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 Sunday at 18:11 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.”

[Russ]

On 04/08/2025 at 03:51, 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.

It was a fretless Stingray, and I don't think any amps were involved - I remember reading a BP interview with Flea around the time that came out, and he talked about it, and that he went straight into the desk. In that isolated track, you can definitely hear that characteristic Stingray "thwp" when Flea hits his dead notes.

 

I don't think it was as quick as they suggested though, because they didn't have much to work with - a basic arrangement, chords, drums and a vocal track, so Flea and Navarro had to work out the parts on the fly in the studio. Knowing Navarro, he was probably at the studio long after Flea had left, doing overdubs and fiddling with reverbs and delays.  

 

Most of the rest of the album was Lance Morrison, a prolific LA session player, on bass, but Chris Chaney played with her live for quite some time.