BASSQUAKES - new single
As I’m still in the middle of a very busy summer, where I played an incredible amount of shows between Disneyland, out of town festivals and overall various events and I’m the busiest I've ever been in 25 years of career, it would be fair to assume I rested between a show and the other, right? Well, I did not.
“California Forever” was released last October, it got quite a bit of praise, but as much as it meant for me to let the pain go and start living again, after the life of excess I had, it only meant the start of Simone as an independent artist.
I have a lot of music I recorded, as my creativity started kicking in after healing, and I thought with the next single, I wanted to show more “range”, to showcase my bass proficiency. I told myself Simone is not just “bass ballads”, Simone is that characteristic big bass sound and groove he’s relied upon by many artists, at least standing to what I’m told: so I thought “if California Forever is a sweet, slow bass ballad, the next one has to kick butts!”.
I remembered I recorded this serrated, gritty slap bass line, and I programmed drums to groove with the bass: I added some synths and played guitar on it, in order to achieve a first draft. Once the draft was done, I realized that was it, as I felt it had the potential of (metaphorically) punching people in the face.
I recorded the bass line through a preamp, straight into my audio interface, then I doubled it and did some bus - compression, high - low end cuts and gain staging work. I then sent everything to Mike Post from Moosecat Recording in LA, where we also re-amped the bass tracks and tracked drums.
This time, differently from the last single. I needed a drummer with a certain mastery, and since we had a history of performing together and providing a very tight rhythmic section, I called Alvin Lamar Dawson Jr, who delivered super tight drums and a heavy touch, which was required for the song. We had the groove, but I needed the guitars to be re-done by a professional, so I called Sean Monsalve, who also added a beautiful guitar solo in the bridge section.
Upon receiving the stems, I put them together and I worked with Mario Di Leva at Vinegar Hill Studios on further processing of synth elements and VSTs.
Everything was in order, it was now time for mixing and mastering: I got in touch with Jack Rouben (who worked with Chaka Khan, The Gap Band, Earth Wind & Fire and many others) who mixed the project and preserved its clarity as well as the song’s low end, and once again I called upon Evren Göknar from EGM Mastering for the song’s master. I needed the song to rumble, and Evren once again delivered a powerful master.
Given that not only the song has a huge electric bass presence (of course), but also a fat synth bass to compound, I remember I played the song on a big audio system, and I almost felt the ground shake, even before all the processing: I decided to call the song “BASSQUAKES”.
Once again, I don’t expect huge amounts of success, as the niche of bass guitar enthusiast is fairly small, but boy it’s gonna be something!
The song is ready and it will be released on SEPTEMBER 7th 2026, hopefully along with some visuals.
Nothing left to say for me, but: LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE! (in a Michael Buffer voice)
