There is no future that would find me producing music whether with my fingers or through a mixing board. Every one of your videos captivates me with the simple pleasure of seeing an expert share their expertise with clarity, enthusiasm, and a dash of wry perspective.
Anthony Marinelli's channel also gives great insight into creating the famous bass sounds for the many 80s hit he's worked on (e.g. MJ's Thriller). Both his and now this video has given me new recording approaches. Thx
Oh yes, Marinelli’s videos are excellent! He’s a first class sound designer. So many people don’t realise how much work went into the tiniest details on those records. I have had the opportunity to scrutinise the actual ‘Thriller’ multitracks and all the synth bass was bounced to a single track (although electric bass was kept on a separate track). So if it weren’t for Marinelli we would not know how those tracks were layered.
Thanks Joey! That’s an awesome thing to say! I’m planning a video all about unusual fretless recording techniques which will be based mainly around Mick Karn… there’s a small production issue, but I think it’s going to be really good :)
Great insight. I really learned a thing. Now I understand what the 90s synth from Roland each patch has multiple partials. So you can layer/blend sounds together to get different characteristics in one patch. Like blending Scottish whiskey.
Yes, that’s exactly right. This was the way a lot of synths developed in the 90s - sometimes they get called ‘romplers’ because there’s a sample element (in rom) as well as a synthesises element. We had a D-50 in the late 80s though nowadays I find the sound a bit cold. I still have a Korg M1 though which not only has some classic presets but also is incredible if you programme it (it has partials and a really interesting synthesis engine). But for me, blending not only different synths but also different styles of synths is where the sound really takes off :)
There's a piano doubling the bass guitar on Walking On The Moon. It's quite subtle, but once you hear it, you can't help but notice it every time you hear the song. They do the same thing on several songs from that album, too.
There’s a Van Halen song that is Clavinet or Rhodes piano run through a distorted guitar amp and everyone was always trying to figure out how they got that tone on their guitar and it wasn’t even guitar lol
It launched a thousand quests for "piano tone" on the bass! On vinyl and tape (and especially on AM radio) it was harder to spot than when CDs came along.
@@AnthonyAnthony-tk4ye I remember seeing that on "running with the devil" that whistle sound is one of those goofy party tube sliders you blow into. I can imagine Dave bringing that into the session and goofing around. also car horns on the opening
@@flipnap2112 That dopplered car horn in the intro is genius. I wonder who thought that up, the producer or a band member? Amazes me the things people think up.
Yours is my new favorite RU-vid channel. I’ve already watched all the videos a couple times. Thank you. Please keep it up. I love the format. Don’t change a thing
This is now my favorite TV show. Really appreciate the story telling and the general production of this program. But fear not; i will hold back on compliments this time as it came to my ears that the british get spots from compliments.
This is true. We are bad at taking compliments. But out of the thousands of amazing comments I’ve had so far, you are the first to recognise what I’m actually trying to do: I’m trying to make TV. Thank you for noticing. :) 🙏
Thank you so much for talking about Nigel Gray! I haven't been able to find much information about him, so I'm really grateful for your insights. I absolutely agree with your preference about the sound of the first three Police albums. The bass sound you created is incredible, and the music you composed to showcase it is fantastic. Greetings from Argentina!
When you said in the video, it was loud', my first thought was, "The neighbors down the street got to enjoy it with you...perhaps, without the laughter". 🤣 @DistortThePreamp
We really should all thanks Mr Gray. He never really made the money he deserved. Which is why he retired from the industry at the age of 40 (in 1987). If only he’d been paid properly there might be a lot more amazing records…
i'm just getting into the synth bass process and now i'm hooked. i am a bassist. it didn't take me long to realize a lot of music consists of electronic/synth bass. music is very dynamic beast. it changes constantly and if you can't change with it - either willingly or unwillingly, it's too easy to get left behind. another thing is, as a musician, you got to pay attention to the details. there is no way around it. whatever i listen to there is so much going on in the background. michael jackson and stevie wonder are masters of this. and that's just scratching the surface. and yea, as you point out, it goes back to the 80's pop. i started implementing synth bass with a behringer neutron and i couldn't believe the sounds i could get out of it. i soon realized the synth bass on most recordings was a mixture of several tracks or "layered" - consisting of several different sounds and instruments. i'm currently building a euro-rack based synth to expand on it. for me, it's really fascinating.
