Maverick

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1384549671' post='2278174'] When you get angry , which hand do you want to punch drummers with ? [/quote] Important consideration for the future.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1384543348' post='2278045'] Lol. I did ask a while ago if metal was really pop music. If you go to a school or college/uni & ask the boys (& many of the girls too), I'm pretty sure the majority will name a metal band as their fave. [/quote] Nah, I was in a tiny minority as a metal fan through school and college, and a slightly larger minority at uni. I think metal has a strong presence through being a strong community, but in the grand scheme of things it's not [/i]that[i] big.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1384537165' post='2277938'] Quite. [old bloke alert] And is not metal aimed at a certain, ah... age group? Or at least a certain, er... 'youthful' mentality? I've thought for a long time that the whole death/blood/grim reaper/disaster and general dark, depressing subject matter and imagery of the genre (to me at least) entirely spurious. Why make all that stuff up when there is so much genuine death and horror happening in the world? What is it with the masculine, aggressive stance of it all that appeals so much to young men? Seems to me that metal is produced and consumed by people who are lucky enough to live in a relatively worry-free society that gives them time, freedom and leisure to such a degree that they are able to contemplate the whole death/blood/disaster thing as a form of entertainment. Which (again, for me) puts it in the same category as horror films. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course. So there you have it. Metal is middle-class and is big in Tunbridge Wells and Milton Keynes. [/old bloke alert] Nomex suit ON. [/quote] For something a bit different, Devin Townsend's latest album, Epicloud, is basically an album of heavy metal love songs.

[quote name='Ian Savage' timestamp='1384474959' post='2277274'] I can 'kind of' see where he's coming from, but interesting bass players will always find their place in the mix (much as I dislike his tone and general persona, Fieldy with Korn was/is (?) a prime example of the bass not being in its stereotyped place) - I'm doing some work at the minute with a band tuned down to D standard with me playing a five-string, and yeah, a lot of the time I'm just accenting kick drums with the same note as the guitars are playing in riffs. But when I drop that low A, bowels loosen. The trick is to not over-use it. [/quote] Agreed. Although if we're going to pick someone out of that kind of scene for inventive playing and shaping the band's sound around him, I think you'd be remiss to not give a mention to Ryan Martinie of Mudvayne.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1384420167' post='2276385'] I've often wondered why so much time on a bass website is wasted discussing metal. Talk about "two bald men arguing about a comb". Now, back to real music ... [/quote] [quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1384445950' post='2276829'] This chap specialises in making records with bands who look like they are the kind of men who grow mushrooms up their arse, so I am not too worried what he thinks about anything. [/quote] [quote name='12stringbassist' timestamp='1384472374' post='2277248'] In a lot of the kind of music he works on, you'll find a bass part actually isn't needed, as the music is simply not worth releasing, so there's no point in brightening it up woth a bass part. [/quote] Yawn. Grow up boys.

[quote name='AntLockyer' timestamp='1384446610' post='2276841'] Mastodon have some bass involved. I've heard them described as metal. [/quote] Yep, Troy Sanders is a good player IMO. Not flashy, but has a good sound and adds a lot of punch to the riffs, and forms a solid backbone when the guitars go off noodling and widdling. And most of their stuff is mixed with audible bass! [quote name='AntLockyer' timestamp='1384458109' post='2277049'] This thread inspired me to write some bass driven metal [/quote] Excellent. [size=4][quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1384444889' post='2276806'][/size] And especially since so many of those bassists use a lot of distortion/drive that their sound blends in with those 7 & 8 string downtuned distorted/driven guitars. [/quote] True, but that's partly out of necessity of getting some sort of presence in the mix, and again I don't think it necessarily comes down to the tuning alone but also simply the issue of guitarists always needing to be so damn loud - both live and on record.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1384388371' post='2276244'] In a lot of heavy music bass is near redundant, especially since 7 and 8 string guitars hit the mainstream. [/quote] I disagree, There's some great bass work on albums that are heavily downtuned, the tuning itself doesn't negate the bass. It's only really an issue if you got an uncreative bassist who's not going to provide anything extra. A good production job [i]can[/i] allow the bass and guitars to co-exist nicely, but it happens too rarely and hence I think a lot of bassists in metal get less credit than they deserve. Even Meshuggah tried to do the 8 string thing without a bassist but ended up going back to having one and they sound better for it IMO.

The AC/DC response clearly is, but I think he's answered the recording questions pretty straight up, given that he is trying to promote one of his recording products here. Plus I would also say it rings true with a lot of his production work - as I say he is capable of making the bass shine through, but more often completely buries it behind the guitars.

