Nine Inch Nails "Closer" Bass – How'd He Do It?

[zwerggle]

It's no exaggeration when I say that, when I first heard the song "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails, it literally changed my life. One of those things that you didn't even realize you were looking for until you found it.

More specifically, that bass sound is still one of my favorite bass sounds of all time (maybe even my #1 favorite?). Regardless, it was still quite a few years until I got into making music seriously. I was going to say that it turned out to be a fairly difficult sound to re-create, but I honestly can't remember.

Any idea/thoughts/knowledge how Trent Reznor achieved that sound?

Thanks!

z


EDIT: 

As I explained in a post below, I should make clear is that it's the bass sound in the chorus that I'm really after. In case you need a refresher, it starts at about 1:09:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eROTYe ... .be&t=1m4s

It's the sound that has that heavy, overdriven quality. It really hits you in the chest, even if you're listening on the radio with crappy headphones (which I was when i first heard it).

[eusti]

http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?46,121940,page=6


Don't know if that helps...

D.

[Some Desperate Glory]

It's no exaggeration when I say that, when I first heard the song "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails, it literally changed my life. One of those things that you didn't even realize you were looking for until you found it.

More specifically, that bass sound is still one of my favorite bass sounds of all time (maybe even my #1 favorite?). Regardless, it was still quite a few years until I got into making music seriously. I was going to say that it turned out to be a fairly difficult sound to re-create, but I honestly can't remember.

Any idea/thoughts/knowledge how Trent Reznor achieved that sound?

Thanks!

z

I read an interview with him at the time and he said he used the Oberheim OB-MX to do that synth bass sound.

http://www.vintagesynth.com/oberheim/obmx.php

From my listening it sounds like it is a bandpass filtered saw wave with a bit of LFO modulating the pitch very slightly.

[jfrichards]

Just a quick observation.  There are two bass setups going at the same time.  Both a heavy fundamental, like through a pultec-style EQ, and a wah bass with a fairly wide Q in the midrange.

[EnochLight]

It's no exaggeration when I say that, when I first heard the song "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails, it literally changed my life. One of those things that you didn't even realize you were looking for until you found it.

More specifically, that bass sound is still one of my favorite bass sounds of all time (maybe even my #1 favorite?). Regardless, it was still quite a few years until I got into making music seriously. I was going to say that it turned out to be a fairly difficult sound to re-create, but I honestly can't remember.

Any idea/thoughts/knowledge how Trent Reznor achieved that sound?

Thanks!

z

Here's some background on the production of "Closer":

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep12/a ... s-0912.htm

Also, if you have Reason 8.1, check this out (I realize it's not Closer, but fun nonetheless):  
http://www.nympheas.org/reason/DownInIt.reason
I think EditEd did this many moons ago.

[ryanharlin]

Keyboard Magazine wrote an article about it in March 2009 that shows you how to make this sound with a Moog. The same knobs would translate on the Viking VK-1 RE, I'd imagine.

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/newbay/ ... startid=60

And here's the MP3 of their example:

http://www.celebutantemusic.com/keybmag ... er_all.mp3

[Noplan]

I think this could help to recreate it in reason. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JWrueB_88g

[EnochLight]

I read an interview with him at the time and he said he used the Oberheim OB-MX to do that synth bass sound.

http://www.vintagesynth.com/oberheim/obmx.php

From my listening it sounds like it is a bandpass filtered saw wave with a bit of LFO modulating the pitch very slightly.

According to this SOS article, "The bass part was an Akai sample that he [FLOOD] had, while his super synth licks were straight out of the Prophet VS and Akai stuff that we stacked together."  I wonder if that sample was the Oberheim OB-MX?

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep12/a ... s-0912.htm

[zwerggle]

I haven't had a chance to go through any of these yet, but thank you for the all the incredibly quick response. It's only been an hour or so since I posted it!

[EnochLight]

I haven't had a chance to go through any of these yet, but thank you for the all the incredibly quick response. It's only been an hour or so since I posted it!

