Question How to get a specific sound

[AlexBongoCrazy]

So two questions, two different sounds.

First off, i've noticed that hip hop bass lines either have a really digged in popped tone (like Mary J Blige - Just Fine) or the bass has a smoother much lower sound. So i've been getting into hip hop and rnb and wondered how can I get these sounds just by using the bass or/and amp EQ? (hope this is detailed enough so you guys know what i mean)

Second question. I've asked on here before about distortion/overdrive pedals but now have examples of songs for the exact type of overdrive I want. I'm looking for something like the sound the guy (can't remember his name) from Tool has on songs like Jambi or like John Myung has on some of the Train of Thought or earlier overdriven sounds. So which pedals can give me this sound?

Hope this will help you guys to help me

 

[Golem]

`


I don't know much about distortion, but some of the
"smoother much lower [bass] sound" heard in modern
recordings will be KB bass. I spoze a synth module on
a stringed instrument could get you fairly close to KB
bass sound .... aftroll, such KB are basically synths.

 

[Grga]

I'd use the ears and eq to come to the "hip-hop sound" you want.. even double bass is sometimes in "hip-hop".. or bass synths.. or or or.. it's a large field you could explore.. or just find YOUR sound..


hint for question 2: Tool's Justin Chancellor Bass Gear Rig and Equipment

Good luck

 

[keko]

It's hard to answer this Q!

Half of tone depends about the way You play bass, another half depends about preamp settings, rig, PA support, sound engineer (if any)...etc.

 

[adouglas]

Are you talking live or recorded?

Live, you've got to think about room acoustics and such. The EQ that will sound good in the room might not (and probably won't) sound good on stage.... Do you want to make that sound for the audience or for yourself? Chances are those musicians are not hearing what you hear when you listen to them.

Mere mortals like us do not have anywhere near the amount of gear, support and expertise that big name acts do. That makes it almost literally impossible to truly duplicate what you hear. The days of replicating a tone by simply buying the same amp/pedal/bass/whatever are long gone.

Personally, I just try to sound good to my own ear, rather than trying to sound like somebody else. The music itself and the performance are way more important than any specific tone, in my view. But that's just me.

I'm no engineer, but some rules of thumb that have worked well for me in the past:

Modern mixes tend to be very scooped. Lots of bass (way too much IMHO... it's fatiguing). That tends to make the bass disappear in a live mix, though. If you want to cut through, mids are your friend.

Try getting presence through volume, then EQ to leave room for the other instruments (as opposed to setting a level first and trying to get your tone through EQ). See below.

Try reducing the low bass and bumping up low mids around 125 Hz. that gives you some thump without it being too much. This is not genre-specific, just a general observation.

For a more muted tone that doesn't get in the way, turn down the highs.

Listen to the whole mix, not just your instrument. You'll notice that on a lot of great records, you can't quite make out the bass line but it's definitely there. That's because they're mixed to allow the singer or lead instrument to stand out. SO... find the frequencies where the singer/lead is, and take those out of the bass so you're not competing. Less is more. Volume wars happen because everybody starts stepping on each other, so don't do that.

Again, this is just my $0.02 based on my own experience, not any actual knowledge or training.

 

[AlexBongoCrazy]

That last bit about the whole mix and the singer is very useful thanks, and i meant live, well in fact just when i'm playing along with songs like i've been playing along to mary j blige, eve, alicia keys that sort of thing and sometimes it can take me a while till i find that tone that the r&b bassists all seem to have which just sounds so smooth

 

[AlexBongoCrazy]

and i'm guessing a compression might be quite useful to keep everything at the same level? especially as some songs switch between playing with fingers and slapping/popping?

 

[Golem]

and i'm guessing a compression might be quite useful to
keep everything at the same level? especially as some songs
switch between playing with fingers and slapping/popping?

