Distorted Bass As Solo Instrument

[Line666]

Working with a kinda post-hardcorey/alternative rock band at the moment and everything is going swimmingly except that they have one song which is meant to have a good couple of sections with purely distorted bass and drums.

Now I'd have to admit that bass guitar is not my strong point anyway but trying to get this thing to sound good on its own is a nightmare - I've found distorted bass outwith a mix just sounds ugly in a kind of hurts your ears to listen to it way (maybe I'm doing something wrong) but in this section where it's the sole melodic instrument it's really fucking with me because it needs to be ugly, distorted and clanky yet listenable.

The pre-pro demos they used a boss pedal or something to get the sound and whilst its better than anything I've been able to conjure up it's still a bit of a fizzy mess that I wouldn't use in a professional production.

Now the bass we were using is a cheap piece of crap currently (biggest problem) and even using fresh strings and 'fucking it like it was a cheap two dollar whore' we were unable to get much clank out it so I've told them to see if they can summon a jazz bass or something from one of their friends within the next week which I think they're gonna be able to do.

Anyway in the meantime...

TL;DR

- Need good distorted bass tone that is workable just in the context of it + drums
- Current bass guitar sucks but should be getting a more serviceable replacement
- Yes fresh strings and pick rapage.
- Help me out here.

 

[Scott Horner]

Have you tried the HP/LP method and applied the distortion to only the HP track? Seems like that would be better than distorting the entire frequency range but I've never had to deal with anything like that. Or maybe blending in a distorted track with the clean track would work?

 

[Nimvi]

What Scott said, and you could also experiment with another send to a chorus-track to give it all a bit of a wider and noticable sound, so the track doesn't sound as "empty" without the guitars. HP/LP to taste. Might not work for every genre, but I like using that method whenever certain parts of a song call for an obvious bass.

 

[Skinny Viking]

I doubt Cliff Burton had multiple bass tracks all filtered and processed different ways ...

In the context you're talking about Owen I can't really say I know exactly what kind of bass tone you're going for but I think a majority of the solution is gonna fall into the player/gear/technique catagory

In the meantime can only suggest experimenting with several distortion pedals and see just how far they can take you plus using a mono/stereo plugin to get some extra width maybe

as per your avatar, 1st thought goes to Big Muff

 

[Nimvi]

I doubt Cliff Burton had multiple bass tracks all filtered and processed different ways ...

I understand your point, but I don't think that should be an argument to do or not do something to a track. That track sounded good for that album, but it might not be what someone is going for nowadays. It doesn't sound modern to me at least.

But ofcourse you are right: the player and the rig are the most important parts of the chain.

 

[onetruth]

If you've got a good player and a decent bass (fender jazz is a winner!), then you can get decent results using a boss od-3 pedal as it has a "blend" knob which allows you to set the blend of the clean DI and the distortion/grit. ive had good results with it live....should translate ok on a recording too. otherwise i get best results using TSE BOD into Studio Devil Bass Amp Pro on one track and a copy of the track running through a proco rat into an eden head + 4x10 cab....filtered just so there's mids. send both tracks to a group bus and chuck on some tube and tape saturation plus a decent compressor, like the softube FET to glue the 2 tracks together.

 

[wetpenny]

http://www.audiffex.com/EN/gallien.html ive had some great results with this, takes a lil tweaking but....

echoing some of the above comments ^^ TSE BOD is worth its virtual weight in gold

 

[MindMunch]

Do you have any reference?
Amp distortion always sounds best to me.
For something like early Silverchair, it´s all ampeg SVT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVGbgER-tCM&feature=player_detailpage#t=132s

Even the fuzzier styles like Death From Above is amp distortion
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bo4h7kuUpo&feature=related[/ame]

If it´s not an option, the only pedals I would trust for bass distortion are BDDI, Rat and POD.

 

[-Noodles-]

if you want to borrow my Sansamp to re-amp things, just let me know!

 

[Skinny Viking]

I understand your point, but I don't think that should be an argument to do or not do something to a track. That track sounded good for that album, but it might not be what someone is going for nowadays. It doesn't sound modern to me at least.

