Phaedrus

You could post on TB so Geddy's tech could read it and tell Geddy... How many degrees of separation would that be? Mark

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fgt1WqmesA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fgt1WqmesA[/url] Mark

This CD has it all - I Feel Free is truly a fantastic version. The Cream boys would even have to admit that. It's certainly not all slap, or even all flash bass playing (thought obviously there is plenty). Hey, I jus put it up here as a heads-up. For £3, IMO, it's a bona fide title to have in the collection of any person with an interest in any style of bass playing. Mark

Trust me and do it, if you don't have it already. [url="http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/2185183/Influences/Product.html"]http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/2185183/In...es/Product.html[/url] Mark

I'm posting youtube clips where I can. I'm lazy - if it's easy to check something out, I will. YYZ, La Villa Strangiata - Rush [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iONLKn5VHY4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iONLKn5VHY4[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOqVywCg934&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOqVywCg934...feature=related[/url] Sound Chaser, Does It Rally Happen? (particularly the ad-libbing at the end) - Yes [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNNPcqKfi_Y&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNNPcqKfi_Y...feature=related[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5q1_AOx0CY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5q1_AOx0CY[/url] (can't find a vid of Yes, but this guys has id nailed - decent tone too) Mathematician's Air Display - Pekka Pohjola (had a tape years ago - lost now, and can't find the CD anywhere) Havona (for technicality, precision & melody), Palladium (for groove & melody) - Jaco [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AgAbU0q0eA&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AgAbU0q0eA...feature=related[/url] (some guy covering it - no Jaco vid, no palladium vid) I Need More Love - Robert Randolph & The Family Band: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4zpzEIdoPc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4zpzEIdoPc[/url] Lucretia McEvil - Blood, Sweat & Tears Can't find a clip. Shooting Shark - Blue Oyster Cult [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU9Crc38eNc&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU9Crc38eNc...feature=related[/url] The Ink & The Well - David Sylvian (upright bass) [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QnCtcL-Pe8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QnCtcL-Pe8[/url] Music For Chameleons, We Take Mystery To Bed, White Boys & Heroes - Gary Numan [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7K62hTCJVY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7K62hTCJVY[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_itDRkZn-c&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_itDRkZn-c...feature=related[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95puk3zNzVY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95puk3zNzVY[/url] Christian - China Crisis [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju2UTJPbTGM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju2UTJPbTGM[/url] The bit in the middle of In The Cage (around 3:09 - 3:40) - Genesis [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZNCvS-tJpw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZNCvS-tJpw[/url] Rhythm Stick [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7SkG0D-9g4&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7SkG0D-9g4...feature=related[/url] Raspberry Jam Delta-V, The Bells of Lal (Part 2) - Stu Hamm (Joe Satriani tracks) [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtkOSsHedzw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtkOSsHedzw[/url] John The Fisherman, Tommy The Cat (slapped fretless 6), Jerry Was A Race car Driver (tapped fretless 6) - Primus [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkFMJ4-ai1I"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkFMJ4-ai1I[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glF01ELfU0Y"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glF01ELfU0Y[/url] (bad quality, but interesting intro...) [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glF01ELfU0Y"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glF01ELfU0Y[/url] (better quality) [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npBhCo5KzCI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npBhCo5KzCI[/url] Ramble On - Led Zep (more or less got this down, but I'd like to feel like I really [i]feel [/i]it when I play it. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLkOE4XDBis&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLkOE4XDBis...feature=related[/url] The Truth - Limp Bizkit [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLmtgWW9KXo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLmtgWW9KXo[/url] There is A Dog, I Feel Free, Mr Pink - Mark King Can't find any video or audio clips, but trust me when I say: BUY THIS! [url="http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/2185183/Influences/Product.html"]http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/2185183/In...es/Product.html[/url] £3 FFS! I Want You Back - Jackson 5 (Jamerson? I can play it bar the middle section - I kind of gave up when I realised I'm average) [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQLZmGybUXU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQLZmGybUXU[/url] Crises (the section from 3:49 - 4:03) - Mike Oldfield Can't find a clip Ark of Infinity (from 2:06 on. I'm sure could play it, I just never tried) - Pallas Can't find a clip Pretty Little Ditty - RHCP [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jl5gDL1VAI&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jl5gDL1VAI...feature=related[/url] (good audio) Refrigerator Car (specially the solo at 3:20 in the live version) - Spin Doctors Can't find a clip Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmUvVj2mxnY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmUvVj2mxnY[/url] I can play some of some of these, but I'd like to better at the parts I can play and I'd love to be able to play the parts/songs I can't play. I can't be hard on myself cos I don't really push myself. Mark

