51m0n

There are a squillion differences in the recordings though Tape saturates gently, compressing the signal in a very pleasant way true, but you've also got a different ickle mic and mic-pre, that is also probably on its limits recording a band, often those little ghetto blaster and mono tape recorders had simple limiters on the inputs to help cope with loud input too, they will also be doing changing the mix. Tape tends to have less top end, (and often less bottom) and the inescapable hiss (even on metal with dolby) also changes things. Are you in the same room even? Are you using all the same gear? Nevertheless if you take your digital recordings and master them you will probably make a huge difference with some careful buss compression and a half decent tape saturation emulation, and maybe a bit of eq, even a touch of stereo widening (oo-errr). PM me and I'll do one for you if you like, best if you can send me an example of what you're after too (love a bit of audio mucking about me)....

Aguilar db112?

[quote name='Rimskidog' post='912811' date='Aug 2 2010, 02:11 PM']Er... that's really not the way it works if you actually want to get a decent sound. The trick is to capture the sound you want going in rather than trying to fix it in the mix. Anything other than this approach is pretty much doomed to failure. Let them cut any sludge that obscures the mix afterwards (that's what eq is actually for). It ain't rocket surgery. Quality in = quality out.[/quote] + all of them.... This is the absolute reality of recording. If it ain't there 'on tape' you can not add it later. On the flipside, if its there and you dont want it you can often lessen it (to some extent), depending upon what it is of course.

Stop worrying about the notes. You only need a single not to be syncopated, so make life easy, this is about how and when you pluck, not about the notes. So, taking this to the nth degree, its not even about how you play a bass, its about how you subdivide music, so take that bass back off, you aint ready for the bass, you got hands, you gonna clap. Good reason for this is it a pure rhythm thing, second its about listeing an feeling music, NOT about playing the bass, the music is in you, the bass is a tool to make that music. Set up a simple 4/4 drum pattern, snare on 2 & 4, kick on 1 & 3 , hats on quavers (1&2&3&4&). About 80 to 90 bpm Clap with kick. Thats how you think about music, this is so easy for you right now, you dont even have to try. The longer you do this the more bored you'll get. SO, clap the snare, this is actually going to make you feel odd, cos it will swing the bar if you do it right, rather than being a bit self conscious, come on move like Stevie, and clap that 2 and 4! There is actually an almost syncopated quiality to this if your really get it going I think. Keep at it for a minute, really really get zen like about it, you should replace the snare exactly with your clap, but make the groove swing harder. OK OK, its getting boring again so stop. Now clap the off beat &'s 1 [b]&[/b] 2 [b]&[/b] 3 [b]&[/b] 4 [b]&[/b] keep this up for a good few minutes, you should hear a ska feel pumping and bouncing along. If you dont, pu t on some ska and then have another go, you have got to get this one down! Now a little bit funkier go for this:- [b]1[/b] & 2 [b]&[/b] 3 [b]&[/b] 4 & That is a syncopated groove with a heavy one, which is funk (ask Bootsy, thats is what he'll tell you) OK the best way to count semi-quavers (IMO) is like this:- 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a So to add a pinch of real syncopation to the mix slow te drum machine down to 70bpm and try this 1 [b]e[/b] & a 2 [b]e[/b] & a 3 [b]e[/b] & a 4 [b]e[/b] & a and this 1 e & [b]a[/b] 2 e & [b]a[/b] 3 e & [b]a[/b] 4 e & [b]a[/b] then this (this IS hard)):- 1 [b]e[/b] & [b]a[/b] 2 [b]e[/b] & [b]a[/b] 3 [b]e[/b] & [b]a[/b] 4 [b]e[/b] & [b]a[/b] Finally a groove:- [b]1[/b] e & [b]a[/b] 2 e [b]&[/b] a 3 e [b]&[/b] a 4 e & [b]a[/b] Now pick up your bass, go back to the top of the lesson and only play a low E, staccato to start with and go all the way through these exercises, then legato, then mix and match, have fun. Now listen to the entire works of The Meters and learn to clap the bass rhythms.... Now you are so syncopated you'll be asking how to play straight!