That’s exactly right! Attention to detail is critical. A lot of modern artists get this wrong - not because they don’t believe in detail, but because they leave it too late and then can’t solve the problems. The trick is to spend time getting really good sounds and then commit them. That’s one of the wonderful thing about working with real instruments versus software instruments - you’re forced into that workflow. Meanwhile, you should *definitley* be doubling *all* of your synth bass with real bass! Just tuck it under the synth bass so you can just hear it. Thank you so much for watching!
@@DistortThePreamp I agree about commitment. In my experience, many "mix" problems are arrangement problems that could have been fixed before hitting Record.
@@unclemick-synths Me too! Two reasons for me: (1) it’s straight up a fantastic synth, but also (2) it was how I prevented myself from falling down a Eurorack hole which was endless and which I would never have been able to afford 😂
Thank-you for this and your other videos, they are ace. I tried this approach today and surprised myself with a sound that has forever changed how I’m going to record and mix bass. 🙏
That’s so fantastic to hear! Sorry for the delay. I’ve been neck deep in editing and I’m very behind. But comments like yours are incredibly inspiring…
The most incredible synth layering album of all time may be “Oh No! it’s DEVO.” It was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the same producer as Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, who’s an incredible layering texture producer. If anybody hasn’t heard it, give a listen. Not to the songs, but to the synth sounds. Luscious and totally unique.
Thank you so much! I’ve spend the weekend making some studio updates just so I can (hopefully) increase my output! But I really appreciate you watching and making this comment :)
Aaaaaah the lately bass! I’m using the Arturia DX7 and have imported all the ROM cartridge presets - I trawled the net for everything! The DX7 has a sound that is very malleable and has a unique flexibility that lends itself to additional processing like the distortion etc. We use them for twinkly sounds, basses but also for ambient washed out sounds, which it excels at. Only recently learned how much FM is used in modern electro.
Oh yes! The DX7 can’t quite do Lately because the operators are different, but it can get very close with a patch that from memory is called Solid Bass! People associate FM with bells and glistening pads, but it’s so great at bass too! What I love about FM synths is the articulation you can get from the velocity assuming the patch has been set up in that way…
You, sir, are an amazing musician - which I’ll praise you for several times in the future - but equally a brilliant storyteller. Thank you so much for continuing your channel, you’re my favorite creator these days.
Wonderful stuff. I paused your video about 10 mins from the end and sat at my keyboard to try this out. The result is just awesome. I used a harsh synth preset instead of the kick sample, but the result is exactly as you describe - punchy, full, clear and distorted simultaneously. I'll play with the velocity sensitivities next, but it's already brilliant! Thank you for sharing this!
Absolutely enjoyed this..your explanation’s where on layman’s term’s,kudos to you sir for taking the time to share your experience & helping other musician,s make better music,tip my hat to you sir 👏🏻👏🏻😎
Incredibly important video for me! I'm such a huge fan of Sting's playing on Regatta de Blanc. I waited years to see this video it was a real moment for me. Thank You!!
Great video thanks for this. That bass guitar amp splitting technique is still used today to great effect by Mike Kerr from Royal Blood. He also uses all sorts of other effects such as octave shifters and different lead guitar pedals but its really interesting to hear it started with the prog guys.
It was really Chris Squire from Yes who’s famous for this. His Rickenbacker bass had two outs (one for each pickup) and he routed one into a guitar amp. Amazing sound. But a lot of the prog guys do similar nowadays - Geddy Lee for example (from Rush) uses a very similar setup. Mike Kerr’s rig is a little different but very interesting. He’s a bit coy about it but it’s basically almost like a reverse of Jack White’s setup. Kerr is splitting his bass signal, shifting an octave up and then treating that like a guitar. What really makes a difference to a setup like this is to route it into an entirely different amp. If you try and blend the signal back into a single amp it doesn’t sound nearly as good. Thanks so much for the kind words about the video :) Bey much appreciated :)
Beautiful, just what I needed as I prepare to make the most of my studio while condensing my live set up. I'll be firing up the TX81Z, Bass Station 2 and Kawai K1 for layering up sounds before sampling to my Lo-Fi 12. Excellent video! Cheers.
