Searching for funk / soul music played with Synth Bass

[AROIOS]

1 hour ago, RABid said:

Jungle Love - The Time

Yes, no synth bass discussion would be complete without mentioning the Minneapolis sound. Love me some Prince and Jam & Lewis, 😄

[AROIOS]

15 hours ago, Synthaholic said:

The great David Frank.

 

Here's a classic that I'm getting ready to work up. He had some great synth bass lines.

 

 

Always loved that song, those extended dominant chords in the chorus are honey to my ears.

[MAJUSCULE]

This guy (Darrell Freeman) posts a lot of great bass covers, both synth and electric, on Instagram and YouTube. Crazy pocket.

 

 

New Jack Swing has a lot of great synth bass too.

 

 

[linwood]

Get down! lol

[CHarrell]

1 hour ago, MAJUSCULE said:

New Jack Swing has a lot of great synth bass too.

 

Yeah I was gonna post some Teddy Riley in here even if it's not as old as say P-Funk.

 

 

[RandyFF]

That you tube clip of Golden Lady was wicked!

 

So how to construct a basic Synth Bs patch?  Mono? Drive? Fx?  Tuning? Portamento? Envelopes? Oscillator de-tuning? AT?

 

- With a full featured synth?

 

- With a rompler that has good EQ, envelopes, mono mode, portamento- ?

 

And what are some of the most commonly played  types of Synth Bass sounds/ patches?

 

I watched Jimmy Jam demo of Moog synth at SW on the first page of this thread, that’s the advanced class.  Asking for the 101 starting points.

 

Thanks!

[CHarrell]

27 minutes ago, RandyFF said:

So how to construct a basic Synth Bs patch?  Mono? Drive? Fx?  Tuning? Portamento? Envelopes? Oscillator de-tuning? AT?

 

You got a lot of basics right there! Mono is always a good idea, with legato and portamento nice to play with. As far as envelopes, you traditionally use a short Attack (A) for that punchy sound, with short SDR so the sound fades or dies pretty quickly. You also would want to consider using an envelope for the filter cutoff and resonance, similar contour as I described in the previous sentence. 

 

If you're dealing with basic subtractive waveforms, you'd want to use saw or square for a more aggressive, present sound, and triangle or sine (if available) for something more subdued. Detuning between oscillators isn't necessary for a (stereo)typical bass patch, but it's an effect you can try out! If you're using more than one oscillator, stacking them in octaves is always fun, and mega bonus if you have a sub oscillator to get things really thick n fat.

 

I'm sure the much more experienced members here will have oodles of advice, but I hope those are some good starting out points upon which you can experiment and tweak to your liking.

[CHarrell]

....Or you could just find a DX7 and use Lately Bass. 😉

[moj]

Deniece Williams - Let's Hear It for the Boy

(George Duke - all keyboards and producer)

 

Al Jarreau - Let's Pretend

[AROIOS]

7 hours ago, RandyFF said:

...

So how to construct a basic Synth Bs patch?  Mono? Drive? Fx?  Tuning? Portamento? Envelopes? Oscillator de-tuning? AT?

 

- With a full featured synth?

 

- With a rompler that has good EQ, envelopes, mono mode, portamento- ?

 

And what are some of the most commonly played  types of Synth Bass sounds/ patches?

...

The most commonly played synth bass patches came from subtractive synths. They usually consist of two oscillators, tuned one octave apart.

The most common wave forms used are saw and square.  Saw+Saw, Square+Square, Saw+Square (my favorite) can all work. With the Saw+Square combination, you'll want to keep square below the saw, unless you are producing old school House music.
 

In addition to the two-oscillator technique, layering is an extremely common technique in synth bass programming. As CHarrell mentioned, a sub bass adds bottom to the sound, and a higher-octave layer can help make it more prominent and forward.
 

A big part of what makes the classic synth bass patches "funky" is their filter cutoff and resonance tweaks. Play with those two settings to your taste. You wanna keep Attack on the amplitude envelope short, and Attack on the filter envelope short to medium, depending on how much "weow" you want in the sound.
 

