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how do you make weird noises?

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#41
Originally posted by Dave Castelo
what is the point of weird sounds? they are freakin annoying.
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That's what I was saying - make a "noise like a elephant " - yeah that'll fit very nicely in my band's tasteful slow ballad!! :rolleyes:

This sort of thread just adds weight to my feeling that most people round here are not actually making music, but are just playing around with "toys" in their bedrooms!
 
#42
i take it you anti-noise folks never really got into merzbow, john zorn, mike patton, john cage, tom waits, boredoms etc etc...

there are tons of great musicians making what a lot of people would call noise. just go figure out what your instrument can really do. you'll be surprised and delighted.

of course it doesn't fit everywhere, but there is a time and a place for everything.

where would we be if hendrix thought it was a bad idea to go for the crazy feedback?
 
#43
I use a digitech BP 200 when i feel compeled to make my bass do strange things. My favorie use is to combine the wah on the digitech with my Dunlop crybaby, crank on my distiortion and use the different variable settings and controled feedback. This makes some interesting phrases and some really cool effects. Also a Whammy Pedal would help you. You can by digitechs seperate model or use the one thats built into the bp200. With the BP you can combine delay, verb, distortion, whammy, and amp and cab models to make just about any sound you want. It also has a cool setting called strings that can let you do anything from piano like chords to something that sounds like horror music. I would recommend experimenting with different effects pedals (guitar and bass) and just toy with them till you get the sound you like. My advice would be to buy a multi effects pedal (such as the digitech BP 200, or one of the korg or zoom models) and then get some more obscure pedals to match it. The wah is also a must for crazy sounds. Just experiment and dont be afraid to try something new. Good luck and if you need anymore effects advice let me know.

Later
:eek:
 
#44
No, people with narrow musical minds who conform to simple convention are annoying. People who poop all over others quests for new sounds and techniques are the people who ruin the name of bass players, and force us to live in the shadow of the rock guitarist. To all of those who are true to themselves and their own musical indeavors i applaud you. Just remember to never let someone elses tightwad mindset hold you back from advancing.

Later
 
#45
Originally posted by 3 crotch grabs
there are tons of great musicians making what a lot of people would call noise.

well I'd rather listen to music any day - you carry on listening to noise but don't expect me to!

just go figure out what your instrument can really do. you'll be surprised and delighted
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Well I've spent over 25 years doing just this - playing all sorts of music - Jazz, Latin, Folk, Rock, Punk, Reggae, etc. etc . and have come to realise that the more you know about music, the more there is to learn.

There is so much to practice and play - there's no time for "messing about"!!

Musicians like John Cage dedicated their lives to learning this - when you reach their level - then you can afford to experiment!! ;)
 
#47
No - you were telling me what I should be doing :

". just go figure out what your instrument can really do. you'll be surprised and delighted."


I was just replying with what I would be doing - that is, not wasting my time on "noise" when I could be creating "music!!
 
#48
so, if i can properly notate it for you would you accept it as music? remember, people called swing noise... they called rock noise... in my eyes, you are putting yourself in with those closed minded old farts who want to define music.

don't get me wrong. i've been studying theory for 20 years. i still play in a jazz group. the cd in my car stereo right now is stravinski (lots of people considered his music noise) i understand and enjoy stuff that falls into your hard core definition of music. but like you said, there is always something more to learn. why not take some time and make your instrument sound different than anything you've ever heard? i will never say there is something i wouldn't try musicly.
 
#49
Originally posted by 3 crotch grabs
why not take some time and make your instrument sound different than anything you've ever heard?


I bought my bass(es) after extensive seaches for one with the best tone I could find - I paid a lot of money - I really like that tone, I really like playing bass.

My view is that if you are interested in making noise then you shoudn't be a bass player - you should be an effects man for movies or a synth player.,,, etc etc

Playing bass is 99.9% about music and getting a good groove, nicely-shaped solo etc. - using your hands to get a good sound. If I was really into weird noises - then I wouldn't be playing bass - as I say It would much easier and more productive if I chose samplers/synthesisers/digital music production - like IRCAM in France.

