Rush - The Big Money bass and synths cover

Hi everyone. Back with another Rush cover after quite some time! I had wanted to redo a better video/playthrough for 'The Big Money' from Power Windows, as it is probably my top Geddy bassline along with YYZ and I thought it would be fun to do some synth stuff for it too. This one took quite a lot of work and that's partly why it took so long for me to find enough time to get it all done until this past week. Hopefully it is worth the wait!

I have made several additions/changes to my rig since I last recorded a video, so this is the first cover featuring my Sansamp PSA-1, and my Neural DSP Quad Cortex which I added quite recently. Now that I am fairly settled on my setup, I will do a video soon going through how I use all my equipment together to get the different elements of my sound. Basically, this video is the PSA-1 for my distorted sound, the GED-2112 for a clean DI bass sound (with most of the low end) and my Trace Elliot for the higher slappy and twangy sounds all brought together in the Quad Cortex where I can tweak the various components with eq and compression etc.

The synth parts are all made and recorded with my Groovesynthesis 3rd Wave. That industrial 'ping' sound in the middle section was always a really interesting one to me, so I had a lot of fun making the patch for that one. It's also a great demonstration of how well the synth does virtual analog sounds with the brass parts of the intro! There are a couple more layers of synths I recorded but didn't film - mainly a lower level choir pad that I have going through the brass intro/outro sections, and some brass swells during the chords. I couldn't work out how to get the choir patch exactly how it sounds on Power Windows, but I think it ended up being quite a nice sound anyway so I was pleased with the result. I also didn't attempt doing my own versions of some of the sounds which Rush just sampled and triggered, just the parts that were more like 'traditional synth parts'. It was already a lot of work as it is :D

I recorded two angles for my bass playthrough to mix and match, but the lighting for the front on camera was quite poor and it didn't come out well. I decided to just use it as a mini cam in the corner and have them both running at once to save myself having to re-record everything again. I hope it's not annoying to have 2 videos going at the same time!

I have some recordings from my tribute bands first gig which I will upload as soon as I finish editing them, so expect those soon.

Hope you enjoy this one! A top 5 Rush song in my books

Hemi

Gear used:

Fender Jazz bass (Geddy Signature) with Rotosound Swingbass66 strings
Groovesynthesis 3rd Wave
Sansamp PSA-1 through a Palmer PDI-05
GED-2112
Trace Elliot GP12X
Neural DSP Quad Cortex
Roland PK-5 Midi pedals

[Quadtrack]

He's playing that bass like he stole it! :)
Glad to see the use of the bass pedals.

[kendetulio]

Just when I thought I couldn't love Geddy any more...

[linctexpilot]

The aggressive attack on that bass is truly impressive!!

[RickHardcore]

Killer sound my friend!! Thank you for a new sharing!🎸

[drayiii]

A routine for me: Hemibass uploads a new video. I click without a second thought.

[machete]

A Carribean Jazz song about corrupt American corporations, played by Canadians. You know you're a true blue homicidal Rush fanatic when you buy a foot trigger. Dude, your mixture of technique is amazing. This is one of my favorite Rush songs for many reasons, but mostly because it's one of the most bombastic and fun bass lines ever written, and this is an incredible take on it. This is now one of my favorite covers. So fast paced and also very evenly played. Keep beating the shit out of that thing, you speedy sombitch. Also very nice touch on those fast notes around 4:22, that was some amazing improv.

[willmunshower]

Dude... That right hand technique! I love that aggressive attack on the strings. I don't believe I've heard another bassist, other than Dirk himself, that digs into the Rotosounds so powerfully. Bravo, mate.

[darrenwiggins]

As I remember in the 80's .
The music industry was looking as though.
Electronic music would take over and dominate.
The music industry. Geddy won bass player of the year .
In Bass Player magazine for this record.
In an interview he said.
He played as fast and as hard as he could
while strings in rock were still king.
Then Grunge came alone and delayed it.
But in the end he was right.
Now Rock is dead.

"
I

[Mattrino]

a top three Rush song for me, you killed it!

[wilddrum]

Wow that was amazing!! A very agressive bass sound and attack. You played it just like Geddy Lee. Your video was well put together. Please do more of these and thank you,

[thewick]

Wow, just wow!. I've seen people actually write that Geddy is not that good. My God, it just that there are rarely any full length video showing his hands. What a masterpiece of bass playing. (Let alone singing while playing it).You performed this to perfection in not only the left hand but the right which is the secret sauce Geddy adds to his tone. Well done sir, well done.

[nedmac]

You absolutley murdered that track!!!I love this song so much, especially the bass. I got into Rush a couple years ago, and they're my favorite band by a longshot now. Love this entire album, its underrated in my opinion. Take care 😁🤘

[darinhelfend]

It's such an aggressive bass line. Your tone is spot on. Well done and great video!

[mkultra.]

awesome job. tone & technique is on point. Im working on this song currently & trying to get the tone dialed in myself. Nice synth too. A++

[TheRealThomasPaine]

Good God! I played a Rick 4001 in a Rush cover band in the 80's and I was pretty good, but your smoking hot, like others have said: the strength and attack is off the charts!

[myamya-pj]

You play it with just your index finger and it's a perfect cover!Thank you!

[danielcorker]

probably my favorite rush song. As a fellow bass and key player, I say well done on this hard masterpiece of a song.

[Mattrino]

Also loved how you incorporated slap and flamenco in there! I'm blown away

[philminotti]

Amazing right hand attack. Many folks can play the notes, but that power is pretty unique. That Precision is crying for mercy by the end!

[wurger]

Please keep doing these covers... gives me so much more insight to how complex Geddys basslines are and how amazing this band is. Great playing Sir.