Mark_Andertons

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1344421204' post='1764112'] A good producer is there to get the best out of the band they are recording. Not to make cookie-cutter albums sticking to their favourite sounds. [/quote] Yes. Pragmatically though I'd say a producer's job is to make a recording that will sell well and actually make the band some money. If you're just recording for 'arts' sake then you don't really need a producer, you can just produce yourself. A producer is effectively a consultant that says this is how we need to mould this product so that it will appeal to the market. You're dead right in saying they need to get the best out of the band and I think you're dead right in your implication that they need to respect the uniqueness and style of the band too. But any engineer can do those things, a producer (a good one) will have extra insight worth listening to about how to mould a record for market.

Personally loving the vintage blonde single pickup model. Not so much the black ones. Probably prefer the vintage precision style telecaster basses overall. Will get to lay hands on them fairly soon by the sounds of it!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1344350631' post='1763188'] I'm sorry but that's complete narrow-minded bollocks. Just listen to any decent electronic music album. There's probably a different bass sound on every track. Guitarists and keyboard players use different sounds all the time, so why should bassists (and to a certain extent drummers) be stuck with a single sound. A good producer and engineer will listen to the whole track and tailor the bass sound to compliment the other instruments. [/quote] Hey I wasn't saying this was my view personally just explaining why (as in the post that I quoted) Those 'standard' P-Bass and Jazz Bass sounds are so common. As a producer I've worked with bassists using anything and everything and to be perfectly honest my favourite tones and the ones that I would choose to use all the time if I HAD to would probably be Warwick. There's definitely no reason NOT to experiment and that experimentation has been rewarded on many great albums as you say.

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1344280054' post='1762247'] From I hear about producers favouring Fender basses for recording this seems to be endemic. What would happen if producers said that every guitarist had to use a Fender Strat because they're happy mixing those and don't want to bother with trying to apply their skills to other sounds? Not having a go at yourself of course but it does seem that a lot of producers come out with this sort of thing. It sounds like an attitude of "it's the bass, who cares?". I happen to spend a lot of time, effort and cash trying to get a bass tone that I love and suits the tracks I'm writing and I'd not be happy if a producer told me to pick up a Fender as that's what they're used to mixing. FFS, use your skills! [/quote] The issue stems from the producer's understanding that basically the lower in the frequency spectrum you get the less room for negotiation and experimentation there is. And there is a degree of truth in it that: today's recordings are more consistent than probably at any other time in the last few decades, and in order to keep up that consistency producers stick to what they know 'works' in the bass in which is critical for building that rock solid foundation than can then be built on with more experimental elements in the less critical high frequencies.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1344263646' post='1761898'] Belt and braces unless you're just recording yourself. Do the sodding lot, nothing to lose at the end of the day [/quote] Wow Belt AND Braces? Dignity to lose maybe?

Coming at it as someone who was a producer before a bassist (I studied a BA in Music Production at Leeds College of Music) I definitely think I'm guilty of trying to work backwards from how I want to the bass to sound on the record and then reverse engineering the tone (an approach that favours DI) which can be laudable in many situations but to my shame I don't think I ever really pay enough respect to how a band's bassist already sounds (through their amp at live shows) and try to recreate that on the record (an approach that favours micing the amp).

AKG c414 is the daddy for multi use mics however, firstly they're very expensive when starting out (even second hand they're 500-700 each) and for those who a re really picky there's a glaring thign they don't do well at all: vocals! They're just too flat and neutral for a good vocal.

SE 2200 II a is a crazy good for not silly money (£270ish) Ellie Goulding's 'Bright Lights' used a 2200a for all the vocals and bunch of other stuff too (can verify this because the chap that produced it bought it from us!) apparently (although surprisingly to my ears!) Ronson also used one for Amy Winehouse's vocals on Back to Black! It's now my go to mic for a lot of things, mostly vocals and acoustic guitars but can be used on cabs and so on.

Great article by professional engineer (and music production lecturer) Russ Harvey on recording bass amps and why it's worth the extra effort involved. [url="http://www.andertons.co.uk/guides/how-to-record-bass-beyond-just-di"]http://www.andertons.co.uk/guides/how-to-record-bass-beyond-just-di[/url] I have to say personally I'm a sucker for going to DI every time, albeit with a kind of cab sim (tend to favour the MXR Bass DI with the 'better' button). Just bought a Markbass CMD121H though so looking forward to trying out mic'ing that sucker up because it has such a great 'in the room' sound. What do people think about Russ's thoughts?

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1342195163' post='1731428'] Mr Olympic (while being way better at archery than me) doesn't seem to have the most amazing aim? Then again, was he aiming for the holes in the grill...in which case...AMAZING!! [/quote] It's a long and boring answer but basically his bow is tuned to his normal carbon fibre arrows which are improbably expensive, and also we were concerned about carbon shards flying about, so we asked him to use some cheaper and sturdier aluminium arrows. Downside being they are quite a bit larger and heavier than the carbons and so accuracy was sacrificed. That and we told him to miss once or twice for dramatic effect..

Just thought some of you may enjoy seeing what happens when a competitive Olympic style archer collides with Roland's build quality! [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4xh3j29ceA&feature=plcp[/media] Absolutely no one expected it to still work after taking a huge hit right strong the speak and hitting the magnet!

*dies inside at the misinterpretation of the wider scope of 'marketing' and feels sad and ashamed to have devoted life to a career to it*

Only works with certain styles (not really rock so much as pop or in my case gospel) but our drummer uses (I sh*t you not) chopsticks. The realy hard ones you get not the disposable ones He hits as hard as he can and it sounds great but way quieter, still loads of energy and great tone. Takes a very talented drummer that's not afraid of looking silly though. Been meanin to get a video of him doing it. he's a huge black guy too!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1339359000' post='1687455'] Some of us are also guitarists you know... [/quote] Then your opinion falls under my point about listening to Guitarists. No problem

Get down to a big big guitarshop that you can play everything there. Obviously I'd say Andertons but there are loads of others like GuitarGuitar that maybe nearer. And just play as many guitars as you can lay hands on and something will choose you. Also at risk of offending the entire forum id take the opinions of bassists with a pinch of salt. There is such a cultural gulf between guitarists and bassists and bassists have a lot of stigmas about things that they can't really claim to understand from a guitarists perspective. Not saying that's the case of any advice given here but I'd give more weight to what guitarist buddies might tell you. (please no one flame grill me I love you all really!)

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1339108293' post='1684004'] The characteristics of my bass, amp and cabs would alter the sound too much to make it worth using. [/quote] Why shouldn't this be true of guitars too though and yet it works? The characteristics of my Fender Strat with vintage pups into a Fender Blues Junior are my main tone but when I kick in a Wampler Pinnacle I still get the sound of saturated Marshall JCM800. As I say that's exactly what Wampler have done fantastically for the guitar market. But maybe I'm alone in thinking it would be transferable to Bass. Just my opinion

my personal thought is that Wampler should do what they do best for guitars. i.e. make a pedal that has the classic GK clean tone, a pedal with the classic gritty tubey Ashdown tone etc. So you could have your rig as a Mark Bass say and be able to engage a pedal that would give it the tone of an Ashdown, or Fender Bassman say. Wampler do this incredibly well with pedals that emulate the Soldano SLO100, Marshall Plexi etc and I don't think there are many bass pedals that set out to actually give you proper amp sounds.