The HEAVIEST bassline EVER

[IdleRich]

I answered in the first post with the Mungo Mtoto tune, but no one has bested it...

Nah you never explained what you mean by heaviness, what it is that makes one tune heavier than another, how you might increase the heaviness of a given tune, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, you didn't say anything about the units of heaviness.

That tune might I guess be an example of heaviness but neither it or you explain what heaviness might mean. Cos for someone like me, sure I can hear that some dub thing has a big bassline compared to, i dunno, a pop tune, but given two deep gloopy dub tunes I find it pretty hard to find which has the heavier bass. I reckon, come to think of it, that I might be less attuned to this than most in fact, cos unless it's really obvious ie two tunes from totally different genres I would often struggle to differentiate them on that score. But I do wonder how universal agreement would be if you got loads of people to say which of two given tunes was heavier... I mean to what extent is an objective measure of some quality, and to what extent is it just about feel? It's sad but I really don't know this.

And I realise that it is hard thing to pin down, but I reckon that someone like you probably has a pretty good grasp of it and would be a damn sight better than most at putting it into words. Sure your understanding is intuitive and can't be crudely nailed down with words - but seeing as we're on a forum where we discuss music that's what we try and do. So come on man, teach me about heaviness and how it differs from heaviosity.

 

[william_kent]

Nah you never explained what you mean by heaviness, what it is that makes one tune heavier than another, how you might increase the heaviness of a given tune, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, you didn't say anything about the units of heaviness.

That tune might I guess be an example of heaviness but neither it or you explain what heaviness might mean. Cos for someone like me, sure I can hear that some dub thing has a big bassline compared to, i dunno, a pop tune, but given two deep gloopy dub tunes I find it pretty hard to find which has the heavier bass. I reckon, come to think of it, that I might be less attuned to this than most in fact, cos unless it's really obvious ie two tunes from totally different genres I would often struggle to differentiate them on that score. But I do wonder how universal agreement would be if you got loads of people to say which of two given tunes was heavier... I mean to what extent is an objective measure of some quality, and to what extent is it just about feel? It's sad but I really don't know this.

And I realise that it is hard thing to pin down, but I reckon that someone like you probably has a pretty good grasp of it and would be a damn sight better than most at putting it into words. Sure your understanding is intuitive and can't be crudely nailed down with words - but seeing as we're on a forum where we discuss music that's what we try and do. So come on man, teach me about heaviness and how it differs from heaviosity.

ah....

you know how you did a "motorik" thread and everyone misunderstood what you meant?

that's how I feel now...

and I was about to present a call to arms...

i.e,

"I know the Dissensus massive can bring it on! Present us with the most crushing, cannot breathe basslines! Any genre: Disco! UK Garage! House! Techno! Punk! Krautrock ( even though I feel that's a bit racist, although when I was recently in Germany they had sections in the record shops with that label ), Dub Reggae, Dub Techno, Jazz, jazz Fusion, JazzRock, Jazz funk, etc.,..."

 

[william_kent]

ah....

you know how you did a "motorik" thread and everyone misunderstood what you meant?

that's how I feel now...

and I was about to present a call to arms...

i.e,

"I know the Dissensus massive can bring it on! Present us with the most crushing, cannot breathe baselines! Any genre: Disco! UK Garage! House! Techno! Punk! Krautrock ( even though I feel that's a bit racist, alhough when I was recently in Germany they had sections in the record shops with that label ), Dub Reggae, Dub Techno, Jazz, jazz Fusion, JazzRock, Jazz funk, etc.,..."

this is why I should never post when out of it

 

[william_kent]

oh dear, important business meteing in 5 hours,,, I'm doomed... ( self destruct initiated )

 

[IdleRich]

ah....

you know how you did a "motorik" thread and everyone misunderstood what you meant?