You might be interested to know that one Reason user redid the entire "Downward Spiral" album using nothing but Reason (although he mastered in ProTools at the time).  A bad ass tidbit?  He didn't use one synth in his covers at all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bY3GGfqp7g

[Some Desperate Glory]

According to this SOS article, "The bass part was an Akai sample that he [FLOOD] had, while his super synth licks were straight out of the Prophet VS and Akai stuff that we stacked together."  I wonder if that sample was the Oberheim OB-MX?

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep12/a ... s-0912.htm

According to that article it was a sample, but there is just so much going on with the bassline.  To me it sounds like it is being modulated during the performance but the Akai samplers of that vintage were not known for their processing ability.  It would be very hard to make it sound like that with just a simple sample of a synth playing a bass note.  

What he might have meant (and I used to do myself with my ASR-10) is he may have recorded a sequenced bassline with live knob-twiddling into the Akai as a sample, and then just played the sample over and over again in the song.  While there appears to be automation *within* the 8-bar loop, each 8-bar loop sounds identical to my ears.  Who knows?

At any rate, thanks for posting that, it was a great read.  I'm thinking I may have read an interview with Future Music that had the information I said.  Who know these musos aren't always that consistent haha!

[zwerggle]

And here's the MP3 of their example:

http://www.celebutantemusic.com/keybmag ... er_all.mp3

AH! One thing I should make clear is that it's the bass sound in the chorus that I'm really after. In case you need a refresher, it starts at about 1:09:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eROTYe ... .be&t=1m4s

It's the sound that has that heavy, overdriven quality. It really hits you in the chest, even if you're listening on the radio with crappy headphones (which I was when i first heard it).

[jfrichards]

That chorus bass is pretty close to a hard driven MusicMan bass, not a synth.  That could be the sample he's talking about.

[Some Desperate Glory]

That chorus bass is pretty close to a hard driven MusicMan bass, not a synth.  That could be the sample he's talking about.

I just listened to the youtube video and I agree with you.  The chorus bass is either a real bass or a sample of a real bass.  

I assumed the OP was talking about the verse bass since it was so unique at the time.

[EnochLight]

Agreed. That definitely sounds like an actual bass guitar sample. It reminds me of Thrill Kill Kult's Day of Swine & Roses bass sample:

http://youtu.be/rE0zVbNL3Zk

[Last Alternative]

Closer still gives me chills to this day. So much chaos going on. Unfortunately I'm just recently getting into sound design and more away from tweaking presets so I won't be any help but I will say there's some serious distortion, bit crushing, and layering going on. But you knew that.
How sick would it be if Trent did a recording/mixing tutorial?!

[zwerggle]

That chorus bass is pretty close to a hard driven MusicMan bass, not a synth.  That could be the sample he's talking about.

Why specifically a MusicMan bass? I've never heard of them.

[zwerggle]

Agreed. That definitely sounds like an actual bass guitar sample. It reminds me of Thrill Kill Kult's Day of Swine & Roses bass sample:

Kind of sounds like an FM bass.

[jfrichards]

That chorus bass is pretty close to a hard driven MusicMan bass, not a synth.  That could be the sample he's talking about.

Why specifically a MusicMan bass? I've never heard of them.

They were the first to put high powered hum bucking pickups near the bridge producing overly metallic tone.  Flea of the Chilli Peppers is the most prominent user.  They have a unique tone.

[zwerggle]

That chorus bass is pretty close to a hard driven MusicMan bass, not a synth.  That could be the sample he's talking about.

Why specifically a MusicMan bass? I've never heard of them.

They were the first to put high powered hum bucking pickups near the bridge producing overly metallic tone.  Flea of the Chilli Peppers is the most prominent user.  They have a unique tone.

Interesting. Thanks for the tip.

[Noplan]

This is my short attempt to recreate it in R8. It is not well-made, but it illustrates that i hear a distorted bass. 

http://www.file-upload.net/download-102 ... eason.html

[zwerggle]

This is my short attempt to recreate it in R8. It is not well-made, but it illustrates that i hear a distorted bass. 

http://www.file-upload.net/download-102 ... eason.html

Would you mind exporting that as an mp3 or something? I'm still on 6.5

[Noplan]

[Lunesis]

Sounds pretty good in my opinion!

[eusti]

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Sounds like a loop begging to be used for something!
Nice!

D.