Bass Guitar Magazine and Bass Player to merge

[mic mac moe]

9 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

That's no way to talk about the Basschat Marketplace!

 

True that, mate!!! 😆 😆 

[wateroftyne]

People still buy these mags?

..actually, I guess not. That's why they're merging. 

Hooray for BC, I say.

[LeftyP]

I still like the printed on paper format.  Like many of us I spend a lot of time looking at computer screens and to sit on a comfortable chair with a cup of tea and leaf through a magazine is a great way to unwind.  When I came back to playing the bass last year I sought out bass publications and found Bass Guitar Magazine in WHS.  I wanted to bring myself up to speed with what was available and find some tuition.  Although I do use plenty of on-line advice (Mark Smith at Talking Bass and Scott Whitley in particular) I still like the format of a proper paper magazine to read.

One complaint I have about BGM is its emphasis on heavy rock/metal bands, with childish satanic names, that are of no interest to me ( not my kind of music - if you can even call it music).  If they would broaden their menu to include semi-pro function bands, theatre players, cruise ship and holiday camp entertainers, jazz combos etc and how they do their jobs it would be far more interesting than some hairy blokes making a loud noise.

It will be interesting to see how the merger works.

[drTStingray]

5 hours ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Thanks for your kind words, drTS.

Marcus was referring to when he was at the beginning of his session career, when in NY producers would be happy to record the guitar sound through amps and cabs, but usually demanded bassists plug into the desk directly. As a result, he and his colleagues began to have preamps installed in their basses, so as to have some control over what reached the desk in the first place.

Another point that Marcus makes, which makes me feel vindicated, is that the bass needs the mid frequencies to cut through the rest of the band's sound and avoid competing with the drums (especially the bass drum). He admits that those frequencies, in themselves, sound nasty, but have to be added to the overall sound of the bass if it is to be heard clearly in the mix.

The reason why I feel vindicated by that is that I have always preferred the bass sound to be middy rather than P-Bass-style, which to my ears is far too muddy. I apply that rule to live sound too, as in, when @Happy Jack can't be heard properly out front with his bands, I will usually yell at him to up the mids rather than turn up his volume. 😎

No problem - I found the Marcus article very enlightening to be honest.

Im with you on the issue of those P bass sounds - a bugbear Ive had since the 70s in a live setting (with a few notable exceptions - who I also class as genius players!!). And the reason I don't play such a beasty!! 

Edited August 29, 2018 by drTStingray

[drTStingray]

5 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

Bloody Warwick players ...

 

Now then, now then!! 😂

Edited August 29, 2018 by drTStingray

[discreet]

6 hours ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Another point that Marcus makes is that the bass needs the mid frequencies to cut through the rest of the band's sound and avoid competing with the drums (especially the bass drum). He admits that those frequencies, in themselves, sound nasty, but have to be added to the overall sound of the bass if it is to be heard clearly in the mix.  

Absolutely agree with this. A mid-forward sound can be horrible solo, but sounds lush mixed in with a band.

6 hours ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

I have always preferred the bass sound to be middy rather than P-Bass-style, which to my ears is far too muddy.   

Can't agree with this, however. The P Bass is not by definition 'muddy'. It is well-known for its natural low-mid push and high-mid snap, which is why it has been the tool of choice in just about every genre for the last 67 years (and still is). It sits in a mix perfectly....

...in my opinion.

[drTStingray]

12 hours ago, discreet said:

The P Bass is not by definition 'muddy'. It is well-known for its natural low-mid push and high-mid snap, which is why it has been the tool of choice in just about every genre for the last 67 years (and still is). It sits in a mix perfectly....

...in my opinion.

The P bass can be very muddy live dependent on how it's played and also EQd - in the case of the first point, from my observation and experience over the last 50 odd years, those who do sound good on them, even exceptional, whack the strings pretty hard - that has also been my experience - in the exceptional cases I'm thinking of the players were exceptional also. 

The second point regarding EQ is also important - and too important to be left to sound engineers who won't necessarily know the intricacies and vagaries of individual bass guitars, let alone their players, and should be given the bassist's bass sound to amplify/enhance rather than a pre EQd/pre modified sound - as described by Guy Pratt, whose entirely delay reliant part of a song was bypassed by the sound engineers, diverting his out of the bass sound to house DI prior to effects/EQ, thus screwing up part of his performance  - in fact I'm concluding that this is a major contributor to inaudible bass guitar in some music these days. 

For those who think BGM etc are a waste of space, they've missed two of the most seminal bassists of now talking about these issues - and an interview by Silvia as well!!

