WinterMute

Ah, the days of sessions with a Studer 827, a Mitsi 32 track and an Atari running some version of Notator with that SMPTE box on the side... I still occasionally run sessions involving a 24 track, but it's usually with the CLASP system as an input to protools. I have expectations of behaviour in studios, I expect the sessions to be pre-produced so that everyone knows what is to be achieved, how it's to be achieved and that everyone involved is capable of achieving it. Unless the session is a songwriting or experimental session, it'll run to an agreed plan. I also expect decent timekeeping and communication, and not to be surprised at 02:00 with "Can we just add..." type requests when the session is supposed to finish at 23:00. I don't do overnights anymore, tired musicians don't play well, tired engineers make mistakes. I also expect consideration and manners, regardless of how badly things might be going, and they do go badly wrong occasionally, I have thrown clients out of studios for being rude/violent/drunk/high, and shall continue to do so. It's baseline good behaviour. The best sessions are well planned, well prepared and well managed, that way whatever magic may happen can do so without technical constraints. That isn't to say there won't be a bassist standing on an 8x10 or a singer running in circles screaming, because those things happen, but I want the process nailed down before the chaos can start.

I have 3 or 4 in my baseline rigs, a pre-amp, an amp and and amp/cab combo, the pre-amp and amp are my captures. It'll be really interesting if they get to the point of being able to capture time-domain effects like chorus etc.

Not really, obviously there's a technical processing limit, but I've run multiple capture on 4 independent channels and not seen it slow down or glitch. I think you'd run out of need before it ran out of grunt.

That's going to depend on how good the captures are, I've heard some brilliant captures from some users and some bloody awful ones that don't sound anything like the unit they pretend to be, the great thing is that the user captures are offered free of charge, so you can just keep looking, or even borrow a Mircrotubes and try to make your own. That said the Neural version is pretty good.

It's not a bad shout actually, I used the Pod XT Pro for many years, and a very serviceable unit it was, I had a Pod XT as a back up, which lacks the inputs and outputs but sounds just as good. I still have the XT bean in my studio, there are some things it does that the QC can't. Dirt cheap now too.

Agreed, it is, as Owen notes, MASSIVE overkill for what is essentially the modelling of an amp and cab...! I will say the form factor lends itself much more readily to live performance than the Kemper, even with the foot controller, and Neural have put a lot of thought into how the unit would be used live with a range of modes to suit most players, it stores input gains as part of patches for instance, and has a master output volume etc. I move between fretted and fretless basses, with varying outputs, and the QC seems able to deal with it well enough. Given I'm modelling an SVT + fridge stack with a RB800 and 2x12 for the HF with LA2A limiters and a few overdrives and distortions, I reckon £1500 is a decent price just to save my lower back. YMMV, obvs, it's great that there's so much choice out there now, not just catering for our 6 stringed brethren.

The Quad Cortex from Neural DSP does a very similar job, but is the same kind of "rig in a box" that the Helix etc are. Their Neural Capture feature allows you to capture the sound of an amp or pre-amp and store it as a editable patch, this can include cabs or you can create IR's to simulate the cab separately. It's a very successful if somewhat complex process that makes for useable hardware models. Not a cheap option by any means though, same kind of money as the other big players, it is, however, a lot smaller and is very easy to use with it's touchscreen and rotary footswitches. I replaced an HX Stomp with mine and I regularly work with a veteran Helix user, I prefer the QC to the Helix. I think it's a better system than the Kemper, although probably not quite as stellar as the Fractal Systems pro unit.

We used Main Stage on a Mac or occasionally Garage Band on an iPad but we had a cheapish 4 output interface, send the stereo track with the backing through 1 and 2, and the click through 3 to a headphone amp to the drummer, everyone listens to the drummer, who listens to the click... We found that a decent headphone amp is essential to get the click loud enough, the headphone output on the interface wasn't up to the job. You can send a sub mix of the backing through to the drummer too, if he wants to hear the track. You'll obviously need to set your click track up with a count in for the drummer to begin his count for you guys. Some issues to look at: How do you run click for a track with no drums in the intro? We used to have the drummer peddle the hi-hat or play a pattern with a shaker. Alternatively, you could run with IEM for the band all listening to the submix with the click, but I found that tended to spoil my enjoyment of the whole process... You do need to allocate the task of managing the tech to someone, preferably the drummer himself, assuming he can handle the responsibility!

