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Ask Justin Meldal-Johnsen Los Angeles based touring & recording bassist, producer & songwriter


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  #1  
Old 12-21-2010, 01:20 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Silver Lake, CA
Tone decisions

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Hey Justin,

I'm facing a bit of a dilemma with some tracks I have to cut later this month. Basically I'm cutting bass before guitars/keys/vox and there's a very delicate balance of how drivey I can sound in the final mix. Don't want to melt faces at tracking, also don't want to sound lame in the mix. Not sure of reamp possibilities yet.

Might be some scratch stuff cut to play along with, but hard to gauge how much care may have gone into tonal accuracy.

Any tricks on choosing tones for a nonexistent mix? Really want to knock these out of the park.
  #2  
Old 12-21-2010, 07:37 PM
Justin Meldal-Johnsen
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
I hate to overstate the obvious, but you should definitely do one clean channel, and one or two dirty ones (that give two different levels of dirty).

You cannot choose tones for a nonexistent mix. Just think about the song, and find what your instincts dictate as right and proper. Just be the producer. Mult out your signal so you have multiple options off the DI, and you'll be more than fine.

Best,
JMJ
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  #3  
Old 12-22-2010, 11:42 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2006
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Rad, that makes sense. Just realized I was thinking only in terms of amp drives but it makes a lot of sense to bring pedal OD's in to cover the options.

Love your idea to throw a DI or 2 in between the pedals. Never done more than 1 dirty DI before. Could definitely be overkill but might be good options to have.

Do you ever use dirty DI in mix or only to reamp? Hard for me to get stoked about ODs direct.

Thanks for the ideas!
  #4  
Old 12-23-2010, 01:46 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Apopka, FL
od's direct? no problem...just cut all your highs past 4 or 5k.
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  #5  
Old 12-23-2010, 03:03 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iceberg View Post
...

Love your idea to throw a DI or 2 in between the pedals. Never done more than 1 dirty DI before. Could definitely be overkill but might be good options to have.

Do you ever use dirty DI in mix or only to reamp? Hard for me to get stoked about ODs direct.

Thanks for the ideas!
I'd try some sort of Sansamp!
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