Can you make a really growly bass tone with plugins? (Lacuna Coil, Korn, etc)

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whitedamp

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Yesterday I was listening to Lacuna Coil´s last album (Karmacode) and was blown away by their bass tone.
Lacuna Coil - What I See (1 min clip)

I was wondering if anyone on this forum can actually achieve a tone like this with a DI track, using only plugins (ik ampeg svx, line6 gearbox/ampfarm, impulses, multiband comp, eq, whatever!). Or at least know what key frequencies should be cut or boosted to make the bass growl like that.
 
I've gotten SIMILAR growl using the SVT plugin, in parallel with the original track... personally I like running the DI into a pre and overdriving the pre a touch, gives it a bit of edge... but I also usually mic up the cab, and get the amp itself to growl...
 
I got something like that a few months ago with combining the "clean" signal with the same signal running through guitarsuite´s JCM 900 and a lot EQ-tweaking.
 
Downtime said:
I got something like that a few months ago with combining the "clean" signal with the same signal running through guitarsuite´s JCM 900 and a lot EQ-tweaking.
Click to expand...

Is this a similar principle as to how it's done on records? So the clean signal gives you all your lows and rumble and the driven one just has all the "clang" on top? I'm thinking on stuff like drawling circles by textures and layers of lies by darkane kinda stuff, they both have tracks on with the bass chugging along with the drums at the beginning.

Decent metal bass sounds other than a plain, slightly EQ-ed DI signal have always eluded me and I'm quite interested as to how you guys drive it and still preserve the low end body. Though most here seem fond of the ampeg plugin.
 
I'm thinking on stuff like drawling circles by textures and layers of lies by darkane kinda stuff, they both have tracks on with the bass chugging along with the drums at the beginning.
Click to expand...

Don´t forget that many bands/producers just use that bad-ass-basssound when the bass is playing solo or just bass+drums, and when it´s all guitars and drums and stuff it´s another bass-sound that better fits in the mix and provides the bottom it should bring.
There are more examples of work like that. I.e. to give the bass a more attack-orientated sound on e-string-takataka-moshparts, where it fits exactly to the doublebass under it, and then use a sound with less attack and more bottom in melodical parts, and so on.
 
Downtime makes some good points here. I'll also point out that a critical part of that tone is beating the shit out of (relatively) loose strings. It also sounds to me like the tone is scooped at the (active) bass and then again at the amp.
Generally I would run a clean and a distorted track separately and I've found guitar distortions (as DT suggested) to be cool for this b/c the are often way more aggressive.
 
Thanks for the replies!

I also noticed that it´s scooped, but I don´t know exactly what should I do with the EQ (I mean, the right frequency to cut, how much, which Q).
I will try to mix the bass/body of a bass amp sim (Ampeg SVX or Gearbox) with the growl of a guitar amp sim. Do you know in what frequencies that raging growl is, to boost the hell out of it? Where would you put a Lo-Pass on it?
 
SANSAMP guys! SAAANNNSAAAMPPP!!
hahaha..
Seriously though, sans amp, good bass with bartollini's, maybe a light distortion before hitting the sansamp, and your off!!
Don't make it any harder then it is :)
 
to be honest, the most i've ever had to do is to load the bass track preset, tweak a little couple knobs....and yea, that's it
 
cool topic.
i'm no korn fan, but i've had to listen to some of their work because i've got a friend that loves them. i like the production and all, but the shit sucks.

i was wondering if they use a different bass sound for a full band mix as well. 'cause i noticed that when it's just a bass break or something, it's really nasty and sounds cool, but i haven't listened closely so i can't tell if it's a completely different sound with everything else or not.

I've recently been experiementing with getting nastier bass sounds to fit in a mix, but it usually sucks.
 
IIRC, Korns bassist has said the "secret" to his tone is to boost the high and low sliders on the graphic EQ on an Ampeg all the way (the 2 far outside sliders) and then drop all the sliders in between all the way down...
 
A quick suggestion from me:

If you use a distortion try a frequency-split before it; split at about 720 - 860 Hz and just distort the higher stuff, use a compressor for the lower freqs. (It's quite easy in GuitarRig 2.)
That way the distortion won't mudden up your sound.
 
Basstard could you also do something similar to that with the duplicating the bass track trick, using one for the clean low and and the second for the grindy mids/higher end?
 
i was wondering if they use a different bass sound for a full band mix as well. 'cause i noticed that when it's just a bass break or something, it's really nasty and sounds cool, but i haven't listened closely so i can't tell if it's a completely different sound with everything else or not.
Click to expand...

this seems to be a pretty common technique, although it totally depends on the band/engineer/producer

listen to RATM - evil empire...on most of the songs, the bass will have one tone during the intro, another for the verses, another for the chorus, another for the solo, and still another for whatever bridge/interlude/breakdown there may be

also, a trick i've been meaning to try lately, but haven't gotten the chance, is to use a smokey amp for bass distortion...i was fucking around the other day and ran my friend's bass through one, and it gave a great dirty bass tone. you also don't have to bother cutting the lows, because the shitty little things don't let any low-end get through.
 
A Sansamp plugin is the easiest way to get any number of growls or crunch on your bass tracks.

I'll ask Frank about the Korn bass sound, see what he did for the breaks.
 
I am not that mad about that SVT plugin. I have it, but i use it barely.


But i was not aware about a Sansamp plugin?
Did i miss something? Please tell me - is there a Sansamp Plugin?

brandy
 
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