lowland

Good to see someone underline the similarity of record companies to banks. Points I've made to young musicians for years: 1) if an institution of any kind lends you money, 2) it'll eventually want it back plus a significant return. Even today I still occasionally see people pursuing record deals for whom the possibility of 1) blots out understanding 2), with potential problems later.

Transposition typing there, Samhay: you remind me of me :-) I'm only being pedantic because I happened to look this up the other day. B0 = 31 Hz (30.87). A useful chart - [url="http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html"]http://www.phy.mtu.e.../notefreqs.html[/url]

I played the Duran concert via iPlayer in my mastering room over full-range speakers and was a little disappointed: John Taylor is a fine player and we weren't really getting him at all with a rather distant sound that was too low in the mix. Although the rest of it was acceptable, there was too much kick drum so I'm inclined to think this wasn't to do with broadcast processing, encoding and the rest of it, but rather (I'm sorry to say) a could-do-better balance by whoever mixed the show, presumably from an OB truck. That said, in his or her defence those kinds of events can be highly pressured, and it's also possible the feeds weren't as good as they should have been. Less excuse with the Jools show, though, with (I would guess) more setup time.

With an active bass you don't necessarily need a headphone amp: in the late 70s when I was living in Germany playing the US bases, I would occasionally plug a set of (passive) cans straight into my Stingray for practice purposes, and it worked. Quiet, but better than playing acoustically. Having forgotten all about that possibility in the intervening decades, for most of which I wasn't playing bass, I just had a go with my Ibanez SR1805 - works a bloomin' treat, and I'll use that in the future.

I get requests for one-offs and short runs from time to time, I'll give you a shout when the next one comes up. Please contact me at lowlandmasters(at)gmail.com should your customers need a mastering service. I was doing a vinyl premaster today as it happens - a sign of the times, I've done more of those in the last 18 months than the preceding decade.

I recently mastered an album with Carl Stanbridge producing plus playing bass guitar and double bass (he's probably on here, hi Carl!). We got to a song where I said I liked the sound of the double bass, but turns out it was an Epiphone Jack Casady. Fooled me completely even after decades of working with sound, the double whammy is of course that I have to have one now. Casady bass [url="http://www.epiphone.com/Products/Bass/Jack-Casady-Signature-Bass.aspx"]http://www.epiphone....ature-Bass.aspx[/url] Carl's website [url="http://www.ukbassplayer.com/"]http://www.ukbassplayer.com/[/url]

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1461574567' post='3035682'] I most certainly can. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/282735-basschat-noodle-bar-april/page__pid__3034729__st__60#entry3034729"]http://basschat.co.u...60#entry3034729[/url] It's essentially a motley collection of isolated basslines (under 60 seconds) played, recorded and submitted by a few BCers, which are compiled into a vote at the end of each month... It's working title was the "Play any old s**t challenge" and to be honest that pretty much sums it up [/quote] Thanks!

PS CamdenRob: could you please link to this noodle comp whereof you speak?

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1461573010' post='3035667'] I'm going to have to admit to my original post being of the facetious variety though... there is a long running BC mantra of "it's all in the fingers" implying that nothing else matters, when obviously different basses amps, strings etc all sound completely different. [/quote] 'Like'. Although I've become aware of the trend recently, also 'it's funny 'cos it's true', and as a bit of a convert I hope Twincam might at least consider playing adjustment before parting with hard-earned cash.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1461566426' post='3035625'] You don't really need an amp... or a cab.. or even a bass... It's all in the fingers [/quote] That was my first thought on seeing this thread. I played bass professionally in the late 70s/early 80s, and after a few decades' rest from it came back a couple of years ago in a fun covers band. Although the gear I have now is mostly better than what I had back then, what's really made a difference for me this time around has been in right hand fingerstyle technique: in the last 6 months I've started playing mostly between the two pickups (also Nordstrand Big Singles as it happens) instead of over the neck pickup or further to the left; also I've started to use the 'floating thumb' technique as opposed to thumb resting on the neck pickup or bass body. It's also worth noting that I used to have the strap quite short for that 'elbows stuck out' look in a vain attempt to come across like a serious player - it occurred to me this time around that all it achieved was to put arms, wrists and fingers under a certain amount of default tension, a thing of the past now I have a longer strap which puts my left forearm nearly parallel to the floor. The cumulative effect has been to give my tone a nice added definition while retaining all the thump I need, plus offering considerably more damping control, articulation and comfort, notably on the funkier and/or quicker tunes - Duran Duran's 'Rio' is an example of where this has helped. Although what works for me might not help you, Twincam, I was surprised at how much difference it made - might be worth a try before you spend good money on changing gear.

Not all remasters are bad, see my earlier comment re. Chris Blair/Genesis, but there's no lack of those which have been re-released on a small budget for purely commercial reasons and the care hasn't ben taken. When I remastered albums by the 80s post-punk band The Chameleons a couple of years back, we went to considerable lengths to get the best transfer from the original 1/4" tapes; I also listened to all the previous releases, both CD and vinyl, to help guide the best approach. The band were delighted with the final result, the best seal of approval.

I play bass in a covers band for (lots of) fun, but I'm a mastering engineer by trade. I don't listen to that much non-work music, most of what I do hear is in the car (Skoda Octavia) which more by luck than judgement on my part has one of the better in-car systems I've heard. I listen to the radio (mostly Radio 4 plus Radio 2, Radio 3 and Classic FM) and play CDs there, and am currently enjoying a changer full of old Genesis - the Chris Blair remasters of a few years ago are exemplary - and Steve Hackett's Genesis Revisited 2 double disc. I almost never play mastering work in progress in the car, although for the first time the current motor allows me to occasionally check CD text there. If I really want to listen to something in detail I'll fire up the mastering rig - it's been a great way to learn tunes for the band, and if we transpose anything I'll run a repitched version in iZotope RX with little sonic penalty and distribute to the other guys, one of whom is also an ME. Congrats to Cameronj279 on his Acoustic Energy floorstanders! - when I used to do eng/mix/prod I had access to AE1s in several studios over a period of about 15 years, and did good work on them.

George Massenburg made an invaluable contribution to EW&F, engineering most of their landmark tracks - I think that's a significant part of the reason the music still sounds fresh today. [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Massenburg"]https://en.wikipedia...orge_Massenburg[/url]

All part of the fun for me! And thanks, rushbo.

I was gigging on Saturday night, and the pub's AV system was playing various old hits. Lulu's 'The Boat That I Row' record from 1967 came on and I was smitten by the bass line, so much funkier than that on Neil Diamond's (he wrote it) version. Love the production on the Lulu version too: Mickie Most strikes again, it turns out, the master at making the 'most' out of simple elements. Who was that masked bassist? I'm guessing Herbie Flowers as the era is right, and he did many Most sessions, but whoever it is I take my metaphorical hat off to you sir (or madam). Lulu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANmdSvxn10c Neil Diamond https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXBhGGB552Y