Stoner/Doom Bassist thread Pt. 46: In Soviet Russia Bass Plays You

[The_Janitor]

Originally Posted by mc_muench

I WANTZ SO BAD!!!

http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/msg/3608271613.html

I was confused because the ad called this a 4-track, but the innerwebs says its stereo. I emailed the link to my boss, who's a tape expert here's his reponse:

"Yeah, they called those 4 track recorders, not because they recorded four simultaneous tracks as a professional 4 track would do, but because the ¼” tape was divided up into 4 linear tracks.
#1- Top one and the #3 -third one from top, were used for L and R stereo. When you got to the end of the reel and flipped it around to go the other direction the top edge of the tape is now on the bottom so the unused empty tracks #2 and #4 are now positioned in the top and third positions, so you can record another 90 minutes going that direction. So you get stereo in one direction and stereo going the other when you reverse the tracks to get twice the recording time on a reel. You could even buy commercially recorded tapes in this format which were essentially record albums released on reel to reel tape. This was the consumer standard for ¼” stereo reel to reel, and they called it “4 –track” or sometimes “Quarter track”, as opposed to professional stereo which was “2-track” and used wider tracks. This is sometimes also called “half track” since the track it is half the width of the tape. But the term half track is generally associated with mono machines.

Professional mono ¼” machines were frequently “Full Track” where a single track occupied the whole width of the ¼” tape and obviously was for recording in one direction with no reversing. These sounded great as you might suspect due to the wide track width. To permit longer recordings on a single reel, they also made mono machines which used half the tape width for a track (called “half track”) which used top half of the tape width for mono going one direction and could be reversed to record going the other way.

The two tracks of a half track mono tape actually line up with a 2 track stereo configuration so there was compatibility. You could even record mono on a stereo machine using the left channel only, and use it just like the mono half track machines. So half track and 2 track are compatible. We generally used the term “half track” for the mono versions, and “2 track” for the stereo machines.

End of lesson on obsolete tape formats."

Just thought you guys would like to know.

[dozicusmaximus]

Originally Posted by The_Janitor

Morning everybody.

Epic Psych Prog kind of morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GaqYEG6e3s

That's just the first song from the album. Mind-blowing stuff.

Nice.

I've been on Electric Moon and My Brother the Wind this morning myself.

Speaking of which we got into some epic psych jam mode at practice on Friday. Pretty stoked about possibly mixing some of that into sound.
Not a super productive practice. But it was fun. Which is fine with me.

[Lazarus.Bird]

Saw Windhand is looking for a Pittsburgh show. Messaged them before the ink could dry on their status update

[Moloch666]

Ahhh... Churches...

[JoeVictim]

To those that have had lessons, what is the biggest difference in face to face vs video instruction? I am pretty good at following directions.

[CL400Peavey]

Originally Posted by JoeVictim

To those that have had lessons, what is the biggest difference in face to face vs video instruction? I am pretty good at following directions.

Its the immediate response. Something small in your technique cam be seen quickly and adjusted. The lesson can be shaped to your progress real time, instead of being set with minimal feedback.

[Lazarus.Bird]

I think the personal interaction would feel a little note artificial doing it remotely. I don't just talk technique and theory with my instructor. We talks gigs, recording, local happenings, etc. It's a very strong personal interaction.

[JoeVictim]

Originally Posted by CL400Peavey

Its the immediate response. Something small in your technique cam be seen quickly and adjusted. The lesson can be shaped to your progress real time, instead of being set with minimal feedback.

Originally Posted by Lazarus.Bird

I think the personal interaction would feel a little note artificial doing it remotely. I don't just talk technique and theory with my instructor. We talks gigs, recording, local happenings, etc. It's a very strong personal interaction.

OK, that was what I was expecting. I just need to commit time to improving my playing. Hardest thing for me has been singing while playing. Some of the vocal melodies are different notes than what the bass is doing. So, I automatically want to sing how I am playing. I have gotten better at my consciousness of it, but I still have mess ups.

