Why is the reece bass so widely used in drum n bass

roryaroa

New Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2009
Hi,

I am doing a research project in my year 13 musicanship class and I am doing it about the reece bass and more precisely why it is so prominent in drum 'n' bass and what affect does the reece bass have on a listener that makes it better than other various basses. I am really interested into going into the psychology of the reece bass and other basses in general. I am a dj and producer myself and any opinions and information is much appreciated.

Thanks,
 
Wow man, psychology of the Reece Bass?

I think it might have something to do with omnipresence, as it's usually a constant sound instead of what "normal" music considers a rhythmic instrument (bass).

On a side note, at one time I used to think a lot about why I liked so much drum and bass. At that time I was really into very hard stuff like anything from Freak, old Dylan, Loxy, that 2000 ish hardstep era if you want to name the genres. I came to the conclusion that raving is a violent thing, not against others but sort of letting off steam - let it all burst out in the music by dancing my ass off instead of busting teef and having tekken on the street corner yknow... I was a lot into metal earlier which kinda explains the transition, but the syncopation and rhythmical focus in dnb just blew me away. The Reece is also a violent, powerful sound with the grit it usually has, so I relate it to that. If music is expression of feeling, then the reece is anger. Which leads to hate, hate to the dark side leads.

Or it just might be easy to use and reproduce.
 
I think drum and bass just wanted something with 2 detuned saw waves ya know.


For real though, I would go with Kama's explanation of the raging bit. I feel a sort of mind sweeping tension when a high reece note is played, or when it is modulated or whatnot. Sometimes I literally shout "that is FAT" when I hear a bassline, and I think the reece is one of those basslines that are really fat. You can't get the feeling of "HOLY SHIT THAT IS MEGA F*CKING SICK" when you hear an off beat techno bassline honestly.
 
Firstly it sounds so, so whoooooaaaaaaaaa. It sounds really huge and full of energy, yeah I'm not sure how to describe it.

From a technical production point of view sawtooth waves contain both even and odd harmonics above the fundamental meaning that they've got LOTS of frequency content making them good for filter movement (nothing like sweeping a bandpass filter through a reese) and also you get lots of cool little modulations due to the detuning.
 
It sounds frikkin awesome! That's why.

Whenever I hear an epic reese bassline accompanied by a brutal Amen I want to smash something up.
 
whats the reece like, if you had to describe it loosely. id say sustained bassnotes, so from that perspective its not so strange at all, most music use sustained bassnotes at some point i think. and to distort the bass isnt entirely unheard of either.
more specifically, why the detuned saw sound fits the music so well is tricky but the techstep is normally quite dissonant plus its a richer tone when you detune it a little
 
Wow man, psychology of the Reece Bass?

I think it might have something to do with omnipresence, as it's usually a constant sound instead of what "normal" music considers a rhythmic instrument (bass).

On a side note, at one time I used to think a lot about why I liked so much drum and bass. At that time I was really into very hard stuff like anything from Freak, old Dylan, Loxy, that 2000 ish hardstep era if you want to name the genres. I came to the conclusion that raving is a violent thing, not against others but sort of letting off steam - let it all burst out in the music by dancing my ass off instead of busting teef and having tekken on the street corner yknow... I was a lot into metal earlier which kinda explains the transition, but the syncopation and rhythmical focus in dnb just blew me away. The Reece is also a violent, powerful sound with the grit it usually has, so I relate it to that. If music is expression of feeling, then the reece is anger. Which leads to hate, hate to the dark side leads.

Or it just might be easy to use and reproduce.

spot on pretty much... except i came from a ska/punk backgorund before settling on dnb and i think that the tempo and energy of dnb naturally followed suit to the afore mentioned styles... and a reese (as mentioned earlier) is so rich in harmonics that is has lots of sonic energy, ergo sounds 'phat'.
 
I was pretty much the same as kama. the reece bass seems to be the human representation of dark qualities haha.

that sounda very vague but... i realised the other day, when i was trying to explain on of my tunes to someone else, and the only way i could explain it was "Dark" do i notice that the reece bass with its detuned formula does it sound so dark.

also... i think the beat is such in drum and bass that it adds to the whole dark spectrum of things... ive spent AGES trying to overcome why a) dnb makes me more angry than the darkest of metal and also, b) why i find the need to defend drum and bass as a tranquil genre

haha

Because, the reece base, when manipulated, becomes something very tranquil and peaceful!

anyway... the reece bass isnt the be all and end all of dnb!

lol. but whatever... discuss!
haha
 
it sounds the shit- guess its the pulse of it for me- when a reece is rocking- pulsing -alot of the time - it does it for me
i agree not the end all
but a good one is hard to beat
i also think it is easy to recognize in most cases- and therefore easy for people to relate - ive heard a bass like tis befor and i liked it - many variations can be achieved of this noise
my two cents
 
Something about it creating an effect of tension/friction which implies resistance and force, energy, aggression, electricity, power... The fact that it is usually omnipresent also indicates that like any persistent noise you hear; it does eventually get on your tits. This sounds daft, but the upper-end frequencies; the buzz that Reece basslines produce, can be similar to things like moped engines, flies, electric power tools (saws in partuclar). I suppose I would argue that it subconsciously inhibits some kind of aggression release in people as the sound is a constant and unescapable one.
Or you could just say that its fucking mega!
 
Thank everyone. Some wicked information. I found it really hard to describe how a reese makes you feel and this helps heaps.

Cheers.
 
its a strange topic because the reese was not born out of jungle/dnb. it came from house, got sampled and then twisted into something quite dark sounding.

nearly as necessary as the amen break.
 
oh and i agree with previous comments. its all about the 'unleashing' on the dancefloor. the anger, the power :)
 
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