• Techniques
  • What do you guitarists use for bass.... (p.3)
2017/09/08 17:57:18
batsbrew
Mesh
When you don't have an actual bass and use your regular guitar?

man, with killer basses available for cheap money,
why use anything else?
 
nothing else is going to sound real.
plus, you can't groove on a guitar, like you can a bass.
never settle for fake when you don't have to.
2017/09/08 22:21:35
BenMMusTech
I try not to be a show off these days...but when someone doesn't believe you...Listen to The Rip Of The Tide by A Techno-Romantic #np on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/aa...ks/the-rip-of-the-tide
This track, which I recorded and wrote in 4 days, although it took over a year to mix lol, should convince you great sounding bass is a achievable using my technique. The bass is basically my electric guitar fed through a myriad of signal processors ;). If it worked for Jack White!

Not convinced? Here is another example Listen to When Every Song Is Sung (I'll Still Love You) by A Techno-Romantic #np on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/aa...ung-ill-still-love-you This one is my George Harrison cover, I recently added Waves TG12345 channel strip to my plug collection, and have mixed the entire track with this channel strip, Wave's summing amp set to the same desk, and I've also used Vox amp Sims and a Fairchild limiter. The bottom end in my opinion is very close to The Beatles Abbey Road. The bottom end bounces, and you can walk around in the mix.

Oh, and to be a real show off, if you listen with over the ear headphones...in both tracks, certain sections, sonically sound will spin around your head in surround sound.

My point is...don't listen to anyone, because sure, if you don't know what you are doing...then you won't get a realistic bass sound with a guitar or synth, but if you do...And remember I didn't know what I was doing...as some in this forum will attest...now after many years :).

Peace
2017/09/09 00:23:02
.
A real bass is the only and best way really
 
BenMMusTech

This track, which I recorded and wrote in 4 days, although it took over a year to mix lol, should convince you great sounding bass is a achievable using my technique.




It does nothing of the sort, if anything it goes to prove the opposite imo
 
BenMMusTech
 
Not convinced? Here is another example
 

 
No, and I'm still not, far from it
 
BenMMusTech
 
I try not to be a show off these days...but when someone doesn't believe you...
 

 
umm, you mention showing off a few times in your post, I don't believe you understand the meaning or purpose of 'showing off', because nothing you posted there did it in any way shape or form, sorry.
 
After listening to the examples you gave (I listened as long as I could, enough to hear that the bass sound sucked and was in no way comparable to a real bass, I just couldn't bring myself to listen to either in full) I find myself wondering if you have in fact ever actually played or heard even a real bass, because those examples are far and away off the mark, and in no way convey the feel, or sound of a real bass played by a real person.
 
Sorry, that's just how it is from where I stand.
 
2017/09/09 00:52:09
batsbrew
the FEEL of a real bass,
informs the performance.
 
and if you are not trying to capture an inspired performance,
then what's the point?
 
2017/09/09 01:25:04
gswitz
Matron >> little rough.
 
@Ben ... I liked it.
 
This is a recent recording I made of a real bass player... band played all the tunes in a row...
http://stabilitynetwork.blob.core.windows.net/g-tunes/20170731_Chronyx.html
You might try listening to Badge.
http://stabilitynetwork.blob.core.windows.net/g-tunes/20170731_Chronyx_12_Badge.mp3
  
Bass player was exhausted and says he's ready for the last song after song 10. 
 
Some of the music they played didn't get bounced b/c it wasn't really there yet.
 
Idk what bass guitar he was using... it was through a little amp on the floor and I mic'd it with a ribbon.
 
I took a direct too, but the direct always sucks, so I didn't use it.
 
The weirdest thing about this tape is that I didn't mic the snare and every hit is so out of phase it's nutty. I couldn't bring it up. It was hopeless. The snare was only captured by over-heads not quite equi-distant from the head.
 
Laziness regretted.
 
This is another recording with a real bassist...
http://stabilitynetwork.blob.core.windows.net/g-tunes/20170427_VasiQuartet.html
 
In the photo on this page you can see the tiny CAD mic in front of the bassist. I had like 2 hours notice (at work) before this gig so I just grabbed and ran. The mic for bass = mic for bass drum. :-)
2017/09/09 02:48:50
BenMMusTech
Matron Landslide
A real bass is the only and best way really
 
BenMMusTech

This track, which I recorded and wrote in 4 days, although it took over a year to mix lol, should convince you great sounding bass is a achievable using my technique.




