Hello Everyone,
I was looking for examples of TB-303 usage outside of the Acid and "Protection" from Massive Attack (feat. Tracey Thorn), given as an example on several forums [1].
Protection is one of my all time favorite song and oh boy I realized -after 20 years later- the song has 303 sound.
But something was off, did not able to put my finger on it, while 303 sounds perfect in this song, it is also quite different from what one can get off out of the instrument.
The more I listen the more I got into it, then I become obsessed with cracking it, unfortunately things are not going well.
Protection (album) was recorded during 1993-1994 and released on 26 September 1994, hence the instrument should be the original TB-303 (released on 1981) not the clones or TB-03 re-release.
I wanted to isolate the 303 sound from the song, I thought this might reveal more detail and quickly find that there is an instrumental version of it [2]
Things got more interesting, instrumental version has completely different 303 sound![:worried:]()
!
Mostly (excluding outro) song only has dry 303 sound (overridden, distorted I believe) that I am used to hear and exactly what I expected in the first place.
Here you can listen the same section of both album version version and instrumental version:
Album:
iframe
Instrumental
iframe
"Okay" I said to myself "I can work on this"
After listening it countless time, I am pretty confidently can say there are two base lines
one, straight 16ths
the other is still 16ths but with transpose and slide
![Image]()
I have a TD-3 (a TB-303 clone) so it can be programmed as the same way as TB-303 so I confirmed the sequencer program by the help of Dub version of the song (hoping it uses same recordings)
https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxbZp6sr7dekqIOVCmaggx5Cx5s4UzzOzY
While the sequencer program is sorted out, it is still a mystery for me how it got mixed (mastered?) to sound the way it sounds as album version.
I believe both instrumental and album version has the same recording of the TB-303, it does not make sense to record another session with an analog synthesizer that do not have any automation feature. Also when you put both version together panned, their harmonic sound matching.
So I am speculating here, I think 303 recordings mixed at post production so it sounds more wet. It must be a nice trick since I can not even understand what's going on by effect wise, it is so strange.
I tried recording my own dry sound (distorted) in order to try&error some effects but no to avail.
iframe
What do you think? Any little piece information that you point might be useful for me to explore.
Thanks.
OSB
[1] Gearspace - https://gearspace.com/board/showpost.ph ... stcount=11
https://forum.vintagesynth.com/viewtopic.php?p=446236
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3lQjdUnYrw
I was looking for examples of TB-303 usage outside of the Acid and "Protection" from Massive Attack (feat. Tracey Thorn), given as an example on several forums [1].
Protection is one of my all time favorite song and oh boy I realized -after 20 years later- the song has 303 sound.
But something was off, did not able to put my finger on it, while 303 sounds perfect in this song, it is also quite different from what one can get off out of the instrument.
The more I listen the more I got into it, then I become obsessed with cracking it, unfortunately things are not going well.
Protection (album) was recorded during 1993-1994 and released on 26 September 1994, hence the instrument should be the original TB-303 (released on 1981) not the clones or TB-03 re-release.
I wanted to isolate the 303 sound from the song, I thought this might reveal more detail and quickly find that there is an instrumental version of it [2]
Things got more interesting, instrumental version has completely different 303 sound
!Mostly (excluding outro) song only has dry 303 sound (overridden, distorted I believe) that I am used to hear and exactly what I expected in the first place.
Here you can listen the same section of both album version version and instrumental version:
Album:
iframe
Instrumental
iframe
"Okay" I said to myself "I can work on this"
After listening it countless time, I am pretty confidently can say there are two base lines
one, straight 16ths
the other is still 16ths but with transpose and slide
I have a TD-3 (a TB-303 clone) so it can be programmed as the same way as TB-303 so I confirmed the sequencer program by the help of Dub version of the song (hoping it uses same recordings)
https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxbZp6sr7dekqIOVCmaggx5Cx5s4UzzOzY
While the sequencer program is sorted out, it is still a mystery for me how it got mixed (mastered?) to sound the way it sounds as album version.
I believe both instrumental and album version has the same recording of the TB-303, it does not make sense to record another session with an analog synthesizer that do not have any automation feature. Also when you put both version together panned, their harmonic sound matching.
So I am speculating here, I think 303 recordings mixed at post production so it sounds more wet. It must be a nice trick since I can not even understand what's going on by effect wise, it is so strange.
I tried recording my own dry sound (distorted) in order to try&error some effects but no to avail.
iframe
What do you think? Any little piece information that you point might be useful for me to explore.
Thanks.
OSB
[1] Gearspace - https://gearspace.com/board/showpost.ph ... stcount=11
https://forum.vintagesynth.com/viewtopic.php?p=446236
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3lQjdUnYrw
Statistics: Posted by synther — Mon Jul 01, 2024 4:04 pm — Replies 1 — Views 91