[CL400Peavey]

Originally Posted by JoeVictim

OK, that was what I was expecting. I just need to commit time to improving my playing. Hardest thing for me has been singing while playing. Some of the vocal melodies are different notes than what the bass is doing. So, I automatically want to sing how I am playing. I have gotten better at my consciousness of it, but I still have mess ups.

+1

Singing while playing is something that I still need to work a lot on.

[Toastfuzz]

Originally Posted by The_Janitor

I was confused because the ad called this a 4-track, but the innerwebs says its stereo. I emailed the link to my boss, who's a tape expert here's his reponse:

End of lesson on obsolete tape formats."[/i]

Just thought you guys would like to know.

Your boss sounds like a cool guy... what do yinz do again? Lucky enough to work in the music / gear industry, or he just a hobbiest?

Originally Posted by Lazarus.Bird

Saw Windhand is looking for a Pittsburgh show. Messaged them before the ink could dry on their status update

Always the eager beaver, giving the rest of us lazy bands a band name haha

[The_Janitor]

Originally Posted by Toastfuzz

Your boss sounds like a cool guy... what do yinz do again? Lucky enough to work in the music / gear industry, or he just a hobbiest?

We work for an online/catalog retailer of Pro Audio/AV/MI/Lighting/Video Production stuff.

I'm the Pro Audio Product Specialist, he's the boss of the product specialists. We work on the catalog and website, meet with vendors and vendor reps and other miscellaneous stuff.

My boss has a collection of vintage tape machines and full studio in his basement. I guess you could call him a hobbyist but he's a pro-level hobbyist and recording engineer. He spent a lot of time as chief engineer at some local TV stations and worked for Sony selling Pro recording and broadcast gear for years. He's about my father's age (I'm 32) so he's way into tape and tubes and the like.

He's actually going to be recording my doom band sometime in the next couple of months. He offered and is refusing to take payment.

Great guy, really smart and savvy with the business end of things. I'm learning a lot from him.

[bassboysam]

Originally Posted by JoeVictim

To those that have had lessons, what is the biggest difference in face to face vs video instruction? I am pretty good at following directions.

I imagine that learning good technique would be diffcult without a face to face interaction. Theory is a little easier to learn via a website or books.

[LOCOPELAND]

Pallbearer and Royal Thunder tonight! Should be pretty kickass. Getting more acquainted with Royal Thunder's stuff right now. Listened to them a while back and kinda wrote them off after a couple songs. Not sure why I did that, pretty groovy sh*t.

[Moloch666]

I'm heading in to our local bass guru for some lessons to tweak my technique and just make things better. Couldn't do online lessons, have to be face to face.

[Lazarus.Bird]

I've really enjoyed taking lessons. I finally understand what playing in key means and how to do it :P Probably a simple thing for most of you guys but until a few months ago I was absolutely clueless.

[CL400Peavey]

This guy could use some perspective from the S/D thread.

which amp to buy from these?

[Ron Now]

I took lessons for 4 years when I was in high school. They were definitely helpful, even when I thought they weren't. However, I could see how the could be beneficial at a later stage in playing as when I was a beginner, I was still working on what kind of player I was, whereas once I developed a "style" it would have been nice to have a teacher to help me refine that "voice"

That being said, one of the most helpful tools in making me a better player and learning how to improvise and play in key was a loop pedal. Looping a progression and then finding different ways to play over it was super helpful in knowing what ways the bass and notes worked within the context of multiple layers. Also helped me refine tones that work in different circumstances.

Even if someone doesn't use it live, or pedals at all (not really an issue in this thread). I feel a looper is an indispensible tool as a player.

[JoeVictim]

Originally Posted by CL400Peavey

This guy could use some perspective from the S/D thread.

which amp to buy from these?

No more sucking me into those threads...

[CL400Peavey]

Originally Posted by JoeVictim

No more sucking me into those threads...

But ka'mon! They guy wants to know which 112 combo is best for low F# meshuggah style metal.

[Ron Now]

but meshuggah's bassist tunes up a half step so that he is in the same octave as the guitars. Then he has the low C# or whatever it is.