Quick studio blog: First studio session as a bass player

[Naigewron]

Time to get a bit more active here at BassChat  

 

We'll be spending a few weekends in the studio for an album recording. This coming weekend (june 1st and 2nd) we'll be focusing on drums and bass, and I'll be pulling double duty and cover the entire rhythm section for these sessions.

 

I've been a drummer for 15 years and I'm comfortable in the studio behind a drum kit, and I love studio sessions in general, but this will be my first session as a bass player.

 

I'm pretty new to bass still (only really played it for about a year), but I feel so at home playing it. I've played guitar for 25 years (only at home, not in a band), so I wasn't exactly starting from scratch when it came to knowing the fretboard, but it's still a different beast.

 

Our engineer is also a bass player, so I'll have access to a lot of great gear, and he'll presumably also be able to help me out with sugeestions for parts if my stuff isn't working as well as I think they are.

 

We'll see how it goes. I'll keep this thread updated with pics, clips and experiences if anyone's interested.

 

To start us off, here's a picture of the studio space - Polyfon Studio in my hometown of Bergen, Norway:

[Lozz196]

Hope all goes well, studio work is great fun, have just spent the last 4 days in the studio recording our 4th album. Still got to mix it but got 15 tracks fully recorded (bass/drums/guitars/lead & backing vox) so are feeling rather pleased with ourselves at the moment.

[fiatcoupe432]

this is one of my favorite part of being in a band !!!! enjoy and have fun until it last 

[Naigewron]

So the drum and bass sessions are done. Time always flies so fast in the studio. I often envy guitar players, who are allowed to sit there and add layer upon layer of guitar parts, while us rhythm section guys are only allowed a single part per song (usually).

 

Anyway, we started off doing the drums, and they sounded absolutely immense in this room. Really looking forward to hearing the full drum mix. Here's my kit set up in the room:

 

After that, it was time for bass tracking. Definitely a humbling experience after the familiar comfort of the drum throne, but we got some good results after a couple of passes.

 

I borrowed the engineer's Precision for the session, and tracked through an Orange Terror Bass and an Orange 1x12 cab. For the heavier parts, we kicked on my Ampeg Scrambler and for some parts my EHX Bass Clone. Pretty straightforward, nothing fancy. We also have a DI track of course, so reamping is always an option if needed.

 

 

I'd love to spend at least twice as long experimenting with parts and sounds, but the studio time is coming out of our own pocket so we really have to move pretty quickly.

 

We should be getting some raw mixes of the drum and bass tracks in a few days, and then spend a couple of weeks on continued preproduction of guitars, vocals and probably some keys here and there. We'll be back in the studio at the end of June.

 

I think my singer has some video clips. If I don't look like a total donkey, I might put them up  

[MoonBassAlpha]

Looks like a lovely studio! I  hope you get great results! 

[Owen]

Playing someone else's bass with a metal zip on your hoodie? Naughty!

Looks like a lovely place to track though.

[Naigewron]

9 hours ago, owen said:

Playing someone else's bass with a metal zip on your hoodie? Naughty!

Oh snap 😝

I was a good boy - No new scratches added.

[bazzbass]

nothing like doing take after take coz the drummer drops a beat right near the end every time.

THEN your new 'manager' says, can you try a completely different bassline?

Like not once at a rehearsal was anything mentioned, not even at the start of the session, but you wait til I'm friggin frustrated at the drummer  after ten takes to butt in?

We finished our debut CD, then immediately split up.

far king managers

Edited June 14, 2019 by bazzbass