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…

Greetings once again. Here we are: the last volume in our effects discussion. Take that last sentence with a huge grain of salt, since we both know by now that this “effects” topic is one that can easily fill up a large library!

However, if you’ve been following along with the series I feel confident that you have now developed a working knowledge of all of the “must know” basics concerning the effects we have tackled. You are at a point now where you can take this knowledge as far and deep as you want to.

Keeping with that spirit we will have one more discussion that will round out your “required” effects knowledge.

Let’s get to it.

What are “Modulation” Effects?

There are many ways to describe modulation effects, and there are even more effects that can be included in this category. So as always, the question that begs for an answer is this:

What is the main characteristic that encompasses modulation effects?

In a nutshell, any effect that keeps the original (‘dry’) signal, and then duplicates or mimics that signal with any particular alteration to it, is a modulation effect. The name itself tells exactly what the effect does – ‘modulate’ means to adjust or adapt, and modulation effects make some particular kind of continual adjustment to the original signal.

There are an endless variety of modulation effects, so we’ll stick to the most popular ones. We’re going to cover rotary speakers, chorus, flanger and phaser effects this week, and tremolo, vibrato, pitch shift and wah-wah effects in our next installment. Click to read the rest…

Welcome back to the ongoing series that began with Frequency Fundamentals. I trust and hope it has been as helpful for you as it was fun for me to write.

Moving along, this is the start of a new series that will dovetail with the frequency series. Consider it the second suite of a broader work. These new articles will continue our discussion and build on top of the foundation we laid down previously. This time we will focus on audio effects.

“Relevance?”, you ask.

Find me a musician, audio professional, or recording/mixing/mastering engineer that doesn’t use audio effects – and I will be the one to question if they have red blood coursing through their veins!

A more pertinent question would be this: “Effects… OK. But why now?”

If you are familiar with the previous frequency series, you should know the answer by now:
Click to read the rest…