What's the Best Bass for Hyperpop?

[Lowandfat]

Kraftwerk 1981 meets The Weeknd 2020.

 

[Sam Dingle]

As with most music today a p bass and or a synth bass

 

[RattleSnack]

I love the song. To me it's 80' pop meets 90' grunge. I would play headless Steinberger for this gig.

 

[Jeff Elkins]

This guy's arrangement for Charli XCX's "Crash" is pretty sick. Looks like it's your standard j bass with a cool pinkish pickguard I want.

I applaud his arrangement, and actually dig his melodic sensibility here. And I like re-imagining in general, so I appreciate what he's done.

But I miss the deep synth resonance of the [albeit, minimal] bass lines present in the original.

Actually, I'm thinking a U bass would work pretty well with this. Super deep low notes and is pretty eye catching in it's own way.

It would be pretty fun to see somebody hitting some of those low sub notes on a tiny uke.

I think you're actually on to something here. Something like that would give the notes even more body... [edit to add I made myself laugh at the use of the phrase "more body" when discussing a bass uke]

I jam to Charli XCX a lot and my J-style bass does the trick. Of course I usually need to stack up the effects since they're synth lines, so it's fuzz (i think distortion would work fine and even better for some songs) + chorus and pretty often some delay.

I'd personally also go active or use an outboard preamp to really make the tone aggressive.

... or aggression! Yeah, I think that chain, plus heavy compression to get the synth feel.

 

[Drucifer]

It surprised the hell out of me, but I didn't hate that.

To answer the question, P bass with flats, of course.

+tort

 

[Dynomuttasaurus]

The music is flashy and fun - so should be the bass. If I was asked to step in and play a set of hyperpop, the Aria Pro II IGB-RC in red would be put in a case on on the road with me.

 

[yberwaffe]

There's not enough genres already?

Nope.
I'm quite sure that Death Country doesn't exist.
Yet.
The local music shop was out of banjos last time I checked (it's needed for the ripping solos that are mandatory)

 

[Medicine Man]

My one size fits all pop solution is a p bass with flats -> heavy compression -> C4 synth. The flats have a solid fundamental that tracks well into the synth after being compressed.

 

[ardgedee]

I'm quite sure that Death Country doesn't exist.

You've never heard Nick Cave?

 

[jschulman]

You've never heard Nick Cave?

Also 16 Horsepower, O'Death, Caroliner Rainbow

 

[mexicanyella]

Going off of that 100 gecs video posted, I’d say a lot of basses could do that. Guitar-wise, I immediately thought of “Time’s Up”-era Vernon Reid, so...ESP or Hamer shred Strat, Eventide and Mesa Dual Rec?

 

[-Asdfgh-]

-_-
View attachment 4732664

Party on your lawn if you like but GET OFF MY LAWN.

Thank you, that is all.

 

[juggahnaught]

That clown video was actually by Berklee grads, so you're on track. If you know Louis Cole, he's the clown on the drums. Insanely talented. They have an album called Van. It was recorded in a van. There's a music video... it's all in the van. I could go on about this whole scene, but that's another topic.

That's another topic that you should create! @ me in it, we should definitely discuss this.

I was thinking about it more this morning and I realize that in terms of hyperpop...I said that I wanted to see elements of hyperpop used in more virtuosic music that was dance-based. I realize that what I really want is music like this that's real and not just chiptune stuff (although I love chiptunes, I grew up with videogame music and it's still my favorite stuff):



(In fact, a member here posted a playalong video of this song. I'd heard this way before that was posted, and so I was pleasantly surprised to find that rendition.)

I can definitely see hyperpop techniques working really well in music like this, but incorporating vocals and instruments (and samples) to create songs that are musical and still have mass appeal. And the cool thing about chiptunes is that there's a lot of experimentation in it by default.

As for the metal integration - there's a band called Polyphia, and the first song on their album Renaissance begins to approach what I'm thinking of as a hyperpop-metal hybrid (although it's definitely not as intense as the hyperpop stuff):



It's firmly rooted but I feel like you can hear some of the electronic/sample influences here. I'd love to see a subgenre (sub-subgenre?) of hyperpop that really attempted to push the musical portion of it.

Hope this all makes sense. Oddly, I'm kind of inspired right now.

 

[salmon256]

Hyperpop is awesome. Tbh, I feel like any bass will do, for hyperpop I feel like it's more the presentation of the bass, you can have a p-bass with flats but if the bass body looks like it's taking loads of acid (crazy colors, loads of stickers) I think that will do. An active maybe as well like one of those shiny Stingrays? I also agree that a keyboard with any "pop" type of genre is a key of composing the songs. I feel like 80s synths or even a keytar fits with modern plugins, but IMO many genres of what works are subjective, of course bebop jazz an upright is best but there's many bands today or even some newly made recording that have a swinging bass guitar on a bop tune etc. Cool share, thanks for showing it! ))

 

[bigjames]

Any reason you say P-bass, other than that it's the standard for most everything (including my bass collection)?

The tone in the example you gave sounded like a slapped P with rounds to my ear...with compression, some EQ scooping, and the other usual FX. I think I could get that tone with my PJ and FX pedal fairly closely. Honestly, I am not sure there would be a "best bass" for this...I think one would want to emulate the sound / style, which I am sure could be achieved with a vast number of basses and pedals. A lot of modern pop doesnt use a bass and opts for keyboard bass or similar. I would think there are FX set ups that could emulate this sounds well enough to be close. I think you mentioned you have a P-bass or two...I think you should be able to get there with that and some pedals.

 

[Dincrest]

I am loving the hyperpop stuff in this thread. The Dorito+Frito song and the Coconuts song... love them!

It's like the artists took the superficially vapid absurdity of pop music and cranked it up to cringeworthy levels in a delightfully self-aware manner.

As for what bass I'd use for it... well, I'd be rocking my dark magenta LTD F-205. It looks the part and its electronics (EMG-HZ soapbars coupled to a 3-band active preamp) would sound great in the mix. Oh yeah, strings would be D'Addario Pro Steels (my favorite).

(I know my bass looks more wine red in this photo, but depending on the light it can go from a wine red to a dark magenta. It is my favorite bass and I would rock it at any and every gig):

 

[Nuage420]

Another great bass line is from Coconuts by Kim Petras. It's a pretty standard slap bass line, but it's good example of the idea exaggerated pop music and where a bass player might find a role. Ridiculous lyrics that are very self aware, but also very fun and catchy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. And then I watched again without being on mute, and still thoroughly enjoyed this!

 

[DavidG]

I didn't know what any of the words in the OP mean!
(Did see Charli XCX on SNL though).

 

[truand85]

 

[ardgedee]

You sure it’s not simply an attempt to rebadge New Wave?

I have no idea how this could sound like New Wave to anybody. It's like listening to The Beatles in 1964 and arguing that Rudy Valee did it first and better.

And I'm old enough to remember when both New Wave and MTV were exciting and new.