Simulating Bass

  • Thread starter Thread starter Optimus Prime
  • Start date Start date
O

Optimus Prime

New member
Hi, I play bass and guitar... but mostly guitar and therefore do not own a bass.

I have sound forge and acid 3, is there anyway I can simulate a bass using my guitar?
 
Sorry, I can't answer your question. But..... I had to comment on your user name.
It is fresh! You jacked it from the old Transformer show. :D
 
You can lower the pitch by an octave. Might sound strange, though. That is, not really like a real electric bass.
 
i thought about that... but i thought it'd be more than one octave... is it just one?
 
Optimus Prime said:
i thought about that... but i thought it'd be more than one octave... is it just one?
Click to expand...
You will have to play around with it, to see which octave sounds the best. :(
 
I'm pretty sure a standard 4-string bass guitar is tuned one octave down from the lower four strings of a guitar ...
 
Bass is one octave lower, but in the process you will lose fidelity. Because I'm in the exact same boat I have found a work around.

Keep the original guitar take intended to be the bassline, then duplicate this and drop the duplicate track one octave (make sure you select to keep the tempo/thyme and I usually use voice with a 3/high accuracy). Then mix them, heavy on the octave-dropped bass and only use the original to fill in the midrange lost in the translation.
 
Pinky said:
Bass is one octave lower, but in the process you will lose fidelity. Because I'm in the exact same boat I have found a work around.

Keep the original guitar take intended to be the bassline, then duplicate this and drop the duplicate track one octave (make sure you select to keep the tempo/thyme and I usually use voice with a 3/high accuracy). Then mix them, heavy on the octave-dropped bass and only use the original to fill in the midrange lost in the translation.
Click to expand...
Great info, Pinky. ;)
 
I havn't tried this approach but I might work also. Try using one of the new generation of pitch shifting/tuning plugins. Anteres Autotune is one to try, http://www.antarestech.com/. I believe the key range it works in is 1 octave up or down. They have a demo. It will also fix flat or sharp vocals.

The other is brand new and will have an enormous impact in what we do it's called Melodyne, http://www.celemony.com/index.html. It allows you to take a mono stream of music and freely rearrange pitch and tempo of each note. It has a range of one octave up or down, and it totally maintains the originional character of the sound, so it doesn't sound sped up or slowed down. Listen to the examples, they're amazing.

good luck
jack
 
You might be better off simulating a handgun and robbing someone for a bass when you need it. :p

That is what I used to do. Borrow I mean.

Fangar
 
I'm glad to see that rock and roll is still "dangerous". *chuckles*
As a matter of fact I have a hostage bass sitting in the corner.

jack
 
The less you have to transpose via software the better. I've had decent results doing it this way.

First I lightly squeeze a couple layers 1/2 inch wide foam weather stripping under the strings right at the bridge. Then I tune the guitar down a whole step or sometimes 2 whole steps. Guitars have more harmonic content than basses, so the foam under the strings helps dampen them out some giving a more natural bass sound after transposition. It also helps with the buzzing you tend to get, especially when tuned down to C. But just wedge the foam gently under the strings, otherwise you'll loose all of your sustain and just get a pizzicato effect. Then using the neck position pickup I pick the strings lightly with my finger tips. Finally I transpose the rest of the way in software.

I wouldn't call it an "outstanding" bass sound, but it has it's own unique quality.

barefoot
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top