i was just sorting through the source files for this (which is 40 gb, yes, it is THAT intricately constructed.), which is the last thing i did with live bass, to see if the source on the bass buzzes, and sure enough it does. i guess i just dealt with it.
but, you know, every time i listen to this i'm overwhelmed with pride over how elaborate it is. my symphony of psilocybin induced madness is really something else in the way it merges romantic music with electronica, but it's always been more of a proof of concept. this is only the first part of an incomplete work, but it's really my opus.
and it is a legit opus. headphones, please.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/proverbs
it's really an electric guitar concerto when you break it down.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
uploading bass fx jam to soundcloud
this is actually a bass guitar. it's through a high octave pitch shift guitar effect that i initially programmed as a noisy grunge fill, but the bass takes it down to a more acceptable octave range and, due to the thickness of the strings, allows for the creation of reedy, woody and brassy sounds. then there's that ghastly reverb. dunno what i'll do with this (it may end up in the crash symphony), but it needs gongs and spooky synths and stuff...
https://soundcloud.com/deathtokoalas/02-09-2014a
as an aside, that means i've isolated the buzz to a frequency issue, as the bass sounds fine when pitch shifted up a bit...
https://soundcloud.com/deathtokoalas/02-09-2014a
as an aside, that means i've isolated the buzz to a frequency issue, as the bass sounds fine when pitch shifted up a bit...
switching
the active switch on the pod seems to have helped enough. i'm sort of
being silly in looking for a crystal clear pick tone, because it's
coming up against a wall of fuzz and i'm probably going to end up
fuzzing it as well. that makes sense for the pod - it's designed to take
a passive guitar in, so plugging an active bass into it is a very loud
signal. that should have been obvious from the start.
it makes less sense to me from the mixer, though. the things i've read have suggested to me that the extra power from the active pickups should minimize that kind of noise because you don't need to turn the volume up as high. i mean, i get it - it's more power, and it's overdriving it. it should be connected to a di. but the gain is at 75% just to pick the signal up at a decent level. the only other approach would be to take it in at like 50% and floor it when it gets in, but then...
...well, maybe that's just it. maybe you'd have to turn the passive down so far to get the same results that you'd be losing it. maybe you still need the active low, but not as low, so you can get more of the performance.
i think i'm happy with the pod with the pad on through the pre-amp. i'm going to try mixing a bit of it and see if i can get it to sound right....
it makes less sense to me from the mixer, though. the things i've read have suggested to me that the extra power from the active pickups should minimize that kind of noise because you don't need to turn the volume up as high. i mean, i get it - it's more power, and it's overdriving it. it should be connected to a di. but the gain is at 75% just to pick the signal up at a decent level. the only other approach would be to take it in at like 50% and floor it when it gets in, but then...
...well, maybe that's just it. maybe you'd have to turn the passive down so far to get the same results that you'd be losing it. maybe you still need the active low, but not as low, so you can get more of the performance.
i think i'm happy with the pod with the pad on through the pre-amp. i'm going to try mixing a bit of it and see if i can get it to sound right....
yup.
no improvement with the mixer.
dramatic improvement with the soundblaster.
so, if it's humming, the soundblaster is getting around it. good enough...
...but i think it's asio. let's see if i can find evidence of that...
i know i can get around it by compressing the hell out of it because i did it once before, which is fine for finger parts, but i need a pick attack for this and don't want to compress it out.
the only other thing i can think of is that the active pickups are too loud. maybe if i try recording at a very, very low volume.
actually, i have a switch on the pod to try for that, too.
no improvement with the mixer.
dramatic improvement with the soundblaster.
so, if it's humming, the soundblaster is getting around it. good enough...
