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Trying to create a tone. Metalcore Bass.

N

NotJArnett

Aug 4, 2013
6
0
#1
Hey, I am in a Metalcore band, in the Cincy area, and as we start getting larger, I have been looking more and more into imrpoving my setup. Right now I play a Deluxe Active Jazz Bass in drop B tuning. My bass sound great, but I still have a beginner amp. I'm trying to get a really punchy sound, and I know that some metalcore bass players use an ampeg svtcl with an 810e. to be more specific, I litterally want the sound in this video.

Invalid Link Removed

just skip to 1:14 in the video for the bass solo. I really feel overwhelmed by the information that is out there. Can anybody help?
 
#2
That bass sound seems to be an attempt at getting the sound to be as little like a bass as possible. Line 6 gear should probably get you there. compressed to remove all the dynamics, bandpassed so its got no real lows or any top end. Chop out the low mids in the bit that gives girth, and the high mids that gives articulation, and the mid mids that gives presence, leave some distortion products in there so its still a sound.
 
#10
NotJArnett said:
What? that bass part is sick. Drop B bass sound sloppy AF when you try to make the low end powerful. you want the bass to have punch. Remember this isn't ska or alternative, this is metalcore. I play chugs, sweeps, pinches, or power chords.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNxaO97KspQ

and example from my band
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong. I play metalcore as well, and I agree it needs to be tight, but there isn't a lot of point in playin drop B if there's nothing filling the low end. I'm not necessarily taking any one person's side on this. Just giving my two cents.
 
#11
NotJArnett said:
I looked into the band that does that video, and they recorded with Cameron Mizell at Chango stuidos. Mizell sells some pod farm tones for bass, so there that.
Click to expand...
My Cous' Justin Thomas and his mate Brett Hester from the old Gridlock Studio at Casselberry formerly in partnership with Chango has also done similar sorts of radical bass production.
Must be something in the water in that area of Florida.
Maybe that's why they upped and moved to St Thomas US Virgin Islands.:D Drunk some Rum and Listen to some reggae spar!.
 
#12
In the OP's example it is very hard to discern the bass. Most of the low end has been given to synth and kick drums.
It is a style where the drums and guitars hog the limelight. Certainly at the school where I teach, metalcore guitarists and drummers really struggle to find singers and bassists.

this is metalcore. I play chugs, sweeps, pinches, or power chords
Click to expand...
Mostly guitar techniques that work best on guitar with lots of distortion.
When you say drop-B are you truely dropping a regular set of .105-.045 strings?
What distortion are you using?
With such little low end as the example you might be better off using a guitar amp and effects processor.
I can't imagine how an SVT & 810 would help get this sound.
 
#13
Mr. Foxen said:
That bass sound seems to be an attempt at getting the sound to be as little like a bass as possible. Line 6 gear should probably get you there. compressed to remove all the dynamics, bandpassed so its got no real lows or any top end. Chop out the low mids in the bit that gives girth, and the high mids that gives articulation, and the mid mids that gives presence, leave some distortion products in there so its still a sound.
Click to expand...


+1 to this.

jason newsted fought so hard to not get that tone after ... And Justice For All

-*-

TS, try listening to Mudvayne's 2nd album, cause that is a good example of how a dropped B or even a dropped A bass should sound. ryan martinie can play metal bass, and his tone shows us what he really sounds like.

the link on the OP? ... not so much.

edit: the bass solo was a total joke, it might as well have been a guitar or a synth on an octaver.
 
#14
NotJArnett said:
Drop B bass sound sloppy AF when you try to make the low end powerful.
Click to expand...

Only if you do it badly. Asking for advice usually doesn't aim for things you can try that will fail to work. General assumption is its more trying things that will probably work or better. You've set up the end goal here of what basically most people will consider a bad sound, and those with a bit of knowledge of studio techniques and production especially, will recognise as to why its bad and heavily engineered to try and work musically. Kind of like people trying to sing like the autotune glitch in that Britney spears song. Which is fine as a goal, but to reach the goal, you are going to have to not pretend it is something other than it is.

NotJArnett said:
What? that bass part is sick. Drop B bass sound sloppy AF when you try to make the low end powerful. you want the bass to have punch. Remember this isn't ska or alternative, this is metalcore. I play chugs, sweeps, pinches, or power chords.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNxaO97KspQ

and example from my band
Click to expand...

You trying to sort a tone to add a bass part to this then? Plenty of space at the bottom.
 
#15
Are you sure that was a bass and not snythd? That sound comes from lots and lots of effects and processing for a sound that's not usable 99% of the time. I don't have any musical prejudices, but metal "core" isn't exactly a bass players band.
 
#16
Yikes. I'm gonna just come out and say it, that "bass tone" in the link from the original post is awful. Over-processed, and awful. I really feel as though you could find a much richer sound that will still highlight your playing. Sounding like that gets lost in the mix and just sounds like clang and click. If that's what you're going for then well, more power to ya. But you might as well just buy a couple of different hammers, mic a piece of sheet metal (or and old truck wheel) and go to town.



Also, don't take any of this personally.
We're just trying to help, that's why you posted, so that's what we're doing.
Without TB my gear would still be a f**king mess, I got bashed and flamed from time to time.
But in the end it was all worth it.
 

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