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hip-hop synth bass effect??

J

jpark369

Jun 2, 2007
498
6
Portland, Maine
#1
ok, i need your help effect hunters. im looking for something to give my bass the sound of that buzzy bassline heard in alot of hip-hop songs like:

masta ace- sittin on chrome, born to roll
dr. dre- dre day
big pun- super lyrical
2pac- cant c me
snoop- whats my name


if anyone knows these songs, you know the sound i mean. just a few quick examples i could think of. i dont know what type synth or other effect there is on that bass but i gota find a way to get it. any help is appreciated.
 
#5
I just listened to the Pig Pun song -- the way to get that tone out of a bass would be to use fuzz and a lot of compression. I think you'd want a country style chickin' pickin' style compressor with a lot of squelch.

If you want to make sure you retain a bumpin low end and make it even more synth-like, get an octaver to put before the fuzz. Actually a Boss OC-3 (with its internal distortion) plus the comp might be perfect.
 
#6
ok cool thanks. i'll give it a shot, i have a really good comp already, and maybe i can use the ebs multidrive as my fuzz....
no octaver though, but i can always just pump the bass up using my dodfx25 and cutting the sensitivity all the way back.

how does the compression fit in?
 
#7
jpark369 said:
ok cool thanks. i'll give it a shot, i have a really good comp already, and maybe i can use the ebs multidrive as my fuzz....
no octaver though, but i can always just pump the bass up using my dodfx25 and cutting the sensitivity all the way back.

how does the compression fit in?
Click to expand...

Unless you're blending that chain I don't think that it'll work that way. You're going to need to add lows to a cutting fuzz not fuzz to lows because I don't think it'll have the right overtones.

For that matter I thought I heard a really fast and light filter in there too, but it could be my imagination. I'd use the fx25 for that, rather than drowning your fuzz tone into boomy oblivion.
 
#8
jpark369 said:
how does the compression fit in?
Click to expand...

Listen to the note attack, you can hear it how fast it comes on. Listening to the Dre song, the 'filter' that Unrepresented hears is the compression. In this case it's probably a good synth with really in depth ADSR, but you can cop it by using a lot of compression to change your attack.

Also, these tones definitely add fuzz to lows, but the compression makes it less muddy and gives it the decent attack. Of course you don't want to start off with absolute mud, but you really do want to take a lot of lows and mids, fuzz it so it sounds like a$$, then compress the hell out of it.

OP, for your setup I'd start off just getting the compression right. Then get the multidrive as buzzy as you can and maybe if the two together aren't enough set the fx25 like Bill Laswell.

Good luck.
 
#13
I got an EHX Bass Micro Synth mostly for this sort of sound. If you cut the original guitar signal and just use the sub octave and octave above (mix in square wave to taste) it puts out a very synthy sounding noise. Best suited to a fretless bass so you can do the odd gliss from note to note. You also have to play super-clean, especially on the lower notes, to stop the tracking from going nuts and spluttering garbage at you.

I was going for the tone from "Fun For Me" the other day and got close enough to put a big grin on my face. :)

Edit: Also found that with a Big Muff after it in the chain, you can cover the bass, keys and guitar parts from Jamiroquai's "Deeper Underground" all at the same time. ;)
 
#16
I'm selling a Korg G5 in the classifieds that can nail those sounds. The Dre Day bassline was done on a Studio Electronics SE-1 Analog Synth. With the occillator set to sawtooth and a good amount of Resonance on the Filter to give it some buzzy edge. You'll probably want a synth with the sawtooth option for it's occillators like the Korg G5 or the Akai Deep impact if you're trying to cop that vibe.
 
#18
Fuzz+octaver gives very cool funky/hip-hop synth sound, uf you play around 12-th frets. But I like to use octaver AFTER fuzz, so you get mor clear synthy tone! And some envelope or phaser is very good idea. Now I can get cool sound with MXR blowtorch + phase 90 in slow sweep.
 
#19
OP -- cool, I didn't think you'd actually start looking through synth pedals. While they're all pretty different, I think the Deep Impact, G5 and BMS will all get you the sounds you're looking for.

How did the FX25 >> Multidrive >> comp work out?

Pretty much every Moog pedal is really sweet. The Lowpass filter is the mother of all envelope filters.
 

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