pick in studio/ fingers live=?

[steelhead2]

ok so i listen to music all day either a CD, the radio(various gonres) or you-tube,witch in fact im listening to some CCR right now on HPhones;seems like a lot of studio cuts the bass is really tight,,,are they using picks? (i mean versus a live cut)

like`goin' down' by Freddy King(you tube studio version),Duck Dunn did the bass,,he's always seen playing with digits but?it's just too tight?(so i figure he used a pick),,no issue here (pick versus fingers)it's all good use a buck knife if ya want,,just curious if under some circumstances finger guys will use a pick to hit it right and tight for a recording when they would just play it by hand live?

yeah hey itz late excuse me i shouldn't even be posting because i'm nearly asleep but it's a question that's been nagging me,got up at daybreak(wah)

[Kwesi]

It depends on what music you generally listen to but I'm guessing that the answer for most of it would be no. I the studio, a musicians main focus is to get everything down perfectly. There are minimal distractions, and the objective is fairly one dimensional. Also, many studios use some kind of compression to even the sound out which can make everything sound "tighter" in some cases. Live, a musician has to put on a show. Maybe not a big one but they've gotta do something and that splits their focus between the show and music, not to mention other factors that go into a live show.

[AverageWhiteBassist]

I totally agree with Kwesi, not to mention in general 70s era recordings were super-compressed and dry as a bone. Of course, that is a gross generalization, but if you are talking about radio hits like "Alright Now" for example, that bass is squeezed to death.

[JimK]

FME, in the early daze, some/many(?) wannabe recording enginners preferred a "pick" over fingers. I guess is they didn't have a clue on getting a decent tone out of an electric bass.

That said, I have noticed a few of my favourite '70s-ish bands sounding polished (& with a nice bass tone) in the studio...Live? Some of them come off as a garage band (& with crappy bass tone). Makes me go "Hmmmmm".

[steelhead2]

i thought=compressor,,i knew that,,,live would be `filling it up'/letting her ring,,tonight i'm on some old school stuff i started with; the Animals,Surfaris,Ventures(yeah i'm old, hope i wake up tomorrow),,and i'm cooking so i have to run befo the family comes home

thanks for the replys!