Even Shure's budget IEMs (PG or PGX, I think) are not reported to be that good. If you compare IEMs with active floor monitors, the prices are actually similar in relative terms. Our HK Audio PowerWorks RS122MA cost us €300 each (now €400) and they're okay. Volume can't go above 12 or 1 o'clock without a bit of feedback and that's sometimes not enough to give the band what it needs on stage. In contrast, a bass player I know has his own Dynacord active monitor he brings with him when he does a gig with whatever band he's playing with. It cost almost €1000. He says it's truly more than he'll ever need, with crystal clear and tight punchy sound. The cost of the ear buds for IEMs is what really surprises me. Mark

[quote name='Jobiebass' post='199284' date='May 15 2008, 08:38 AM']Do I Take a crappy case with me on the plane, then swap the crappy case for the bongo w/case and pretend its the same bass?[/quote] That worked for me, with one slight difference. Well, not me - my then guitarist went to Vegas for the weekend. He and a mate took my old battered bass case and his own old battered guitar case. He bought my Tune TWB53FM from SamAsh, along with a tasty Ibanez Prestige guitar for himself. He left the beautiful fitted Ibanez case with SamAsh and put his new Ibanez in his old case for homeward-bound travel. Shame, but a shiny new case would have screamed "ME! ME!" to the customs guys on return through the airport. He looks like a scruffy long-haired muso (probly cos he is...), so I guess the profile fit - scruffy muso guys with scruffy guitar cases. Proof of purchase? Who'd be dumb enough to transport their prized bass posession in a case ALONG WITH PROOF OF OWNERSHIP?! Of course it's immaculate - I love it, I take care of it, I only use it in the studio - my gigging bass isn't in such good shape. I use this old case so no-one thinks it's worth stealing. Mark

[quote name='coasterbass' post='197885' date='May 13 2008, 12:30 PM']- Tucking in to the between-set buffet to the extent that you can't sing and want to sleep.[/quote]

Yeah, I think nervous or shy frontmen (is that a paradox or something?) say that dumb sh*t when they can't think of anything. On one of our earliest gigs, the first or second time I (nervously) used a fretless (a Stagg - sold now. Not a good bass, but with some tweaks of my effects & amp, I actually got a useable sound) for Pearl Jam's Alive in a live gig, the singer introduced Alive by saying, "we'll wait a moment now while Mark changes his bass. This is one of them fancy basses with no frets, so he must be good..." I looked at the drummer. His head was down and shaking from side-to-side. I couldn't believe it. Mark

Mine is making mistakes - fluffed notes, missed notes, forgetting parts, losing concentration, failed attempts to improvise, etc... I hate doing it, but I always do. Sure, punters rarely notice, and even other musos in the audience will always say, "yeah, you f*!ked up a couple of times, but so do we all - great gig all the same." But I know, and I hate it. Specially when I get some sort of mental block or fixation on something - I seem to just make the same dumb mistake again and again. For ages, I used to come back in on bass in the second verse of Green Day's Holiday. Even now, I actually have a mild fear of that song. And I play the keyboards for the bit in the middle of When You Were Young by The Killers. I can play it 10 mistake-free times in a row at home, and get it right in all the rehearsals, but when it comes to gigging it - blank. It's almost a running joke. I hate it. I run the band PA from stage and the little bit of extra concern (it's not stress or anxiety anymore) on that does affect me, and I'm a dad, with a day job, playing in a gigging hobby band for fun and pocket money, and I've never dropped a real show-stopping clanger, so I probably shouldn't let it bother me too much, but I still hate it. What's yours? Mark