Yup, they are all dumbstruck. My work here is done (exits stage left with cape swirling) [size=4]M[/size][size=3]wahahah[/size][size=2]ahhahaa[/size][size=1]aaaaaaa[/size]

[quote name='bubinga5' post='910765' date='Jul 30 2010, 10:17 PM']i think a great test is show some one a funk bass line..ok they could prob play it note for note, and get the feel bang on... then there is funk playing where you have to improvise... thats different....[/quote] How is improvising funk so hard? Some of the best funky bass is a single note, the intro to Mothership Slinky in B major off BSSM is a funky as hell, and its one note, and a simple rhythm, anyonoe who had spent any real time concentrating on listening to funk could do something similar, and it would be an improvised funky bass line. Its not some big mystery, really, it just takes listening time to get it into your brain, then any player with any facility can regurgitate that feel.

[quote name='Mykesbass' post='910716' date='Jul 30 2010, 09:30 PM']I still think you can teach "feel". Anyone seen Gareth Malone in his various BBC programmes teaching a bunch of no hopers to sing Opera? To me there's as much "feel" in that as there is in Funk. Sure, it's not all in the dots, but I think it is all about inspiring and coaching. It's not that some people were born with it and some not.[/quote] Errr those 'no hopers', well I hate to break this to you, but a fair number of the chorus that weren't right in front of the camera (being the poor downtrodden 'no hopers') were kids from great homes who had been through Brighton's Music Service from the age of 5 onwards, I know cos I saw them do it, when I was taking Plux there too.... And funk may be hard to teach, but it can certainly be learnt. The trick is, as with any style, absolute immersion in it. I listened to noting but funk when I was exclusively playing in funk bands, and I was considered none too shabby. I'm not as good at it now, since I dont tend to listen to it nearly as much, but whatever I play it always has an element of funk in it, once you have it it cant be lost either. And slowing anything down makes it harder IMO. Any idiot can play stuff at warp speed and thus hide the mistakes in a flurry of plop. Thats how I get away with it

Wasnt really too interested in covers at the beginning, but I'd have manged a decent rendition of Relax at pretty much any point ) First track I really learnt was either Anaesthesia Pulling Teeth, or RHCP's version of Higher Ground. What a tart

Jeez, look at all the tumbleweed..... 26 Downloads, not a single comment, am I to believe the community has been rendered mute by the staggering qualities of the mix and playing? That would actually be a bit of a first

Finally finished my final mix (probably) of Bernadette as recorded by Plux and the drummer and guitarist from the Bluesy band I work with, whoi were kind enough to jump in and help out at the last minute when plux' peers let him down. It was done for Plux's GCSE Music Ensemble piece. Wanted to share, and see what you guys think. The arrangement is based upon the one on Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, but Plux kind of aimed somewhere between Jamerson's and Babbitt's versions of the bass part, in other words he played it how he likes it, which was fine. I rarely get to track stuff, which I love doing, so this was a real treat. I've remixed it several times, since the one that got handed in, trying to get closer to the kind of feel and space of a Motown recording. Right now I'm liking this version quite a lot.

Dont look at any of these then:- [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk"]Aladdin's Cave Of Bass Delights[/url] [url="http://www.bergantino.com"]OMG these are the dogs doodahs[/url] [url="http://www.markbass.it/"]Its so light I didnt even know I was carrying it out of the shop, until I got home and the wife left me on account of me having sold the children for an amp....[/url] [url="http://www.roscoeguitars.com/century_signature_series.htm"]Now this is porn with a capital BASS[/url] Dont forget, food is overrated, you need bass gear more! I make no apologies for my highly personally biased list of goodies above Oh and welcome!

