WinterMute

Looking good mate, the API is a cracking desk to run PT through, makes the 192's sound good!

Couldn't see what monitoring you use (admittedly on a cursory glance) what's in the control room?

[quote name='YouMa' post='599827' date='Sep 16 2009, 03:42 AM']I saw the making of aja on telly i still think more slap than pop.[/quote]


Sort of slop then?

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='594709' date='Sep 10 2009, 01:20 PM']My recollection is Karn is completely untrained and doesn't know what he is doing, he just does it. Or was that just 'anti-establishment' posturing? Who care? He pushed the envelope and that is always a good thing. I'll read it.

And he had great taste in basses [/quote]


...but often no eyebrows...

When I was playing in bands in the 80's and 90's my 5 sting Thumb was a perfect beast for the job, particularly for the more proggy stuff I used to play, the B lets you work under the layers of guitars that wold inevitably appear as if by magic....

Now I'm just noodling around for my own pleasure I've gone back to 4 strings, and bought a fretless again, I have no need for the 5th (or 6th or 7th....) string, and I get to play a Geddy Lee Jazz with that perfect neck.

The point has been made, you choose the tools for the job in hand, and no amount of expensive kit will make you a better player than you actually are.

[quote name='Bay Splayer' post='590778' date='Sep 5 2009, 04:27 PM']tried out the marcus miller today.....what a lovely bass,

then tried out the geddy lee......


WOW!



EVEN BETTER!! (imo)

just ordered online from GAK, cant bloody wait [/quote]

Good man, tbh you'd be more than happy with either. I'm seriously considering a fretless MM to replace my Squire VMJ.

The MOTU if you can afford it, and then add the Focusrite Octa pre (with the optical interface) for another 8 or 16 inputs if you need them (I do).

Oddly the old Digidesign 002 rack is a good buy, as long as you have FW400, which some of the new MacBook Pros don't have. You don't need to use Protools with it and they are very reasonable off ebay.

I had a headless double neck built in about 86, fretted and fretless mainly to switch between the two during songs (it was a proggy band tbh).

Damn thing nearly killed me, waaaay too heavy and unwieldy, ended up stripping it for the hardware and skipping it.

How long does it take to switch a bass over with a good footswitch switcher?

Alternatively, buy an Chapman NS Stick half-fretless and string it like 2 bases on 1 neck!!! A steal for £2500.

[quote name='Bay Splayer' post='536554' date='Jul 9 2009, 04:12 PM']is the truss rod adjustment in the headstock or at the body end of the neck

reason i ask is that i have read some [i]"internet reviews" [/i]posted a few years ago that moan about difficult truss rod adjustment

yet the pics i have seen look like it adjusts at the headstock end[/quote]

It's at the body and it's partially covered by the scratchplate, which needs ro be removed to get to the truss rod, so yes it;s a bit of a pain.

That said, mine's straight as an arrow and hasn't moved all through the summer in a loft conversion.

I own a Geddy Lee and have played and recorded both, the Geddy's neck is slim and very nice, the MM's neck is a little heavier, but not by much, I thought about getting an MM before I played the Geddy Lee.

Tone wise the GL is pure 70's Jazz, plenty of lovely passive grunt with good variation, the Badass on both helps them sustain, and the sound is great for rock and pop, it slaps reasonably well if you have a good amp EQ and fresh strings.

The MM is a more versatile beast, it's pre gives it the ability to cover more tonal range from the bass than the GL, but it seemed to need just a little in the low end for heavier rock, might have been the player though.

Play both, choose the one that you like the feel of, they are both great instruments.

USB 2 will deliver 24/96 in stereo, and multiple channels of 24/48.

FireWire is the better option for multiple input channels, but only at hi res really.

If you can find an interface with "hardware monitoring" or "zero latency monitoring" you'll be able to record without the latency delays that bug some interfaces.

Most of the good ones do. It's a bit of a false economy to buy a cheap interface if you intend to get some use out of it, as you will replace it later.

Onboard interfaces are rarely earthed as well as exterior, and the PSU for a PC is not rated for Mic amps etc.

Much better to get an external box, but make sure it has it's own power supply, a 9v or direct 240v is fine, but don;t get one that powers from the USB of FireWire buss, they simp[ly don;t have the voltage to power the mic amps properly.

If you can find a MOTU 828 cheap they are the dogs.

I use an M-box Pro and a 003 desk currently, both self powered.

A couple of tips:

1-2Khz is where the "presence" of the electric bass usually sits, if you want to accentuate the sound of the strings boost here.

Unless you're going for an exceptionally bright snappy sound, there is nothing above about 10Khz that will help in an ensemble.

The frequencies around 120-140Hz will make basses (and kick drums) sound "boxy", for a cleaner LF, cut here, but for Motown/60's thud boost here.


The Smile or Frown settings are almost useless in many situations, but remember, you have 2 or 3 EQ stages in your signal chain, one on your bass, one (maybe more or less) in your pedals and effects and one in your amp, all will effect the shape of your sound.

It is as useful to cut frequencies as it is to boost them.