Basses are designed with music in mind - it just seems perverse to use it for another purpose - why not buy the right tool for the job?


i will never say there is something i wouldn't try musicly.
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I'd try anything once - but wouldn't devote much time to it - I like music - and as I say if I was going to try avant-garde or noise music, then I would use a synth/digital music production facility not a bass!!

But the main point is that I started playing bass because I like the sound of the bass and wanted to do that - my feeling is that a lot of people round her aren't really bass players as such - but rather are just bored and playing with toys - much as they would with their PC games, PlayStation etc etc.

I aspire to be considered a good musician - not the maker of "most cool-sounding noise" ! :rolleyes:
 
#50
Just wanted to point out that people don't set out to make noise, generally. Noise is just unwanted sound, as such what is noise is subjective, and presumably if someone is setting out to create a sound, they don't consider it unwanted, so it's not noise! A Symphony by Mozart is noise if someone's playing it too loud next door and you're trying to sleep.
 
#54
Originally posted by 3 crotch grabs
. but stagnation is death. all of us should be looking for new ways to push our instrument of choice further.
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Well yes, but that doesn't need to involve making silly noises!! There are loads of musical ideas I haven't explored yet and others like serial or 12-tone row music that I have played in the past where I have only scratched the surface.

There are huge amounts of African musical styles and rhythms that I haven't got round to studying; European folk musics and when I was in Greece I noticed that their traditional dances were all in unusual time signatures, Gamelan music, Indian Scales and improvisation, Japanese classical music...

So much music to study and understand and people are just making silly noises!!
 
#55
Originally posted by 3 crotch grabs
i take it you anti-noise folks never really got into merzbow, john zorn, mike patton, john cage, tom waits, boredoms etc etc...



WOW!!! You just listed most of my favorite bands/acts... I love merzbow, Masami Akita is my hero. John Zorn ROCKS and mike patton is god... good job my son... merzbow uses bass is a lot of tracks and live... there is a theory that is you hit an audience with high amplitude bass for extended cheerios of time that they become entranced. It works your ears can not posses all that low end - thus your body takes in the rest = you are not consciously listening to the music you have to take it in, because you can't shut off your body... when I saw merzbow my vision went all blurry, and by the end my knees where all wobbly...
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#57
Originally posted by hindsight
People who poop all over others quests for new sounds and techniques are the people who ruin the name of bass players, and force us to live in the shadow of the rock guitarist. To all of those who are true to themselves and their own musical indeavors i applaud you. Just remember to never let someone elses tightwad mindset hold you back from advancing.
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I never rolled my eyes so hard :rolleyes::rolleyes:

I applaud your little revolution over there


My view is that if you are interested in making noise then you shoudn't be a bass player - you should be an effects man for movies or a synth player.,,, etc etc
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yes, makes sense.

gimme old school groovin' any day
 
#58
Originally posted by 3 crotch grabs

i wonder if anyone ever told jaco or claypool how they should and shouldn't play the bass.
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A) One thing is to come up with new techniques or new ways to play the instrument... being innovative. (Jaco/Claypool/Manring/et all). Harmonics in example have notes and can be notated...

B)Another completely different thing is to come up with freakin random noises that don't have a definied pitch and can't even be notated or applied to 98% of music.


anyways, we all have our own little views about it... in the end you should have fun.

:)
 
#59
you've got good points dave. but, without experimenting, how do we know that the new sounds someone tries won't find their place in music? sure, most of it turns out to be complete crap, but there's always the possibility of getting something really special. i'm not saying that everybody should throw out theory or musical direction, just that everybody should at least TRY something out of the ordinary. you know it's there, just give it a whirl. you might like it, you might not. i've found some useful techniques/sounds that i do use occasionally. sure, elephant farts don't go in every song, but neither does slap.
 
#60
Although many weird noises appear to be just that and nothing more to me, there are also good points to consider. Look at the world of string basses and just try to even list all the techniques employed. Spizzicato was probably once considered a weird noise as was sol legno, Bartok's pizz. etc. There are many inventive ways employed and they are traditionalized enough so that there are generally accepted markings in std notation. If a particular technique is considered weird now, it really could become part of the standard vocabulary at some point in the future. And there will always be weird noises too :D
 
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