Hydrogen + Audacity | Ben Zene

[benzene]

Hi all,

I think this is the spot to direct people to some noises I made with linux software. This music is still in the experimental stage, ah, um, underscore mental.

http://listen.to/benzene

Sorry about the short url redirect and the popups. I recommend firefox to work around that issue, if you all aren't using it already. If you please, leave a comment or a rating.

These songs were recorded with SuSE9.0, but some of the drum beats were sequenced in OpenSuSE10.2 to take advantage of the newer H2 release, which is awesome. All the bass parts were recorded with Audacity on the SuSE9.0 partition. No synthesizers were used for these works. All are creative commons licensed.

Thanks and enjoy,

Ben Zene

[brummer]

Hi

very well
I like No Origin / MoebiuZ and bluesolarmonkeyamnesia. conveyance is also well done.
Thanks for sharing it.

brummer

[studio32]

You use just a bass guitar? which one?

thanks for sharing!

[benzene]

I have an off-brand 6 string fretless bass, a 4 string Ibanez Soundgear and an old peavey patriot restrung to piccolo scale(highest string is F). I also have used an Epiphone Junior 6 string guitar but I drop tuned it to low B.

Most songs are done in altered tunings.

Thanks for the feedback.

bZ

[studio32]

I have an off-brand 6 string fretless bass, a 4 string Ibanez Soundgear and an old peavey patriot restrung to piccolo scale(highest string is F). I also have used an Epiphone Junior 6 string guitar but I drop tuned it to low B.

Most songs are done in altered tunings.

Thanks for the feedback.

bZ

6 string? Fretless? Interesting... Is it difficult to play? Why not a 'normal' bass?
I only heard about 4 and 5 string basses...
Why all those altered tunings?

[benzene]

Fretless bass is a bit more difficult to play, yes, but I really like the tone. The altered tunings allow for open chording and touch style playing that would otherwise be quite difficult. Altered tunings also allow for multiple bass parts to be recorded and mixed well since the overtones tend to either blend together or cancel each other out. It's a nifty trick.

Great bass gods like Michael Manring Zander Zon, and Jeff Schmidt use altered tunings. That's where I picked up the idea, but I am still decades away from being able to play like that. Those men are amazing bassists.

[studio32]

Ok, I see...
No double bass yet?

I'll start bassguitar lessons this week...

[benzene]

hmm. Double bass. Not sure what you mean.

<Production notes excerpt>
In the newer h2kits I was working with I used double kick(bass) drums. The song "Burning Karma" was done by lowering the kick in the GM kit and using a second detuned kick sampled from Gretsch drums in Hydrogen 0.9.3 on OpenSuSE 10.2. I used Audacity 1.2.3? in SuSE 9.0 to record and edit the samples. So double bass drums definitely. I'm experimenting with a couple of hip-hop kits that sound promising. I just upgraded to Ubuntu-Studio 8.0.4 and 64Studio 2.1, so I'm very anxious to get everything working again.

Double bass guitar? That's what my album is all about. For example, Conveyance, and this begs the question are solo bass parts only. I tweaked a single bass movement called The Awful Truth with the reverse feature in Audacity. All the other songs contain at least 2 and up to 8 bass parts, but recorded separately. Only the gods play 2 instruments at once, not humble linux geeks like me. In my defense though, no synthesizers were used anywhere, yet. I used baritone guitar on Get 2 Nothing, Burning Karma and another song I did for a Neil Slade video on youtube(I can't spell the title yet because it's in Chinese) but there are 2 or 3 bass parts in that one as well.. So yeah, Mo Bass, Mo Betta!

My goal is to be able to destroy at least 33% of any given car show stereo systems while still creating clear, distinguishable bass notes. All using Linux. MuaHaHAhahaha!

The song OptimystiK (version 2.0.6b) is 2 stereo tracked 6 string fretless tracks with 4 stereo tracked piccolo bass parts against an old hydrogen 0.8.2 drumsong. That was all done with the Gretsch kit samples. Hopefully that song will be done soon.
</Production notes excerpt>

[studio32]

heh heh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_bass

Thanks for your production info, that's what we need on this board!

[benzene]

I can only emulate contrabass for now

[benzene]

Ok, I see...
No double bass yet?

I'll start bassguitar lessons this week...

It's been a while since you suggested it, but I took your advice. Using my handy-dandy Digitech BP-200 amp/cabinet modeler I was able to create a patch that is so friggin low it will knock yo momma off the couch. Emulated 18 inch speaker with a 1 octave pitch shift below low B on my 6 string. It is disgusting, but tooth rattling. There is a local rapper who is working on the track in progress. I will post links and production info soon. Thanx 4 tha wordup.

I will also post a disclaimer that if you blow up your computer speakers trying to listen to this track, it's not my fault. I have destroyed 12 inch subs in very nice car stereos using only Audacity and Hydrogen. Luckily my guinea pigs car stereos were under warranty. MuaHaHaHaaa!