A very decent guess. Compression is to recording as
cheese is to a cheeseberger. The rest of studio tricks
equate more to onion, mayo, bacon etc .... speaking
cheesebergerwise. Other than that, you say you want
smooth ? You got a Boingo, so axwise your berger is
already premium ground sirloin. Geeeezzizz .... I feel
like I gotta log out and go eat now !

 

[supadave]

You wanna sound like the bass track on a hip hop album?? Throw your guitar in the bin and buy a keyboard.
You wann sound like Justin Chancellor? He uses about 9 different effects, two amps, and a ****load of kickass. Search youtube for Justin Chancellors rig. Theres a great mini doco.

 

[AlexBongoCrazy]

Lol well i just wanted to give that tool track as an example i'm sure there must be one overdrive pedal that can give me the tone i'm looking for, basically just something that provides a good amount of grit to the sound (not fuzz and not full on guitar like distortion) i still want it to sound like a bass. And i will be learning how to play keys eventually but i know not all hip hop songs are with synths and keys, some actually use bass. Though i guess i could just go by a video i saw on youtube where mjb's bassist has a j bass (not a 7ender) and it looks like he has an EBS rig but then the answer i was looking for was more EQ specifics, but i'm guessing not many people on this forum play hip hop stuff? Do i need to cut the treble and boost the bass? cus sometimes that gets me close but sometimes certain strings don't have the sound i want whereas the other strings do, hope this makes sense. I just don't get why there's such a lack of hiphop/r&b bass stuff on the web when some of the stuff is so fun to play!

 

[kamakazee]

The Tech 21 Sansamp Bass Driver can get you really close to Tool. I covered Schism on my Bongo HH with the blend knob in the middle and found a nice setting on the Sansamp. Haven't tried any other Tool stuff, hope that helps. It will give you a nice drive without fuzz.

 

[drTStingray]

For hip hop sounds, there is often a lot of sub bass frequency. You can enhance this by playing position (over the end of the neck) and attitude/style - but use of an octave pedal is sometimes helpful. Take a listen to the breakdown on Tom Browne's Funking for Jamiaca (played by Marcus Miller on a 4 string with octave pedal) - nice line and great sound.

As has been said, loads of effects and triggering of synths are often used by bass players especially in dance and hip hop music - an example is the band Pendulum - some of their stuff was played on a Stingray 4HH and is very subby sounding but goodness knows what effects he is using.

Chris Wolstenholme of Muse has talked at length in interviews in Bass Guitar magazines about his basses/rigs/effects chains - if you haven't seen them you could probably look up on line - he is another player who gets incredible overdriven and synthy effects (including live!).

I guess there are loads of examples out there and mostly using far more effects/gear than any of us want or can afford - it seems a good synth pedal; octave pedal; and distortion/overdrive pedal will give you something to work with.

 

[supadave]

Chancellor has deeply scooped mids and favours things like the Turbo Rat2, Sansamp GT2 and Foxxfuzz and (I said 2) but he uses 3 GK amps...one dirty, one clean, one straight to PA. You can get an approximate sound by playing near the bridge, scooping your mids and...praying. I spent ages trying to get his sound and could really only get close. Hes into the old envelope filter too.

 

[AlexBongoCrazy]

i'm not really a huge fan of scooping mids

 

[oli@bass]

My 2 cents:
- Nice grit: SansAmp PBDDI and RBI or the Fulltone Bass Drive Mosfet are your friends
- Hip hop bass sound: Lots of neck PU + right hand position close to the neck + turn down the treble + any of your autofilter/octave/drive pedals you like... the MXR 288 is a great all around octaver but the discontinued Ampeg OCT-SCP is absolutely phantastic for deep phat bass lines. I'd love to give the MarkBass pedals a try though...

 

[thedude]

I play a Sterling H, with a Fulltone BassDrive Mosfet and I am able to get sounds reallllllly close to Justin Chancellor. I just kinda stumbled across it by accident actually, by messing with the pedal, and it was an amazing discovery. If anyone wants the setting, pm me.