You Oughta Know - Flea's Tone

[Beedster]

14 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

It’s amazing how that rattly driven tone sounds so warm & rounded in the mix.

There ain’t a problem I can’t fix

Cos I can do it in the mix….

 

Reassuring that there’s a Flea bassline I can play as well as Flea 👍

[Cato]

The guy who engineered the track reckons quite a bit of work was needed to 'fix' Flea's original track in the final mix.

 

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/why-fleas-bass-track-had-to-be-fixed-in-the-mix-on-alanis-morissettes-hit-record

 

Recollections tend to vary on these things, but he sounds plausible.

Edited 17 hours ago by Cato

[Beedster]

It’s the age-old ‘what sounds good solo sounds shit in the mix’ and vice versa thing. The groove and timing in the track are extraordinary 

[Dan Dare]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

It’s the age-old ‘what sounds good solo sounds shit in the mix’ and vice versa thing.

 

So true.

[TimR]

2 hours ago, Cato said:

The guy who engineered the track reckons quite a bit of work was needed to 'fix' Flea's original track in the final mix.

 

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/why-fleas-bass-track-had-to-be-fixed-in-the-mix-on-alanis-morissettes-hit-record

 

Recollections tend to vary on these things, but he sounds plausible.

 

Sounds like they called Flea and Navarro in and only gave them the vocal stems, and they did a one take hit and run. 

 

RHCP track live, and for a reason. They're not going to be spending all day finessing individual bars and timing. 

 

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/inside-track-red-hot-chili-peppers-black-summer

 

[Jackroadkill]

Just goes to show that genius isn't always cleanius (or something).

[police squad]

I never knew that was Flea and I've never really listened to that bass line before

I played the album to death when it came out too

Good isn't it

[fretmeister]

14 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Amazing the amount of overdrive/fret-buzz & rattling there is in the original. 

 

There's a lot of online speculation about what bass he used. Some thinking Alembic, others a Stingray.

A large amount think it was either a fretless jazz or a fretless Stingray - with the clank being from the strings hitting the pickup and not the non-existent frets. He does play very hard.

 

My old band used to play it and I studied it a lot and I think it's a fretless too but I didn't have one so I played it on the Status I had a the time.

 

The drive is very much like the input drive on an old Reel to Real recorder with loads of cut on the deep lows and highs. These days I get the tone with my JPTR Jive pedal and then EQ and it's bang on with a bass with a bridge pickup.

 

It's a great line and it's also really annoying that AM's current bassist doesn't play Flea's line.

[fretmeister]

Also - there are 2 takes available. The regular release and the alternate take that has higher drive and aggression levels. Apparently from really over driving a rack compressor with anything they could throw at it.

 

I'm fairly sure it was the same bass on both versions, just played even harder with more dirt on it.

[Beedster]

3 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

 

There's a lot of online speculation about what bass he used. Some thinking Alembic, others a Stingray.

A large amount think it was either a fretless jazz or a fretless Stingray - with the clank being from the strings hitting the pickup and not the non-existent frets. He does play very hard.

 

My old band used to play it and I studied it a lot and I think it's a fretless too but I didn't have one so I played it on the Status I had a the time.

 

The drive is very much like the input drive on an old Reel to Real recorder with loads of cut on the deep lows and highs. These days I get the tone with my JPTR Jive pedal and then EQ and it's bang on with a bass with a bridge pickup.

 

It's a great line and it's also really annoying that AM's current bassist doesn't play Flea's line.

 

I've always assumed it's really driven fretless, digging in that hard there'd surely be a lot more fret noise, plus the intonation sounds inconsistent for a fretted bass?

[Owen]

If you listen to Jamerson's stuff isolated, it is not always pretty. We are, by now, used to playing to the grid. I have recently put a track together using a prerecorded drum track. It is very odd. The drum track is played live and bubbles along very nicely. I played the rest of the instruments using the drum track as a guide. Soloed, the bass sounds horrific - what we "know" as timing is deeply offended by what I played. But along with the drums it is just fine and dandy. 

[Rich]

14 hours ago, Cato said:

The guy who engineered the track reckons quite a bit of work was needed to 'fix' Flea's original track in the final mix.

 

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/why-fleas-bass-track-had-to-be-fixed-in-the-mix-on-alanis-morissettes-hit-record

 

Recollections tend to vary on these things, but he sounds plausible.

In the article, Mr Flea says that he "showed up, rocked out, and split". I must say that sounds terribly painful, and I hope the studio staff were able to administer suitable first aid until the paramedics arrived.

[TimR]

“But it was about the intent of making music as a band, without that digital safety net. It’s a wonderful thing to have limitations in your creative process, because you have to decide, in the moment: ‘Is it played well enough? Do we move on? Do they play it again, or do we cut those pieces together?’ I just think working in analogue is such a beautiful way to make art. It is a romance, because it’s a physical medium. The joy of tape editing is that you’re making something, in the truest sense of the word.”