Dirty Bass - The sins of Freck

[dirty_bass]

Due to the mastering work picking up loads, I get very little ME time in the studio now.
I had to sacrifice something, and it was the choice between Dirty Bass stuff and the Voidloss stuff.
Well, I decided to drop the DB stuff for a while to keep up with the artistic explorations of Voidloss.
However, I decided to have a bit of silly fun today, and had a couple fo spare hours so made a more upbeat, Dirty Bass techno tune.

http://www.dj-tony-c.co.uk/dirtybass...0freck%201.mp3

there it is, for what it`s worth, a couple of hours work, but I`m happy with it so far.

[rhythmtech]

this is a good tune.

as you said its only a few hours work so could probably do with a little more attention.

the bassline/synth thing works very well and adds a lovely dark feeling to it.

i think the hats could do with a touch more grit as they're a little too "nice" and they seem to lose clarity when the ride comes in.

also the overall sound is ever so slightly scooped.

great track though.

[dirty_bass]

scooped?

[rhythmtech]

yeah.. slight smile eq curve.

[dirty_bass]

Ah that`ll be ear fatigue.
I`ll check it again tommorow.

[dirty_bass]

Actually just checked the spectrograph, and it`s almost flat from high bass to the top end roll off.
So no scooping, might just be the way I set the multiband when I did a quick master. Mid range might need more stereo.

[eyeswithoutaface]

this is something that still baffles me a little, what should one be looking for idealy in their curve? and can anyone recommend a good spectograph i could get to grips with

[BRADLEE]

That was a good flick...really enjoyed it too. Also used a couple samples from it. Not bad at all for a couple of hours work. Really like the bass noise as well. Should be a fun track for the dancefloor indeed. Question though, was the eit from 5:10-5:15 on purpose or a glitch in rendering? That part just seemed a little odd to me...

Only listening in the phones, but mix sounds fine to me...

[rhythmtech]

i dont think theres any real "ideal" curve.. just what sounds right..

although a fiarly flat curve is a good indication of a well balanced mix

[dirty_bass]

this is something that still baffles me a little, what should one be looking for idealy in their curve? and can anyone recommend a good spectograph i could get to grips with

For Dance music, techno especially, you want a flat level bell curve, rolling off the top from maybe 16K, with a rounded peak in the low end around 70- 100.

Inspector is a great spectra, but the soundforge one is also very nice.

[rhythmtech]

just been listening again.. that bass is rockin.

1 gripe - the edit at 5:13 has the slightest click at the start and is a tiny tiny fraction off time.. it just seems to disturb the flow a little bit, right at a crucial time.

[Siege]

Sounds good whats there so far...i agree about that edit...just needs smoothing out a bit....Sounds clear and crisp and that bass pattern after the drop is mint!
very nice.

[Little_Fella!]

Well I've got to ask...

Who the freck is 'Freck' then...? ...I need educating :briggin:

[dirty_bass]

Well I've got to ask...

Who the freck is 'Freck' then...? ...I need educating :briggin:

Ignor the edits, they were thrown in on the pre master rather haphazrdly.
Once I go back and clean this up, I`ll put some tighter, more interesting edits in.
I actually quite like this now, I might release it.

[BloodStar]

nice track, sir. that bass sound is massive and sounds very good together with those little sweeping synths. bringing some nice funk in there.
break is nice,. personally i would twist that voice much more, as it sounds bit dry at the mo.
production sounds good,. good work on bass sounds.

[dan the acid man]

nice track, just needs a little extra work to get it sounding even better and it would go down well on most dance floors.

[Tyrisia]

nice track, production is good, although I reckon it could be a tad brighter. I like the percussion and the massive bass, and the way it starts to vary at the 4 min mark. I'm thinkin the bass progression musically is a little obvious, maybe find a way of working away from the major key changes to something a little more moody and minor, but that's just my pref. good stuff.

[dirty_bass]

I'm thinkin the bass progression musically is a little obvious, maybe find a way of working away from the major key changes to something a little more moody and minor, but that's just my pref. good stuff.

There are no major key changes, it goes up one note at a time through the entire scale of notes.
Which made it really hard to add anything else in a key.
Although I suppose as every note is played, it`s every key?
Originally I just made the bass slide up by an octave and a half, or whatever it is it goes up by, but it lacked rythm so I just went back to stepping up a tone at a time. the intention was to be something cheesy, as opposed to moody.
This is dirty bass and an attempt at obviousness and jumpy pumpy, rather than voidloss as an attempt to make you give up on life.
But yes, it is obvious, in the way that if it was a keyboardist playing a keyboard they would just be running their fingers up the keyboard playing every note on the way.


I`ll take a look at the brightness, I thought I might have gone over the top, with the tops. Do you mean brightness on everything else? or just the top end?
As I may have left the mid range sounds a little dull, and could maybe if that`s what you are refering to, give them more sparkle.

[p_brane]

that there is some sleazy techno.

nice fat bass. not sure about the bass line after the breakdown (personel pref though)

i absolutely love that sample man.

wheres it from??

its a lovely dark atmos youve created in the b/down with the pad in the background.

and just one question, how did you get them rides to sound so good man?
please share!

this would sound amazing mixed with a big percussive groover.

production sounds good at this end, hats sound a tiny bit dull. but that could be my setup, well actually it probably is.

anyways, good work:)

[dirty_bass]

Sample is taken, and heavily edited from A Scanner Darkly, by Richard Linklater

As for the rides, fairly simple.
Standard 909 rides, tuned to the rough key of the hats, grunged up (any crushing effect will do, I actually used a really old limiter effect that has a really nice grungey overdrive), then sidechained with a compressor to a silent kick, tiny bit of EQ for sparkle, then a touch of verb for presence.

I`ll see about treating the top end sparkle of the whole tune 2morro when I have some time.