Well, I'm not an expert in funky house, but I spent much of my life playing bass in a variety of actual funk bands, so I think I can offer some advice. Funk relies heavily on groove and the major elements include (1) a solid backbeat, (2) syncopated percussion (e.g., hihats, congas, bongos, etc.), and (3) a groovy bass line played with feel. By backbeat, I mean the even-numbered beats (2 and 4), which are typically emphasized in funk. Even if you're using a 4/floor kick pattern, you should try to emphasize the second and fourth beats a bit more as your frame of reference, rather than the kick drum; this will help your groove lay back a bit, rather than pushing the beat. That said, think about using something funkier than 4/floor kicks for funky house, as well as offbeat claps/snares, ghost notes, etc. to add some groove.

Too many funky house tracks these days lose the groove by hard-quantizing everything and levelling out the volumes and velocities, which is exactly what you should NOT be doing if you want some funk in your junk. Play/sequence the part with feel, slightly behind the beat, with varying dynamics that accentuate the off-beat parts. Think like a bassist when coming up with your bass lines - most funk bass lines generally tend to combine a fluid/legato main groove with staccato/percussive hits (pops/slaps) an octave above the main groove note at off-beat syncopated intervals. Most importantly, listen to some actual old-school funk as done by the masters (e.g., the ones that M4B mentioned earlier).

Again, these are just my random suggestions from a funk bassist's POV, not an expert in funky house per se, so take it for what it's worth.

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This is now a quivver appreciation thread. All hail this guys discog page http://www.discogs.com/artist/Quivver

Best track of his? I like his remix of Led Zeppelin - Babe I'm gonna leave you

discuss

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Originally posted by cryophonik Well, I'm not an expert in funky house, but I spent much of my life playing bass in a variety of actual funk bands, so I think I can offer some advice. Funk relies heavily on groove and the major elements include (1) a solid backbeat, (2) syncopated percussion (e.g., hihats, congas, bongos, etc.), and (3) a groovy bass line played with feel. By backbeat, I mean the even-numbered beats (2 and 4), which are typically emphasized in funk. Even if you're using a 4/floor kick pattern, you should try to emphasize the second and fourth beats a bit more as your frame of reference, rather than the kick drum; this will help your groove lay back a bit, rather than pushing the beat. That said, think about using something funkier than 4/floor kicks for funky house, as well as offbeat claps/snares, ghost notes, etc. to add some groove. Too many funky house tracks these days lose the groove by hard-quantizing everything and levelling out the volumes and velocities, which is exactly what you should NOT be doing if you want some funk in your junk. Play/sequence the part with feel, slightly behind the beat, with varying dynamics that accentuate the off-beat parts. Think like a bassist when coming up with your bass lines - most funk bass lines generally tend to combine a fluid/legato main groove with staccato/percussive hits (pops/slaps) an octave above the main groove note at off-beat syncopated intervals. Most importantly, listen to some actual old-school funk as done by the masters (e.g., the ones that M4B mentioned earlier). Again, these are just my random suggestions from a funk bassist's POV, not an expert in funky house per se, so take it for what it's worth.

Wow. That's quite a bit more than I was expecting. Thanks for the advice.

In the track I've currently got, I've got, in addition to my main beat, an 808ish loop, a bongo loop, and a quick little snare rim loop all playing in and out throughout the piece. I haven't thought about how hard I've been quantizing everything, so I should probably pay more attention to that.

I have been experimenting quite a bit lately with messing with the velocities on piano riffs to create a more realistic sound, thinking about what notes I would naturally play harder, what beats I would be emphasizing, etc.

As far as the bassline goes, I've actually been composing them by sitting on my couch with my bass and plugging in whatever feels right. It's quite a bit harder than I thought to get a real stacatto, slap sound with samples or otherwise, so I might end up rendering it in another project with artificial slaps made via distortion or something and then plugging it back into my main project.

Again, thanks loads.

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Originally posted by cryophonik Well, I'm not an expert in funky house, but I spent much of my life playing bass in a variety of actual funk bands, .

I have a pretty nice vintage fender jazz bass at my parents house collecting dust. I do have my american Telecaster with me but haven't touched it in almost a year. its kinda just a prop now.

another tip: keep your loops 1/2bar length and a small change every 8. this way u get that back and forth movement. cryo was on the subject.

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Originally posted by Mad for Brad pretty sure quincy jones , George Clinton. Rick Hames was doing that moog wiggle lead a decade earlier. Early house just ripped off those musicians but did it badly with no soul. No i'm not familiar with that guy and he definitely isn't a legend and that song licks in a bad way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5Dr...feature=related from 1982. Kinda makes you realize how irrelevant early EDM was. Well most of it.

