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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You can also download this episode directly:

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

The podcast is an M4A (AAC) file, which should play back on most modern audio software and portable music players. If you have any problems downloading or playing the file please let us know.

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!

In this final installment of our Hearing Effects series we’ll complete our discussion of modulation effects by looking at tremolo, vibrato, pitch shift and wah-wah effects.

First things first – I know you’ve been waiting to find out the answer to our last Bonus Question, from our article on Reverb Effects:

Who is the original wah-wah effect named after – and why?

It was jazz trumpet player Clyde McCoy. The reason the first wah-wah’s were named after Clyde is simply due to the fact that it was the electronic answer to the muted trumpet sound (utilizing a trumpet mute plunger) that McCoy had developed and used.

In 1967, Vox introduced the first “Clyde McCoy” wah-wah. This became the blueprint, and the rest; well, you know how these things go.

Nowadays, there are themes and variations on the wah-wah concept, just as there are themes and variations on all of the other audio effects we’ve discussed so far.

We’ll take a closer look at the functional and technical details of the wah-wah below. But we have a few other effects to cover first…

Tremolo/Vibrato Effects

The next stop on our tour is the dominion of tremolo and vibrato effects.

Right off the bat: this pair of effects uses just the “wet” signal and does not require it to be mixed with the original/”dry” signal to produce the effect. If you remember last week’s definition of modulation effects and the discussion of chorus and flanger effects, you’ll understand why we’re pointing this out as a difference. If not, go back and refresh your memory before we continue on.

Tremolo

Tremolo in its simplest form is an effect based on volume amplitude modulation; that is, the volume of the signal gets turned up and down. That’s it… volume up and down. A signal is fed into the tremolo unit and its volume is made to rise and fall according to three main controls: speed, depth, and (more recently) shape too!

The end result is the deep throbbing sound that bubbles up to full volume and then disappears into oblivion before repeating the whole cycle again.

The first and earliest examples of this effect Click to read the rest…

Here are a few recent developments in the world of music and sound which might help inspire or guide you in your ear training!

Jump to:

• Big Update for Theta Music Trainer
• A possible end to the “Loudness War”
• Piano Carnival CD: Classical Music and Stories for Kids
• New Wah-Wah and SwingIt! apps for iOS
• Happy Birthday, Don Leslie!

Big Update for Theta Music Trainer

Back in October we covered the launch of Theta Music Trainer, an exciting new website which provides a wide range of ear training games. You play online via your browser, and the games teach everything from intervals and chords, to rhythm, music reading, and more. Varying difficulty levels make it easy to get started, and there are ‘courses’ you can take to build up your skills in a structured way.

Here at Easy Ear Training we love seeing fun new ways to develop aural skills, and so we were excited to hear about the new version of Theta Music Trainer, which introduces three new games, a smart Personal Trainer feature, and strong support for music teachers to use the games with students in the classroom. It also adds Spanish to the English and Japanese language options already available.

Number Blaster is a fun arcade-style game to learn musical numbering

Two of the new games focus on your ability to judge pitches, with Speed Pitch testing your ability to make broad judgements quickly, and Dango Brothers essentially making a game of tuning a guitar string. I’ll admit, I had to look up what a Dango is – but fortunately this didn’t hinder my ability to enjoy the game!

Dango Brothers checks your fine-grained pitch judgement

Click to read the rest…