Flaming Lips 'How??' bass sound - how indeed?

How to make that sound...
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Wondering how the thick bass in this track is made. In the version below it is first heard after 1 min 29 secs (I don't think you'll miss it), and then comes in and out throughout the track.

There's something about this particular bass sound - where it sounds SO thick - it reminds me of a plastic coated sofa my parents had when I was young, where you would drag your thumb across it, and the friction would make this sound. That's what I think of when I hear this!

To get a bass sound this thick, do you stack oscillators in 2 or 3 octaves perhaps? And low pass filter them? Or is there more going on? When I listened in headphones the other day, the sound seemed particularly big, so there may also be stereo widening (even though I program my own bass sounds in mono)?

Would love to hear people's thoughts...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unLnJvzf-So

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here are two presets for Charlatan VST and Headcrusher FREE (distortion)

I'm assuming you're on windows 64 bit but in case you're not Look at the pics to get it close

Charlatan VST
http://www.blaukraut.info/

Headcrusher FREE
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?pl ... ee&id=2112
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CHOOSX Remakes on my Youtube Channel

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Thanks CHOOS!

I'm actually a MAC user, and not familiar with Charlatan, but from what I can see...sawtooth wave, unison (seven voices) with some detuning, fed through an LPF, and then beefed up with some Overdrive distortion?

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pretty much.

Play with the resonance @ the filter cut off so you get some extra harmonics in the highs where you like them.
If I remember it was around 6k in the song above but obviously do this to fit your song.

GL
CHOOSX Remakes on my Youtube Channel

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Just had a go, and came up with exactly what I was after. Thanks again, really appreciate it.

As an aside, I'm noticing that often when I am wowed by a bass patch, it is often as much to do with what is going on in the mid ranges then in the actual bass frequencies. This may be largely just my personal preference (and obviously I'm aware of the concept of top-basses etc). I don't think you can really use these sort of bass sounds all the time, because there would be little room for anything else in the mix, and plus it could get monotonous if you used these sort of basses in all your tracks. But I do like them!

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Yeah I'm surprised how often things are way simpler than what I thought when I heard it.
Then i analyze it and I'm like > WHAAAAAT?
But the bass's job is usually to fill up the low to low-mids so yeah it kinda makes sense. Unless you bass is your lead and then a ton of manipulation is required to make it sound unique
CHOOSX Remakes on my Youtube Channel

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Love the Flaming Lips. Sad they’ve gone off the deep end a bit.

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