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Here's one that I was working on a few weeks ago and finished it this morning using the Roscoe 3006 fretless. Just love the mwah that that bass has. The fretted bass parts were done using my Roscoe SKB 3006 signature.
I haven't written a soundtrack in a while so I thought that I'd play around with one.
This one was inspired by babysitting my 2 year old grand daughter Ellie. We experienced an early morning meltdown!
This tune features my Roscoe fretted and fretless 6'ers and Squire Strat guitar.
I recorded it using Reason 6.5.
Thanks guys! I tried adding a bit more variation on the main bass line but it seemed to take away from the feel of the song.
I guess it's true. Sometimes less is more.
How did the gig go in Atlanta Keith?
Don't know if it was a private gig but it would have been cool to trek up to Hot 'Lanta and check you guys out!
Thanks guys! I tried adding a bit more variation on the main bass line but it seemed to take away from the feel of the song.
I guess it's true. Sometimes less is more.
How did the gig go in Atlanta Keith?
Don't know if it was a private gig but it would have been cool to trek up to Hot 'Lanta and check you guys out!
The gig was a lot of fun! I'll let you know next time I head up there as you're more than welcome to come.
__________________
WTB: I'm pining for that doohickie that makes my fingers play what I hear in my head. If you have one in good condition, please contact me.
We'll it's official! My 4th grand child, Neil Lanier Talton III , was born Jan. 3, 2013!
Keeping with tradition I wrote and recorded a song in honor of his arrival. I posted a rough draft of the song (Tate's Song) a week or so before his birth and finally got around to finishing it this morning (of course my songs are never really finished!
As before mentioned, since he's Ellie's little brother I thought that it would be fitting to write a song that was inspired by Ellie's song. This song is a "Bass Orchestra" tune and features my Roscoe SKB 3006 signature and Roscoe SKB 3006 fretless basses. I recorded it using Reason 6.5.
Here's a picture of Ellie and Tate's first time together:
Got a nice surprise yesterday.... Here's a preview of the new album from Moises. P. Monk, a bay area composer and saxophonist who has been kind enough to hire me for all three of his albums. It's been an honor to play for him, and to see him grow as both a writer and performer. His first album had a lot of 'jam' tunes and retakes on standard changes. His second one had a very strong salsa vibe, and also featured "Full Fino," which, for Roscoehead vets, was the debutante ball for the Red Devil J sixer. But this new album...wow. Amazing writing, very bold performances, and as this tune shows, an amazingly high level of polish.
Ok, so before I get into TL;DR territory (too late, huh?), here is, "Finding My Way."
What you're hearing is my ridiculous SKB fiver, which features an ash body, a stunning one-piece koa top, and a pau ferro board. This bass is just stoopid-good.
We tracked the album at the world-famous Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, which was an amazing experience. I ran the bass into an Avalon U5, which, IMO, totally lives up to its reputation as the absolute Cadillac of transparent tone, with no limits on overhead. Amazing. The mixing and mastering was performed by Russell Bond of the Annex Studios, and...well, I'll just let the quality of the tune speak for itself.
This was the last tune we tracked, and it was a mad dash. The samba you hear above is the end result of numerous frustrating iterations over a coupla' months of rehearsals and, "What ifs." The drummer, most in jest, started playing the samba groove, and the rest fell into place. Yes, there is a bass solo. And, yes, as with all bass solos, I wish I had another stab at it. I robbed mercilessly from the altar of Jimmy Haslip on this one, attempting to pay homage to the vibe he creates when soloing, even if not purposely venturing into the linear territory he's made all his own.
Ok, enough jibberish. I hope you enjoy the tune, and that some of the back story makes a bit of sense. Thanks for listening!
__________________ -Jerry Devon | Mike Lull | Rob Allen | Roscoe | Sadowsky Genz Benz | Bergantino | Epifani
Have you ever recorded through a REDDI and if so, how would you compare it to the Avalon? Also, did you mix in a miked amp at all? It just sounded so fat and warm.
Thanks, Fellas! That was a great, great project. There are many more incredible tunes to come - the whole album is really wonderful. Moises has huge ears, and he intentionally writes openings for the bass. There are a coupla' more highlights, including (gasp) some slap with that koa bass, and a fretless solo (bigger gasp). Even better, though, there are some mambo, cha, and Weather-Report-esque tunes where both basses just sound amazing.
Joel, to speak to your questions.... I have not recorded through a REDDI, but I have used a GrooveTubes DITTO, which essentially was the precursor to the REDDI. FWIW, in talking with my cronies who have tried to use the REDDI on sessions, they've found it to be far too hot....to the extent that finding an input level into the board that works takes away all the tube goodness. I'm not suggesting that's the be-all issue, but rather the experience of some really fine players whose judgement I trust. I certainly had some gain issues on the sessions where I used the DITTO, but fortunately I was in the hands of an engineer who really knew the box. After ~ 15 minutes of fine-tuning, we had a sound that REALLY worked. Here's a snippet of the tune I mentioned above - "Full Fino," from Moises' second album:
That one features my Century J sixer. (If anyone is interested, you can sample the full album here, although I used a Rob Allen MB-2 into a Radial JDI for the remaining tunes.)
A coupla' more samples if you don't mind a coupla' more mouse clicks... I also used the DITTO DI, with my myrtle SKB sixer, on "Confirmation" and "Respect" from Rocio Guitard's 'JazzDance' album. A tube DI is absolutely delicious - thick, fat, full, warm... I still keep my ear to the ground on the REDDI stuff, and both it and the Avalon are on my bucket list. I wish I did enough session work to justify owning one or both, but at this point I've just been fortunate to use boxes owned by the studios.
For Moises' latest project, once I knew I'd have access to use Fantasy's Avalon box, I was ecstatic. Both basses I planned to use (the koa SKB above, and my myrtle SKB fretless) are absolute sonic beasts, and for this music I really wanted to capture them as organically as possible. It was magical, let me tell you. The Avalon simply passes along 100% of what comes out of the instrument, in a remarkably clear fashion, and it takes all you can give it without clipping or squeezing. The proof was when Moises and the keyboard player/producer both smiled at the tone. Anyway, to finally answer your question.... direct signal only. The engineer mentioned that he added a tiny bit of compression, just to keep things even and happy, but nothing else went in. Now....what the mixing/mastering guru did, I can't say....other than he obviously did something. As good as I thought the bass sounded in the rough cuts, what you hear above is INCREDIBLE! Obviously, that applies to everything - his magic on the drums and soprano sax in particular are the equivalent of taking the wool blanket off the speakers. He makes me sound almost like I know what I'm doing.
EDIT
I just noticed that Moises also shared the first cut from the new album. This is a really sweet tune, and I love the vibe. Koa bass, palm-mute throughout. https://soundcloud.com/mpmonk/chillin-with-a-bossa
__________________ -Jerry Devon | Mike Lull | Rob Allen | Roscoe | Sadowsky Genz Benz | Bergantino | Epifani