I must take some proper pics of my TWB53FM and post them. Isn't it interesting that the ony Tune users on BC (AFAIK) are both in Dublin? Nice TWB, BNT. I've always considered replacing my black knobs with some gold ones to match the rest of the hardware - it really makes an already classy-looking bass look even more classy. Mark

I'm thinking the Squire Vintage Modified Jazz might be the best option. I just don't have the time to de-fret a bass. The Squire seems to get good reviews and I guess a low B might prove to be superfluous on a fretless (?), so a 4-string would probably suffice. What do you guys think? Anyone on here got a Squire Vintage Modified Jazz fretless? MB1 mentioned the Rockbass Streamer fretless - what other options (apart from the VMJ & the Streamer)would be worth looking at for under €300-ish? I can browse all the websites - it'd be nice to hear opinions from folk who've actually used these basses. Thanks, Mark

[quote name='tauzero' post='187230' date='Apr 28 2008, 02:13 PM']Reminded by another thread - make sure that Carol Kaye isn't in the studio. Barricade the door if necessary. Get photographic evidence that it was you playing the bass.[/quote] Done. And video. Posterity and all that. And of course these clips will be used in the special "Making Of" Featurette in the collector's edition DVD box set in 10 year's time... Mark

Thanks guys - all good advice. What a couple of days we had! It was an utterly fascinating experience, from start to finish. I stuck around for 7 hours on Saturday and the full 12 hours on Sunday. The songwriter is my best mate and he always says he values my input on everything. As it happend, I'm proud to say I did spot a lot of stuff that needed attention and had to help him focus fairly often. I couldn't make up stories better than Saturday's events. This is all true. I was to collect the drummer and our gear from his home at 4pm on Saturday. I texted him at 3:30 or so to say I was on my way. I got to his house at 4 and tried to get into the band room, but it was locked - I'd expected him to have it open and have all his gear ready to load into my car. I went round and knocked on the front door. After a few moments his wife answered in her robe - I had woken her up. At 4pm. I started getting bad feelings. I asked if he was home. She said she didn't know and we had a look - no sign of him. She rang his mobile - no answer. They had been out drinking till 5am on Friday night. He had gone to the pub on Saturday morning for a cure. This was going to be a disaster. This guy likes his drink. I got the band room key and opened up and eventually got the drummer on his mobile. He couldn't speak - he was rubber. He made his way home and when I saw him, I just couldn't believe he'd do this on such an important day. We got him inside and gave him eggs, waffles, toast & spaghetti. And water. We packed up the car. I had to check he had everything. We found the studio by 5:30 and when the songwriter saw the drummer, he looked at me like it was my fault. I could only shrug and load the gear into the studio. The drummer was over-talking in that drunken effort to seem sober. His language was great. Everyone was a motherf*!r or a b@stard, and we could all only laugh. Worst case scenario, the studio had BFD2 - an absolutely amazing drums software package. So we hooked up and he got behind the studio's kit to adjust it to himself. By some miracle, we laid down good drums and bass together for all four songs by 11pm. There were some sloppy fills, which were either re-taken or were quantized, but even the engineer said he was really tight. What's the lesson here? Get plastered before you record - it'll be grand? If you've got talent, it'll shine through even if you're drunk? Or that if you've been been a drinking drummer since you were 14, you can pull anything off? In fairness, we gave him the benefit of the doubt - if he hadn't been able to perform, he'd have lost the gig and the songwriter would have used BFD2. The songwriter did have words with him and doesn't want him again if he's been drinking. We could have lambasted him for it, but there's some tolerance because we're all doing this as a favour and for the experience. But we did all have great fun and really enjoyed the whole experience. It's fantastic what can be done with the recording software by a guy who knows what he's doing, and by f*ck does this guy! Before we could say, "the first note in that bass fill is just a smidge before the beat", he'd have clicked a few buttons, dragged the cursor, and pressed the play button and the note would be bang smack where it was supposed to be - still feeling and sounding perfectly natural. We used a Germaniun pre-amp to record my Yamaha BB5605. [url="http://www.chandlerlimited.com/products/germanium_pre.php"]http://www.chandlerlimited.com/products/germanium_pre.php[/url] It was beautiful - I loved my tone. I left all my bass controls the way I always do - PUP pan, bass & treble all centred, mid-scoop at my normal position and switched on. The engineer said it was a great tone, not unlike an active Musicman. He was amazed that it was a €300 bass. On one song where I used low D, the volume from the 3rd fret on B was slightly higher than the rest of the bass and there was a little noise from my hitting the fret a bit hard (I kept doing it - the run I play ends on that D, and I just couldn't stop the fretting noise ). I used the studio's Fender Precision with the E tuned to D. I really didn't like the tone - much duffer and less defined than my Yamaha's, but the songwriter loved it, so I re-took that whole song on the Fender. I had to punch in quite a few parts on that song - I stopped playing 4-string when I started playing 5s. Add that the E was detuned and the fact that I was in the spotlight and you can understand why. Still, we had the whole bass track for that song recorded & corrected in less than an hour. On the way home on Saturday night, me & the drummer stopped off at a garage for some crisps and lemonade. There was a guy ahead of us at the window, paying for his petrol. I heard him ask the teller for a Kit-Kat. When he repeated himself, me & the drummer looked at each other. He repeated "Kit-Kat" again in a louder voice, and then again, with a little hint of agitation, "A KIT-KAT please". When the teller slid a pack of Tic-Tacs under the glass, we couldn't hold back our spluttered laughter. The customer just put the Tic-Tacs in his pocket, rolled his eyes at us and walked back to his car. The guitarist came in on the Sunday and was his usual self - "bring it on!". There were some timing issues between the guide acoustics and the final acoustics and the final electrics, but after a couple of takes and some corrections, it all sounded great. So the songwriter is back in on his own today to record the keyboards and the final vocals. He had hoped to be mixing it all tomorrow, but the studio is not available, so it looks like he might arrange another weekend day where we can all go in again and get in on the mixing action. It really was a great experience - we'll be recording 4 songs per weekend over the summer, barring holidays (that's how you record on a budget ), so there's a lot more to look forward to. Mark

