bass(es) for sessions?

[ian61]

19 minutes ago, peteb said:

They do another take with a P bass and suddenly, everyone is happy.

Been there and the simple truth is its the P basses dullish low mid thump that kinda overloads the board giving the sound guy a ton of signal to play with.

[chris_b]

Unless you are very lucky, when someone is paying you to play the sound in their head is the one they want. It's pointless going into someone else's session with your sound. The real pro's know that and start by giving the producer what he wants. The focus is then on the real objective of a session players day, playing faultlessly and coming up with memorable lines.

 

The sound in your head only becomes important when its your project.

[chris_b]

50 minutes ago, ian61 said:

Been there and the simple truth is its the P basses dullish low mid thump that kinda overloads the board giving the sound guy a ton of signal to play with.

 

If your Precision has a "dullish" low mid thump you need a different bass. The better Precisions have a lively and resonant low mid thump.

[Burns-bass]

17 minutes ago, chris_b said:

Unless you are very lucky, when someone is paying you to play the sound in their head is the one they want. It's pointless going into someone else's session with your sound. The real pro's know that and start by giving the producer what he wants. The focus is then on the real objective of a session players day, playing faultlessly and coming up with memorable lines.

 

The sound in your head only becomes important when its your project.

The real aim of every session bass player is a lucrative book tour filled with anecdotes. We all know that. 

[Terry M.]

4 hours ago, peteb said:

 

Unfortunately, in many situations (especially at the higher-end, well paid sessions), you would be wrong. 

 

I'm keeping to the topic. This thread isn't about higher end well paid sessions or did I read it wrong?

[peteb]

1 hour ago, Terry M. said:

I'm keeping to the topic. This thread isn't about higher end well paid sessions or did I read it wrong?

 

To be fair, I'm not too sure what the thread is about and I'm not convinced that the OP is either! People talk about how they are busy 'doing sessions', but there is very little paid session work about. The old days of people being called to go into a recording studio to play on albums, demos, jingles and film scores has pretty much disappeared and the work that is around seems to be dominated by a handful of very experienced guys in London. 

 

I do know a few guys who still regularly do sessions, even if it isn't normally their main source of income these days. They all have their own (pretty sophisticated) home studios and virtually all of the work they do is online. They are all knocking on a bit, varying degrees of eccentricity, great players and tend to have a bit of a reach / name in certain genres.  There isn't a lot of work for bass players and even less for drummers (their parts tend to be programmed). I also know guys who have studios and make a living producing library music. Again, they may occasionally call in a singer or guitar player, but they tend to cover most of the parts themselves. 

 

Edited yesterday at 13:41 by peteb

[Owen]

10 minutes ago, peteb said:

 

To be fair, I'm not too sure what the thread is about and I'm not convinced that the OP is either! People talk about how they are busy 'doing sessions', but there is very little paid session work about. The old days of people being called to go into a recording studio to play on albums, demos, jingles and film scores has pretty much disappeared and the work that is around seems to be dominated by a handful of very experienced guys in London. 

 

I do know a few guys who still regularly do sessions, even if it isn't normally their main source of income these days. They all have their own (pretty sophisticated) home studios and virtually all of the work they do is online. They are all knocking on a bit, varying degrees of eccentricity, great players and tend to have a bit of a reach / name in certain genres.  There isn't a lot of work for bass players and even less for drummers (their parts tend to be programmed). I also know guys who have studios and make a living producing library music. Again, they may occasionally call in a singer or guitar player, but they tend to cover most of the parts themselves. 

 

Sadly, this is the truth. That ship has sailed.

 

Anyone with half a musical brain can programme a bass line which will do all they want it to do. Will it be what we crave and enjoy? Unlikely. Will it fill that gap they need filling? Yep. 

[tauzero]

3 hours ago, Terry M. said:

I'm keeping to the topic. This thread isn't about higher end well paid sessions or did I read it wrong?

 

Difficult to tell. The OP referred to starting bass for sessions, but they're not new to bass as that might imply as their first post was nine or ten years ago with a Youtube video, second one in 2023, and this is their third post.

[BigRedX]

The handful of times I have been asked to play on someone else's recording, I have been chosen specifically for my sound and playing style. 

 

Therefore I turn up with the bass(es) required to replicate what they have heard me do previously.

 

The most recent session I did was for Rodney Bakerr (Wax Trax! Records) where I used a 1960s Burns Sonic and a 5-string Gus G3.

[ian61]

10 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

If your Precision has a "dullish" low mid thump you need a different bass. The better Precisions have a lively and resonant low mid thump.

Dead chromes, a light touch straight into the board on a good few recordings disagrees with that statement 100%. My P bass records with a thick gritty tone that studios have found very easy to deal with.

