what now follows is a list of the processing i do after loading them into a sampler. i'd like you to suggest more stuff so i can update the list so eventually we can have a nice "everything you want to know about reeses" thread in the bible
here we go:
MY REESE TECHNIQUE LIST SO FAR
- frequency splitting
sending the output of the sampler to 2 or more channels, EQ'ing them so they don't have overlaying frequencies. you do this to have more control over your reese by applying different effects to different frequency bands
- distortion/saturation
this is pretty self-explaining. you might have already distorted your resamped reese, but if not this way you can apply differend kinds of distortion to your frequency bands and keeping the lowend clean. a rule of thumb is: less, but more often. adding subtle saturation during various stages of your fx chain can yield totally different results than using only one distortion unit at a more extreme setting
- filtering
bandpass filters applied to the midrange/highend can give a sweeping or even wobbly effect, in my opinion bandpass filters work best at the end of the chain after you created movement in the reese via other effects.
notch filters, especially when automated, can give your reese a kida morphing unnatural sound. they're kinda subtle, and using several bandpass filters automated at different speeds over the course of your fx chain can give you really weird results.
comb filters work best as a kind of sweeping effect when you automate them slowly over the course of a bar or longer. play around with the resonance and frequency settings until you found a sweet combination.
lowpass and highpass filters are pretty self-explaining, and in my opinion should only be used as an EQ'ing tool or for transitions. you can of course use an automated lowpass filter to add movement to your reese, but i think bandpass filters are more suited for that task as they highlight different frequency bands of your reese instead of just cutting away all your hard work rhythmically.
formant filters... well to be honest i haven't used any on my reeses so far because i haven't managed to get any good results with it. but that could just be me being a bad producer so feel free to give me pointers
- vocoders
i know they're used in a lot of newer neurofunk basslines, as well as skrillex' sounds (at least thats what i thin) and i got some interesting results so far using them. the problem here is, interesting doesn't mean good. also my bass always clips horribly inside the vocoder. however, if you're better than me with them (which i'll just assume you are) you should try them out. (to clarify, i refer to using the reese as a signal as well as the carrier. i haven't tried anything else so far, if you have please tell me your results)
- glide/portamento
ESSENTIAL! absolutely essential. not really much to explain. there are a few nice tricks with glide/portamento though.
the first is modulating your reese into a morphing mayhem using the above steps, resampling it and THEN gliding it between notes. due to the sampler changing the speed of the sample as the pitch goes up or down the whole morphing of your bassline gets morphed in itself. sounds like an absolute mindfuck? it is.
the other trick is loading the same reese sample into two samplers, both playing the same notes at once but with different glide speeds. i haven't tried that one out myself yet though, so i can't guarantee sick results.
- compression
using different kinds of compression on different frequency bands of your bassline is another nice way to have more control over the shape of your sound. generally it's not desirable to compress your mids/highs though, as you need the loudness dynamics up there. the bass can be made a lot more consistent though. a nice trick is compressing short notes of your bassline with a fairly long attack to give them a more attacky, percussive sound. you can then resample these notes to be used as stabs.
okay this is it so far from my side. i probably forgot a lot of stuff but i'm tired
so, what are your thoughts? does such a list even make sense? maybe if enough people are interested we could expand it into a general reese/resampling guide for the bible. basically an all-in-one thread rather than countless threads referring to each others where you have to wade through houndreds of answers to find the precious information.
