i feel love delay

[la bam]

Hi all,

As part of our new project, im trying to recreate Donna Summer's bassline for I Feel Love.

I know its a bit of a mystery of how to get the sound, but at this forst stage im trying to work out the DELAY settings on my Zoom B3.

The bass line is pretty much 4 notes doubled up to create 8 notes, but theres no way i can play 8 notes in that pattern with that amount of effect, that accurately, for that long.

Does anyone know how to set he delay pedal(s) so that theyre pretty much doubling up the notes?

I know this might sound daft, but at the moment, the settings sound like 4 notes with much quieter echos - i need 8 notes (or 16) all the same volume and strength.

I dont really understand the delay pedals or their settings, so any help is much appreciated.

[ahpook]

You need to start with the BPM, then you can work backwards from there. a quick straw poll of the web seems to say ~126.

Knowing this you can work out the delay time, it'll be 1/8th notes...I think (for a bass player I'm useless at note lengths !)

There's some good advice [url="http://nickfever.com/music/blog/2014/how-to-calculate-reverb-and-delay-times"]here[/url] on how to do this

HTH

Edited November 28, 2016 by ahpook

[BigRedX]

Try a 3/16 note, single repeat delay. Then play the riff as 1/8 notes. That way you get a 1/16 note pattern, but the repeats are spaced further apart that it doesn't sound as cluttered. It's a while since I seriously listen to the original but IIRC that's how it was done in the first place. You can hear this on headphones since the original notes and the repeats are panned either side of the stereo.

However one of things that gives "I Feel Love" it's unique feel is the precision of the sequencer that is driving the riff. That means practicing playing the riff with perfect timing.

[la bam]

thanks for the help. The reverb calculator is a revalation - makes sense now! - divide 60000 by bpm - perfect! I had no idea what the 60,000 setting was on the pedal.

ive got something pretty close now. Its killing me playing just 4 notes - never mind 8!

[la bam]

119 delay (from 60000) is perfect, playing 4 notes per bar.

[Painy]

When I saw RHCP at Hyde Park a few years back (with James Brown supporting), Flea and John Frusciante did a short rendition just Flea on Bass and John on vocals.
Flea managed to play it with fingers and from the view on the big screens he was playing every note himself!

Did look like hard work though!

Edited December 4, 2016 by Painy

[ahpook]

[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1480880678' post='3187798']
Flea managed to play it with fingers and from the view on the big screens he was playing every note himself!
[/quote]

I saw them do that too, very impressive.

For those of us who aren't Flea.....

[xgsjx]

Just watched it on the choob. Even Flea struggled with it!
I used to play it in an old band, but we never got it gig worthy. I didn't own a delay & tried to play it similar to Flea, but with a plectrum (learning the double thumb technique could make this so much easier).

I'd use a semiquaver (16th) on the delay & just play quavers.