent overdubbing, editing, or mixing gets done in that environment.

Well, I'm temporarily living 2,500 miles away from my studio now so I brought the laptop with Cubase to allow me to do audio work. Fired it up last night, loaded a multitrack session from a decade ago

...and spent 15 minutes trying to figure out why I couldn't hear anything on playback! Turns out in all the time I've used this DAW I'd never even listened back to what I recorded with it! "Yep, that was a keeper, next tune!" So now I get to finally crack the manual and learn all the Mixer routing and Insert functions that I've never needed to bother with, things that are usually part of any DAW's day one tutorial.

 

[JES]

I have been slowly deaccessioning and probably need to do more.

 

[hieronymous]

Sorry to interrupt, but something cool just happened:

This is one thing I love about the internet - the ability to interact with your favorite artists! It's not a big deal, but I have really loved this band since I heard them around 2006 (I know because that's when Tower Records closed and that's where I bought my copy of Surface to Air), so them acknowledging my tweet is really cool to me.

 

[JES]

Cool! I would love to go to a live show. Maybe later in 2022.

I've been busy in the Cosmos woodshed. Here are a couple snippets from today's explorations. Blooper, Cosmos, Immerse, and Ibanez AD-202 are the relevant effects.





Have we had a good discussion about controlled self-oscillation / feedback on this thread? I love the sound of delays going dancing around the edge of self-oscillating feedback, and I love predelays on reverbs like Belton bricks going into self-oscillation. I'm wondering what other tricks people have cooked up.

In Eurorack, I have messed around with putting effects inside the feedback loops of delays but that's as far as I've gotten.

 

[monsterthompson]

I've got listening to catch up on.

As for shows, Mike Doughty has been doing a run of free shows down the street, but I haven't been ready to go. Well, last night he reunited with Sebastian Steinberg on upright for an additional show (probably not free). IG only had a clip of one Soul Coughing song, and I was kinda bummed to miss that when it was so close to home.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Cool! I would love to go to a live show. Maybe later in 2022.

I've been busy in the Cosmos woodshed. Here are a couple snippets from today's explorations. Blooper, Cosmos, Immerse, and Ibanez AD-202 are the relevant effects.





Have we had a good discussion about controlled self-oscillation / feedback on this thread? I love the sound of delays going dancing around the edge of self-oscillating feedback, and I love predelays on reverbs like Belton bricks going into self-oscillation. I'm wondering what other tricks people have cooked up.

In Eurorack, I have messed around with putting effects inside the feedback loops of delays but that's as far as I've gotten.

Self oscillation and feedback are awesome.
I’ve done plenty of no input mixer stuff.

You can get a &;&(&:&4 ton of different tones and textures with those méthodes

 

[lucas303]

Have we had a good discussion about controlled self-oscillation / feedback on this thread?

I've been thinking about this lately too. The only thing I have to add is that the Light Pedal has a feedback mode and I'm likely using that for a little intro bit in a song I'm working on with a friend of mine.

 

[steubig]

Yum.
Moved another pedal yesterday. Probably need to clear out a couple more and a few modules. It feels weird to sell something I’ve had a while even though I never use it.

whatcha dumping?

 

[monsterthompson]

26125505[/URL], member: 17475"]whatcha dumping?

Just sold my OBNE Rever. Next is a Pigtronix Echolution. Euro rack modules are some Erica LFOs (Octasource and Modulator) and an EG, and also some utilities like a CV tools, and mixer and maybe a crossfade. I might even move a filter or a VCO or two. I don’t really use the wave table VCO.

I might even be looking to move my Night Owl Edison though that’s not really a hot commodity in these parts.

Since I grabbed the Euro Zoia I’ve got a lot of ground covered. I think I want to open up some space and add the Erica Phaser, and an Expert Sleepers module, and maybe a Noise Engineering voice. I’m considering a full Erica voice like the Bassline module or maybe the sample drum. I’d be down to talk trades or sales with any of the thread regulars.

I’ve got a Malekko Quad VCA that clips too easily with my system and an Erica VCO that I can’t get to calibrate. Maybe I’ll work on calibrating the VCO today for a bit. I debate trying to work with those vs just donating them to a home where someone would want them to experiment with.

 

[monsterthompson]

… I’m also hyping myself up for a big bass purchase. If I’m honest with myself I need to move my Spector Fretless MM/J now that I have the F Bass BNF5. I also need to consider moving another bass or two but I’m not ready for that yet. Part of me really wants a J, and I’ve been itching to try the Nordstrand Cat bass. But there’s a bigger target on the horizon.

As for electronic gizmos, I’m due for a new computer and I’m tempted to grab a Mac Mini, though I might end up with a MacBook Pro. I’m also eyeing a sampler like the Polyend Tracker or the Octatrack. I know duke has been having good results with his tracker. I’ve got a Novation Circuit now and considered the Circuit sampler.