I don't buy the 67 years bit either - there was only a very gradual take up for the first ten, the 60s certainly wasn't an era where the P was ubiquitous, certainly in UK pop maybe it was in the US, the early 70s was surely shared with the J and Ric, whilst many of the best players moved to Wal or Musicman at the end of the era. 80s was shared with synth bass, 90s with 5 strings - and then it becomes v popular again.

When I first started taking notice of these things (the later 60s), there were one or two high profile top rate players on P bass but more importantly the whole concept of bass guitar was still on an uphill struggle beyond pop/rock music to be accepted even as a serious instrument - against double bass!! 

Rather like Jools, those who chuck the BGM, BG baby out with the bath water miss some great moments - in fact the whole concept of a magazine is surely to create passing interest with one or two nuggets otherwise there wouldn't be such a plethora of them - from women's magazines to Ideal Home to OK - they appeal to broad taste in their subject area rather than individual's focus - even something as focussed as prog magazine is guaranteed a decent percentage of stuff which will only appeal to a percentage of readers. It's the nature of the beast!!

Edited August 30, 2018 by drTStingray

[discreet]

15 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

The P bass can be very muddy live dependent on how it's played and also EQd...

You could say that about any bass - or any live instrument, in fact - apart from the tambourine, which gets louder depending on how badly it's played - even when its not amplified...

22 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

...those who chuck the BGM, BG baby out with the bath water miss some great moments - in fact the whole concept of a magazine is surely to create passing interest with one or two nuggets otherwise there wouldn't be such a plethora of them - from women's magazines to Ideal Home to OK - they appeal to broad taste in their subject area rather than individual's focus...

I've given bass guitar magazines the benefit of the doubt for years and they are not for me. I don't want broad taste, I want individual focus. As far as bass is concerned I can be very focussed. Which is why I prefer BC and TB.

I'm not subscribing to a magazine for one or two great moments. I need more great moments than that for my money.

[BigRedX]

23 hours ago, Cato said:

I'd guess the focus will be on their online content. I'd bet that these days their online readership absolutely dwarfs their physical sales and targeting advertising to local regions won't be a problem.

Every on-line magazine I've seen has been terrible. They all seems to combine what for me are the worst aspects of the paper publication with the limitations of on-line. 

Stupid pointless page turning animations, and forever having to zoom in and out of the page to see things properly. Low resolution "photography" that doesn't have the sharpness or detail of print. Half the screen seems to be taken up by the "interface" and doesn't seem to matter which format you use to view it - wide screen monitor on a PC or 4:3 on a tablet the format still can't make the best use of any of them. Plus you can't safely read it in the bath.

[arthurhenry]

I have been a fan of BP since 1990 and have almost every issue since. It is certainly not the magazine it once was, but is still superior to other bass mags in my opinion. I don't mind the ads as they are for bass stuff and I am interested in bass stuff. The link in the first post goes to "Page not found".

[wateroftyne]

On 30/08/2018 at 13:18, drTStingray said:

those who chuck the BGM, BG baby out with the bath water miss some great moments

Maybe. But for every 'some great moments', there's far more great moments out there, on-line, waiting to be discovered.

[Kevsy71]

8 minutes ago, arthurhenry said:

The link in the first post goes to "Page not found".

Fixed, looks like there was a minor update to the article the next day, and as a result their date-based URL changed. Gotta love content management systems

[Grassie]

On 29/08/2018 at 19:03, visog said:

Totally agree - Adam Neeley, Rick Beato and Scott Devine will give you (free - not even talking about Scott's subscription site)  so much bass and wider music to work on, plus a broad  industry perspective which is intelligent, witty and contemporary.

The mags on the other hand are little more than advertising catalogues with bizarrely esoteric bass reviews interspersed with bearded post-metal players of which you've never heard. And Victor Wooten on an endless loop.

That said, even the mighty Viz is being challenged online now by the consistently high hit-rate Daily Mash... (At least the wordy articles rather than the cartoons..) 

I’ve only recently discovered Rick Beato on YouTube, and what a thoroughly pleasant chap he seems to be. 😊

[Mickeyboro]

The gear reviews in any instrument mag are inevitably geared towards the advertisers. And what can you really say about 70 per cent of the stuff which is a minor variation on existing product?

A case in point: were Guitar magazine really going to criticise the new Fender MIM range when they featured (and doubtless funded) the impressive origami-style cover? 

And by the way did you know Guitar (pka Guitar & Bass) has just been sold to the Singaporean owners of Rolling Stone? Neither did I, and I am only a flipping contributor of 12 years standing ...

