Studio Upright Bass

Studio Upright Bass

Overview

• Upright bass with jazz articulations
• Improved playabilty for fluid, authentic performances
• Mixer Presets for authentic placement at Vienna Synchron Stage
• Switch off internal reverb for placement in any virtual acoustic environment

Pain-staking Efforts

The instrument was played by Bernd Konzett, a well-known jazz bassist from the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. Following numerous test recordings, he equipped his 4-string, three-quarter bass with a 113 cm scale with thinner E and A strings, and thicker D and G strings. A short while thereafter, Bernd realized just how painful it can be to record samples for Vienna Symphonic Library. As opposed to a several-hour-long gig at a jazz club, a glissandos recording session can be torturous, leaving the musician with veritable burns on the fingertips. The strings themselves heat up to high temperatures, resulting in regular blistering of the fingertips, even leaving behind a certain smell of burned and blistered skin in the Silent Stage.

A Little History

The double bass began to be used in jazz music by the end of the 19th century, supporting the harmonic structure of the chord progressions as walking bass. However, it soon began to gain prominence as a solo instrument in its own right, with famous players such as Charles Mingus, Ron Carter, Esperanza Spalding, and Charlie Haden, just to name a few.

Sampling

The samples were recorded in a relatively dry environment on the Silent Stage, allowing you to position the instrument anywhere in the stereo field or on your virtual stage with complete flexibility. Utilize the included mixer presets with built-in convolution reverb for ideal placement on Stage A of the Vienna Synchron Stage, or turn off any internal reverb and use an external placement and reverberation tool of your choice, such as the rooms of our Vienna MIR Pro 3D.