Tomorrow's the big day. The main man is going in at 11am to lay down guide guitars & vocals. Me & drummer are going in for 4pm to hopefully record the drums & bass together. I'm pretty sure I'll be overdubbing or punching in corrections after any main takes. Guitarist is going in on Sunday to do his stuff. The real vocals & harmonies, keyboards & percussion will all be done on Monday and he's going to mix it all on Tuesday. We've been rehearsing pretty solid and are all quite excited. Looking forward to it. Thanks again all, for your advice & comments, Mark

Of what I use now (ME-50B & Hartke VXL Bass Attack), it'd be the VXL. From scratch? Possibly the VXL, but I'd like to try Aphex's Punch Factory and Bass Xciter before I decide. Mark

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbzUM6y6jNY&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbzUM6y6jNY...feature=related[/url]

[quote name='cheddatom' post='168438' date='Apr 2 2008, 02:23 PM']IMHO If you're recording live drums, and you're a rehearsed band, there is no need for a click track at all.[/quote] As I see it, one need for recording with a click is when cut/pasting sections of tracks after the song is recorded. If a piece of bassline in a verse (for example) had a fluff in it and it wasn't spotted till after I went home, the engineer could cut/paste that section of the bassline from another verse where the bassline wes flawless. If a click hadn't been used, the band could very easily have strayed from the tempo of the first verse (middle 8 with a different groove, solo section with a more driving/pumping style - lots of reasons), possibly rendering the cut/paste impossible or at least difficult, which of course equals wasted time & money. We rehearsed with a click last night and recorded the results on the singer's multitrack. Fairly messy set-up: drums went into the drummer's multi-track (Yamaha AW-16, I think) via 5 mics, the stereo masters went out of that into two channels of the singer's multi-track, the guitar was miced and the bass DI'd into the singer's machine, the stereo masters went out of the singer's mach into two channels of our PA mixer, the singer's vocal and guitar went straight into the PA mixer, and it all came out our PA speakers. Don't ask. It worked OK and we got decent recordings to use as references for future learning - the final tempos and arrangements were decided and we'll get CDs on Monday to use from then on to practice with. The current versions we're using are slower and the arrangements are different. So I think we'll be okay with a click. We could barely hear it (had to put the drummer's Boss drum machine thru the PA to hear the click and it was getting drowned out in the more powerful parts of the songs), but we were able to identify the types of places where we tended to lose the click and concentrare on it more. We'll probably be rehearsing with it for all rehearsals from now on. So far, the advice on this thread has already helped a lot - thanks all. Mark