He is the absolute epitomy of bass playing, love his insight on playing what the song needs, and immersion in the material. Nice one!

[quote name='Colledge' post='906897' date='Jul 27 2010, 11:50 AM']well this thread is a wake up call... ive used instrument cables loads of times as speaker cables.... speaker currents arn't really that great so i figured i'd get away with it, never had any adverse effects. I figured that the only real difference is better shielding and maybe slightly thinner gauge wires. anyway, +1 on not the cables fault. A few years ago i had some amp problems with the fuse blowing all the time... turned out to be a shorted speaker lead.[/quote] Err wong, speaker currents are easily great enough in a bass amp to at the very least melt an instrument cable, which may or may not have adverse effects on the amp/speaker as well. Remember there are 1200 watt bass amps out there now, but even a 500w bass amp can knacker an instrument cable, especially a cheap as chips nasty as anchovies ickle plastic patch cable (may they all be destroyed tomorrow in a freak yachting accident).... Dont risk it, use speakons with at the very least 13amp mains cable between them, nothing else is as 'safe'.

[quote name='DaveMuadDib' post='905326' date='Jul 25 2010, 10:51 PM']Haha, lots of debate here. So my question is... does this mean my TC stack is rubbish in a live situation or what? :-/[/quote] Not if you like how it sounds

Dont really like the Beatles. Dont really like Mcartney's bass playing style, and cant stand his tone. Of the few Beatles songs I can bear to listen to, Mcartney didnt write them. Oh, and you can try as you like, but you cannot seperate the man from his work, and he is still a right *&^% IMO. I am sure it wont make any odds on his day if he discovers this post either Just my opinion mind you. Of course there is absolutely no accounting for taste and if you like him, his work, his bass playing and it does it for you then thats absolutely fine, good luck to you I say

I liken my tone to a good solid punch to the face. Its clean, very articulate and feels 'fast'. No excess flab (unlike me ) to drag around. I got there with a lot of mistakes on the way, and a lot of experience trying to do FOH in pub venues and dealing with bassists who insist on full fat low end which ends up spilling into every mic on stage and turning the PA into a very effective hum (re)creation device. Result, the entire band sounds like plop. Deep bass in the wrong genre or the wrong venue is a nightmare to control. I was in a band with two guitars and two drummers and a vox/flute for years and got to a point where the bits I played could be heard and not just felt, whilst not completely muddying up the mix. In that cacophany I used to slap, tap, strum and play fast melodic fingerstyle parts, sometimes in a single song. Compressors are a real necessity in that situation, getting the right one and setting it up right took years, and I still am learning! Its also immensely important to control the low end of the guitars, nothing worse than a big smiley face guitar eq to make the bass hard to mix or hear. I like new strings, I love the extra harmonic content whether you have a trebly sound or not, that grind is really lovely to my ears. So I clean my strings after ever gig in a tube o' meths. Fresh on for the gig. Lots of string rotation at chez 51 I go for the flat eq on the amp, slightly favouring the bridge pickup for fingerstyle, if I want to burp through more I give myself more bridge pup (and maybe more bass from the Roscoe pre to make up for the natural rolloff on that pup). Once up at full on volume, if the room can take more bass, I'll bring up some low end, either on the amp, or with the focusrites' bass enhance knob (set to 'huge' as that works upto 100Hz, which allows less of it to be used with useful results), only ever needs a tiny bit though (less than 9 O'clock). I sometimes pull down around 1KHz if its a really bright room, but usually bodies soak that up enough to leave it. The secret to the big punch is the low mids, the right frequncy is super important, and not too much, which is the hardest thing to figure out. Outside of the band my tone is not very pretty, in a mix its exactly what I want to hear, and what I want the audience to hear too - venue permiting! That is, every single mistake, in all its glory, and a few right notes as well on a good night The venue is a bigger influence on any eq than anything else IMO. Until you learn this you are never going to get it right with any sense as to how and why, its all just a big guessing game. In a bigger place you can learn to eq off the reflection from the far wall. Play very staccato notes and listen to what comes back off the back wall, too boomy? turn some bass down etc etc. Its a real skill though, and not 100% accurate, but it can really help in a pinch. Also when you walk into a venue dont be afraid to try and size up the acoustic when its empty, clap your hands, shout, listen for flutter reverb (if you get that all bets are off, unless you expect a lot of bodies in there to soak it all up), get the PA up and some full range music on, walk around, does it sound consistent?, bassy?, bass lite?, middly? are there obvious nulls and peaks in the bass in the room? All of this is valuable info you need to start thinking about to help you tailor your sound to the room. Anything you do when the room is empty must be tailored to the knowledge that as it fills up with punters you will effectively lose treble and upper mid, and if it gets hot and humid then you lose even more. If you dont take that into account then you will give the punters an ill defined rumble and not the articulate warm thud you want. Or the punch in the face I like to provide