It does nothing of the sort, if anything it goes to prove the opposite imo
 
BenMMusTech
 
Not convinced? Here is another example
 

 
No, and I'm still not, far from it
 
BenMMusTech
 
I try not to be a show off these days...but when someone doesn't believe you...
 

 
umm, you mention showing off a few times in your post, I don't believe you understand the meaning or purpose of 'showing off', because nothing you posted there did it in any way shape or form, sorry.
 
After listening to the examples you gave (I listened as long as I could, enough to hear that the bass sound sucked and was in no way comparable to a real bass, I just couldn't bring myself to listen to either in full) I find myself wondering if you have in fact ever actually played or heard even a real bass, because those examples are far and away off the mark, and in no way convey the feel, or sound of a real bass played by a real person.
 
Sorry, that's just how it is from where I stand.
 




I try never to listen to people with joke avatars, and indeed joke monikers! Anything I say, I believe whoever you are, will be used against me...because I suspect you're nothing but a small minded troll.
 
My point stands...it is not the tools, but the tools who use the tools who either **** a song up or make it great. If we followed your belief, and we stuck with the 'rules' in regards to real bass vs experimenting when a real bass isn't at hand, something like using a speaker for a microphone...ala Paul McCartney would not have been used on Paperback Writer. A track that changed the way bass was viewed within popular music.
 
For what it is worth, I mixed and mastered both tracks a couple of weeks ago, and I was not only trying to implement a series of new plugins into my mix and master chain, indeed I had to learn how to use said plugins. For example, Wave's VComp...which if you don't understand how to use can lead to an overcooked mid-section. Mind you it sounds great when you first hit upon that sound, but in reality it is a **** to EQ in mastering :). I also probably rolled off too much bottom end with the low-cut filter...I've been working on some virtual orchestral mixes, and this coupled with the new plugs has meant I've had to go back over my EQ technique - both mix and master - and it was this experimentation which lead to the realization I'd probably been rolling off too much bottom end in mastering. It may be this you're hearing...joke avatar person! No matter though, because the track is pretty low-fi anyway. Each new composition leads to new discoveries. The tracks and by proxy the masters' I posted links to are limited by the source material. Also, it depends on what you listen to said tracks on...for me I use AKG k712s, where there is a well-defined bottom end...bass comes through peachy. I also have a fairly good blutooth speaker...Harmon Kardon, and at the right volume sound comes through peachy. Now if I listen to masters on phone, bass doesn't come through so peachy :)...but the mix is all there, and it sounds peachy. I don't expect 5 cent phone speakers to be able to reproduce frequencies below 100hz...aint going to happen. You have to make masters as flat as possible...so if you played said tracks on a decent stereo, the bass would thunder through. I know this would be the case, even though I probably rolled off too much botom end.
 
It is also a shame, that Soundcloud's encoding process probably dilutes the bass sound too. This is even after I upload the master wave file at 64bitFP :).
 
I use to have an Epiphone Hofner replica Beatle bass, best bass I'd ever played...particularly for a guitarist. But equipment comes and goes. If I waited until I could get another of these basses, or indeed only had one type of bass...I would be limited to a certain type of music. Again, if the last great era of western art music taught us anything, it is experimentation is the key!
 
Ben
2017/09/09 04:40:21
batsbrew
i guess it's still the same as it ever was, really, the end result is all that matters.
shouldn't matter the path chosen.
2017/09/09 13:43:00
BobF
batsbrew
Mesh
When you don't have an actual bass and use your regular guitar?

man, with killer basses available for cheap money,
why use anything else?
 
nothing else is going to sound real.
plus, you can't groove on a guitar, like you can a bass.
never settle for fake when you don't have to.


I picked up a Peavey Milestone bass a couple of years ago for something less than 2 bills.  It's a fine instrument, although the machine could stand an upgrade.
 
Not that I've accomplished a lot with it, I have to say that the captured sound is much more realistic than any kbd/VI I've tried.
 
IMO the choice comes down to how important authentic bass tracks are to you.
 
2017/09/09 20:12:08
kennywtelejazz
For the life of me , I can not picture this new sonic atrocity of mine with out a real Bass .
 
https://soundcloud.com/guitarist-kenny-wilson/ca-x-amp-sims-hard-rock-guitar
 
I only paid 40 bucks for the bass and I would be very lucky if I ever got a hundred for it .
It still has the same flatwound strings on it from 15 years ago when I bought it 
Kenny
 
2017/09/09 20:24:20
gswitz
Nice one, Kenny.
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