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Philadelphia experiment- filter?

#2
I believe his only effects gear is a Boss ME-50B. It doesn't sound like an envelope filter only because it doesn't predictably trigger.

It sounds like to me like a wah or a synth/filter patch that he's manipulating with the expression pedal.

I'd think that a lowpass wah might serve you best. Maybe the EBS?
 
#5
Hadn't heard of these guys, super groovy, I dig it!

Bass+OC-2 with -1oct and dry mixed into a lowpass controlling the cutoff with an exp pedal should get you there. Other octavers would do the trick, but the one in the video is pretty growly, so something like the OC-2 would probably get you the closest out of the individual analog pedals I could think of.
 
#8
markjazzbassist said:
the filter sounds post-production. they probably threw it on the track after christian tracked the uneffected bass.
Click to expand...

seems likely..

i saw on his website he says his only effects are the boss multi, but im pretty sure on that record he uses a bassballs on a few tracks too.

i already have an oc-2, so im only looking at the filter. it doesent seem like a normal envelope controlled thing, but also doesent sound like hes controlling it with his foot.. but it sounds pretty chunky, whatever it is.
 
#9
groooooove said:
seems likely..

i saw on his website he says his only effects are the boss multi, but im pretty sure on that record he uses a bassballs on a few tracks too.

i already have an oc-2, so im only looking at the filter. it doesent seem like a normal envelope controlled thing, but also doesent sound like hes controlling it with his foot.. but it sounds pretty chunky, whatever it is.
Click to expand...

It's definitely not envelope controlled, but in my opinion it sounds like a filter being controlled manually; I was able to replicate it pretty closely with an OC-2 and lowpass filter, setting the filter so that at heel down you get that fat bassy tone, and then opening/closing it on certain accent notes, as directed by the song. I rarely get around to it, but I may post a clip if I get home before too late this evening.
 
#11
I listened to the song for a while and figured out about the first half of it. The hardest part of that sound for me is the technique; For the most part, it seems that he's keeping the filter mostly closed on the root notes, and then doing the step slide to the octave while opening the filter, among other little nuances in his style and filter movement; I think the best way to get that filtery mwah part of the sound to hit the note while the filter is closed, and then timing the opening of the filter and the two-fret-slide to the octave just right; a bit of vibrato on the slide/octave(not pedal) notes seems to help as well.

Im having fun learning the bass line anyway, so Im going to practice it a little more (i have the gear but not the fingers) and then post a clip tonight or tomorrow of what I think is a close approximation to the tone in the video.

Is he playing an upright or electric bass in that song? I saw some other videos of him and he was playing an upright. Here's a video of him playing a fretless with his band, it sounds like he's using a wah or downward envelope in the first 10 or so seconds of the video:


Another great song, I have to get this album.
 
#12
fightthepower said:
I listened to the song for a while and figured out about the first half of it. The hardest part of that sound for me is the technique; For the most part, it seems that he's keeping the filter mostly closed on the root notes, and then doing the step slide to the octave while opening the filter, among other little nuances in his style and filter movement; I think the best way to get that filtery mwah part of the sound to hit the note while the filter is closed, and then timing the opening of the filter and the two-fret-slide to the octave just right; a bit of vibrato on the slide/octave(not pedal) notes seems to help as well.

Im having fun learning the bass line anyway, so Im going to practice it a little more (i have the gear but not the fingers) and then post a clip tonight or tomorrow of what I think is a close approximation to the tone in the video.

Is he playing an upright or electric bass in that song? I saw some other videos of him and he was playing an upright. Here's a video of him playing a fretless with his band, it sounds like he's using a wah or downward envelope in the first 10 or so seconds of the video:


Another great song, I have to get this album.
Click to expand...


haha, its a great album. he primarily plays upright but ripps on electric too. i bought the album not knowing he was on it, i bought it to hear questlove on the drums.

i wonder if my board has room to allow this sound..
 
#16
I've loved this album for years...been dying to know how he gets that "Grover" sound.

Even if he is controlling it manually, that sound is wet as hell...
And the shame of it all is I just sold my ME50B!

Ah well. Killer bass line - The real money shot is in the 3rd "chorus" with his 16th note triplet fill (at about the 4:13 mark). No effects on that part of the song so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to mention that in this forum...;)
 

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