Just a little correction, Sting's upright bass wasn't made by him chopping up his favorite acoustic upright. It's a Z-bass, made by Dutch luthier Henk Van Zalinge. I love your channel.
I’m so pleased you liked it! I’ve considered dropping the performances because I wasn’t sure if people cared about those bits of the videos, and it’s quite a lot of pressure to write something new and interesting and good every video. But I’m definitely keeping them for now!
❤ So great to find a channel by someone who shares my obsession with synth bass tone chasing. I spent so much time trying to cop the sound of the bass in "When the Going Gets Tough" by Billy Ocean. I discovered that using my cheap Yamaha Reface CS, and then running it through a guitar overdrive pedal effect (Wampler Tumnus) comes close. It also opened up a world of exploration using guitar preamps for lead synths; they can sound so nasty, really cuts through the mix. After watching this, I'll definitely be experimenting with layering different synthesizers to get a great bass sound. Actually, when I used to make music on the Commodore 64 home computer, we'd usually always put a drum-sound at the beginning of the bass sound (didn't have enough voices to layer them). Sorry for the long rambling!
Ah yes! Here is a tip for distorting bass: make to copies (ie duplicate the bass) and distort one of them. BUT use a high pass filter on the distorted channel to it’s not applying distortion to the low frequencies. This should give you a very strong clear low end but with all the bite :)
@@DistortThePreamp I think that you absolutely deserve that cause in my career as a composer and a producer i was engaged to quite many genres from Italo Disco which i still love , House and even classical music, so layering various sounds that serve other frequencies to the listener is a known tip for me but you explain that so simple so this knowledge which is essential for a great production is accessible to anybody from a new composer to a pro one, keep up the great work i always enjoy your content and i am glad that you still use my beloved roland r8 too !
Sorry for the late reply! (So many comments, they all get lost). Fantastic that you’re an R8 fan. I absolutely *love* mine. I had the WaveRex sampling card but didn’t get on with it. When I loaded samples they didn’t sound the same because it turns out the R8 preamps are very coloured. I guess this is why the (insanely overpriced) R8 Cards sound so good - because Roland would have spend ages tuning the samples so they sounded as good as possible out of an R8. And also glad you like Italian Disco. I had planned to make a video showing how Moroder made the bass to ‘I Feel Love’ (the point being that it’s 8th notes with a 16th delay, and the delay is louder so the offbeat is accented, and late so it’s swung, and there’s a second repeat so it flams, etc) but I became convinced that nobody would care. And it might already have been done. And now, if it hasn’t been done, I’ve just given the game away 😂
@@DistortThePreamp It’s so valuable to really understand a mix philosophy and how that can translate across all genres. I was also a huge Police/Sting fan and they/he inspired me to learn the bass. Great learnings, great channel!
I have the Yamaha V50 and ever since I bought it in 1989 I found how bloody good fm bass is. I have mostly layered bass sounds and love creating phat bass sounds using different synth engines. However time pressures these days frustrate my efforts but your video is like a message in a bottle to return to my old ways haha. Cheers mate for that.
Oh fantastic! I was putting together some music in a hurry yesterday and playing and layering was *so much faster* than laboriously programming. It’s funny - what should take longer is sometimes actually simpler. Really appreciate you watching and taking the time to comment :)
Good point. But I think it’s more a case of guitars played an octave up or a db (short decay) against an eb (long decay) so not a like against like situation. Stacking sounds should be constructive rather than destructive etc. I’ve tracked bass with a dirty amp feed against a DI and cut a lot of the low off the amp channel as you’re really after the fast transient and the fizz. So it doesn’t really interfere.
@@SharkpussI guess that makes more sense. It just seemed like he’s claiming so many old recordings would “double” the bass parts with guitar(?) Like, i understand it in theory, but I have literally never heard any mention of that for it to be supposedly commonplace for old recordings. So did the bassist pick up a guitar after playing it on a bass? If so, news to me.
