2019-07-01_Computer_Music

39.00

Thesnaredrumisthickenedup

witha handclapsample.“Ifweput

themtogether,youcanhearhowtheclapisjust

accompanyingthesnare,”saysJim,“almostgiving

it a littlebitofbodyandspace,soit’snotjust

staticallydead.

“Theclap’sgotthe[Waves]AphexVintage

AuralExciter,whichisdefinitelyoneI alwaysliketo

usefora clap– youcanhearstraightawaythatit’s

liftingtheclarityeversoslightly.

“ThenI’vegota reverb.Thisisa reallyoldone

buta classic:theRenaissanceReverbbyWaves.”

54.23

Someofthebasssoundscomefromoldprojects– Jimis a firm

advocate of this kind of repurposing.“It’sa morphedbassfrom

a track I made called Simpleton, back in 2013, I think.Theimportantthingto

remember here is that sounds you made a long timeago,asyougetbetterat

synthesis, you go back to them and find ways to manipulatethemandmake

them better. So it’s always really important to save yourpresetsandmakesure

you categorise them by year. For Massive, I’ve got from 2011 onwards– every

year I’ve just made a new folder and stored my soundsinthere.Thatway,you

can go back, and also see how you’ve come on – it’sreallyinspiring.”

1.10.31

Jimsurpriseshimselfwhile

deconstructingtheprocessingand

layeringofanotherbasssound,provingthatany

producer’spersonalrulesareverymuchmadetobe

broken.“I puta subunderneathit,justlikeallthe

otherbasses,butit didn’tfeeltomelikeit neededa...

DidI puta subunderit?No,Ididn’tdoa subonit!

“I thinkthereasonthere’snosubisbecauseI put

theLittleLabs[VoiceofGod]onthereandgotthe

weightI wantedoutofit withjustthatplugin.That’s

anotherniceexampletoshowthatyoudon’talways

puta subunderit.I thoughtI did,becausenaturallyI

usuallydo,butI didn’there,andyoudon’thaveto.Be

creative,changeoutofthattraditionalroadthatyou

keepgoingdown,andsometimesyou’lldiscover

somereallygreattechniqueslikethat.Sometimes

youwon’t,sometimesit’lljustbea loadofrubbish

andyou’lljustgobacktoyournormaltechnique;but

forme,thatshowedmethatI canmakea bass

withoutnecessarilyhavingtohavea separatesub

underneathit.”

Tosubornottosub?

1.16.06

Atbar53,a Reese-stylesynth

entersthefray.“I’veusedthat

ina lotofrecords.,”Jimsmiles.“There’san

envelopemakingit goupanddown.There’s

onlyonepluginonit,butinsidethesynthis

whereallthestuff’shappening.I’musingthe

PolysawandtheScrapyardwavetables,and

Voicing.Voicingisstacking,soif you’vegottwo

oscillators,you’veactuallygotsixnowif you’re

usingthreevoices.Voicingisdefinitely

somethingthatyoushouldbewieldinginyour

toolboxwhenit comestoaudio.

“I’musinga doublenotchfilteronit,which

justgivesit a bitofmovementbutdoesn’tcut

intothesoundthatmuch;thentheband-pass

filteriswhat’sgivingustheactualmovement.

Thesoundismainlydowntothesefilters.”

TheclassicReese

53.24

Oneofthemanybasssoundsin

MiseryGutspresentstheperfect

opportunity todemonstratetheimportanceof

thinking in termsofthewholemix,ratherthan

individual sounds,whenapplyingEQ.“Use

reductive EQingwheneveryoucan.Subtract

away to leavethefrequenciesyouwant.Inthis

case, I neededtogetmoreofthetopendofthe

bass, rather thanlowandhighmids.SowhenI

engage that EQandthentakeit off,yeah,it’sfuller

without it, butforthemix,it worksbetterwhenI

add everythingelsebackin.Remembertoalways

add it back in andmakesureit’sworkinginthe

whole context.”

EQing thehighbass

Handclap

Revisiting old presets

playaz.co.uk/artists/heist

soundcloud.com/heist

twitter.com/JimHeist

facebook.com/JimHeist

RulerOfOlympus

bit.ly/hst_iac

Spies

bit.ly/hst_sp

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July 2019 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 49

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