Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[monsterthompson]

Buddy of mine just built one of these DIY reverb & delay boxes. His rough demo he shared sounded pretty good on guitar.
Echo Royal

Official demo:


The Echo Royal is a dual PT2399-based delay, capable of 1.5 seconds (45 bpm) of delay time, with tap tempo, modulation, and many other features.

• The tap multiplier knob allows you to tap out 1-to-1 quarter notes, dotted eighth notes, eighth notes, triplets, and sixteenth notes.
• The rate and depth knobs allow you to add anything from a slow, subtle, tape-warble-like effect, to a sweet chorus effect, to an over-the-top pitch bending effect.
• The blend knob is a true wet/dry crossfader. Combine that with the dry out and a second amp for a huge spacial delay sound.
• Easily switch between normal bypass mode and trails bypass mode on the fly by pressing and holding the bypass button for 3 seconds.
• The dual PT2399 delay chips deliver 1.5 seconds of warm analog-like vintage repeats. The compander noise reduction circuit keeps it dead silent.

 

[Bob_Ross]

i think steve jansen (ex-japan) is sort of an offshoot of the bruford “school.”

In the sense that both of them are very much Idea Guys rather than Chops Guys, yeah I would agree. iow, I don't hear much similarity in their drumming from a literal, surface level, this-is-what-they-played sense...but they're both very much the sort of percussionist where you don't hear them coming to the music as tabula rasa and then responding/reacting to what's happening in the moment. Instead, they bring a concept or idea about how a particular piece should go and that concept is both A) specific to the particular piece, so that it has an identity, and B) foundationally ingrained in how they perform that piece, such that the way that they do respond/react to what's happening in the moment is always in a way that refers to the original concept.

It's a very composerly way to drum.*
It's also a very rock'n'roll aesthetic
btw, one of my favorite things about Steve Jansen's drumming is that whenever people bemoan how Drum Machines Ruined Drumming! because after the machines came on the scene so many drummers tried to cop what the Linn was doing in the simplest sense, so you had a crap-load of drummers going "boom, bap, boom-boom, bap" ad nauseum ...but Jansen is proof that you can cop stuff that a drum machine excels at and not sound simplistic or rudimentary.

*(Tangentially related to composerly drumming: I've always said one difference between jazz drummers and rock drummers is, jazz drummers will move from deliniating subdivisions on the hihat to deliniating subdivisions on the ride cymbal when the music demands an elevation of energy or brightness, when it wants to open up...regardless of where the band is in the form. Whereas rock drummers will move from deliniating subdivisions on the hihat to deliniating subdivisions on the ride cymbal when there is a structural transition in the music; they make that change in part to help define the form.)

 

[steubig]

In the sense that both of them are very much Idea Guys rather than Chops Guys, yeah I would agree. iow, I don't hear much similarity in their drumming from a literal, surface level, this-is-what-they-played sense...but they're both very much the sort of percussionist where you don't hear them coming to the music as tabula rasa and then responding/reacting to what's happening in the moment. Instead, they bring a concept or idea about how a particular piece should go and that concept is both A) specific to the particular piece, so that it has an identity, and B) foundationally ingrained in how they perform that piece, such that the way that they do respond/react to what's happening in the moment is always in a way that refers to the original concept.

It's a very composerly way to drum.*
It's also a very rock'n'roll aesthetic
btw, one of my favorite things about Steve Jansen's drumming is that whenever people bemoan how Drum Machines Ruined Drumming! because after the machines came on the scene so many drummers tried to cop what the Linn was doing in the simplest sense, so you had a crap-load of drummers going "boom, bap, boom-boom, bap" ad nauseum ...but Jansen is proof that you can cop stuff that a drum machine excels at and not sound simplistic or rudimentary.

*(Tangentially related to composerly drumming: I've always said one difference between jazz drummers and rock drummers is, jazz drummers will move from deliniating subdivisions on the hihat to deliniating subdivisions on the ride cymbal when the music demands an elevation of energy or brightness, when it wants to open up...regardless of where the band is in the form. Whereas rock drummers will move from deliniating subdivisions on the hihat to deliniating subdivisions on the ride cymbal when there is a structural transition in the music; they make that change in part to help define the form.)

hence my quote marks, but you did get to the germ of what i was in about.

 

[monsterthompson]

I never heard this Infected Mushroom cover of the Foo Fighters before. Wow. Not ambient, but fun and full of production stunts this crew likely would appreciate. Some cool chip-tune blips seasoned in.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

26153770[/URL], member: 131803"]Some cool chip-tune blips seasoned in.

you’re dead to me for the next 24h.

 

[lordradish]

Some of the comments he's made regarding his willingly whoring himself out -- not that there's anything wrong with that -- are pretty amazing in terms of the scope of budgets: I recall reading him say something like between the Union album and the subsequent Union tour, he made enough money to fully fund his Earthworks band for two or three years.

Bill Bruford is certainly one of my favorite drummers of all time, and a lot of the music he played on is deeply ingrained in the formative oeuvre that shaped my aesthetic. But between social media and youtube archives and all the new insights [sic] that one can glean into the artists we admire these days, I've come to realize a few things about Bill that aren't helping my enjoyment of his playing:

- he can be opinionated to the point of being combative, which seems to explain a lot about his relationships with bandmates over the decades, and may even explain musical choices he's made; and
- he seems to vacillate between having an overly-elevated opinion of his own skills as a drummer, and being so self-critical as to be insufferable. "I'm great!" "I suck!" "I suck but I'm still greater than you!" It can be tiresome.

In short, I think I liked him better when I only knew about him through listening to his music.

Oh, he's arrogant, alright, but I've known that for a long time. Still one of my faves, although I probably wouldn't want to have dinner with him. Probably gotta be that way if you have to put up with Jeff Berlin in your band.

I remember a quote about Union, in that he said the only reason he did it was so he could keep playing jazz. I had the opportunity to see him in a small jazz club with The Earthworks Underground Orchestra. Amazing show.

 

[lordradish]

you’re dead to me for the next 24h.

Yeah, me too.

 

[dukeorock]

How many tracks can you bounce into stems from the M8 to Logic?

8 individual stems

 

[monsterthompson]

I got a Zoia stand from 3DWaves.
This will be handy.

 

[dukeorock]

Is this even music? I dunno. More M8 silliness

 

[steubig]

Is this even music? I dunno. More M8 silliness

it’s at least “music-adjacent.”

 

[dukeorock]

it’s at least “music-adjacent.”

YES!!!

 

[steubig]

YES!!!

that’s how i view my stuff.

it’s almost music

 

[Funky40]

Is this even music?

its great !.......i don´t care if its music

 

[monsterthompson]

 

[lucas303]

Is this even music? I dunno. More M8 silliness

Definitely music! Great stuff.

 

[JES]

Finally got to listen. Definitely music.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

All my solo crap is on hold, I got a sub gig for the first time since I quit my job as a “pro” musician to make a living.

I soooooo don’t miss learning the entire set by ear with barely audible bass on the recordings.
At least I get a few rehearsals before the show.

Charts anyone????
Nah that’s too much for us to give you.
What I wouldn’t do for friends.,,

 

[lucas303]

All my solo crap is on hold, I got a sub gig for the first time since I quit my job as a “pro” musician to make a living.

I soooooo don’t miss learning the entire set by ear with barely audible bass on the recordings.
At least I get a few rehearsals before the show.

Charts anyone????
Nah that’s too much for us to give you.
What I wouldn’t do for friends.,,

Friends like these...

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Friends like these...

Hahaha the DUDE-!!!!!
I’m just the kind of guy that can’t say no to help out.
:/