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='167822' date='Apr 1 2008, 05:18 PM']If you can, try and share it with your band members too so they know how you're thinking and how you would like everyone to approach the recording session...[/quote] E-mailed the thread link to them yesterday. There really is some good advice that I can see will be important for us. Thanks a lot guys, Mark

My mate is booking three days recording time in a studio for the end of this month. He's been writing songs for years and recently my covers band have committed to helping him out with any recording and gigging work that will be involved. We've been rehearsing his songs on the off-nights from the covers band and things are going really well. So he's booking these three days with the aim of "laying down" three songs. He's already got some really good quality demos which he recorded on his Roland VS-2400CD multitrack. [url="http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=543&ParentId=110"]http://www.rolandus.com/products/productde...mp;ParentId=110[/url] This is not a plug, but there's a link to his myspace site in my signature - there's a few of his songs on there to get an idea of the type of sound he has. So he wants real drums (not programmed) and real bass & guitar - that's where my band comes in. He's looking after vocals and keyboards. We don't know what format the recording should take - take us all together playing the songs and patching in any imperfections afterwards? Lay down a guide guitar & vocal to a click and then add everything in separately afterwards? The songs sound really good (IMO) on his demos and while they aren't sterile or cold, they've really come alive as we rehearse them, so we're really keen to nail the vibe that we're getting in rehearsals and we're thinking that the all together idea might better capture that (to a click presumably). I suspect my Hartke VXL Bass Attack will perform DI duties for my bass - any comments? I/we'd really apreciate any advice or tips from any of you good folk who have experience recording in a hired studio - on sounds, mental approach, nerves, technical tips, ideas to most effectively use what time we have - anything you've got. The studio uses Cubase 4 and some whizz-bang computer stuff. Thanks, Mark

For what this observation is worth, I saw Band of Horses recently and Ben Bridwell played a baritone on a couple of songs. During one of those songs, I was wrecking my head to figure out why the bass was booming so much in a quiet part even when the bass player wasn't playing and had both hands muting the strings. "AHA!" I thought, "the organ player is playing sustained drone notes with his left hand". I moved my head to get a line of sight and saw the organ player's left hand resting on his lap. By deduction, it could only have been the only other instrument being played - the baritone guitar. Boomy, overpowering and distracting. Not necessarily the guitar's fault, or even the guitarist's - probably mostly the sound engineer's fault. But it was persistent and I figured that if the sound guy wasn't fixing it, then he either liked it sounding like that, or was told by the band that that's how they wanted it to sound. I didn't enjoy it. The rest of the gig was thoroughly enjoyable. Mark

That Fairport clip - wow. Great playing. Specially with the persistent attempts of the fiddle player to stab him in the eye. Mark

St Patrick's Day 2008 is indeed on Saturday 15th March. [url="http://www.kandle.ie/content/view/707/152/"]http://www.kandle.ie/content/view/707/152/[/url] Mark

Chris Squire - Yes Geddy Lee - Rush John Entwistle - The Who Jaco Pastorius - Weather Report Jim Fielder - Blood, Sweat & Tears The only non-obvious choice out of that 5, or the choice that may need some qualification might be Jim Fielder. To explain, try to get a listen to Lucretia MacEvil & Spinning Wheel, for example. I can't find any streaming version of either song. There are Youtube clips of both, but it looks like Jim isn't playing on them - they're modern clips. Trust me when I say that Blood, Sweat & Tears are very much worth checking out for great bass playing and, IMO, just great jazzy-rock sounds. Mark