[Belka]

20 hours ago, peteb said:

 

To be fair, I'm not too sure what the thread is about and I'm not convinced that the OP is either! People talk about how they are busy 'doing sessions', but there is very little paid session work about. The old days of people being called to go into a recording studio to play on albums, demos, jingles and film scores has pretty much disappeared and the work that is around seems to be dominated by a handful of very experienced guys in London. 

 

I do know a few guys who still regularly do sessions, even if it isn't normally their main source of income these days. They all have their own (pretty sophisticated) home studios and virtually all of the work they do is online. They are all knocking on a bit, varying degrees of eccentricity, great players and tend to have a bit of a reach / name in certain genres.  There isn't a lot of work for bass players and even less for drummers (their parts tend to be programmed). I also know guys who have studios and make a living producing library music. Again, they may occasionally call in a singer or guitar player, but they tend to cover most of the parts themselves. 

 

I think this is absolutely right, but these days, amongst younger players 'session player' has come to mean any freelancer who plays with more than one band, and is probably just as much (or even more) about live playing than actual recording. 

 

The funny thing is, in the past, the great session players all started playing live constantly and then fell into session work - it was probably well-paid and convenient. The best players also still kept doing lots of touring, Anthony Jackson, Chuck Rainey, Pino, etc. These days you get people who actively want to be recording players primarily and are not as interested in live work. Without that foundation of playing with others constantly in different styles/genres they will probably never develop their full potential however.

 

Also, and with the risk of sounding like an old fart, these days the likes of Sean Hurley, great player though he is, have reinforced the idea that being a good sideman/session player is all about a P bass, short scales with flats, dozens of different DI boxes which all just sound like you're rolling off a passive tone control, 'taste', and vintage vibes. While I'm sure that these are essential things you need in the toolbox to have a career these days, it produces players who sound the same. You don't see a lot of risk taking/individuality any more. Back in the '70/80s you had lots of jazz/fusion players hired for pop/rock records, there was a crossover, these days you don't see that. If the likes of Hadrien Feraud/Janek Gwizdala got a few more of those LA pop/rock sessions for being great players, rather than just being able to bring a vintage vibe, they just might make the music more interesting.

 

 

Edited 11 hours ago by Belka

[Burns-bass]

Did my recording session and the Yamaha was fine but we needed to beef up the output a bit so we stuck some foam near the bridge. Always works!

[itu]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Tedesco wrote in GP that a producer wanted a certain sound. The g-word sound wasn't right and the producer wanted a mandolin. Well, Tommy adjusted his instrument a bit as well as his playing technique and played a new take. Producer was happy with the mandolin sound. But it was exactly the same instrument. 

 

I find it funny that the P would be the answer to everything in the studio. I want to play my favourite instruments. It is my technique and ability to adjust the sound to reach something that others want. It is not about the instrument. I use the bass that I feel is suitable to the task according to the specs.

 

(I do not own a P, neither do I want one.) 

[peteb]

34 minutes ago, itu said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Tedesco wrote in GP that a producer wanted a certain sound. The g-word sound wasn't right and the producer wanted a mandolin. Well, Tommy adjusted his instrument a bit as well as his playing technique and played a new take. Producer was happy with the mandolin sound. But it was exactly the same instrument. 

 

I find it funny that the P would be the answer to everything in the studio. I want to play my favourite instruments. It is my technique and ability to adjust the sound to reach something that others want. It is not about the instrument. I use the bass that I feel is suitable to the task according to the specs.

 

(I do not own a P, neither do I want one.) 

 

Things have changed now. Tommy Tedesco was part of the generation that created the reference sounds that today's producers want to recreate. These days, a producer might ask a guitarist to get the sound Tommy got when he made a guitar sound like a mandolin! Similarly, the producer wants a P bass sound on the recording, because that's what he thinks a bass sounds like. They don't care if you want to play your favourite bass, they want something like the bass used on sessions from the 60 / 70s, which may well have featured Tommy Tedesco on guitar! 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by peteb

[chris_b]

Tommy Tedesco was a bit of a lad. There are different versions, I read that he didn't touch the guitar but just changed his playing position.

 

It's a similar story to the "producer" switch on Lee Sklar's bass. It's not connected to anything, but if he's asked to change his sound he flips the switch and the producer is happy!!

[peteb]

Of course, a lot of this is BS! I love a good P bass, I've got two and it is undoubtedly a classic bass sound. But other good bass sounds are available, it's just the fashion for the past however many years has been for a P bass. In the 80s and 90s, it was all about active basses and everyone was playing a Spector or a Warwick or whatever!