Er, sort of, I mean they recommended some motorik tunes and some that were not really motorik but were kinda like it - and I was glad to hear them all pretty much and learn some new stuff. But it's quite a good point actually cos I thought that whether or not a beat was motorik was an objective fact and, although I lack the musical knowledge or whatever to put it into words, I can recognise whether or not something is motorik and I was quite surprised that a lot of people seemingly couldn't. So, yes, annoyingly clever point in some ways....

Except, I'm not telling you anything (whether wrong or right) about heaviness, I'm asking you to help me learn. Cos genuinely when I heard the question, I thought that I knew what you were on about at first... but then I thought that maybe I didn't. I guess I was thinking, imagine you have a tune and you decide that you want to make the bassline heavier, then what do you do to it to make that happen? That's what I meant when I said something like "what dimension do you wanna move through?" - cos I was wondering if you made the bassline louder or higher in the mix would that be making it heavier and I kinda thought maybe not. Maybe making it deeper would though... or would it? Or maybe it's a combination of both of them or something.

And what I mean is, I can see that the bassline on this



Is not as heavy as on this



But I really have no way to say if that one - GEA3 - is heavier than GEA7 or the same or not as heavy



And I truly wonder if anyone would have an opinion on that - and, if you asked one hundred people who knew what they were on about, would they have an opinion and would they all agree? That is what I was getting at with objectivity - is one bassline of that nature clearly heavier than another and everyone would agree, or is it down to feel or opinion?

So what I'm saying is, I can pick out the difference between really obvious ones, but if it's not obvious I can't. And my questions beyond that are - is heaviness of bass universally agreed on and, how does one increase it?

"I know the Dissensus massive can bring it on! Present us with the most crushing, cannot breathe baselines! Any genre: Disco! UK Garage! House! Techno! Punk! Krautrock ( even though I feel that's a bit racist, even though when I was recently in Germany they had sections in the record shops with that label ), Dub Reggae, Dub Techno, Jazz, jazz Fusion, JazzRock, Jazz funk, etc.,..."

And yeah I reckon between us we can suggest loads of ones like this and it's cool and that's really what's happening which is cool in its own way - I certainly never mind hearing that kind of stuff and learning new bangers etc, but I would also like to know the answers to the above more general questions too... if they can be answered... although even an "i don't know" would mean something.

 

[IdleRich]

this is why I should never post when out of it

Fuck off everyone should post when they're out of it. I am right now in fact.

Personally I love threads when someone says "tell me the best x tunes" where x is bass or moog or fuzz or whatever, cos you always hear loads of killers, and also normally some brainbox wades in and makes some bigger point which teaches me something more general too. Which I might even remember if I'm lucky.

 

[william_kent]

Fuck off everyone should post when they're out of it. I am right now in fact.

Personally I love threads when someone says "tell me the best x tunes" where x is bass or moog or fuzz or whatever, cos you always hear loads of killers, and also normally some brainbox wades in and makes some bigger point which teaches me something more general too. Which I might even remember if I'm lucky.

I just got out of bed, ESPECIALLY, so i could delete all my posts in this thread that I'd made in the last hour or so, but you know what... I only seem to post here when I'm not sober ( whatever that means ), and thenI'll hurriedly delete my incredibly witty bon mots within seconds of me typing them, but tonight I'm going to make an exception , because it's you, and I respect your opinions, so I'm not going to delete my out of it ramblings...

and yeah. I was hoping for people to post their "heaviest" bass lines ever, rather than me having to explain what that actually means.. but if it comes down to it, I want a bass line to simultaneously crush me ( like Everest has fallen on my chest ) whilst pushing me forward like an irresistible force ( and this can be at glacial pace or hardcore g-force acceleration )

I doubt anyone's the wiser now...

 

[IdleRich]

I just got out of bed, ESPECIALLY, so i could delete all my posts in this thread that I'd made in the last hour or so, but you know what... I only seem to post here when I'm not sober ( whatever that means ), and I'm going to make an exception for you, and not delete my out of it ramblings...