EQing the layers to create more separation between them can help as well. Music is a hobby for me but I’m a professional sound effects designer, and we do this all the time when making composite sounds out of layers.
If e.g. A1 is 55Hz, is phase cancellation gradually reducing with each semitone up or down from A1? Tried to decipher this with ears + oscilloscope but still in dark 🤨
It’s actually fine. Maybe the best example would be one of the tracks on ‘Thriller’ which has four synth basses stacked and a real bass. The only phase checking would have been simple in/out on the desk, and there is *nothing* wrong with those bass parts. I see a lot of people getting obsessed with low end phase nowadays and doing phase rotation. In my experience phase is important, but I’ve never had a deal breaking problem. When you listen to a recording of a classical orchestra with lots of cellos, nobody did anything to the phase of each instrument coming into the mic ;)
Brilliant. I learn a lot from your analysis and suggestions. The photos and microphone text themes are fun, and I’m always looking for them now. Thanks for sharing your craft.
Really enjoying your channel - loved how you tell the stories and then those moments of enlightenment. But also how you build a track and take us along for the ride - fabulous- can’t wait to see and hear more from you.
@@paul6925 This is the key. A song should sound amazing coming out of an overturned stereo on a beach with the speaker facing the sand. If it doesn’t, you’ve got a problem.
I enjoy all the small references in your videos, am pretty sure I heard a snatch of ‘bizarre love triangle’ followed by a soupçon of ‘reward’. Did not recognize the framed photo this time.
My pleasure! Although I suspect it was Stephen Hague the producer… after all it was actually the second time they recorded (and released) ‘West End Girls’ and they definitely didn’t put a kick under the bass with Bobby Orlando’s version 😂
Excellent work, keep going. I'm sure it's hard work and time consuming but I'm really enjoying your videos. In one of the previous ones you made a comment about "chords are cheating". I'd be fascinated to hear more of the thinking behind that comment - I'm guessing you're saying "try using mono synths to make single lines which work together" in the same way that an orchestra would have separate lines from violins, celli, horns etc etc... But I'd love to hear more. Cheers from a fellow 80's pop kid!
Any video on that subject would surely mention Vince Clarke. Since he mostly used an ARP 2600 monosynth on early Depeche and Yazoo tracks, he wrote lots of monophonic melodies that combined brilliantly to create the illusion of chords. In my opinion, the technology is partly why I prefer early synth pop to later examples. Once polysynths and Romplers were affordable, there was too much use of pads and synth musicians kind of forgot how to write/program catchy melodies and counter-melodies that contained the ear candy that attracted me to synth pop in the first place.
@@DistortThePreamp Ha! as I wrote the comment did think that probably your goal is that is not so hidden any longer. Anyway great info and very inspiring too, cheers!
Well my goal is obviously RU-vid domination. But somehow I have to achieve that without resorting to thumbnails of me looking surprised pointing at a synth with words like “The Pro’s Don’t Want You To Know This Secret” 😂😂😂
@@DistortThePreamp haha glad you're not doing those annoying click baits thumbnails, that honestly, at least for me, makes me not want to 'click'! Anyway your videos transmit great knowledge and years of investigation that are of great value for anyone that is really interested in this genre of music 🎹
I never even considered that the bass might be layered - especially the +1 octave guitar. I just assumed they'd come up with some amazingly fat bass patches for the synths. Listening back and concentrating on the bass line, there it is! And now I know how to do it, too. Thanks for spilling the beans.
It’s not entirely dissimilar. The FM architecture of Lately makes it snap more and have a different kind of low end, whereas with the SH-101 you never get complete clean low end because the oscillators aren’t sine. Though it still sounds completely awesome!
This is a fantastic video (as are your others), thank you for sharing your knowledge! I like to layer my SH-101 and Elektron Digitone for bass, but will now experiment with adding some thump too.
yet more excellent content. I've been listening to the police a lot lately, kind of an obsession. they and their production team were doing everything right back then. They were a little too clean by the end, but still fantastic. Hugh Padgham's treatment was also excellent. A track like Spirits in the Material World is stunning. Anyway, yeah, Reggatta is the best. Just want to say that Stewart Copeland's timing and the sound of his kit blow my mind every time I hear it.
