KVR Audio

Jay Sherman · Post by **Jay Sherman** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:41 pm

On Manhole and Icebreaker. At least I've heard it's a fretless bass. The virtual fretless bass I have certainly doesn't sound like that at all.

Any idea how it was done? Anyone know what I'm talking about?

exquisiteoath · Post by **exquisiteoath** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:20 pm

Hi Jay,
on Remission they actually had a real (ie physical) fretless bass. I don't know if there's any synth that can really recreate the sound effectively due to the physical characteristics of the instrument.

blurk · Post by **blurk** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:40 pm

Anyway, the fretless bass is on Glass Houses IIRC. Manwhole (yes that is how it is spelt) and Icebreaker are credited as featuring "bass synth", not fretless bass. That could be anything.

Jay Sherman · Post by **Jay Sherman** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:59 pm

blurk wrote:Anyway, the fretless bass is on Glass Houses IIRC. Manwhole (yes that is how it is spelt) and Icebreaker are credited as featuring "bass synth", not fretless bass. That could be anything.

I'm talking about the sound that starts 37 seconds into Manwhole. I guess it just sounds a lot like a guitar. With just midi can anyone recommend how to go about trying to get that sound? Is it no big deal? I don't know, I'm very new at this.

And I guess it's something a little different that's going on in Icebreaker.

The whole album is full of these sounds that are "alive" and by that I mean they sound like an actual living creature is making them. In Icebreaker it almost sounds like a humpbacked whale or at least some very large strange creature. But I think I can manage that sound.

The fretlass bass on Glass Houses sounds almost like some guy yelling "No!"

In Manwhole it sounds like something howling in the night.

VanEck · Post by **VanEck** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:36 pm

Its kind of silly if you think any Skinny Puppy sound can be easily duplicated right out of the box... everything they used to do was the result of LOTS of experimenting and using instruments and synths in unconventional ways... which of course is the basis of Industrial music.

Jay Sherman · Post by **Jay Sherman** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:55 pm

VanEck wrote:Its kind of silly if you think any Skinny Puppy sound can be easily duplicated right out of the box... everything they used to do was the result of LOTS of experimenting and using instruments and synths in unconventional ways... which of course is the basis of Industrial music.

So then, you have no clue basically?

blurk · Post by **blurk** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 1:00 pm

Jay Sherman wrote:I'm talking about the sound that starts 37 seconds into Manwhole. I guess it just sounds a lot like a guitar.

Aaah, OK. I think I know the sound you're referring to. But I have no idea what it is. If it is a fretless bass like you think it is, then I guess a very fuzzed and distorted fretless might make a noise like that.

The Fretless Bass on Skinny Puppy's Remission album?