Time to continue your bass effects education! Following on from the last part, Episode 6 of the Bass Tone podcast covers some more innovative effects, including modulation and pitch-shift.

In this week’s podcast you’ll learn all about:

• What modulation effects are and how they work
• The Chorus and Flanger effects and how they impact your tone
• The sound of Wah-Wah effects, and why they combine well with distortion effects
• Pitch-shifter effects (including octaver effects)

http://www.EasyEarTraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/6_-_Bass_FX_2.m4a

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Download Bass Tone Podcast – Part 6 (right-click and “Save as…”)

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Have you crafted your distinctive personal bass tone yet? Found a bass effect that really sets you apart? Share your experience in the comments below!



This is the last podcast in the Bass Tone podcast series. If you’ve enjoyed it, please let Nick know!

Last time on Bass Tone we looked at how you can use EQ, compressors, limiters and overdrive effects to craft your perfect tone. There’s a whole wild world of audio effects beyond these though. Traditionally reserved for guitarists, the effects we’ll be looking at this week can now be part of any bassist’s arsenal, as manufacturers produce bass-specific versions of their famous effects.

Modulate to Innovate

“Modulation” effects mix the original signal with a processed copy which varies over time. The type of processing done determines the type of modulation effect produced. For example, a chorus effect delays the copy, and continually changes the delay length in a random sort of way.

A “low-frequency oscillator” controls the change over time. Depending on the effect, it may control the range (sometimes called “depth”) or the speed (sometimes called “rate”) at which the sound changes.

Modulation effects tend to be less popular on the bass than on guitar or keyboard. The main reason for this is that the bass line is so central to the mix of a rock record that producers often want to avoid the washiness and lack of punch that excessive modulation can cause. However, the additional clarity in the high frequencies that the modern bass amplifier provides, coupled with the range of extremely high-quality specialist bass effects on the market, means that these issues aren’t really the problem they used to be.

That said, if you find yourself playing live with less-than-ideal PA, or your bass effects are not of the highest quality it is very important that you keep your modulation effects subtle to ensure that you’ll still be heard clearly.

Chaining many effects pedals together can also introduce noise Click to read the rest…

Northern State are no longer together, and though that’s a bummer, they left us with three hyper-fun—and very different—albums before they hung up their microphones a few years back. I’m not here to give you a Northern State history lesson (though I’d love to), but it’s worth mentioning because they’re one of those groups whose sound changed starkly with each release. They were always hip-hop, but they constantly flirted with other genres and eventually became hard to classify, which was, for me, when they finally found the sound they had always been looking for and came into their own.

They never really intended a mass release of their first album, and accordingly, it was raw, better-than-demo-quality rap that was party-worthy, but never too complex (that’s not a bad thing). Their second release was more thoroughly produced, and more focused in general, but some of the looseness of their debut was conspicuously missing. Their third album, the one which featured the song we’ll be taking a listen to, was a huge step forward. The hip-hop elements are still in the forefront, but the band managed to incorporate a ton of other sounds and influences.

Northern State – Better Already

This song in particular is a great example of what was going on throughout the album: they rap the verses, sing the chorus, and float a bunch of other bits and pieces around those main sections to really make the track an impressive little slice of three-minute pop. A few years back, this cut was on heavy rotation in my stereo, and I never shy away from returning to it.

Better Already - Synthy-Jagged Guitar
The synthy-jagged guitar, intro that starts the song off is intentionally panned hard to the left speaker—not only to mellow it out a bit, but also to leave room for the vocals, bass, and drums that kick in just after it cycles through once. While you might initially think that the guitar is going to lead the charge Click to read the rest…