I agree. I do like a lot of the Hugh Padgham stuff, and he really captured a vibe on, say, ‘Tea in the Sahara’ but on balance I think Regatta and Zenyatta are probably better. I’m actually a huge fan of Zenyatta. It’s so live sounding. Probably because it was recorded in about two weeks.
Thank you so much! One of my goals is to make videos that work on a purely entertainment level and can be enjoyed by non musicians. So I really appreciate your kind comment…
Really great tutes. Im a big 80s fan and so your material really helps to make it all so much fun..After kin years of listening to sounds you explain it all effortlessly. Impressive. Thanks
Just like the first part and your other videos that I watched so far this was FANTASTIC!!! Absolutely love what you do. The kick drum sample as an additional layer - it makes so much sense and you can actually make it out once you know about it, but I would have never guessed that! Thank you so much for sharing!
What has been so fantastic about these videos is that apparently some people are actually trying this stuff out for themselves. Although I also have a mission to make the videos as entertaining as possible for non-musicians. Thank you so much for all your comments Jan…
That’s very well put. I had it mixed super loud to ‘make the point’ but even at lower volumes it does exactly what you say - adds thump that your brain recognises. Really appreciate you watching and making the awesome comment :)
awesome, never knew this knowledge wow, producing 20 years, I do layer SUB / MID / High bass always usually 3 layers but never with a kick drum will try this thanks for vid and new subscriber here :-)
I’m so pleased to hear this! Somebody asked me who the person in the thumbnail was, and I was wondering if I had failed to choose a sufficiently iconic image ;)
Oh I am so pleased! It’s comments like this which are what the whole channel is for! It’s really not about recreating sounds from the past, it’s abouy learning forgotten techniques from the past and adding them to today’s bag of tricks :)
excellent stuff as always, very interesting to hear the kick sample in the bass sound, reminded me that when writing Killer, Adamski had accidentally put a drum machine on the same midi channel and it trigered different drum sounds for each note of the bass line, but it adds a lot of character to it. love the demo tune too, sounded like PSB working with Orbital (particularly The Box).
@@markf.3617 I am so please! I was a bit worried that the entire viewer base would go ‘What? Real electric bass? Who cares!’ and leave en masse. Thankfully this does not appear to be the case…
Exactly! It’s a classic combo. I’m pretty sure that Faltermeyer picked up the DX7 fretless habit from Moroder (who he obviously worked with a lot) as Giorgio used to use it a lot for vamping…
Its literally the way the bass for Billie jean was created apparently. Real bass with a synth layer and another layer added to enhance the transient....love your videos, you could talk about paint drying and i watch lol
Two weeks ago, I bought a Yamaha TX81z for R2000.00. Equivalent to $110.00. Just to hear lately base being played with under my fingers, is the most satisfying emotion ever. The guy that sold it to me brought it from the USA 12 years ago and it was just laying around, he said. He was more into modern synths. Just glad I got it safely tucked away in my personal studio now.
Nice to know I wasn't a million miles away. I often used an ESQ-1 layered with a DX11 (keyboard version of the TX81Z). The DX added the spike cut and the ESQ the fatness and filter warbling. I like the idea of the bass drum sample adding a subtle bit of thump to the bass sound. Thanks again for another secrets revealed video.
Honestly I think that’s spot on. It’s really not about the exact sound, just the layering trick. The DX11 is fantastic - one day I will have the space to have synths which aren’t all in racks 😂
Hi fella... Just randomly discovered your channel, the Rio video about its arpeggio. Anyway, I'm a bit busy playing around with my brand new guitar that I got today, but I've had a quick flick through and you look like you have a great channel and you present really well, and yep, I'm old enough to have been around listening to all that great music in the 80s. There was a period in the 80s when I wouldn't listen to bands that had real instruments, it had to be all electronic... silly, I know, but when you're a teenager you do silly things, I soon grew out of it. One of my all-time favourite arpeggios is the one that runs through the Yazoo track Don't Go. One of the remixes on the 12 inch really brings that part out, I think it's the one called the Re-Remix. I'll definitely be back to have a proper look... In the meantime, new subscriber here! 👍😊🎸🎹
