INGLORIOUS BASS

Inglorious Bass

Oli Bell from Groove Criminals reveals the processing behind his filthy low-end collection…

“We have moved away from the more traditional synth bass sounds and concentrated on a more warped vibe. Loops are split between software and hardware, with software loops from either Alchemy, Massive or both. We used more unusual effects like phase shifting, ring modulators, modulated reverb and delay rather than rely on just tweaking filters. We also used Heinbach/Audiothing Wires to layer on some lo-fi grit.

“For hardware we used the wonderful Arturia Microfreak for some modulated sounds and the non-acid side of the Roland TB-3 (its touch screen envelope feature). The Korg Volca kick provided solid low end, processed through the (wonderfully) unpredictable synthy fuzz of the Guitar Disruptor and Robodog. We also threw some kick samples through the fab Boss SYB-5 synth bass pedal, a trick of ours on sounds that are not traditionally tuned to any scale. The drones were provided by the minimal but full-sounding MSG2 drone synth with some live knob twiddling.”

OTHER GEAR USED Arturia Beatstep Pro Moffenzeef MSG2 AC noises AMA Bluffchill Devices Robodog Electro Faustus Guitar Disruptor Red Panda Labs Particle Audiothing Motor Sonic Charge Permut 8 Various delays, reverbs, ring mods and phase shifters