Slap Download Sound
Galina Schoultz
With deep bass loops and catchy music loops in both Midi and WAV so they can seamlessly integrate with any project and add that deep slapping sound. All samples are tempo and key labelled and are ready for instant action into any DAW or sampler.
I tell the students this and demonstrate how using the same curved finger slap as above: it hurts a little, rattles your brains and the audience can actually miss it if they don't hear the impact as they do with the "fake" slap.
When both parties can demonstrate that they can slap their own selves loudly and painlessly, the slapping actor should then (under your supervision only) gently begin to practice with whoever is receiving the slap.
In this slap, the person getting slapped reacts with a clap knap, exactly like they would for a normal fake slap: position the hands directly in front of the belly button and supply the clap sound as the slapper's hand passes by.
However, the slapper strikes a bit differently. He should raise his hand to give the cue, like always, then perform what could best be described as a karate chop, which stops just beside the ear of the person getting slapped, then the slapper reverses the blow up and back to brush past the face, as though he were brushing something off the cheek of the person getting slapped, and end above their own opposite shoulder. The entire blow should stay above the shoulders, and the path should follow a sharp "V", with the point of the V being at the ear.
The advantage of this is that the hand breaks the front plane of the face, creating the illusion of the hand actually making contact. The other interesting thing is that the pause by the ear, when the slapper reverses the blow, begins to look like the point of contact, further solidifying the illusion. If the victim can time the clap knap properly, the effect is astounding and prevents any need to actually strike anyone.
I have to strongly disagree with the previous replies to this thread. I know combat-trained, professional actors who will not do a contact stage slap due to the risk of injury to the eye, ear, nose, lips and teeth, and jaw (especially when performed with the additional energy that an audience inevitably brings to the party). We are responsible for the safety of our adolescent actors, and a contact slap at it's best is never a guaranteed safe maneuver. On top of that, there can exist a measure of hesitancy to contact slaps and they often just don't look very good - even in the round. Use a non-contact method that your actors can really sink their teeth into and sell through a heightened, energetic moment before and moment after, and you will be happier with the results.
I'm in the "no contact ever" camp. There are just too many variables that can go wrong. Be off by an inch and you can injure someone for life. I would also recommend the V slap. It works really well and looks great.
Whether you play a passive or active bass, you must be able to understand how to get all the different sounds it offers. Many techniques need specific frequencies to ?speak? better. Make sure you understand how those sounds are achieved on your axe of choice. I know this is a total no-brainer but it?s good to keep in mind because no stone can be left unturned when it comes to matters of tone.
This is probably where a lot of the issues you are having are coming from. The amplifier?s EQ has a lot of bearing on your overall sound. If you have an active EQ on your bass, this is where the problem potentially can get exponentially bigger because the amp settings could be masking/canceling out the settings on your bass. For example, if your EQ on the amp is set to emphasize lows and mids and the active EQ in your bass has the mids scooped out and the highs and lows dialed in, it won?t sound clear at all.
Personally, I prefer making most of my sonic alterations from my bass and (additionally, if i?m using pedals & effects as I often do, my feet.) That?s not to say that you can?t/ shouldn?t alter the EQ settings on your amp if a certain room calls for it, but as a starting point it?s helpful to see what everything sounds like without any additional reinforcement from the amp other than volume. You?ll also get to truly hear what your bass sounds like. It?s definitely a good starting point.
So if I?m using my (passive) jazz bass and I want to use my slap sound, I have both pickups 100% all the way up volume-wise and the tone is set about halfway. If I want it brighter that I?ll adjust the tone to a brighter setting. If I switch to my fingers and want to get more of a growl, I can quickly roll the volume of the neck pickup off. And if I want to have a darker sound, I will quickly go for the tone knob. You should try this with your bass of choice. See how significant the changes in tone can be just from your fingertips and the knobs on your bass while going through your amp.
Your cabinets also have some bearing on your sound. A 210, 410, or 2 cabinets with 12?s in there are ideal. For slapping, even if you are going for a more old-school tone, a tweeter is helpful/essential in getting the brighter frequencies heard. The more subtle elements simply won?t translate as clearly if there isn?t a tweeter there. Cabinets generally have adjustment controls so you don?t have to have the tweeter set very high for it to be effective. Let your personal taste guide you with this.
If you have something to record with, play it once through with your fingers and then switch and do it slap-style. Listen back and see what it sounds like. It?s inevitable that the slapped version (in most cases) will probably be a little louder than the fingerstyle version.
I was trying to think of a way to get Owen (a very tactile/kinesthetic learner) to read words by saying each letter sound only once. I asked him to bring me the foam bathtub letters and the fly swatter, and he was very curious about what we were going to do!
I made a three letter word for him, and asked him to slap each letter with the fly swatter and to say each letter sound ONE time. It worked! When he said each sound once, it was much easier for him to figure out the word! The letters bouncing in the air when he slapped them was definitely an added bonus.
Actors are often taught that all one needs to do to safely slap someone in the face is to cup the hand slightly, keep the fingers and wrist very relaxed, and go for the fleshy part of the cheek. It is true that most of the time it causes no injury, which is why many assume that it is safe. But when this contact technique goes wrong, the results are devastating.
The damage need not occur only on the first contact of the slap itself. Many have escaped injury on the initial slap only to have the trailing fingers scrape across the near eye or break the nose. Some have been taught that, in order to avoid all of these potential dangers, the slap can be delivered lower, to the side of the neck. Very poor advice, as this can lead to a bruised trachea, and in one instance a slap collapsed the carotid artery and the victim died from lack of oxygen to the brain. Died.
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