The frequencies below 40Hz are going to be very difficult to amplify cleanly unless you have some very serious backline or a pro PA, rolling off the bass at 35hz (or filtering if you have a filter) is a good way to clean up your bass sound and allow the other frequencies room to breath, you will not notice these frequencies missing in a band, but may hear them solo.

Do not boost below 35Hz with a "shelving" EQ, if you have the option use a "bell" shape.


Every bass sound is different, learn to listen to your bass in the context it finds itself in, unless you are world famous for your tone, one sound will not work in all situations.

It'd be more telling to post a thread counting the number of basses we've owned [i]in our whole lives[/i]!!

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='526420' date='Jun 28 2009, 12:29 AM']Plus my 11 = 1348[/quote]

+2 = 1350

I have a VMJ with the ebanol board, it marks up quite early with roundwounds (as does everything not epoxied to within an inch of its life), but it;s not bad by any means.

I think its brighter than ebony or rosewood (thats just a suspicion however) and I've nener played a maple fretless.

It feels very slick, sort of between a very good Ebony and a graphite.

I like it a lot.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='523998' date='Jun 25 2009, 06:46 PM']Correction; Sogg's Sadowsky now! [/quote]

Don't I know it, and don't think I didn't take a long hard look at the finances when you posted the damn thing, that's one beautiful bass.

I used a Thumb 5 for 20 years, lovely beast, mine had the single piece bridge and EMG's.

It's a great and versatile bass, I played lots of different stuff with it, rock, pop, a little ska, some blues, as close to jazz as my meagre talent allows....

I sold it last year because I wasn't playing at all, and it was too good to leave on a stand.

I now have a Geddy Lee and a Squire VMJ fretless, the Geddy takes care of the rock and blues (and isn;t bad for poppy stuff).

I think I'd want a pre-amp in the Jazz if I was going to try to make it as versatile as the Thumb, an East J Retro would do the trick.

As it stands I think one of the super Jazzes is more than equal to the Thumb and it really depends which bass you are happiest with.

I'd kill for Warwickhunt's Sadowsky.

I prefer roundwounds, usually Rotosound nickels. Sure they chew the board up after a while, but that's just the price you pay for the tone.

My sweat is nasty stuff and I kill strings quite quickly, even with a careful clean after playing, flats don't cut it for me in the high end, and groundwound die too quickly.

I'll keep the roundwounds a stump up for a new board every couple of years like I used to I think.

Whatever it takes t get the sound for the track.

I really like bass tone controls through a flat SVT, but it's rarely whats required, so I'll use the bass, the amp, pedals, outboard, mics and rooms to get the recorded sound I'm after, then slap EQ and dynamics on if needed in the mix.

Live it used to be bass, amp and a chorus occasionally.

Oh dear no, no that won't do at all, sunburst?

Sunburst isn't a finish a Geddy Lee Jazz should be available in...



Looks good though, doesn't it?

Lovely, he's quoting Jaco's work all the way through that, as is the sax actually.

Ala Joni Mitchell, Shadows and Light.

You going for a big live sounding room there?

Those panels in that positioning wouldn't take the room down to diffuse, so I'm hoping you'll be looking for a signature sound rather than a neutral sound.

What are you doing with the floor? All carpet, or different surfaces?

I loves me some positive room sound, and yours looks big enough to be useful to a decent sized ensemble.

Nice work so far, looking forward to seeing it finished (I know it doesn't feel like it ever will be, that's the nature of studio builds isn't it?).

I [i]am[/i] an Apple evangelist, no question, however the Mac vs PC question has been a dead rubber for some time now.

The important thing to remember is that all recording software will do a good job, but great recordings start and end with good mics and pre-amps, if you have a shed load of cash by all means get a Mac, they are lovely machines to run Protools on (and obviously Logic etc.) and Garageband isn't half bad (it's not what it could be however, but that would dent Logic wouldn't it?)

If you're on a budget, I'd suggest a decent PC and spend the extra cash on good mics and a solid interface, the MOTU range is very good for instance.

Look at mics from SE and Sontronics before shelling out of Neumann and AKG.

Logic, Nuendo and Digital performer are all good MIDI programmers, and have great suites of synths and samplers, Protools is an audio recorder, editor and mixer first and foremost, however all can record and all can edit MIDI and run synths. Abelton Live is an interesting alternative.

Have a think about what you want to achieve and how you want to go about it, do you need lots of mics at once (MOTU 828 has 8 mic inputs for instance) or will a single or stereo input suffice.

Get the best mics and pre's you can afford, they will last a lot longer than any mac or PC. I have a set of mics that go back 20 years, I've seen 10 Macs off in that time easily.

Software and computers come and go, mics and good signal paths are eternal...

Peter Cooks have them listed for £610, but they never seem to have stock...!

eBay has them pretty regularly, usually under £500.

Just been reading some stuff about Mr. Manring, someone asked him if he'd tried a Chapman Stick, he said yes he had and that (and I quote) "he sucked"...


I tried a Chapman Stick too, and I sucked, maybe there's hope for my fretless playing yet.