Don't do that! I just got out of bed too... albeit only to have a cigarette on the balcony.

and yeah. I was hoping for people to post their "heaviest" bass lines ever, rather than me having to explain what that actually means.. but if it comes down to it, I want a bass line to simultaneously crush me ( like Everest has fallen on my chest ) whilst pushing me forward like an irresistible force ( and this can be at glacial pace or hardcore g-force acceleration )

I want both those things. But the reason I need (or want) an explanation and you don't is cos you already know. Maybe not in such a way as to be able to explicitly lay it out so simply that I (or any fool) could understand it, but at some level you know in a way that I don't. And I want to know, I want to catch up and be able to experience what you are in the same way... surely that makes sense? Perhaps I am trying to cheat though by asking, maybe I'm seeking a shortcut that doesn't exist and the only honourable way to understand this is to spend the time listening properly to bass until it somehow clicks for me in a way that it hasn't yet.

 

[woops]

re heaviness id probably describe it as something in context amid a series of peaks and troughs. imagine a DJ playing a tune with a big drop into a mega heavy bassline. what this very skillful DJ then does is mix into another lull, lets say, then plays another track with a different sounding but still v heavy bassline which to the delight of the dancefloor sounds even heavier than the previous one. and so on. even though next day the confused dj can't identify which is objectively heavier.

the dj then puts all dubstep records in a bin btw

 

[woops]

re heaviness id probably describe it as something in context amid a series of peaks and troughs. imagine a DJ playing a tune with a big drop into a mega heavy bassline. what this very skillful DJ then does is mix into another lull, lets say, then plays another track with a different sounding but still v heavy bassline which to the delight of the dancefloor sounds even heavier than the previous one. and so on. even though next day the confused dj can't identify which is objectively heavier.

the dj then puts all dubstep records in a bin btw

not that i think we should stop playing this great game of course. here's my entry


horrible churning sound that squats in one place rumbling away even as the filter opens to send you hurtling and lurching into the next wide open space section of the chooooon and basically what dubstep could and should of been

 

[Corpsey]

Not the heaviest (when jungle/drum n bass exists) but what i can only abstractly term 'the rudest'

 

[droid]

Not a lot of sub in this one, and very little dread, but it somehow manages to be one of the sweetest bass drops in jungle.

 

[WashYourHands]

Coral Way Chiefs - Release Myself, for molten bass line specific poise rather than thumping weight. At volume on a solid system it’s a completely submersible jitterbug of a behemoth, possibly the definitive Murk track. @pattycakes_ got behind the production by contacting Murk directly to find what their 3D recipe was too fwiw

 

[bassbeyondreason]

Some dirty south trunk-rattlers:

(from when it slows down at 1.25)



...and its screwed version:


Properly nightmarish psychedelic swamp:

 

[bassbeyondreason]

Currently writing my undergrad dissertation about these three:

 

[luka]

dubstep successfully made the notion of heavy bass unfashionable.

 

[WashYourHands]

KMD take your pick but for sliding into higher scales without losing momentum


and for a tune that can invoke bass bliss to the extent you find yourself doing little shuffles walking through town at noon listening through headphones

 

[woops]

KMD take your pick but for sliding into higher scales without losing momentum


and for a tune that can invoke bass bliss to the extent you find yourself doing little shuffles walking through town at noon listening through headphones

<3 kmd wicked basslines but are they heavy or more lurid and up front

 

[woops]

as for dub step im not Mr continuum face but even i can see this stuff is not as worthy successor to garage fun and iciness, drum n bass rush and melody, techno cyber future sounds, or ven actual dub

dubstep successfully made the notion of heavy bass unfashionable.

"heavy" bass, dead drums, white dreads, portentuous aesthetic, perfect storm of 5h1te

 

[WashYourHands]

<3 kmd wicked basslines but are they heavy or more lurid and up front

initially the latter because both examples drive the fun(k)

Fuck Wit Your Head possibly both, the longer you give it time to settle and surrender to it the more you find yourself caught in its swirling ripe tides