The Madlib Bass Warble

[MmBuddha]

I apologise for the duel Madlib posts I've made recently. I've been revisiting his back catalogue and am once again blown away by the sound he gets, largely out of the SP-303, 505 and 606. He continues to inspire me creatively.

There is one signature production trick he uses that I've been trying to understand. On quite a few Madlib tracks you can hear this fat, rumbling/warbling bass sound. The moment you hear it you know it's Madlib behind the boards. Below I will link a few examples if anyone has no idea what I'm talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ4UIbI3Kqg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGTF2CFvqUA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBzoPvOAsuI

Now if you listen to any of those tracks above, you should hear the bass sound I'm talking about. It's like a vibrating, slightly tremolo sound on the bass elements in the mix. Though it sounds somewhat like the effect of the SP-303 timestetch function, I've had no luck emulation it when I've tried that. I know there are some longtime 303 users on here, and I wanted to ask if any of you have come across a method that produces a similar sound on your production travels.

Any help you can give me is appreciated!

Thanks,

MmBuddha.

[preqwal]

That's just time stretched! He may have filtered it after time stretching to get rid of all that crap high end you generally get.

[MmBuddha]

See, that was my first thought. And you're probably right, but after experimenting with the timestretch I can't get an effect that touches that Madlib bass sound, even when I tried filtering. I can't help thinking I'm missing something..

[preqwal]

what sp you using? I know he used a 303 and a 606 at one point. Also, the bass has been time stretched down. Could be he's just got some nice bass sounds. Maybe try filtering first then time stretching?

[timmytoga]

I've often wondered about this exact thing that Madlib does.

It definitely sounds time stretched. I think he isolates the bass, and then amplifies it seperately from the rest of the track. That might explain how it has such a presence. It definitely isn't as simple as using a Low pass filter.

I have no idea.

I'd love to know though.

[MattCoops]

Naturally, bass has that vibrative feel to it.
But I know what you mean by that muffly warble you're hearing in those tracks.
It actually sounds as simple a process as pitching up the record when pulling the sample then pitched down and time stretched, and most likely compressed.
He's grabbing samples from some sick records with dope bass.
Have you listened to the original samples?
Just from the Jaylib "Official" track, that Gap Mangione sample has ill bass on the record. Good luck picking up that on vinyl (you'll be spending $100+).
But the bass on the record has a warble to it on its own. Time stretch is going to enhance that.

By the way, Tony Levin is playing bass on there and is sick with it.
He's still rockin' and you can see him jamming an upright bass live in action on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gulqD14vcMI
Tony Levin is a bassist to watch out for in the instrument credits.

[EarlGrey]

Speaking about Madlib and him using the 303. I don't understand how he pulls off most of his beats using the 303.

The 303 has no pad cut off (choke) function. He has a couple of beats that's just straight long loops. But there's also a lot of other beats with more happening. Does this dude trim each chop?! That must be the most time consuming ish ever considering his range of output.

[DON_GOLDMAN]

^Chopping is pretty damn fast on the 303, i liketo record each pad individually then fine tune the samples

Use the gate setting to cut pads off, u can also set both pads to loop and when one is playing hit both pads simultaneously

[yo-yo crunch]

the gate mode stuff could just be mute group action on the 606 or mpc 4000. i don't think he ever had a 505. just blaze references 'madlib's 505' in his redbull academy lecture but he meant to say 303. regarding the bass: prob just time stretch or could be layering keyboard bass with a subtle wah

[Dr Van Nostrand]

that Gap Mangione sample has ill bass on the record. Good luck picking up that on vinyl (you'll be spending $100+).

passed on a 25 dollar copy at a shop last spring and of course it wasn't there when i went back, i was bummed, don't know why i decided to leave that and buy what i did, but you can get that track on gap's second album 'sing along junk' too, which is way more common

[MattCoops]

passed on a 25 dollar copy at a shop last spring and of course it wasn't there when i went back

Dude, I got so many regrets in my adventures of collecting vinyl. Just to rattle a few:

"hiding" higher priced albums in some part of the Country section thinking nobody will see them and returning another day with the cash only to find out they're gone.

getting beat by a buck increase on an eBay find in the last second and not finding out about it 'til getting home from work

letting your "friend" carry a box of vinyl during a move and opening it up later to discover some broken records on the bottom

selling vinyl to shops for like 50 cents back in the 90s when doing Columbia House scams for CDs, and then selling those back too to local record stores after you burn the stuff to your computer, then it crashes and you got nothing

letting fellow turntablists "borrow" your records and they come back gouged up, or worse, they move to other side of the country and you never see your stuff again

buying a record at the thrift store, taking it home, and pulling out some other record from the jacket. Good luck taking that back.

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

Keep in mind that madlib might use a portastudio tape multitrack with his 303 to make quick beats from records he finds while traveling, if so then it's possible that some of the warble sound might be wow and flutter of analog tape still audible in the final stereo mix. Just a thought

[Dust le Villain]

that Gap Mangione sample has ill bass on the record. Good luck picking up that on vinyl (you'll be spending $100+).

passed on a 25 dollar copy at a shop last spring and of course it wasn't there when i went back, i was bummed, don't know why i decided to leave that and buy what i did, but you can get that track on gap's second album 'sing along junk' too, which is way more common

it goes for like 60-80 dollars now.

i had two of em..sold one, shit was near mint, and still had complaints.. buyer thought it was psychedelic music...

that whole record is so dope. and yeah true, the second album has that diana in the autumn wind track on it.

[rrr*]

Somewhat figured it out. I slow my patterns down like 3 bpms and then resample and bump it back up to where it was. After that, I usually do mfx13 and boost the bass, and then mfx12 or vinyl sim compression.

[ellaguru]

Guys, as Euclid said, madlib uses also other machines: analog/digital recorders and fx (pre amps and compressors); plus, i don't even know if he makes himself the mastering or if there is another man wich makes those (usually is like that that it goes)...