I know alot of his stuff is synthesizers, but the tones his bass player gets are amazing. The distortion is so incredibly evil and every note smacks you in the face. I looked up what his rig was but couldn't find anything. Anyone have any how to get these sounds (if it makes a difference, im refering mainly to the fragile/downward spiral era)
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Trent Reznor
- Thread starter Blkholesun
- Start date
I'm not sure exactly what he uses but I would imagine he uses alot of heavy fuzz like zvex woolly mammoth, PE depth charge etc hope that helps a bit
I don't think The Downward Spiral has a single note of bass guitar to be found, even Piggy (I'm nearly positive) is a synth. Whenever I've seen NIN live, bass geetar is used very sparingly.
But I second getting heavy duty fuzz effects, that might help.
But I second getting heavy duty fuzz effects, that might help.
If you're talking about the bass on the With Teeth album, it sounds more like heavy overdrive w/ slight distortion... not so much fuzz. I'm talking specifically about "The Collector", "Love Is Not Enough", and "Only". The sounds on "The Line Begins to Blur" and "The Hand That Feeds" sound harsher and might be achieved through fuzz or synth.
The classics, like 'March of the pigs', 'Wish' etc are all synth lines. Fuzz, octaver & envelope filter pedals will be your friend if you want to get closer (heh) to the sound.
A neat trick with something like a Boss OC-2 is to turn down the bypass signal and use the sub-octave by itself. Instant square-wave synth tones, ripe for further fx processing & mangling
A neat trick with something like a Boss OC-2 is to turn down the bypass signal and use the sub-octave by itself. Instant square-wave synth tones, ripe for further fx processing & mangling
Haven't listened to With Teeth yet, I'll check it out.
Do you think I could get close with the EHX Mirosynth? I feel like I won't get nearly as much bottom end, but I'll try that. Otherwise I might think about a depth charge, heard lots of good about them.
Do you think I could get close with the EHX Mirosynth? I feel like I won't get nearly as much bottom end, but I'll try that. Otherwise I might think about a depth charge, heard lots of good about them.
idoru said:The classics, like 'March of the pigs', 'Wish' etc are all synth lines. Fuzz, octaver & envelope filter pedals will be your friend if you want to get closer (heh) to the sound.
A neat trick with something like a Boss OC-2 is to turn down the bypass signal and use the sub-octave by itself. Instant square-wave synth tones, ripe for further fx processing & mangling
Just curious, idoru... what would you suggest for processing OC-2 output? Sometimes I turn on my Digitech XBD after it which sounds like a synthy disortion, but not THAT cool. Any other ideas?
Danny Lohner in his last tour with NIN played a Black w/ maple fretboard Musicman Stingray 4 (trent also played it on one or two songs) I think in the studio though, Reznor wrote all thel ines for the very few songs there is actual bass on (pre With Teeth). I'll name the ones that come to mind.
Mr. Self Destruct (interlude part)
Piggy
Suck
Closer (chorus only, "Wah" part is synth)
The Day the World Went Away (in one or two of its many versions)
The Mark Has Been Made
Hurt
Into The Void (live)
I on some songs the bass has had chorus. But mainly it's just the clean tone with the occasional heavy distortion. I don't know what the bass rig was for the "And All that Could Have Been" tour, but knowing trent. It was probably nothing special. Ampeg SVT + 8x10 probably. I wouldn't be surprised if the bass was only run though the PA, as the sound on that tour was very "un eq'd". Sounded like a straight up Stingray
Mr. Self Destruct (interlude part)
Piggy
Suck
Closer (chorus only, "Wah" part is synth)
The Day the World Went Away (in one or two of its many versions)
The Mark Has Been Made
Hurt
Into The Void (live)
I on some songs the bass has had chorus. But mainly it's just the clean tone with the occasional heavy distortion. I don't know what the bass rig was for the "And All that Could Have Been" tour, but knowing trent. It was probably nothing special. Ampeg SVT + 8x10 probably. I wouldn't be surprised if the bass was only run though the PA, as the sound on that tour was very "un eq'd". Sounded like a straight up Stingray
For bass mangling, I turn to the following:
Boss HR-2, PH-2, SYB-3 (modes 8 or 9 - filtered distortion)
Big Muff pi
Alesis QVGT - reverb, delay & ringmod
Apply those to the OC-2 signal and it pretty quickly stops sounding normal
Boss HR-2, PH-2, SYB-3 (modes 8 or 9 - filtered distortion)
Big Muff pi
Alesis QVGT - reverb, delay & ringmod
Apply those to the OC-2 signal and it pretty quickly stops sounding normal
According to the MXR's site, Jeordie White (NIN's current bass player) uses a blue box; still it would be cool to investigate
The bass tone in "Only" is one of the best recorded tones I've heard in a while. I am also very curious as to what equipment he's using and how they recorded it.
I'm not all that familiar with NIN, but I was in a band that covered "Closer" and while that probably isn't a real bass, I was able to get tones that were very close: Digitech Whammy IV and BSW (in oct down and sub env. modes respectively) for the main line and an original DOD Bass Grunge for the chorus.
For any range of distortion up to Big Muff fuzz and some synthy tones, I'd suggest the DOD Bass Grunge. I can't suggest this pedal enough -- despite being the cheapest pedal I've ever bought, it's my favorite distortion by far.
For any range of distortion up to Big Muff fuzz and some synthy tones, I'd suggest the DOD Bass Grunge. I can't suggest this pedal enough -- despite being the cheapest pedal I've ever bought, it's my favorite distortion by far.
I know that for a while, especially on the early stuff, Reznor was using Zoom effects on practically everything (voice, guitars, drums). Perhaps he used a Zoom on the bass as well.
KromaatiKlauun said:
Is that the same guy who played with APC on the 13th step? Is he the live bass player or did he do any tracks on with teeth as well? If it's the same guy, I really dig his bass playing.
The bass player from 13th step was Twiggy Ramirez, doubt that's his real name, from Marlyn Manson.
there was a thread not too long ago on gearslutz.com about this very topic. i just did a search there but for the life of me i can't find it. one poster there who has done some work with trent/NIN said when it is real bass the chain almost always involves a p-bass and a sansamp bddi. if you do a searh on that site maybe you'll have better luck than me
i finally found what i was looking for. my orginal post was only partially correct. no mention of a p-bass. from Invalid Link Removed
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danny lohner, who played bass in NIN for a decade, is one of my best friends.
working with him for years in the studio, it's always kinda going like this::
the Depth Charge by Prescription electronics, almost always, into a sansamp bass driver.
sometimes the woolly mammoth by zvex.
for fiddle a ding dong sometimes the piercing moose by way huge.
but definitely, definitely, definitely, the Depth Charge. It's orange, and fun.
***
***
danny lohner, who played bass in NIN for a decade, is one of my best friends.
working with him for years in the studio, it's always kinda going like this::
the Depth Charge by Prescription electronics, almost always, into a sansamp bass driver.
sometimes the woolly mammoth by zvex.
for fiddle a ding dong sometimes the piercing moose by way huge.
but definitely, definitely, definitely, the Depth Charge. It's orange, and fun.
***
