A Brief History of the Reese Bass
Drums, bass: the two components of our favorite electronic music genre, drum and bass. Without that low-frequency goodness, DnB just wouldn’t hit the same. In this first installment of a new short series on drums and basses of drum and bass, I’ll be sharing the brief and interesting history of the pulsing Reese bass.
Now one of the most iconic sounds associated with jungle, the Reese bass was created by DJ/Producer Kevin Saunderson. A member of the Belleville Three—a trio comprised of Saunderson along with Juan Atkins and Derrick May—he is truly a techno innovator. Yes, you heard that right. One of the sounds most important to jungle and drum and bass came from a 1988 deep and dark techno track called “Just Want Another Chance” [Incognito Records] under one of Saunderson’s many artist monikers, Reese.
The first person to sample Reese bass and introduce it to the jungle world was Ray Keith under his moniker Renegade, which came out in 1994. There was a six-year gap between its creation and Saunderson gaining a bit of notoriety for his contribution.
Reese bass is known for sounding massive and unlike anything heard before when it came out. Saunderson created this sound by fiddling with his Casio CZ-5000, a now-vintage synthesizer. He says in an article in Attack Magazine that he came about creating this sound by setting parameters and playing with the oscillator.
The unique sound of the Reese bass could possibly be recreated using a small army of stand-up basses, some timing, and will, but thanks to Serum and other current production technology, we can create it at home on a computer. It sounds like a constant flow of thick, deeply moving bass with frequent slight changes in pitch that modulates itself.
The Reese bass is definitely here to stay. You can hear it in a number of electronic music genres aside from jungle and drum and bass, such as bass house, dubstep, and UK garage (formerly known as speed garage). For me, the sound will always be associated with early jungle music. Thank you, Mr. Saunderson!
I'll be back next week with an interview and will continue this series over the next three months. Big up, everyone!
