ADVICE: What strings for funky house music

[bazzil]

hi forum,
I have just bought my first bass (Yamaha BB414)

i record funky house music and my question is what strings
should i put on this bass to get that funky dance/club sound?

best regards,
basil

[nick]

[quote name='bazzil' post='24855' date='Jun 29 2007, 12:54 PM']hi forum,
I have just bought my first bass (Yamaha BB414)

i record funky house music and my question is what strings
should i put on this bass to get that funky dance/club sound?

best regards,
basil[/quote]

Hi Bazzil,
Congrats on getting your first bass!
Genre described can cover a lot of things, but can recommend what I use when helping out my friends with real bass on electro,house, D & B stuff.
I go for .45 to 110, medium/standard sort of gauge, or heavier (.50?) nothing too light, as for me basslines are more felt than heard with house.
Also tuning bass D-A-E-B using low B string (.125), can be effective - as within same ballpark as keyboard bass lines.
Another option is flat wound strings too, for a nice warm sound - not too 'zingy'.

It's worth experimenting really, & finding out what's right for you & the tracks you're doing. Robert's strings are quite cheap, a lot of people rate them, though I've never tried them.

A compressor/limiter can also be invaluable in this area....

Hope this helps you a bit in achieving sound you're after
Cheers

[bazzil]

Hi Nick,
Many thanks for your reply and guided voice of experience.

I look forward to trying out the strings and tuning ideas you suggest.

Best regards,
Basil

[Nate]

Flat wound - defo!!

You could probably mess with some octave fx if you don't wanna detune the bass so much that it flaps...

[Kiwi]

alternatively you might want to go for a bright zingy sound

[Mikey D]

You might wanna ask Mr Gene Perez!

[url="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=60340960"]http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendID=60340960[/url]

Probably played more house tracks as bassist than most others!

[urb]

[quote name='Mikey D' post='109297' date='Dec 25 2007, 06:28 PM']You might wanna ask Mr Gene Perez!

[url="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=60340960"]<a href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendID=60340960" target="_blank">http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendID=60340960[/url]</a>

Probably played more house tracks as bassist than most others![/quote]

+1 on Gene - check out Masters At Work's many great sessions/remixes - manny normally feature Mr P who is a monster groover but quite busy in his own way - great bass lines!

String-wise I really love Elites 'Players' - they are nickel plated round wounds - you can get a great variety of tones from them from deep slap to great Jaco-style finger picking etc - you can order them (and loads of other brands) from www.stringbusters.com - they are about £7 cheaper than in the shops.

Hope that helps

M

[6stringbassist]

Old roundwound strings, I have some old DR high beams that I put on when I want a more dubby kind of vibe, they are very bright strings when new, and have a nice scooped mid range, these old ones still have a nice clear top end for definition, but sit better in a mix, they don't stand out like they did when new.

I prefer old roundwounds to flats, the flats just sound too wooly, though they''re great for fretless and more ambient stuff.

[Thunderthumbs]

[quote name='Mikey D' post='109297' date='Dec 25 2007, 06:28 PM']You might wanna ask Mr Gene Perez!

[url="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=60340960"]http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendID=60340960[/url]

Probably played more house tracks as bassist than most others![/quote]

Man, that's some CV!

And that bass sound on "Bottoms Up" is fantastic.....solid, funky, a bit bright but without losing bottom......beautiful.