Research on articulation and playing methods for brass band bass beginners

Hello, this is Cheena. The brass band bass beginner series has entered the second half.
This time, I will consider the operation of articulation from various aspects such as playing styles, effectors, and accessories.
Let's think about what kind of nuance is required while looking at the musical score as in the first time.

The score to be referred to this time is Winds Score J-Best '19, a medley containing many pop songs.
Actually, this score was used as a reference in the first "Research on sound making and playing method for brass band bassist", and I used it because I had all the basics of bass required for brass band.

I will write about the effector system on the premise of the setup "Comp -> Comp -> Preamp -> Overdrive -> Volume pedal" that I always use as my basic configuration. It is a set that can handle various musical instruments stably by reducing the unevenness of volume as much as possible and strengthening the sustain (described later).

Most of the articulations required for electric bass in most songs are "volume related" and "note value related" such as staccato, tenuto, and accent.

Things related to volume

If you apply a strong compression, the volume of the accent will also be reduced, and simply playing hard may not give you an accent. If it is required continuously, you can cut the comp for that part only, but basically it is a single shot, so you need a playing style that is not simply playing strongly.

Here, I recommend a playing method such as the Bartok Pitch Cart or pulling that gives a hard sound quality at the same time as the volume.
The Bartok Pitch Cart is a playing method that originally uses a bowed string instrument such as a violin, picks up the strings vertically from the fingerboard, and hits them against the fingerboard to obtain a clear attack.
For pulling, you can get a strong attack by operating only the index finger side of the slap base that you all know.
The sound quality of these two is basically very similar, and by reducing the Tone on the instrument side or reducing the High of the preamplifier, you can make the metallic sound mild.
This is a method of adding accents rather than simply raising the volume.

What you should consider at this time is the balance with other bass corps.
As I mentioned at the beginning, the tuba and baritone saxophone are the core of the bass in the brass band. But if the movement of the electric bass is not far from the movement of the wind instrument, the accent on the wind instrument side is often sufficient.
In such cases, it may be better to ignore articulations altogether and prioritize stable performance.
On the other hand, if only the electric bass is producing the bass elements, it is necessary to emphasize the accent when the electric bass is moving around ind

Fortepiano-If you want to change the volume separately from the attack, such as crescendo and subitopiano, you need to put the volume pedal at the end and raise or lower it as introduced in the first installment and the effector installments.
There is also a way to connect the volume pedal to the Send / Return of the amplifier, but I will omit this for now.

Things related to note value / shortening system

If you need staccato in a single shot, you can mute normally, but if you need staccato or portato continuously, such as when playing a walking bass, it is difficult to keep muting.

In such cases, you can either bridge mute from Nordstrand or use a sponge mute from Gruv Gear.

■ NORDSTRAND PICKUP / NordyMute 4 Maple

■ Gruv Gear / Fump Bridge-Side Dampener

A simplified version of the mute that was installed on the early Gibson bass and Fender Jaguar. The live sound is very short, and the sound has a unique sound quality even through an amplifier.
Basically, it will be used while correcting the sound quality, and since it will be shortened overtly, contrary to the theory of spatial effectors, a reverb is placed directly under the first stage comp to adjust the note value, and after correcting with DI and equalizer, distortion etc. will be applied.
In addition, sponge mutes tend to raise the pitch slightly, and the note value and sound quality change depending on the pinching position, so experience and ingenuity such as familiarizing yourself with the chorus and tweaking the tuning are required.

Things related to note value / extension system

Instructions that are incompatible with electric bass are musical notes that require long notes such as fermata, whole notes, and ties.

It is difficult to obtain a long sound that exceeds the original sustain as the fate of a plucked string instrument, but it is possible to forcibly extend it by some means.
One is to maintain the vibration of the strings using an electromagnetic bow such as E-Bow or AEON.
The other is to stretch the sound with an effector.
Finally, extend the sustain by modifying the instrument itself.

■ TC ELECTRONIC / AEON

■ ELECTRO-HARMONIX / Bass Big Muff　-Distortion/Sustainer-

Although the principle of the electromagnetic bow is simple, it is not a common accessory and is not very popular because it is difficult to use in practice, but it can be an option for the limited purpose of extending sustain.

There are several types of effectors that can extend sustain, which is the easiest option.

First of all, the compressor can lower the loud sound and strengthen the quiet sound to suppress the variation in volume, but it also strengthens the sustain of the attenuated original sound, making it possible to produce long sustain at a constant volume.
In the case of a limiter, you can extend the sustain by first raising the volume firmly using a booster and so on, and then limiting the volume in that state, but the noise will also be strengthened when the volume is raised.

Electro-Harmonix's Big Muff series, which has been popular with some performers, has been dubbed the Distortion Sustainer.
This is due to the principle of distortion, and the distortion of the waveform is obtained by raising the voltage once in the amplifier circuit and passing it through the clipping circuit, so even a small sound is strengthened once.
Distortion-type effectors have more or less volume compression called "compression", but Big Muff actively incorporates this.
It is rarely applicable to brass band because it is necessary to change the sound quality significantly to obtain compression by distortion, but there may be an opportunity to use it for rock arrangements.

Regarding the approach from the instrument itself, I will deal with it in the instrument modification edition.

This time I wrote about articulation.
From the next time, I will finally start the remodeling edition.

コラム「sound＆person」は、皆様からの投稿によって成り立っています。
投稿についての詳細はこちら