Some synths also allow you to control filter cutoff with velocity or aftertouch, those will add an extra layer of expression to your playing.
 

As for the "right" synth, although Minimoog is the most common choice because of its unique overload design error; most subtractive synthes,  including many free software ones, should have no problem producing tasty funk bass sounds. Popular romplers usually have at least a few synth bass presets usable for Funk/Soul. And we can always program a good synth bass preset ourselves coz they are all subtractive synths at heart, and contain at least one set of square and saw samples.
 

Mono vs. Stereo depends on your arrangement. Mono sits better in dense arrangements, Stereo/Chorused sound fill up empty space in sparse arrangements better.
 

Hope this helps and have fun!

[Cliffk]

Madonna may not strictly fit the genre, but that opening bass line on Like a Virgin made my teen soul-funk ears perk up for sure! That bass sounds very synthy, and is very similar to and at least as funky as Billie Jean’s. Come to think of it, Material Girl also rocks that same funky-ass bass. I think Nile Rodgers produced the album so no surprise there.

[danstein]

Brandon Coleman (with bonus points for the keytar):

 

 

[SteinwayB]

 

[ImproKeys]

What a great discussion! Thanks!!

[CHarrell]

11 hours ago, AROIOS said:

As for the "right" synth, although Minimoog is the most common choice because of its unique overload design error; most subtractive synthes,  including many free software ones, should have no problem producing tasty funk bass sounds.

 

I looooove the MS20 for these kinds of sounds. Another note on the filter: though not necessary per se, some synths have filters with selectable filter "strengths", AKA the severity in which they cut-off frequencies past the threshold you set. A lot of traditional bass patches used 24dB low pass filters (LPF), such as on the Minimoog, and is why instruments like Novation Bass Station II are very popular for this kind of role.

[AROIOS]

3 hours ago, CHarrell said:

 

I looooove the MS20 for these kinds of sounds. Another note on the filter: though not necessary per se, some synths have filters with selectable filter "strengths", AKA the severity in which they cut-off frequencies past the threshold you set. A lot of traditional bass patches used 24dB low pass filters (LPF), such as on the Minimoog, and is why instruments like Novation Bass Station II are very popular for this kind of role.

Absolutely, there's a level of funkiness 2-pole filters simply can't re-produce.

[CHarrell]

4 minutes ago, AROIOS said:

Absolutely, there's a level of funkiness 2-pole filters simply can't re-produce.

 

I tried it on the Minilogue XD with a 12dB filter, man. It didn't work 😭....it didn't work. 😭

[Docbop]

Everytime I see the title of this thread I crackup remember back when Synth Bass was the in thing and suddenly every bass player I knew had a tiny keyboard in their studio gear and sometimes for gigs.   They were all ... we ain't going to lose gigs over this we're fighting back and getting a double doing it.   Fun times back when the studios were so busy.   

[jazzpiano88]

Chew on this, ya Motha for ya's:

 

 

[CHarrell]

49 minutes ago, Docbop said:

Everytime I see the title of this thread I crackup remember back when Synth Bass was the in thing and suddenly every bass player I knew at a tiny keyboard in their studio gear and for sometimes for gigs.   They were all we ain't going to lose gigs over we're fighting back and getting a double doing it.   Fun times back when the studios were so busy.   

 

Hahaha I actually talked with one of my best friends who's a bass player a month ago and he half-jokingly said he hates synth bass because it'll replace him. We're both pretty young too!

[Docbop]

1 hour ago, JazzPiano88 said:

Chew on this, ya Motha for ya's:

 

 

 

Johnny definitely had a sound, here it is with real bass.   I was diggin this tune when came out in the 70's and the lyrics are still timely. 

 

 

[AROIOS]

7 hours ago, CHarrell said:

 

I tried it on the Minilogue XD with a 12dB filter, man. It didn't work 😭....it didn't work. 😭

We can always swap it with the original Minilogue and bring the funk back 😄

[Synthaholic]

On 6/21/2023 at 4:04 PM, AROIOS said:

Always loved that song, those extended dominant chords in the chorus are honey to my ears.

