In what Beatles albums/songs did Paul use the Ric?

[paul n]

Just noticed, the second Rick hass a skunk-stripe, early 70's I'm guessing?

~Paul

[cowsgomoo]

Originally Posted by paul n

Just noticed, the second Rick hass a skunk-stripe, early 70's I'm guessing?

~Paul

well, normally I'd say the mullet would date the picture to that period but given that he had the same hairstyle until well into the 1990's you can't be too sure

[bassist15]

Anyone have the picture of Harrison playing that Fender with the MoP inlays? I've seen it in a book and harrison was rockin' with the FEnder and the shades( well I think he had shades on?)

[JohnnyMan]

Originally Posted by cowsgomoo

some more light on the 'did Paul play his Rickenbacker on Paperback Writer' question...

http://www.heymrbassman.co.uk/macca1.mp3

[246k - 41 seconds]

straight from the horse's mouth...

Thank you for that clip cowsgomoo.

Would anyone know what gear Paul used for recording Come Together?

I have a Line 6 Variax bass and Bass PODXt Live. I tried the Hofner setting and the Rickey but neither approach the tone on Abbey Road. I am also using the Fender Bassman amp on the POD.

[audiotom]

hofner sound on a Line 6
you can't even get Paul's Hofner sound on a Hofner
then again he had GOD as his producer

[MysticMichael]

Originally Posted by JohnnyMan

I tried the Hofner setting and the Rickey but neither approach the tone on Abbey Road.

There's virtually no way to replicate that tone without loads of compression. McCartney's signal was compressed big-time. Fortunately, Martin & Emerick knew how to do it without totally squashing his dynamics...

MM

[JohnnyMan]

Thanks audiotom and MysticMichael.

Maybe I'll try the Hofner again with the Bassman amp. I'll then add lots of compression and see what results.

BTW:the sustain on the Hofner setting matches the sustain on Come Togther. (Sorry, I can't remember which particular note though.)

John

[Alex E]

Originally Posted by addylewis

Yup...theres a book (can't remember the name or author - or even if its about EITHER mcCartney or the Beatles)

Theres a signed pic in blue pen of him playing a P-bass lyte (think it takes up a whole page) then on the next page theres a picture of his "own personal test pressing of "coming up" or something...anyone know the book? - I just CAN't RemEmBer!

Hey Guys!
Was at Barnes and Noble the other day and there's a picture of Paul playing a Fender Jazz Bass during the the White Album sessions, I think! The name of the book is something along the lines of "Magical Mystery Tour".

[iamthebassman]

[Blazer]

Hey you guys I found a cool clip of the beatles in the recording studio and you can see Sir Paul wailing away on his rick.

Hey bulldog.

[cowsgomoo]

more on Paperback Writer and bass on Beatle records, from an interview with Geoff Emerick

http://www.prosoundweb.com/recording...klee/geoff.php

GE: So we were listening to these records, like the ones from Tamla, and there was all that extra bass end. And we were always talking about how did they get that sound? Now, a lot of it was the musicianship, of course. But there was no one to tell us these things; we had to find out by our own methods.

It was the amount of bass and also the level, the loudness, that fascinated us. You see, there were certain things that we weren’t allowed to do. There were limitations on how much bass we were allowed to have on, because in the early days, there had been one particular Beatles single that was mastered and it jumped [skipped]. They’d pressed about a quarter million of them, and they had to redo them all. After that, for any Beatles single that was cut in England, everyone was instructed to cut all bass below 50 cycles.



Q: Paperback Writer, which you recorded, had a rather unprecedented amount of bass on it.

GE: Yes, and the bass drum also. It was one of the younger mastering guys, Tony Clark, who was a pal of mine, so there was some rapport between us. Whereas before, it would have been "No." I also remember the buzz that quickly went around Abbey Road when it became apparent what we had achieved with the sound of a record. People were standing outside the door and listening. . . . It was so different; really, it was like seeing the first screening of 2001.