Depends on what the song requires, via a Quad Cortex, I'll build a sound to suit the track from a few general presets. The constants are 5 strings and round wounds. I've used the same Boss Bass Chorus pedal for 40 years on my fretless. I have a sound for my originals projects, which is a bi-amped patch using an SVT 3 model into a 2x12 EV IR for the LF and a GK 800RB into a 4x10 TE IR for the HF, both with switchable distortion and chorus paths and an LA2 limiter model on the mixed output, which is suitable filthy when needed, but behaves itself in decent company.

Coming in: La Villa Strangiato by Rush with co-ordinated pall bearer dance moves. Reflection: Take this Waltz by Leonard Cohen with optional waltzing. Bu**ering off: Ace of Spades by Motörhead at full volume, you win some, lose some, it's all the same to me. Additionally, no black, primary colours only and big hats, because you absolutely cannot feel sad in a big f*cking hat.

Geddy Wee of Gush?

Surely thats Geddy Pee of Rash?

The various Line 6 units are very good too, particularly the rack version.

Deep Purples tribute to the potteries, Stoke on the Water.

I've had a Boss CE-2B Bass chorus since they came out in the early 80s, it's always worked brilliantly for my sound and I've never really used anything else in my rig, I do like a bit of Dimension D on the fretless DI feed, but it b*gg*rs the low end up a bit on the main track. I have mine on an FX loop off the Quad Cortex, switch it in to any patch I need. The Roland Jazz Chorus model on the QC is very good too, especially on a 2 channel bass patch with all the drive and grit on the other channel.

Stacked knobs? Can't say I've noticed guv...

I've tried dynamic clicks in the past, as you note, often more trouble than they're worth, however, the last few years I've been using Beat Detective in Protools to analyse the drummers performance, this works best if you bounce a stereo track into an empty session, then extract a tempo map of the performance and import the component audio into that. This gives you a properly conformed timeline for everyone else to work with and keeps loops and samples honest too, without sacrificing the drummer original feel. Even quantising MIDI performance work to the groove.

William Gibson pretty much nailed this in Idoru, AI holographic pop stars marrying real rock stars, his AI were self aware however, and that is a completely different kettle of fish. Great art is transcendent, I can paint-by numbers, I'll never paint a Monet (insert you favourite dead artist here) similarly I can write a song, but I'll never turn out The Long and Winding Road or While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and neither will AI Until it becomes self aware. That day may come sooner or later and then the problem won't be songs in the pop charts, trust me.

Essential tool for recording, there's so much LF in signals that don't get translated by anything other than the top full range monitor systems, guitars, keys, loops, proximity effect on vocals, it's not just basses that need them. I have a very capable LF extension system on my monitors and I can hear the differences in mixes where LPF's haven't been employed properly. I don't; see live as being any different and a lot of live engineers will use general LPFs on a lot of inputs.

I have tickets for the Barbican date, don't much care about the prices and I'd buy the book anyway. I've heard Geddy Lee speak on a few occasions and he's excellent, I'm looking forward to it.

Exactly why I considered it (briefly), I have played an original 10 string Stick, well, I say "played", it was certainly making a noise... Nope, 5 strings is plenty.

Started playing 5 string in 1987 after playing precision/ricky copies since 1980, bought a Warwick Thumb that, unbeknownst to me at the time, had a legendarily thunderous B, tight as duck's whatsit in a sandstorm... I loved that bass, sold the Wal and the JD Supernatural and never looked back, playing originals is sessions and occasionally in bands 5 string just suits what I do. I stopped playing for 5 years and sold it. Went back to playing a few years later and started with a Geddy Lee Jazz and a Squire jazz fretless, both really nice basses, loved the Geddy neck, but I consistently missed having a B string, and so eventually picked up a Tony Levin OLP for a steal, a MM necked SR5 hybrid 5er. I've found that I have to pay close attention no neck profile as I have small hands., string spacing becomes very important, I find 18mm to wide, the Thumb was 16mm, the SR5's are 17mm, which works with the slim profile very well. When Alan Cringean built my fretless a couple of years ago he built it to 17mm with his asymmetric neck carve that feels very natural to me, contrasting with the Bongo that is just a little too chunky in my hands. I don't think I'd ever go back to 4 strings, 34" scale B strings on a rigid bass design are clear and tight, although you do need to keep the strings fresh. I'm never going to be playing covers or in the kind of band that demands a particular bass for the look, so 5 suits me just fine. Oddly I've never been tempted to even try a 6, although I did think about an NS Stick then they came out...

That's correct, I looked up the email Warwick sent me.

The serial numbers was stamped into the wood on the end of the headstock. This was my 87 Thumb, the K148 is the model reference and month, ie K14 is the 5 string thumb through neck, 8 is August (I think that's right) 87 is the year. (obvs). I sold this bass a few years ago, and I think that's what Warwick came back with when the buyer enquired.