I'm assuming you're talking about 'A Real Mother For Ya'. Yeah, it's got classic everything: funk, synth bass, horns, soulful guitar, humor. I'm really surprised it's never played on the radio or included in people's all-time lists. I've never heard a cover band play it. A lot of his solos resemble each other, but it's like chocolate ice cream: I've been eating it my entire life and still love it. I've been wanting to work it up for years but I'm finally going to do it. It will be fun playing those solos with one of the Purgatory Creek Jenson Guitar samples on the Kurz PC4.

[AROIOS]

1 hour ago, Synthaholic said:

I'm assuming you're talking about 'A Real Mother For Ya'. Yeah, it's got classic everything: funk, synth bass, horns, soulful guitar, humor. I'm really surprised it's never played on the radio or included in people's all-time lists. I've never heard a cover band play it. A lot of his solos resemble each other, but it's like chocolate ice cream: I've been eating it my entire life and still love it. I've been wanting to work it up for years but I'm finally going to do it. It will be fun playing those solos with one of the Purgatory Creek Jenson Guitar samples on the Kurz PC4.

Yes. I was referring to "A Real Mother for Ya".
 

Speaking of airplay, pay-to-play has been an open secret for a long time, and monopolies like iHeart/ClearChannel have been brain cancer for radio. They rely on consultants and statistics to narrow their playlists down to a "top 100" most popular (profitable) songs and then play those to death across their network. In the last 20 years, I've heard "A Real Mother" precisely ONE time on local radio. Most of the other good stuff on my playlists are simply never heard on air at all.
 

Have fun with covering the song, I look forward to hearing your rendition!

[Synthaholic]

Some of the ones I played in the 1980s with either good synth bass patches or just good, animated bass lines. These songs were just SO much fun to play!

 

Exposé - Come Go with Me

Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait

Jody Watley - Looking For A New Love and Don't You Want Me

Pebbles - Mercedes Boy

Company B - Full Circle

Sly Fox - Como Tu Te Liama (Tell me what's your name)

Stacy Lattisaw - Nail It To The Wall 

 

 

Bar-Kays - Sex-O-Matic 

 

Pretty wild video.  

 

 

[Synthaholic]

On 6/19/2023 at 8:51 PM, linwood said:

 

Also the great David Frank!

 

No one has mentioned Roger Troutman/Zapp yet, or Levert. A lot of great funk synth bass.

[stoken6]

10 hours ago, Synthaholic said:

I've never heard a cover band play it.

Come and hear my soul revue band if you're in the UK.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[AROIOS]

5 hours ago, Synthaholic said:

Some of the ones I played in the 1980s with either good synth bass patches or just good, animated bass lines. These songs were just SO much fun to play!
...

Pebbles - Mercedes Boy

...

Always loved "Mercedes Boy".
 

Here are a couple more songs with funky synth bass lines that just came to my mind:
 

George Benson - Feel Like Making Love
The Temptations - Treat Her Like a Lady
Lava - Artificial Love
The Three Degrees - The Heaven I Need
Paul Hardcastle - 19
Jane Child - Don't Wanna Fall In Love
Jody Watley - Your Love Keeps Working On Me
Shanice - I Love Your Smile

It's almost a crime that SAW (Stock, Aitken and Waterman) hasn't been mentioned yet. Those guys produced quite some tasty synth bass lines in Dance Pop. 😄
 

 

[jejefunkyman]

6 hours ago, Synthaholic said:

No one has mentioned Roger Troutman/Zapp yet, or Levert. A lot of great funk synth bass.

 

Yes I did mention Zapp and Roger earlier in this post 😉

[jazzpiano88]

14 hours ago, Synthaholic said:

I'm assuming you're talking about 'A Real Mother For Ya'. Yeah, it's got classic everything: funk, synth bass, horns, soulful guitar, humor. I'm really surprised it's never played on the radio or included in people's all-time lists. I've never heard a cover band play it.

A band I’m in played it for a one off reunion gig a few years ago.   Man, it was a gas to play!    Covered the signature horn line with a supersaw and sax player.  I was unfamiliar with it before this.