Rage Before the Storm Tour: Live Bass Rig Walkthrough

Many of the sounds described in this article are present in my track Bone Idol. I suggest using this recording as reference to better understand these descriptions.

FX Chain Overview

The general approach is to give the signal a ton of gain and sharp transients with compressors, scoop the moods and tame the highs, distort, and repeat. This chain applies that architecture three times in series.

Gate

This chain runs very hot, so the first gate is essential for minimizing ground hum on the input.

Tuner

Many of my songs require runing my strings extremely low, so it’s essential to meticulously check tuning throughout the set.

Multiband Dynamics

This 2-band multiband compressor serves to accentuate the transient attack of the signal before being fed to distortion.

Compressor

This compressor rounds out the recovery from the transient emphasis. It functions as decay curve shaper.

Bass FX Groups

This rack features seven parallel Native Instruments Guitar Rig distortion chains, labeled eloquently on the right. The macros in the middle control the routing to each chain. The snapshots on the left correspond to preset routing schemes that approximate tones I’ve used in my recorded tracks.

The buttons on the Numark Orbit are MIDI mapped to each snapshot, allowing me to select sounds while playing bass, so I can jump between presets as I progress through a song.

CLEAN

This is just a classic clean amp simulation, often used as a core layer in mixed snapshots.

BEEG

This is an exceptionally gritty, nasally tone, similar to the first drop of Bone Idol (1:02).

OOMPA

This provides thumpy, low-mid support and some high range grit.

SCREAM

This is a high range dynamically flat guitar-like tone. The rack pitches the signal up two octaves and crushes the dynamics and timbre into a classic lead guitar sound. This is present in the third build of Bone Idol (3:24).

NYAH

This is an extremely clipped, bassy, sizzly tone resemblant of a highly driven techno rumble. The tone is shaped such that the initial attack is deep and pure, followed by a gradual ramp in high frequency noise to provide a pumping rhythmic drive. This is in the final drop of Bone Idol (3:39).

Classic

This is a classic twangy bass guitar tone with a supported low end, similar to the intro to DAMAG3 - DOUBL3 TAK3.

freak :)

This is the most complex chain. The filters and phasers modulate peaks around the high-mid frequency range of the sound. A stereo split enables distinct harmonic scanning (wah filters) across each channel. The signal is clipped such that these notches distort to generate related overtones. After this rack, the signal receives additional stereo widening.

The result is a collection of modulating whines, blips, and “watery” sounds that move around the stereo field. This gives a bit of an acid techno sound, alongside some of the formant tone common in midtempo electro. These overtones are apparent in the second drop of Bone Idol (2:12).

Compressor

This compressor serves a similar decay curve shaping purpose as the previous one, as the distortion stage can lose some of this dynamic control.

Multiband Dynamics

Similarly, this compressor compensates for the transient flattening from the clipping stage. Bolstering the attack of the signal feeds nicely into the upcoming stages as well, as the dynamic range is about to be completely crushed.

Gate

This highly aggressive gate ensures that absolutely no excess signal makes it to the next stage. Anything and everything will be absolutely smashed, so we need to ensure that no unwanted background noise deafens the audience.

PHAT RACK

Every producer needs to build a phat rack at some point in their career. This is my secret sauce, and the contents of the rack will remain a trade secret. The purpose is to flatten, shape, beef up, and enhance the sound. This can range from subtle warmth to sturdy brightening to transformation into an earth-shaking wall of sound.

In this particular setting, the phat rack serves to squash and burn the sound for spice, heft, and the power to rattle the rafters and make Changeline shout “GOD DAMN!!”