Been a while since I've posted here but I just read this interview with Andy Sneap and I thought it might make for an interesting discussion hereabouts. Personally I found it very disappointing to see such a high profile producer (in the heavy metal world at least, for those of you who haven't heard of him) come out with this kind of statement. Yes he does go on to qualify it, but it's such a sweeping statement to come from someone who has worked with quite a lot of bassists I'd consider very talented. Perhaps goes some part of the way to explaining why the bass is so often criminally buried in the mix on metal albums, if this is a prevalent view amongst producers. Sneap himself has done some good mixes with quite prominent bass but I'm not always a fan of his production style, and he has been guilty of mixes with barely present bass. Part of the problem in metal is the race to get the biggest, chunkiest guitar tone (which IMO Sneap has long been a proponent of) and the biggest kick sound, which both end up totally encroaching on what would otherwise be the bass's sonic territory, and I think this partly feeds in to the whole 'loudness war' issue as well. I much prefer a production that's more well balanced, but that just doesn't seem to be the way it's done these days, with a few decent exceptions. [url="http://geargods.net/interviews/toontrack-metal-month-exclusive-interview-andy-sneap/"]http://geargods.net/...iew-andy-sneap/[/url]

[size=4][quote name='thodrik' timestamp='1363712180' post='2016409'][/size] This debate has been done before. Connections and appearance can be everything in the music industry, or any industry, irrespective of whether you are male of female. She is a very good player and doesn't deserve some of the flak she gets. However I don't think she deserves the over-the-top extra praise she seems to get on the basis of her being an attractive female. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Personally I find her playing to be a too 'middle of the road' to warrant my attention, but that places her alongside many other very good players that do not interest me in the slightest. [/quote] +1.

I had a read of this Guardian article this morning, I had a quick search in here and OT but I don't think it's been posted (please point me in the right direction if it has): http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/feb/22/toilet-circuit-venues-john-harris It raises some fair concerns but in my opinion it's too one-sided and only represents the venues' side of the story, so I started writing some of my own thoughts down on facebook, and it turns out I had a few, so I thought I might share here and see what the basschat community had to say: [color=#333333]Whilst it's a huge shame to see venues go to the wall, I do think a lot of the problem lies with promoters - not all, but many. Far too few actually seem to give the slightest toss about the music, and not many actually seem to put all that[/color][color=#333333] much effort into actually, erm, promoting - the nomenclature certainly leaves something to be desired. At the same time they often try to shaft their customers, charging over the odds for an evening of poorly matched-up music from - let's be honest, and I'm happy to include myself here - rank amateurs; when I've sometimes paid not a lot more to see some very good professional touring bands with good support. Hell I've even seen Metallica for a fiver, whereas I was once expected to sell tickets for my own band for £12, and in the end none of us bothered on principle (the principle being that I don't like shafting my friends). They're always happy to bring up the list of now-famous bands that have played their venue, as if that gives them some sort of divine eternal right to insulation from a changing market, when really it was probably just dumb luck in the first place. As long as a band is going to hand over the cash (whether it be from over-priced ticket sales or in many cases their own pocket) that's all that matters to many, and in a lot of cases it is just 'pay to play'. Throw in rude, unprofessional staff and poor organisation and it's just no fun for anyone. I'm not specifically talking about the Bull & Gate or any other venue listed here and I don't want to point fingers, but that's some of my own perhaps fairly limited experience compared to some, but it seems from a lot of what I read and hear to be many others' general experiences these days across a multitude of venues and promotions as well. Of course there are certainly some good ones, there are a few I'd happily go back to (The Fiddlers Elbow for instance has alwas treated bands with a decent amount of respect in my experience) or I'd like to one day play going on reputation - and I think university music societies certainly have the right interests at heart (but perhaps aren't appreciated enough for it). However, the majority I'd probably prefer to avoid - both as a musician (although I'll be honest, I'm purely a hobbyist and never expect to be anything more) but perhaps more seriously as a potential paying customer - which overall gives the scene a bad name and makes it harder for the good ones. There are always going to be bands wanting to get on stage and willing to bend over backwards to do so though, so despite the trend in the long run there's no immediate impetus to change, so the stagnation will continue unless someone innovates, finds a new and better formula that works and provides some fresh competition.[/color]

I'd imagine there are a million and one interesting and creative things you could do with that set-up. Unfortunately, I can't really imagine that that bassline is one of the finer examples.

Double post

[quote name='endorka' timestamp='1344941269' post='1771322'] I think this album is a triumph. At the time of writing, highlights are the hook in "Caravan" ("I can't stop thinking big, I can't stop thinking BI-IG!") .... [/quote] This is pretty much the only thing I found memorable about the album, that song in general was the high point of the album, a bit like Far Cry on the last album, nothing else comes close IMO.

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1339962651' post='1696948'] I heard a rumour that they might be playing Download Festival! [/quote] It would get me there, but Sweden Rock is supposed to be a European festival exclusive. Considering a trip over if the rest of the lineup is good, always wanted to go to Sweden.