Back in Black

[cannedsardines]

About four measures into "Back in Black," Cliff Williams plays "B G# B A B A# B B." Or does he? G# is what appears in transcriptions I've seen, but this isolated bass track really makes it sound like G natural: . Is this a weird AI artifact?

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Sounds like a G. Always trust your ears!

 

[Five or Six]

Clean up your sound a little and play it. That will tell you what you need to "hear". If playing it for a band you are playing in, get ahold of a guitar player and see what they are doing. If no band and for yourself, play what your ear tells you is right. Charts have been wrong once or twice.

 

[scuzzy]

Cliff likes to lay on the 3rd of the guitarists chord on several tracks. he is my inspiration when I just wanna clear my head, play bass, and listen to great music.

 

[MdC64]

 

[darwin-bass]

What is the guitar doing at that point?

 

[Spectrum]

It's always something to hear these isolated tracks. Cliff's bass sounds way dirtier and more distorted than it does in the mix. I've always admired him for being clean and super steady. Funny how music works.

 

[Podgorny]

I've always contended that there's a wrong note played there. The guitars do the G# while the bass plays a G nat.

 

[Pings Bass]

The great thing about distortion is the guitars and bass can be half a step off and nobody will notice

 

[Matt O]

It's always something to hear these isolated tracks. Cliff's bass sounds way dirtier and more distorted than it does in the mix. I've always admired him for being clean and super steady. Funny how music works.

Probably sounds that way because it’s AI generated. I bet the actual iso bass is way cleaner.

 

[salmon256]

. Is this a weird AI artifact?

They probably used Mosies which has been around way before the whole AI craze we complain about today.
It is a great program and can isolated bass really well but when a song doesn't have a bass fill in the traditional role of bass like connecting the drums and treble it struggles, and AC/DC most songs tend to favor the treble guitar sound...

 

[Fuzzbass]

Probably sounds that way because it's AI generated. I bet the actual iso bass is way cleaner.

Fair point, I've heard allegedly isolated bass tracks that were mush -- generated by AI or whatever. I don't believe the track in the OP is true isolated bass.

That said, I've heard genuine iso bass tracks that were surprisingly dirty. Not a huge surprise, because overdrive that sounds obvious when playing solo can disappear in the mix. For this reason, adding OD to a clean bass track is a fairly common studio technique for adding punch or whatever.

 

[cannedsardines]

They probably used Mosies which has been around way before the whole AI craze we complain about today.
It is a great program and can isolated bass really well but when a song doesn't have a bass fill in the traditional role of bass like connecting the drums and treble it struggles, and AC/DC most songs tend to favor the treble guitar sound...

Thanks for the link. Sounds like G natural there as well.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

AC/DC!!?? Its a "G".

 

[Groove Doctor]

I've always contended that there's a wrong note played there. The guitars do the G# while the bass plays a G nat.

+1.

 

[Dust2Dust]

Just great! . . I've got G# locked into my muscle memory and now I find out it's a G

Do you have any idea how long I spent trying to get that riff down incorrectly

 

[ryco]

Sounds like a G natural but bending it sharp like a blues 3rd.