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Delay on Bass, examples?

eeyorebass

eeyorebass

Jan 2, 2008
980
1,114
#1
The talk of the new delay from Source Audio in the SASS thread got me thinking. I'm not familiar with the uses for delay on bass.

I found a couple threads discussing it, but there weren't any clips. Does anyone have any examples of delay being used on bass? and, in what cases would you use delay instead of some other time based effect?

jeremy
 
#3
Bands like Tool and Isis. Here's a good one from Isis, with the delayed bass starting right at the beginning:



Also commonly used by solo artists, such as Jean Baudin (also a TB-er).



You may notice that in both cases the delay provides a strong rhythmic element.

I don't know what other "time-based" effects you are referring to.
 
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#4
I use delay to add a bit of chorus or fatness to the sound sometimes. Other times I use it to add decaying repeats for intros and rhythmic pulses. Not to mention all the fun oscillation and tape delay possibilities.
 
#6
Thanks for the clips. I'll give them a listen shortly.

MCS4 said:
I don't know what other "time-based" effects you are referring to.
Click to expand...

Chorus, reverb, echo, and delay are all, at their core, time-based effects. A copy of the input signal is delayed in time and recombined with the original signal, short delay = chorus; long delay = echo. So, if you have something like the SA Dimension Reverb, why would you also want/need a Delay pedal? What are the different use cases?

Thanks,
Jeremy
 
#7
The largest component is personal preference. While chorus and delay may have similarities at the purely electronic level, they sound nothing alike.

That said, delay is unique in that it has far more rhythmic and space-filling possibilities than the others you mentioned, because delay actually repeats the sound multiple audible times, generally with the number of repeats and the amount of time between repeats being heavily modifiable. I generally use chorus and reverb more often on bass for this reason, because in my bands the additional delayed notes would generally get in the way of the other instruments, whereas chorus and reverb just colors my normal playing. On the other hand, you can use delay as a foundational element of a part as was done in the videos above.
 
#8


(Aside: Anyone know why it's seemingly impossible to find the Bob Clearmountain mix of this tune that originally appeared on the Three Of A Perfect Pair LP when it was first released? It's the one with the re-sampled BOOM-BAP kick/snare throughout, and lots more ambience on...well, every instrument. Just seemed weird that when I searched YouTube for King Crimson's "Sleepless" everything that came up was either a live performance or this alternate drier mix with Bruford's clattering roto-tom percussion.)
 
#9
MCS4 said:
The largest component is personal preference. While chorus and delay may have similarities at the purely electronic level, they sound nothing alike.

That said, delay is unique in that it has far more rhythmic and space-filling possibilities than the others you mentioned, because delay actually repeats the sound multiple audible times, generally with the number of repeats and the amount of time between repeats being heavily modifiable. I generally use chorus and reverb more often on bass for this reason, because in my bands the additional delayed notes would generally get in the way of the other instruments, whereas chorus and reverb just colors my normal playing. On the other hand, you can use delay as a foundational element of a part as was done in the videos above.
Click to expand...

Thank you! That makes a lot of sense.
 
#12
Bob_Ross said:


(Aside: Anyone know why it's seemingly impossible to find the Bob Clearmountain mix of this tune that originally appeared on the Three Of A Perfect Pair LP when it was first released? It's the one with the re-sampled BOOM-BAP kick/snare throughout, and lots more ambience on...well, every instrument. Just seemed weird that when I searched YouTube for King Crimson's "Sleepless" everything that came up was either a live performance or this alternate drier mix with Bruford's clattering roto-tom percussion.)
Click to expand...


Maybe related to Robert Fripp's legal actions against the original issuing EG record label?
 
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#16
eeyorebass said:
Thanks for the clips. I'll give them a listen shortly.



Chorus, reverb, echo, and delay are all, at their core, time-based effects. A copy of the input signal is delayed in time and recombined with the original signal, short delay = chorus; long delay = echo. So, if you have something like the SA Dimension Reverb, why would you also want/need a Delay pedal? What are the different use cases?

Thanks,
Jeremy
Click to expand...

The Dimension Reverb does only one Delay, the Echo. It's fantastic, and has me absolutely SALIVATING for their Delay coming out next year, but a dedicated Delay pedal will give you Tap Tempo (CRUCIAL in a lot of music genres) and a variety of options.
 

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