[quote name='Musicman20' post='899211' date='Jul 19 2010, 06:13 PM']Ouch![/quote] Hey, dont get me wrong, if it floats your boat thats great, it clearly has a bazillion tones to choose from, and will no doubt be a fine bass, I just hate the look. I'm willing to accept the fault here may well be mine

Sorry that thing is SO ugly I couldnt ever own one, I hate all the straight edged basses and guitars though, they just dont do it for me at all....

Bloody hell Mike! Stop it, you make me feel very very pants indeed love the way you fell back into Cissy Strut at the end. So this Saleem fella, he's a nice bloke, who's reliable and plays that well, can groove and has chops, and is available for you to work with; I bet he lives at the end of the Rainbow as well doesnt he, and can fly, and sprinkles magic fairy dust all over the place too I'm only jealous Love the Homespun album too, (note to self, must add to shopping list in flac format). Keep it up!

My last mix of PLux' GCSE ensemble rendition of Bernadette - wicked ;o)

Yup have had this for a long time (its not a very new version at all), I love it for all its maybe errr flawed . Nina is bonkers, but brilliantly so, reminds me a bit of Wendy O Williams (who was proper certifiable).

[quote name='Bass Culture' post='890525' date='Jul 9 2010, 03:45 PM']I never used to use compression at all but since acquiring my TC RH450 I run the Spectracomp at about 9/10 'o' clock all the time. Gives me a lot of punch to my sound, which I really love. I'd never use a Compressor though, I htink, and on any heads I've had that have had it built in (Hartke HA3500, Trace AH300SMX) I've often had set so low - and then proably only because it was there - that it most likely wasn't 'engaging' most of the time! The Spectracomp on the RH450 does add a certain [i]Je ne sais quoi[/i] though. Mark[/quote] I think the Spectracomp is a three way multiband comrpessor, if you use it you are definitely using compression

Yes Live its very helpful for levelling differences between finger style, strumming, slapping and tapping. Generally set very low ratio, medium to low threshold. I mess with the attack, but keep the release as short as possible (without artifacts). Also engage a limiter to catch peaks when the attack is set long. Generally aiming for levelling with a tad of punch enhancement. If I notice that its affecting my dynamics then I need the amp louder and to be playing softer anyway. If its really all about transparent leveling then I go for the soft knee option, if I'm more about punch then I prefer a hard knee. The focusrite gives upto about 3dB of truly transparent (ie I cant even feel it) compression set up right, it will go way further but it becomes more noticeable both audibly and touch wise. That, of course, is not necessarily a bad thing, just how it is. Studio all of the above applies, plus a bunch of more creative possibilities; extreme compression rations, very long or ver short attack times, release time pumping, anything that works. More often than not this is done at mix down rather than tracking though. I like to track everything clean as a whistle if I have access to outboard gear during mixing. Unfortunately that isnt nomally the case so its compression whilst tracking as a rule.