...but i think it's asio. let's see if i can find evidence of that...
i know i can get around it by compressing the hell out of it because i did it once before, which is fine for finger parts, but i need a pick attack for this and don't want to compress it out.
the only other thing i can think of is that the active pickups are too loud. maybe if i try recording at a very, very low volume.
actually, i have a switch on the pod to try for that, too.
the
limiter didn't help either, indicating it's not actually clipping. it's
buzzing around 100 hz, and there doesn't seem to be a way to deal with
it except dropping the eq - which is no good, because that's where i
want the bass to be.
next thing i'm going to try is directly plugging it into the mixer. those active pups might be pissing off the pod...
if the mixer clears it up, i know it's the drivers on the pod - which, to be fair, are made for guitar frequencies. guitar starts at e2. i'm playing between e1 and f#2.
if the mixer doesn't clear it up, it's either an asio thing (which i suspect is true) or neither input can deal with the pickups.
step three will be testing it with the soundblaster to see if i can create the same problem or not, determining if it's really asio or just the bass.
i need to be clear that it isn't buzzing on the monitor, so it's a capture/driver issue with the pod. but i think it's asio because the initial line in was through the pod to the mixer. i'll find out in a few minutes...
of course, i could also be getting a hum at 100hz that the di box would in theory resolve, but you'd think i'd hear it on the monitor....
next thing i'm going to try is directly plugging it into the mixer. those active pups might be pissing off the pod...
if the mixer clears it up, i know it's the drivers on the pod - which, to be fair, are made for guitar frequencies. guitar starts at e2. i'm playing between e1 and f#2.
if the mixer doesn't clear it up, it's either an asio thing (which i suspect is true) or neither input can deal with the pickups.
step three will be testing it with the soundblaster to see if i can create the same problem or not, determining if it's really asio or just the bass.
i need to be clear that it isn't buzzing on the monitor, so it's a capture/driver issue with the pod. but i think it's asio because the initial line in was through the pod to the mixer. i'll find out in a few minutes...
of course, i could also be getting a hum at 100hz that the di box would in theory resolve, but you'd think i'd hear it on the monitor....
actually, the sample rate idea is
not going to work unless i reroute it to my maudio card. the mixer and
pod both have 48 max. it's only the maudio that can go up to 192, but i
never use it for recording because it only has one old-fashioned
red/white in. it's purely for playback. it's an idea, but it would be
easier to just use the soundblaster. still, i'm curious as to how much
better it is through 48, just for the bass.
i should just use the pod through a bassman. if i direct usb it in, i can't overload it.
easy.
i wanted to avoid that because i wanted to shape it in the daw, but i don't think the clips are otherwise avoidable without killing the dynamics. i'll have to experiment to see if it's workable, but i think this is the best approach.
i should just use the pod through a bassman. if i direct usb it in, i can't overload it.
easy.
i wanted to avoid that because i wanted to shape it in the daw, but i don't think the clips are otherwise avoidable without killing the dynamics. i'll have to experiment to see if it's workable, but i think this is the best approach.
actually, it could be that it's clipping due to the
sample rate. just, empirically: i've never had bass clip when recording
to tape, which takes a continuous signal. it could be clipping as
certain low frequencies with long waveforms get cut in the sampling,
which may be more pronounced through asio than through whatever my
soundblaster is using.
it doesn't clip on monitor, only in record, telling me it's something to do with the capture.
i stick with cd quality when i'm recording. i know there's a lot of people that will argue against that - they say to use 24/48K as the standard. there's no technical reason i don't do this. it's just that i want to mix it the way i'm going to hear it. i've experimented with it a bit, and i find that that extra bit of "headroom" is just fucking up the mix because when i eventually mix it down to 16/44 there's aspects of the reverb and whatnot that don't sound as pronounced. i'd rather spend the time mixing it the way i want it to sound at the quality level people will listen to it at, which might mean turning the effects up a bit more or doubling them or whatever.
but one solution to this may be to take the bass in at like 192 and then downsample.
i have the battery, i'm going to replace it now and i'll let you know what i end up doing. i know this is a solvable problem, it's just a question of getting the answer.
it doesn't clip on monitor, only in record, telling me it's something to do with the capture.
i stick with cd quality when i'm recording. i know there's a lot of people that will argue against that - they say to use 24/48K as the standard. there's no technical reason i don't do this. it's just that i want to mix it the way i'm going to hear it. i've experimented with it a bit, and i find that that extra bit of "headroom" is just fucking up the mix because when i eventually mix it down to 16/44 there's aspects of the reverb and whatnot that don't sound as pronounced. i'd rather spend the time mixing it the way i want it to sound at the quality level people will listen to it at, which might mean turning the effects up a bit more or doubling them or whatever.
but one solution to this may be to take the bass in at like 192 and then downsample.
