I'm about to start recording my bands first album and have been in the studio a lot with our engineer. The sound I am looking for is the kind of sound Flea uses on Californication. I'm using a 72 Jazz and a Stingray into a Trace Elliot V4 and no matter how hard I try I just can't seem to get the sound I want. Has anybody got any ideas on the EQ settings I should try, or compression, octave etc???

Cheers
Diarmuid

Ok, here we go.

Eq: boost a little bass, cut a little mids and boost treble more than anything, but not to the max. In the stingray do a similar thing, only with a little more mids. play by the bridge. If you are going to slap, slap close to the neck.
EFX-wise, use the studio compressor. Try to get a bit more gain into your signal, to make it a bit rougher.
there....whew

good luck

Above advice is well said- the compressor is definitely a missing link, if you haven't used it. Depending on which era Flea you're looking to emulate, the facts are that compression is a slappers best friend. It will reduce the overall dynamic range (i.e. the variance in volume from softest parts to loudest and most aggressive stuff), but it will help the bass seat itself in the mix well. Try notching a bit of 200 Hz from the bass drum and adding some in to the bass guitar- this will help these two instruments from fighting each other in a mix, and give a punchier low end sound to the rhythm section.




Good luck!

I think Flea also mics instead of going direct to the board.

YOU NEED TO HAVE FLEA'S SENSE OF PLAYING AND FEEL FOR THE INSTRUMENT. YEAH HE'S GOOD AT PLAYING AND SLAPPING BUT HE DOES IT WITH STYLE AND FEEL. SO IT WIL BE HAD TO GET A GOOD SOUND. HE ALSO USES TUBE DRIVEN AMPS THAT WILL NOT GET YOU THE SOUND YOU WANT CAMPARED TO A HYBRID AND/OR SOLID STATE. AND IF YOU WANT TO SLAP, HE HAS A GRAPHITE OR GRAPHITE REINFORCED MUSICMAN BASS THAT WILL GIVE THAT SOUND. WELL GOOD LUCK.

hmmm.......

Gallien Krueger amps ARE solid state.

Modulus makes his bass.

u gotta learn your stuff dude....(JK)

Originally posted by tucker
YOU NEED TO HAVE FLEA'S SENSE OF PLAYING AND FEEL FOR THE INSTRUMENT. YEAH HE'S GOOD AT PLAYING AND SLAPPING BUT HE DOES IT WITH STYLE AND FEEL. SO IT WIL BE HAD TO GET A GOOD SOUND. HE ALSO USES TUBE DRIVEN AMPS THAT WILL NOT GET YOU THE SOUND YOU WANT CAMPARED TO A HYBRID AND/OR SOLID STATE. AND IF YOU WANT TO SLAP, HE HAS A GRAPHITE OR GRAPHITE REINFORCED MUSICMAN BASS THAT WILL GIVE THAT SOUND. WELL GOOD LUCK.

Please be polite, dont use 100% caps,on the internet it is like screaming.
Also, Flea is no genious, Gallien Krueger are 100% Solid State (Non Tube Driven), he does not record with the Modulus Flea Bass (Not-Musicman), but Alembics sometimes.

he did record californication at least partly w/the modulus, u can hear the treble boost in the title track

Allright Diarmuid,
Just slightly off topic here for a sec.
Just checked out your profile and website, goddamn that brings me back to my gigging days Buzzs bar in Carlow (What a kip, did they have ye playing on the steps inside the door?) the soundhouse...aaa memories, O'Connors Blessington...mad crowd.

Anyway as regards the sound on the Californication album its very organic I read somewhere that after the One hot minute studio/effects frenzy they stripped everything down, the "twangy/rattley (is that a word?) sound is distinctive to the musicman stingray basses..it sounds to me that instead of going direct into the desk that he probably miked his bass cab (theres a lot of air being pushed around there), I dunno if youll be able to approximate the sound on a Trace...personally I always found them a bit "toppy".


best of luck with the album