Those are my big gear plans for 2022. First step is to clear some room and rehouse all the things I can’t get around to using.

 

[Starthief]

Have we had a good discussion about controlled self-oscillation / feedback on this thread? I love the sound of delays going dancing around the edge of self-oscillating feedback, and I love predelays on reverbs like Belton bricks going into self-oscillation. I'm wondering what other tricks people have cooked up.

Mimeophon is my favorite dedicated delay in hardware, and it sounds fantastic when oscillating.

A feedback loop I used to do a lot of: spring reverb -> pitch shifter -> EQ. Shift up but cut the highs, or shift down but cut the lows. (I sold my spring reverb, but this also works with regular reverbs and delays though with some, you might have to artificially inject a signal to get it going.)

When I had a Red Panda Tensor I liked putting it into reverb or delay feedback loops sometimes too. That's really the only pedal that I miss -- I haven't found anything quite like it in Eurorack or software.

Often in feedback loops I'll put a compressor (or a VCA controlled by an envelope follower) to keep the sustain going but prevent it from blowing up into distortion too much.

 

[JES]

But there’s a bigger target on the horizon.

Do tell.

I’m due for a new computer and I’m tempted to grab a Mac Mini, though I might end up with a MacBook Pro.

I’m waiting them to announce the fancier Mac mini later this year (M1X or whatever it’s called) and may also go for it.

 

[monsterthompson]

Do tell.



I’m waiting them to announce the fancier Mac mini later this year (M1X or whatever it’s called) and may also go for it.

I hadn’t heard about the M1X but that makes sense.

I’m flirting with the idea of a fretted F Bass BN5. I want the Deluxe pickup wiring but I’m not sure it’s worth the price, and I don’t care for the exposed pole pieces and the gold bridge saddles. I’m not 100% on the idea, particularly since flat picking on the BNF has me right over the pickups, which would surely take some damage. There’s also the wait time and the reality of how much I’m comfortable spending given my actual playing. I tell myself that I could downsize my collection and I’d probably play the BN5 more than my Ric or my Dingwall D Bird (which has pretty limited upper fret access). Though my Spector 5 is already a great fretted bass that ticks a bunch of boxes, and I’m not ready to let that one go.

I keep an eye on the used pages and Reverb, as well as some dealer pages. I think FretSpot is likely the way to go if I opt for new. Of course, I’m also looking at some big ticket items like moving, and considering a new car, and maybe traveling again at some point. There’s a lot of Covid stress looking for a release, and retail therapy is a slippery slope.

 

[monsterthompson]

The bass tone kills me. It’s so good.
True Dreams of Wichita with Mike and Sebastian.
Login • Instagram

 

[JES]

There’s a lot of Covid stress looking for a release, and retail therapy is a slippery slope.

I hear you on this.

I am shopping online more than I’d like. But we just got through another lockdown, so I am giving myself a pass for now if the retail therapy works.

I will say the pandemic time has clarified a lot for me on the gear front. I have tried and failed on some things and also taken the time to finally have a really workable home setup.

I love the sound of F basses. If you do it, get what you want.

 

[steubig]

@monsterthompson

thank goodness i don’t need/want those things. i have a specific set of things i’m looking for.

i say go for the f bass.

the cat bass is the real deal. i played one at namm when they first were coming out and was very impressed. surprisingly versatile, i think. right then i told carey a fretless would be great. it took juan aldrete to tell him to do it to make him serious.

since i’m married to 34-inch, 19mm 6-string basses, i’m safe from wanting one.

 

[lucas303]

19mm 6-string basses

Whoa...and here I am scared of 18 mm on a six string!

 

[steubig]

Whoa...and here I am scared of 18 mm on a six string!

be not afraid.

i’ve been playing them so long (more than half my life) that it feels weird to play something narrower.

 

[Spectrum]

Cool! I would love to go to a live show. Maybe later in 2022.

I've been busy in the Cosmos woodshed. Here are a couple snippets from today's explorations. Blooper, Cosmos, Immerse, and Ibanez AD-202 are the relevant effects.





Have we had a good discussion about controlled self-oscillation / feedback on this thread? I love the sound of delays going dancing around the edge of self-oscillating feedback, and I love predelays on reverbs like Belton bricks going into self-oscillation. I'm wondering what other tricks people have cooked up.

In Eurorack, I have messed around with putting effects inside the feedback loops of delays but that's as far as I've gotten.

At around 6:44 (you are, of course, invited to listen to the whole thing and download the album for free if it doesn't suck) of this track I used a Saturnworks feedbacker pedal to get the Boss SY-1 to feed back into itself to create some good weirdness. I think I had some other stuff in the loop as well, probably a delay or reverb at the very least.



UrbMon 116 | Helium Road (bandcamp.com)

 

[Spectrum]

I also have a Caroline Meteore reverb pedal with a built-in feedback footswitch, which comes in handy for some situations. Have used this in my rock band as well.