i have the battery, i'm going to replace it now and i'll let you know what i end up doing. i know this is a solvable problem, it's just a question of getting the answer.
i'm not really getting a hum, which is
what the dis are usually good for. it's clipping from playing dynamics
and the in being too sensitive. not the right solution.
it's a limiter/battery/compression/volume issue....
i mean, the box might give it more headroom, and it might help, but it's going to be easier to restrict those spikes - for picking parts, anyways.
it's a limiter/battery/compression/volume issue....
i mean, the box might give it more headroom, and it might help, but it's going to be easier to restrict those spikes - for picking parts, anyways.
i didn't realize that bass has no passive out on it. the last song i finished with a live bass part was late 2009, which means that that battery has been sitting in there for at least five years. i couldn't even remember if i took the battery out or not. i assumed whatever was in there was long gone...
nope.
but that means i recorded parts with a five year old battery...
the clipping-bass-through-electronic-equipment problem is very well established. it's a complex thing with a lot of causes and a react-as-they-occur type solution set. the easiest thing is to use analog technology, but it always has to be a last resort (i haven't had to use it yet). the two key things are limiters and compressors, but you also have to deal with technique, source, volume, eq.
the last time i had this problem, i was forced to deal with my mixer because my old soundblaster wasn't being read. i've fixed that, now. the soundblaster didn't seem to have those problems. it's tempting, and it may be what i do in the end.
first, i'm going to swap the battery out when the sun comes up, but i'm actually ok with redoing the picked parts with a limiter, which should mostly resolve the worst clipping. it's the finger parts that i'd rather avoid doing that for and that i'm hoping i can just fix with compression & eq.
i'll have to hear how big a difference the new battery makes before i make decisions about that.
i could also always try micing it if i have to. i have a very large roland keyboard/bass amp that gets very little use. i'm not the biggest on the tone of the amp, though.
it's kind of too thick. but it might work for this track.
it may be that the soundblaster is actually a direct input ("DI"), or something closer to it. it's one of the live drive boxes from the mid 90s. i've done tons of recording with it, it really is a great little box for what it is, it's just that it's not asio compatible so i can't record in with cubase. i'd have to do the parts separately and paste them in. but it's a minor annoyance if it clears the clips.
that's it here. it connects to the soundcard with an oldskool pin connector. most of the recording i'm doing nowadays is through usb (the pod) or firewire (mixer).
http://www.hardware-one.com/reviews/platinum/images/LiveDrivePanel_big.jpg
i could also always just get some di cords. the mixer has multiple direct ins, i've just never used them due to not having the right cords...
nope.
but that means i recorded parts with a five year old battery...
the clipping-bass-through-electronic-equipment problem is very well established. it's a complex thing with a lot of causes and a react-as-they-occur type solution set. the easiest thing is to use analog technology, but it always has to be a last resort (i haven't had to use it yet). the two key things are limiters and compressors, but you also have to deal with technique, source, volume, eq.
the last time i had this problem, i was forced to deal with my mixer because my old soundblaster wasn't being read. i've fixed that, now. the soundblaster didn't seem to have those problems. it's tempting, and it may be what i do in the end.
first, i'm going to swap the battery out when the sun comes up, but i'm actually ok with redoing the picked parts with a limiter, which should mostly resolve the worst clipping. it's the finger parts that i'd rather avoid doing that for and that i'm hoping i can just fix with compression & eq.
i'll have to hear how big a difference the new battery makes before i make decisions about that.
i could also always try micing it if i have to. i have a very large roland keyboard/bass amp that gets very little use. i'm not the biggest on the tone of the amp, though.
it's kind of too thick. but it might work for this track.
it may be that the soundblaster is actually a direct input ("DI"), or something closer to it. it's one of the live drive boxes from the mid 90s. i've done tons of recording with it, it really is a great little box for what it is, it's just that it's not asio compatible so i can't record in with cubase. i'd have to do the parts separately and paste them in. but it's a minor annoyance if it clears the clips.
that's it here. it connects to the soundcard with an oldskool pin connector. most of the recording i'm doing nowadays is through usb (the pod) or firewire (mixer).
http://www.hardware-one.com/reviews/platinum/images/LiveDrivePanel_big.jpg
i could also always just get some di cords. the mixer has multiple direct ins, i've just never used them due to not having the right cords...
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