[kendall]

On 29/08/2018 at 23:12, LeftyP said:

One complaint I have about BGM is its emphasis on heavy rock/metal bands, with childish satanic names, that are of no interest to me ( not my kind of music - if you can even call it music).  If they would broaden their menu to include semi-pro function bands, theatre players, cruise ship and holiday camp entertainers, jazz combos etc and how they do their jobs it would be far more interesting than some hairy blokes making a loud noise.

It will be interesting to see how the merger works.

I subscribe to BGM.  I particularly enjoy the hairy blokes/blokesses who make loud noises!  My gripe is and always will be Jools Holland on the cover a few years back.  A good compromise might to interview the Hairy Blokes/Blokesses who play on the Heavy Metal Cruise Ship festivals such as 70000 Tons of Metal......just a thought if Joel McIver is reading.

Edited September 3, 2018 by kendall
spelling

[visog]

19 hours ago, Grassie said:

I’ve only recently discovered Rick Beato on YouTube, and what a thoroughly pleasant chap he seems to be. 😊

Isn't he. Rick whilst a guitarist/pianist composer, producer and musicologist... he does have substantial bass coverage including interviews with Victor and Jeff Berlin.

Also he has a son who has perfect pitch which has got to be seen (heard?) to be believed! He just tripped 500k subscribers too!

[Sibob]

Yup, I absolutely still read BGM. Whilst there is a wealth of amazing knowledge both here and elsewhere online, I love having a wider, more holistic bass community. 
It's a big family and wouldn't want to see any of it closed down.

Will be interesting to see how the merger pans out!

Si

[yorks5stringer]

Not that I am in any way affiliated ( I often write to the editor to complain about typos and wrong info in the BGM) but I noticed they were offering a free TC clip-on Tuner worth £50 with a years sub of BGM, for £22  in the latest edition to new subscribers....

Edited September 5, 2018 by yorks5stringer

[Happy Jack]

If this is any indication of the standards in the merged pair, some of us will have to raise our game:

 

 

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Happy Jack said:

If this is any indication of the standards in the merged pair, some of us will have to raise our game:

Don't look at me; I play drums. 

 

 

[dmccombe7]

I used to buy the mag if i was thinking about getting some new gear then i joined BC and i now suffer constant GAS.

I quite like an occasional read thru a bass Mag tho. Sometimes you get some interesting items.

Dave

[Austin7]

On 30/08/2018 at 07:18, drTStingray said:

The P bass can be very muddy live dependent on how it's played and also EQd - in the case of the first point, from my observation and experience over the last 50 odd years, those who do sound good on them, even exceptional, whack the strings pretty hard - that has also been my experience - in the exceptional cases I'm thinking of the players were exceptional also. 

The second point regarding EQ is also important - and too important to be left to sound engineers who won't necessarily know the intricacies and vagaries of individual bass guitars, let alone their players, and should be given the bassist's bass sound to amplify/enhance rather than a pre EQd/pre modified sound - as described by Guy Pratt, whose entirely delay reliant part of a song was bypassed by the sound engineers, diverting his out of the bass sound to house DI prior to effects/EQ, thus screwing up part of his performance  - in fact I'm concluding that this is a major contributor to inaudible bass guitar in some music these days. 

For those who think BGM etc are a waste of space, they've missed two of the most seminal bassists of now talking about these issues - and an interview by Silvia as well!!

I don't buy the 67 years bit either - there was only a very gradual take up for the first ten, the 60s certainly wasn't an era where the P was ubiquitous, certainly in UK pop maybe it was in the US, the early 70s was surely shared with the J and Ric, whilst many of the best players moved to Wal or Musicman at the end of the era. 80s was shared with synth bass, 90s with 5 strings - and then it becomes v popular again.

When I first started taking notice of these things (the later 60s), there were one or two high profile top rate players on P bass but more importantly the whole concept of bass guitar was still on an uphill struggle beyond pop/rock music to be accepted even as a serious instrument - against double bass!! 

Rather like Jools, those who chuck the BGM, BG baby out with the bath water miss some great moments - in fact the whole concept of a magazine is surely to create passing interest with one or two nuggets otherwise there wouldn't be such a plethora of them - from women's magazines to Ideal Home to OK - they appeal to broad taste in their subject area rather than individual's focus - even something as focussed as prog magazine is guaranteed a decent percentage of stuff which will only appeal to a percentage of readers. It's the nature of the beast!!

Although it was very much making its presence known, the P bass wasn't ubiquitous in the U.S. during the 60s, either.