But ofcourse you are right: the player and the rig are the most important parts of the chain.

completely agree ... wasn't making a case for or against doing anything in particular, more to just make the point that it can be easy to jump to methods that may be overcooking the idea. Hopefully what I said originally didn't come across as "dickish" in any way

As for the "modern" (or not) aspect of sound, that goes to what I said after in that I have no idea the context a part like this is to be fit in. Could very well be a more retro tone could do the trick, maybe not but whatever the goal is yeah, its gonna be mostly player & gear

 

[Line666]

Yeah I tried the LP/HP thing but really not digging it as far as outwith the mix goes, I will see if I can upload part of the pre-pro demo to give you guys a demonstration of the section.

 

[Line666]

if you want to borrow my Sansamp to re-amp things, just let me know!

Never saw this before but may take you up on that cheers!

Yeah I do realise this may be entirely a case of player + gear but I just want to get some ideas for ballpark tone really.

Here's the section in particular (pre-pro demo by the band themselves so heads up on the fake vst drums);

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4363530/bass.mp3

 

[Nimvi]

Yeah I tried the LP/HP thing but really not digging it as far as outwith the mix goes, I will see if I can upload part of the pre-pro demo to give you guys a demonstration of the section.

That would be cool I'm pretty interested in what that band mustered up, as I am an absolute sucker for originality on bassguitar-licks.

Edit: see you already posted a link. I think it sounds pretty cool already but I agree it lacks a bit of agression and growl. definitely try out some different distortions or that other bass. Also, I'm not sure because I'm listening through headphones I'm not so familiar with at the moment, but I feel like it could have a bit more high-end to it. And maybe you could automate the drumvolumes/eq/whatever around it to give it some more room when it kicks in. Especially the toms and snare seem to be dominating it a bit. I could also imagine that heavy compression on the bass (so that it actually pumps a bit) could sound pretty ugly in the good way.

completely agree ... wasn't making a case for or against doing anything in particular, more to just make the point that it can be easy to jump to methods that may be overcooking the idea. Hopefully what I said originally didn't come across as "dickish" in any way

As for the "modern" (or not) aspect of sound, that goes to what I said after in that I have no idea the context a part like this is to be fit in. Could very well be a more retro tone could do the trick, maybe not but whatever the goal is yeah, its gonna be mostly player & gear

Haha no worries man, you didn't sound dickish at all. As a matter of fact, I felt like I jumped a bit too hard on that one sentence after replying to it, since I agreed with everything you said really. When I first started mixing, I used so many plugins and tracks that my mix ended up looking like a christmas tree, and it sounded like shit. The more I do this, the less I do, and it really helps.

 

[-Noodles-]

Yeah - if it were my session, I'd be splitting the signal. [DI + Distorted tones.]

Something like an Ampeg simulator / Sansamp would give you the balls and grit while the DI would keep the clarity and bass happening.

 

[Line666]

Yeah I usually use Ampeg SVX on a copy of the bass DI to make it sound a bit more clanky/real and less tubby and then compress the shit out of both. Nimvi you are right though - this current bass is really dull sounding and that's hard to get around.

Guess I'm really looking for a nice distortion element because none of the TSE plugs are doing it for me, I might just roll with what the band was doing and see if I can test out a bunch of their pedals for the best fit.

 

[Habsburgs]

post the DI?

 

[MatrixClaw]

post the DI?

+1, or at least YOUR mix.

 

[Morgan C]

Clip doesn't sound too bad. Too much highmids on the fuzzyness, not enough lowmids I think. Split it into 3 - fuzzines for the mids, slightly distorted DI for the highs and clean lows.
Also try Juicy77 for your distortion, it's free and awesome.

 

[JonWormwood]

crank the gain and some presence on tse bod

 

[DanLights]

from the clip, it sounds like a Rat would be a good option for what they're going for. But they generally sound better put through an amp (preferably real), if you can't mic a real amp get a rat and record bass > rat > DI (or instr input on your interface) and then try some Ampeg Svx on top of it, or perhaps even just an impulse, experiment.