Bullshit. Early house was about 303s, not moogs. The fact that later commercial house was all about dodgy pseudosoul shouldn't make you tar the rest of the genre with the same brush. Early house was something new, thats why it was awesome.

And get back on your meds, you're acting like a douche again. Quivver is definately not a nobody.

quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik Well, I'm not an expert in funky house, but I spent much of my life playing bass in a variety of actual funk bands, so I think I can offer some advice. Funk relies heavily on groove and the major elements include (1) a solid backbeat, (2) syncopated percussion (e.g., hihats, congas, bongos, etc.), and (3) a groovy bass line played with feel. By backbeat, I mean the even-numbered beats (2 and 4), which are typically emphasized in funk. Even if you're using a 4/floor kick pattern, you should try to emphasize the second and fourth beats a bit more as your frame of reference, rather than the kick drum; this will help your groove lay back a bit, rather than pushing the beat. That said, think about using something funkier than 4/floor kicks for funky house, as well as offbeat claps/snares, ghost notes, etc. to add some groove. Too many funky house tracks these days lose the groove by hard-quantizing everything and levelling out the volumes and velocities, which is exactly what you should NOT be doing if you want some funk in your junk. Play/sequence the part with feel, slightly behind the beat, with varying dynamics that accentuate the off-beat parts. Think like a bassist when coming up with your bass lines - most funk bass lines generally tend to combine a fluid/legato main groove with staccato/percussive hits (pops/slaps) an octave above the main groove note at off-beat syncopated intervals. Most importantly, listen to some actual old-school funk as done by the masters (e.g., the ones that M4B mentioned earlier). Again, these are just my random suggestions from a funk bassist's POV, not an expert in funky house per se, so take it for what it's worth.

This is good advice.

Also, SAMPLE.

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Off topic here, the usual on forums lol but I agree Quivver is a legend, fact. His music isnt funky house but its all excellent.

One of my all time favourite tunes, ever!

Stoneproof - Everythings Not You [Quivvers Space RMX]

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Originally posted by alanzo It's like sifting through cat shit to find a penny. In the end, it wasn't worth the effort.

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Originally posted by JEO Let's cast our asses into some plast. We're all fucking legend. Pleasure - Selim Bob James - Sign Of The Times MSZ, you're drunk, and so fucking true as it is, so am I. Considering MFB's track, it is rather funky, as 10 % of us whitey's can even tell the difference between funk, soul and jazz, fuck this. And IMO, what comes to saying what is funk soul house or what the fuck. I didn't read the thread. Excuse me, I'm drunk. I mean wtf niggehs (britishly pronounced), funk house or wtf was it? Seriously shit, it ain't even true. I've been waiting for a genre pop-up named something like "house rap", but then I thought; fuck, it's been all over the place from the beginning. Shit so absuurd, niggaaaaaahhh...

this is one of the best posts i have seen in the production studio.

I think mad for brad is going through his cycle where he used up all his "brad" candles that he usually inserts into his anus.

It was quite frankly the highlight of my evening. Shit just flowed from the still functional parts of my brain in to my fingertips.

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Originally posted by kitphillips Bullshit. Early house was about 303s, not moogs. The fact that later commercial house was all about dodgy pseudosoul shouldn't make you tar the rest of the genre with the same brush. Early house was something new, thats why it was awesome. .

we are talking about funky french house dumbass and the guy mentioned quiver because of the moog wobble lead which was being done decades earlier and not by quiver.

Last edited by Looney4Clooney on Sep-13-2010 at 13:03

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Early house just ripped off those musicians but did it badly with no soul.

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Originally posted by Mad for Brad we are talking about funky french house dumbass and the guy mentioned quiver because of the moog wobble lead which was being done decades earlier and not by quiver.

Keep backpedalling.

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Last edited by kitphillips on Sep-13-2010 at 13:58

I'm not riding a bike.

I was asked if my lead was influenced by Quiver to which I said hell no. If anything it was from those funk guys I mentioned that had coined that sound a decade earlier. I'm sorry if I find nothing worthwhile in early EDM except for maybe the tail end of disco with that electro italian disco stuff but that shit quiver makes was the reason I did not listen to EDM as it just sounds really bad, synthetic and soulless to me. Every single innovation regarding electronic music had been explored via other genres except perhaps the over use of the 303 but you want to talk about sound design, production …. all that was being done in other genres in the 80s so no, I don't find this guy a legend what so ever. But then again, some people have lower standards when using the word legend. Quincy Jones is a legend, Quiver is a not.

Last edited by Looney4Clooney on Sep-13-2010 at 16:28