I used to try to pull the bass out of the track to get its own space, and hear it more defined. And one way I tried to do it was to put a tiny bit of chamber echo, well, actually, I should say 'reverberation' on it. I started to do that on Revolver, but Paul could always detect even the slightest amount, and he wouldn’t accept it. So I had to be careful.

But when we were doing Pepper, Paul would often overdub his bass after everyone had gone home. It would be just Paul and I and Richard Lush, the second engineer. We’d spend a couple or three hours doing bass parts, and I started using a C12 on figure of 8 about 8 or 10 feet away from his cabinet, which I would bring into the middle of Number 2 studio. I’d bring it out into the open from the corner area, where it was baffled off because I wanted a bit of the room sound.


Q: Did you ever take the bass direct?

GE: Maybe once. I didn’t like the texture; especially, not on Paul. I guess I never have liked anything that went straight from electrics to electrics. There’s something missing for me if it hasn’t any natural acoustic sound.

so, nothing on the stories about a speaker used as a microphone... but here's another one I found:

http://www.totalaccesslive.com/geoffemerick.htm

So I think it was Paperback Writer that I decided, well, I’m going to really make a stamp on this, and I used a loudspeaker as a microphone. And my theory was, well, what a loudspeaker can push out it can certainly take back in. So I just reversed the leads and used the speaker as a mike, and that was the bass sound for the Paperback Writer single, which was really, for its time, incredible. No one had heard the power of a bass, certainly on an English record like that.

Q: From ’66 on, especially on "Sgt. Pepper," the bass was so prominent. That was more your idea, or did Paul really want …

GE: No, it was the technique, because I loved bass as a kid. I loved bass, and I loved drums, and we had the luxury on "Pepper" on some of the tracks, to have one track just to put the bass on, because often it was recorded live with maybe guitar, a guitar track or drum track or whatever. Because we were only still on four track, although some of the tracks were four tracks to four track, but not all of them, you know, I decided I got the luxury of this. I used a Tube C12 mike, and we used to put the bass amp in the middle of Number 2 studio. All the rest of the boys had gone home. Paul and I and Richard the assistant engineer, we’d stay after hours, and Paul’d overdub his bass, and I put in the C12 mike, sometimes on figure of eight to get a little of the room around it, and an Altec compressor, and it was such marvelous sounds, you know. And to me, at that time it was the ultimate bass sound. I couldn’t improve it.

[Freddy-G.]

I knew Paul was playing a Jazz bass when I first heard "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". But it's his touch that creates the amazing tone on this recording. It's also the only tune where I've heard him play bass chords.

[Baryonyx]

While we're on the subject of Paul and his basses, I know he played a 5 string Wal, as I have pictures of him using it. Does anyone know where I can hear him using it?

[Blazer]

Originally Posted by Chris2112

While we're on the subject of Paul and his basses, I know he played a 5 string Wal, as I have pictures of him using it. Does anyone know where I can hear him using it?

He used that one on this track.

You can clearly make out the low B rumbling away during the guitar solo

[lug]

Originally Posted by iamthebassman

I learned on a borrowed right-handed bass, played upside-down, so when I got my own left-handed bass I was used to playing with the E-string on bottom so I restring and replace the nut on any lefty bass I buy.

I do that with new basses. Here's my ric solution to the same problem.


Balances about as bad as a Thumb bass.

[Blackbird]

Originally Posted by Chris2112

While we're on the subject of Paul and his basses, I know he played a 5 string Wal, as I have pictures of him using it. Does anyone know where I can hear him using it?

His Tripping the live fantastic CD.

[Baryonyx]

Originally Posted by Blazer

He used that one on this track.

You can clearly make out the low B rumbling away during the guitar solo

Marvellous, thanks very much. Thanks to you too, Blackbird.

[Kenzy]

Alright. So I found the post, somebody mentioned a list of Paul's Rick tunes and so I read through the thread expecting for someone to have actually posted this list but instead find that the thread has been dead for over 6 years. Hmm...