The Seinfeld Show "Fills"

[Bob Kagy]

What instrument is that that does the fills, or musical punctuation on the Seinfeld show?

Is that a guitar, bass guitar? Anybody know exactly what instrument, fx, amp is being used?

I've always admired the sound and succinct humor of whoever it is that does them.

It would be neat to be able to occasionally quote one of the lines using steel tied in with the song lyrics being backed.

Thanks, Bob

[mtulbert]

Hi Bob,

It sounds to me as though those lead lines are being played on a bass. The player is slapping the strings which is what give the bite to the notes.

Not 100% sure however.

Regards,

Mark T.

[erik]

I believe it is done by a keyboard player on a sampler. It is real samples of a funk bass, probably a Musicman. The person who did it is a keyboard player/music scorer in Hollywood. His name is listed in the credits.

[John Lacey]

Erik's right, it's Jonathan Wolf, who uses a keyboard/sampler combo to achieve the lip-smacks, bass lines and other percussion sounds.

[Bob Kagy]

I'll be d**ned! Thanks for the info.

Anybody tried to duplicate the sound on the steel, maybe on the C6th bass strings with an effect box? Closest I've been able to come is with some compression, picking hard close to the bridge, and some delay with slapback. It's not too far off but could be a lot better.

Thanks, Bob

[Michael Holland]

It sounds like the old 360 Systems MIDI Bass module. The original ones were table top models with four sampled bass sounds and the later PRO MIDI Bass was a single space rack module with about 10 different sampled bass sounds. None of them were really very usable, except for effects like the slap bass. Check one out HERE.

[David Pennybaker]

Is there ANYTHING this forum doesn't know?


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The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons

[Tom Olson]

Yeah -- who are the Wilkinson's?