The Reese Bass Thread

[CE9958]

So I've been searching all over both here at the DSF and on Dogs on Acid's The Grid. While I've learned a good bit and I'm starting to create some pretty cool Reese basses, I wanted to get a place started where people could maybe talk about / share their own discoveries on the Reese. I feel like everyone does it a little different and there are so many ways to process a Reese that we could all learn quite a bit from each other. Feel free to post tutorials patches or just quick tricks and tips.

I'm excited to hear what you guys have discovered about the world of the Reese!

I'll start by sharing a quick preview of a Reese I made. Be happy to answer any questions.

Here's the Reese just by itself:
Soundcloud

And here it is in context with some stuff I threw together:
Soundcloud

[ChadDub]

Wow, i listened to the reese on it's own and I was like this sucks but then you REALLY complimented it with the rest of those instruments! Good job!

[CE9958]

Wow, i listened to the reese on it's own and I was like this sucks but then you REALLY complimented it with the rest of those instruments! Good job!

Lets hear one that doesnt suck then? And thanks haha

[eldoogle]

What Chad said.

The last three songs I've started have all been of the Koan Sound type so I've been meaning to read about Reeses on DOA. I'm also going to probably record guitars and add em a song or two, once again in Koan style.

[Huts]

I liked the reese solo as well as in the tune, funky stuff. After rinsing the shit out of koan sounds latest EP i've also been trying my hand at some 100bpm reesey type stuff. I'll post up some reeses in a few

[Mannyyyyy]

Reese's with hints of Flangers make great things the tune I'm my sig it's the new style uses a Reese with actually simple techniques I wouldn't mind explaining if you guys wanna know

[Mannyyyyy]

What Chad said.

The last three songs I've started have all been of the Koan Sound type so I've been meaning to read about Reeses on DOA. I'm also going to probably record guitars and add em a song or two, once again in Koan style.

also that's not a guitar it's just pulse wave modulation ran through distortion. mostly treat it like a guitar but there guitarish type sounds are all synthesized

[jrisreal]

@Manny yes please explain!

[jrisreal]

heres my track "Neuroscience"
Soundcloud
Secret to that one is by not actually using a reese patch and taking a much bigger bass patch and processing it like a reese...modulate a whole lot of filters, Multiple Notches, LP, Low Shelf, HP, Phaser, etc. Vocodex also helps alot. Then for distortion, I just used fruity waveshaper.

[CE9958]

@Manny yes please explain!

[Huts]

Soundcloud
here's a quick one i did, with the amount of time it takes to modulate stuff i can't hardly get past a simple loop lol

[CE9958]

Huts can you type out an explanation of your process? Thats a great sound!

[Huts]

Made the reese in massive to start.
1. 2 square-saw I waves detuned +.25 and -.25 (mess with the volume of each osc until it sounds good to you)
2. In the voicing tab I turned unison to 3 and changed it to Legato (to glide from note to note)
3. Route both OSC to filter 1 and put a double notch with the cutoff at about half, no resonance, and an LFO (again mess with the LFO until you get some movement you like)
4. Added a tiny bit of reverb, and some classic tube distortion (lots of drive, but not too wet)
Soundcloud
This was the result of that. Don't need massive for this, I just like it because I can add an LFO/reverb/distortion all within massive and pretty quickly.

Once I had my notes played, bounced to audio and started piling on the effects/automation. I used the built in Logics plugins, and tone2 bifilter for the bandpass/comb filter.
1. Added a flanger for some more movement
2. Bandpass filter and just played with automation until I thought it sounded good
3. Logics overdrive for some crunch
4. comb x3 filter. pretty much only automated this to come in during that long held note and at the beginning or end of some notes to get that watery fart sound, if that makes sense. I then automated the volume to increase where the comb filter came in.
5. Logics Distortion II to help boost the volume as well as thicken the sound up a bit.
6. EQ'd out below 50hz and took a dip out at 200hz for the snare.

I don't know how well that all made sense but I can try and clarify anything that didnt!

[Sparxy]

Some good sounds and tips going on in this thread! have you guys tried splitting your reeses into send/returns? Do the same - start with a simple reese in massive with some filter movement but re route the audio to 5 different send tracks. Put different FX chains on each send/return and EQ them so its not too messy. Try one with lots of flange, try one with distortion, try different filters and automate the fuck out of things. Route back into a bus and compress and EQ again, taking out any nasty transients and boosting where necessary. Then bounce. Rinse and repeat! Its a long, gruelling process but once you find your workflow and start figuring out what sounds good it starts to get easier.

I'll post up a few bits ive done when i get home later

[Mannyyyyy]

mostly the Reese is simple to make. I used menace to make it. but it's really 3 saws detained heavily with 0.3 spread and in low octaves. in the track I put phasers and Flangers and bandpasses on sends so its getting mixed together. the movement is just notch filters from camalphat and I always make my own notch filter with an eq. automating these you already have a ton of movement. now in kontakt I used a lowpass and highpass and manually automated them in between each other and played with pitch bend and bam easy. I think the initial making Reese's and everything is very easy and simple to make. the challenging part is filtering them rhythmically and making them fit with a track and making them groovy. but hey it all comes with practice right. . also recently I have stopped using massive for Reese's since te filters have a weird plastic sound and the saws IMO aren't as powerful. will use it for other basses except Reese's. hope this helped man.

[Refuzed]

[quote="Mannyyyyy"]I think the initial making Reese's and everything is very easy and simple to make. the challenging part is filtering them rhythmically and making them fit with a track and making them groovy. quote]


^^ this.

[B-Frank]

Soundcloud
here's a quick one i did, with the amount of time it takes to modulate stuff i can't hardly get past a simple loop lol

Just wanted to say that I was very much impressed with that.. I am going to have a poke about and follow your instructions and see what I can come out with. Big up my friend.

[serox]

I love a warm deep sounding reece like I use to hear in the 90s but this noisy stuff does not come close to me.

I would suggest try moving some buttons on your VST of choice while the note is being played to try make it feel a bit more organic. Get the right things moving at the same time may stop it from sounding like a few detuned squares done in 30 seconds.

[Filthzilla]

@OP I think your reese could do with a little more distorion and high end.

[Sparxy]

I love a warm deep sounding reece like I use to hear in the 90s but this noisy stuff does not come close to me.

I would suggest try moving some buttons on your VST of choice while the note is being played to try make it feel a bit more organic. Get the right things moving at the same time may stop it from sounding like a few detuned squares done in 30 seconds.

I think its where most of the stuff you hear now is made on massive. it has this "digital" and "synthetic" character to its sound
there's an idea - get an old hardware synth and sample some of those badbuoy reeses
or look up some old roland reese samples or something