Working with guitar and bass parts in Cubase

Joshua sprinkled some of his dance magic on the indie rockers’ guitar and bass grooves

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The Mystery Jets recorded the guitar/bass parts, then delivered them to Joshua. “For the intro I’ve edited the bass underpinning the guitar to help create anticipation, and avoid tiring out the riff. I cut them by hand where I felt the notes have suited the groove.”

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A reversed bass note leads up to the first drums; then, Josh turns down the guitar before the beat drops: “Just so that the guitars spring up when the drums start, creating a bit of energy where everything can jump in.”

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In the verse, he removes most of the guitar riff, and uses sparing snatches every two bars. “As with the bass, I’ve just cut in the bits that push the verse forward. A good way of keeping the guitar in, without it getting tiresome.”

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The guitar edits are on their own channel and EQed differently to the first channel. First they’re doubled with Waves Doubler, then delayed with Cubase’s own StereoDelay. “It’s just set to 1/8 and 1/4 notes, nothing too complex, but it creates an interesting little effect,” Joshua observes.

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The bass also needs extra processing to sit well, as Joshua explains: “It’s got a bit of compression and a lot of EQ – it was taking up too much of the middle and tops, so that came off. When you bang it all in, it fits right.”