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BEST Studio Bass Tone

#23
In the studio players get so hung up on "their" tone (Tho guitar tone is important) that they completely neglect THE SONG.... get as clean and full range sound as your Bass can get, play the song as good as you can and the mix-down will determine "your tone"

p.s. the drum sound (not the drum part) is more important than the Bass in determining the overall mix, if the drums sound great so will everything mixed on top of them. I've mixed and mastered lots of music where the kick sound made or broke the Bass.:ninja:

It all comes down to how WELL all the parts are played.

http://www.sonicbids.com/DavidHayden
check out the different kick sounds on " The Light", "Touch Me" and "Lonesome Whistle Blues"
 
#30
Snerek said:
In your opinion, what are some of the BEST STUDIO BASS TONES on albums??
Click to expand...

Big +1 to topcat's post above (#23)

A lot of the tones being suggested require a certain bass with certain electronics. You may or may not be able to nail it. I would just go with something "good," which probably involves your bass and your configuration for it.

Whatever "tone" you have your ear set on, keep in mind that if your bass has sonic anomalies, spikes, buzzes, noise, eccentricities, etc., it will be unusable for the session. It will drive the engineer crazy and compromise the mix. He will probably insist you either set up the bass to rid it of extraneous and distracting noises, or he'll pull his trusty studio bass off the wall and insist you use it (if this is a decent studio). Most engineers want bass direct into the board with as little processing as possible.

Above and beyond all else, your bass has to sit well in the mix and have the ability to be adjusted to the correct level without compromising the entire mix and song.

As with all good sound processing, it starts at the source.
 
#32
I record constantly at home and in my guitarist high end studio, and in the end, the best recorded bass tone is the one that fits the song. Queensryche's bass tones are freaking awesome, but won't necessarily fit into a ballad. Play for the song using a great bass (I prefer flats for strings, but that's just me) and you can't go wrong.
 
#35
electracoyote said:
Big +1 to topcat's post above (#23)
A lot of the tones being suggested require a certain bass with certain electronics. You may or may not be able to nail it. I would just go with something "good," which probably involves your bass and your configuration for it.
Click to expand...

Thanks.... I believe that the song will determine the tone of the instruments..... to suggest a certain "tone" while not knowing how the Band sounds or what the songs are like is just a case of "I think this sounds cool but the only reference I have for cool is what I know and like"

"We are a 4 piece rock band, and I'm trying to find great bass tones so I can show the engineer as a reference point.

Don't waste his or your time, time is $$$ in the studio, if your Bass can't sound like the reference points it will be almost impossible to achieve anyway....

I really like the bass tone from bands like, Supertramp."

Does your Band sound like Supertramp, are your songs like Supertramps???
"a 4 piece rock band"
This is not much useable information...that leaves a lot of room between Acoustic Rock to Metal


"I would just go with something "good," which probably involves your bass and your configuration for it."

100%
 
#36
I understand that it can be complicated to pursue a certain "tone" and that you should rather look for the full picture, the output of the band as a whole. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't individual great-sounding bass tones in the history of recorded rock for you to get inspired by!
 
#38
a little biased opinion but the best bass sound I ever heard, I played on a project a few years ago. it was a mia p/j through a U5 and a epi valve jr into an old guitar ADA 112 I have lying around.

I can't take total credit - the engineer took it the last few yards!!

michaelnappi.com the song is "gone"

Pino's stuff on Continuum is amazing too, the end of Belief is stunning! But I think it's a mix of the part and the sound!
 
#39
cactus waltz said:
I understand that it can be complicated to pursue a certain "tone" and that you should rather look for the full picture, the output of the band as a whole. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't individual great-sounding bass tones in the history of recorded rock for you to get inspired by!
Click to expand...

He can persue it, but realistically, he has only so many basses and so much gear in his posession. In the final analysis, he's going to have to take what he has and make it sound "good." That's all the engineer cares about.

If anyone is suggesting that he latch onto one particular tone and then process the living crap out of his bass and signal to achieve it, let me tell you from experience, that's a slippery slope at best, and the engineer will cut all the fat off in the studio.

KISS is not just the name of a rock band.
 

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