Home studio bass tracks

**Marcus Willett** · #1 03-05-2005, 10:32 PM

Just a few things I did in the home studio a few years back as bass "feature" pieces.

Cascade
Whisper
Blue in Green
Midnight Mood

As always, thoughts/constructive criticism welcome.

Feda · #2 03-06-2005, 02:31 AM

Great playing man! I really enjoyed cascade.
/me awaits your answer on how you went about recording this...

**Marcus Willett** · #3 03-06-2005, 04:54 AM

Well, I made these recordings a few years years back, so there's no V-Bass on 'em, tho I'm planning to do some recording with that as well. The fretless was a 5 string Jazz with a Carvin neck, ebony FB.

As for gear, over the years I have purchased a fair amount of stuff for the home studio. Got lots of drum/percussion loop CD's, and I used a Korg Wavestation for most of the synth stuff. Basses were recorded direct with a SansAmp DI into a Mackie board into a MOTU 828 interface with Digital Performer. The octave higher part on "Cascade" was just copying my lead track in DP, and doubling it transposed with DP; plus a distortion plug-in. I used a Lexicon LXP-15 for reverb.

As for jamming with a band, it was years ago in my past life in Miami, but THESE guys kicked my butt:

http://www.bigworldmusic.com/othello.html

Here in Branson, every so often I get to do a jazz trio gig with the MD from the Andy Williams show. A guy named Joe Gallante who is a MUTHA FU*KA pianist. He used to teach jazz improv at Eastman; very humbling to blow over "Joy Spring" after him, lemme tell ya.

Feda · #4 03-06-2005, 06:47 AM

So the drums on Cascade are all samples? If so, could you lead me to some good sample cd's? I'm using Reason but the sounds that come with it sound too flat..

**Marcus Willett** · #5 03-06-2005, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feda

So the drums on Cascade are all samples? If so, could you lead me to some good sample cd's? I'm using Reason but the sounds that come with it sound too flat..

All the sound clips use sampled loops, sometimes with extra hits thrown in. I used and still do use this one a lot...GREAT stuff. Well recorded and just plain kicks. I can't BELIEVE it's going for as cheap as it is, but I guess it's 10 years old by now. But, a good sounding acoustic drum kit is a timeless sound that is never dated.

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.co...op.asp?SPID=61

fallon · #6 03-06-2005, 12:57 PM

Solid playing,very inspiring,critisims? None.A very nice job Marcus.

**Marcus Willett** · #7 03-08-2005, 11:56 AM

Wow...found this in a pile of stuff. Haven't heard it in a long time. This is a board tape made in September 1990 at a jazz club called the Greenwich Tavern in Cincinnatti. It was the keyboardist's first night, IIRC.

Man, seems like another lifetime ago...

http://members.cox.net/likido4/Mandela.mp3

Personel:
Othello Molineaux: Steel Pans
Eugene Goss: Vocals, percussion
Abel Pabon: Keyboards
Me: Bass
Johnathan Josephs: Drums

It sure was a pleasure working with these guys. Hope you like it. Be kind, I hadn't been playing that long at the time. Check out Eugene; he's an amazing singer...I think he's still around in Ohio.

DWBass · #8 03-08-2005, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcus Willett

Wow...found this in a pile of stuff. Haven't heard it in a long time. This is a board tape made in September 1990 at a jazz club called the Greenwich Tavern in Cincinnatti. It was the keyboardist's first night, IIRC.

Man, seems like another lifetime ago...

http://members.cox.net/likido4/Mandela.mp3

Personel:
Othello Molineaux: Steel Pans
Eugene Goss: Vocals, percussion
Abel Pabon: Keyboards
Me: Bass
Johnathan Josephs: Drums

It sure was a pleasure working with these guys. Hope you like it. Be kind, I hadn't been playing that long at the time. Check out Eugene; he's an amazing singer...I think he's still around in Ohio.

Great playing! Is Othello Molineaux still making music? I remember when He and Andy Narrell came onto the scene!

**Marcus Willett** · #9 03-08-2005, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWBass

Great playing! Is Othello Molineaux still making music? I remember when He and Andy Narrell came onto the scene!

He's still around. Haven't talked to him in several years, but I've seen him pop up on various CD's now and then. I have a Carlos Benavente (the muthafu*ka bassist who played with Chick on "Again and again" and "Touchstone") CD that Othello is on. It was a really cool gig. There was a falling out with Eugene, which I won't go into, but it's a shame because he did not end up on Othello's debut CD, and he had been part of the band up until then. We used to do a great rendition of "Somewhere over the rainbow" that Eugene sung the sh*t out of. I hear that Johnathan played with Sanborn for a while, and I know Abel is busy in the Miami scene to this day.

Whafrodamus · #10 04-09-2005, 08:36 PM

You suck at sucking. Start sucking better.

Nice work!

**Marcus Willett** · #11 04-09-2005, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whafrodamus

You suck at sucking. Start sucking better.

Crap...any way I slice it, I suck.

Thanks, dude.

**Marcus Willett** · #12 06-07-2005, 12:26 PM

propea · #13 06-08-2005, 11:21 PM

dude man, really nice recording. the sound quality is perfect. I really love the punch sound of the slaping bass in Cascade and d7.

You fretless songs sound a little bit 2 much like Jaco.

you can check out my **** at www.myspace.com/marcorodi. tell me what u think dude. i have 2 songs and 1 live bass solo there.

ciao man!

keep it groovy!

**Marcus Willett** · #14 06-08-2005, 11:57 PM

Thanks for the kind words; I dig the stuff you did. In general, I don't care for bass-only recordings, because I like to hear it in context with other instruments, but it's cool sometimes as well.

As for sounding too much like Jaco...well, it's a fretless Jazz with an epoxied board and mostly bridge pickup, so....

I certainly wouldn't take that as an insult; there are worse to be compared to. Worked with his steel drummer for 3 1/2 years, and I lived in south Florida at the time so perhaps some influence wore off over the years.