Reese
From DNBWiki
- This article refers to a type of bassline. See also, Alex Reece
A reese is a type of bassline.
It is frequently misspelt "reece", probably owing to confusing with Alex Reece - however, there is no connection. Reece is actually Alex Reece's surname, he did not name himself after the bassline nor was the bassline named after him.
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[edit] History
The reese is named after "Kevin 'Reese' Saunderson" (Reese, from his middle name -- Maurice), a techno producer. It comes from the 1986 tune Just Want Another Chance. Whilst some smaller dnb tunes may have sampled it beforehand, the first huge dnb tune to sample this bassline and firmly establish it as a staple sound was Ray Keith's Terrorist from 1994.
Since then, the history of the reese has essentially been one of "bigger, louder, nastier". The original reese sound has been progressively more distorted, filtered and layered, to the point where newcomers to dnb raised on the likes of Noisia may be surprised at the relatively smooth, lowpassed sound of the original Terrorist bassline.
Furthermore, most so-called reese basslines these days probably do not sample from the original source, but are merely tagged with the same name owing to their similiar qualities. It is quite easy to make a basic reese, and it is therefore common to synthesise an 'original reese' rather than stick with the sample.
[edit] Making a reese
The basic method for making a reese is simple: take a subtractive synth, select two saw waves, and detune one of them. Apply effects, like chorus and flange, then resample
After this, you can make it more "live" by adding some modulation, for example controlling filter or pitch by lfo or envelop.
The purpose of detuning the oscillators is not merely to create an evil or dissonant sound, but to create "beating", or tremolo in the resultant waveform. This effect is caused by alternating constructive and destructive interference between the substituent waveforms, and the amplitude of resultant wave modulates from 0 to A_1+A_2 at a rate called the beat frequency. For two oscillators, the beat frequency is equal to the difference in frequency of the two waves being superimposed. The greater the extent of detuning, the greater the difference in frequencies, and thus the faster the modulation in the final output.
A spreadsheet for syncing a beat frequency to note played and song tempo can be found here
The beat frequency of a waveform composed from more than two oscillators is equal to the superposition of the beat functions for each combination of the substituent waveforms.
[edit] Another technique
Set three oscilators to saw wave form where each osc is set an octave lower than the previous one (osc1:0 osc2:-12 osc3:-24). placing an lfo to modulate the pulse width will give the rumbling feeling. on synths with unison, increasing the number of voices will provide the "fatness" usually asociated with the sound. otherwise a chorus effect can be used.
