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Table Of Contents
3 Compare your results with these recommended values:
You’ve now completed this section and created a basic bass that’s articulated with your
fingers. Save this asE-Bass Fingered Basic. In the following sections, you’ll be using this
basic bass as a foundation for the construction of further bass sounds.
Modifying the Spectrum of Your Basic Bass in Sculpture
The scope for sound design, by altering the frequency spectrum of electromagnetic
instruments, is far more flexible than that offered by acoustic instruments. In addition to
the number of pickups, a major role is also played by the choice of amplifier, the
equalization setting within the amplifier, and—last but not least—the physical properties
of the speakers and their enclosing cabinet.
The central features of your electric bass sound are complete, but the sound can be
improved by paying close attention to some details. Here are a few general suggestions:
Vary the position of the pickups. Try placing each of them in different positions. This
will cancel out certain frequencies, and others will be summed together.
Try turning on the Invert switch, even though this effect is not typical for electric basses.
What is typical for bass sounds is the placement of the pickups in the outer-left third
of the string model. The farther you move them to the left, the thinner and more nasal
the sound will become.
Shifting Object 1 will have a similar effect. Try different combinations here as well.
The Body EQ is ideal for giving the bass sound that final, finishing touch. Your electric
bass sound could be a little less smooth, and a bit more precise in its attack phase. Bassists
like to use the termsdrier andmore bite to describe this phenomenon.
To alter the frequency spectrum of your basic bass with the Body EQ
1 Load the E-Bass Fingered Basic setting.
406 Chapter 14 Sculpture