As the last of my concerts and tours were cancelled due to the pandemic of 2019, it quickly became apparent that for the foreseeable future, the only way I was going to be able to make music was on my own…  I had occasionally performed solo tunes and improvisations on Electric Bass before, but around April of 2019 I decided to try and create a complete album of material using only my Fender Bass and a selection of effects pedal and loopers. 

Ultimately, I wanted to evoke the sound of a whole group of musicians, using only the Electric Bass as the source. 

I went about using effects pedals to change the pitch and register, to distort, oscillate and to completely crush the natural sound of the instrument. I did this to try and recreate, at least in function if not absolutely, a range of instruments from Synthesisers to guitars, percussion and strings. The fact I often didn’t succeed in recreating the exact sound was quite welcome, as new sounds emerged that I previously could not have imagined. 

To prepare, I recorded hours of templates, starts, stops and sonorities that I liked into the looper – just to see how they sounded. Once I was happy with the content, I recorded the loops into the computer. This meant that much of the process was actually a sort of R&D. When the structure of the track was finally in the computer, I went over it again to create other additional loops and atmospheres, or another solo…and on one occasion even to sing!! 

The looper in essence allows me to create layers of textures and grooves. It records what I play and then ‘loops’ the idea around and around while I record further layers on top. This allows me to make sounds and textures previously impossible on a single, unaffected instrument.  

I then took the tracks I’d recorded to the fantastic Andrew Tulloch to be mixed and mastered. Together, we made sense of all the information I had chaotically ‘downloaded’ from my imagination, while trying to retain the feeling of the music being ‘in the moment’. The result is the first album, ‘Butterfly Effect’ and a second album ‘Skywriting’ that is currently in production. 

Mark Hodgson
Oxford, 2022

E markhbass@mac.com